Having been retired for 23 years now I think I have some insight into the subject.
It is in fact entirely possible to become non-resident in any country for tax purposes. It is not however easy or practical over the long term. Maintaining health insurance with no fixed abode for example becomes impossible after a few years.
It can also affect any government pension you may be entitled to based on having lived and worked in your home country. Canada for example bases their OAS (old age security) pension on the number of years after age 18 that you have lived in Canada. For the maximum pension you need to have lived in Canada for 40 years. For every year less than that you lose 1/40th of the pension. You are also required to have lived in Canada for the year (or 2 years, I forgot) previous to applying. So you have to stay there for that year at least to even apply!
There are other practical issues that also make constantly moving pretty unrealistic. I don't intend to try listing them all here. Why, because it isn't necessary, you just need to know they exist. But that isn't really the biggest factor. The biggest factor is that you will simply get tired of constantly moving from place to place. So forget about visas and weather. You are not seeing the forest for the trees.
What you are really saying cyril is that you will have enough income to live from and no longer need to live in any one country. You are also saying that you would like to travel and try living in other countries for periods of time. Where you are going wrong is in thinking you will want to do that forever. There is a saying, 'you can't get/see there from here'. Anyone who is not retired cannot see how life will be when they are retired. That's just common sense. But most people THINK they can see there from where they are now. That's just common naivity.
Trust me, what you want will change when you are here. Since retirement I have travelled, I have spent extensive amounts of time in different countries and I have come to this conclusion. I can live wherever I want to live (more or less) each day. It really doesn't matter how long I stay or if I ever move on. When I get up in the morning I might decide to move, I might not. Here is a true story to get your head around.
I went to a Greek island expecting to spend a week or so seeing the island. I stayed for 7 years. While living there I would meet tourists who when they learned I lived there would ask, 'what made you decide to stay here?' I would honestly answer that I had never decided to stay, I just hadn't decided to leave yet. That is what the freedom to choose is all about. I currently live in Canada again where I grew up. I live here because my wife wanted to live here (she's Scottish). It's new to her and comfortable for me. Who knows where we may be living tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, or even the next decade.
So my advice is to just go travelling when you retire and stay as long as you can legally stay in a place or until you want to move on. You can't plan how your retirement will go and the good thing is you don't have to. Just do what you wake up wanting to do each day and it will all work out exactly as you want it to.
