Short term retirement plan - Where to go?

[gilwood]

So I have 1 more year left to go in a contract. I'm making some good $$ & not spending any. If I play my cards right I should have a pile of cash by next year.

Where would you guys go if you had about $50k in cash? I'd like someplace warm, cheap and maybe play a little golf. I also need some "excuse" to put on my resume for when the cash ran out.

I'm thinking - rent an apt in Thailand for a year, live it up there, whilest remotely working on a PhD. Thereby I could live cheap, have a blast & still have a respectable resume.

Any better ideas? Costa Rica would be nice too...

 

[Milpool]

PhD???

Did you see the thread in CE about PhDs? Also, 1 year isn't much time for a PhD. Are you planning to finish that?

 

[Blackhood]

Have you been to Thailand? Living on $50k will last a while, but it wont be luxury.

 

[gilwood]

Originally Posted by Blackhood

Have you been to Thailand? Living on $50k will last a while, but it wont be luxury.

I've been to Phuket. It was pretty nice, but then again, I was staying in a hotel.

No plans to finish the PhD, just need an excuse to write on the resume.

 

[Kent Wang]

Why don't you say you were working on business development?

 

[globetrotter]

I'd go to one of two places - thailand, but not the western islands (phuket) I'd go to the far south east. much nicer, less touristy. if I were in your shoes, I'd go to one of those islands to a bungalow place, one of those little "villages" of huts on a beach, and make a deal with the owners for a room, laundry and food. you could probably stay for 3-5 years or more on 50K. very simple conditions, but right on the beach, sun, there are bars within a few minutes moped ride.

other choice - cartegna in colombia. very old city, beautiful. beaches, warm, nice archetecture. you could rent a small apartment in the old city. again, you could probrably live there for a couple of years on 50 K.

 

[Reynard369]

Originally Posted by globetrotter

I'd go to one of two places - thailand, but not the western islands (phuket) I'd go to the far south east. much nicer, less touristy. if I were in your shoes, I'd go to one of those islands to a bungalow place, one of those little "villages" of huts on a beach, and make a deal with the owners for a room, laundry and food. you could probably stay for 3-5 years or more on 50K. very simple conditions, but right on the beach, sun, there are bars within a few minutes moped ride.

other choice - cartegna in colombia. very old city, beautiful. beaches, warm, nice archetecture. you could rent a small apartment in the old city. again, you could probrably live there for a couple of years on 50 K.

If you do something like this you have to be very comfortable by yourself, because there's not going to be that much going on.

 

[Fred H.]

I'd take the $50k and move to NYC (for two weeks). Make a list of all of the VCs, angels, and super-angels with more money than sense. Spend a couple of days working up a killer PPT deck, make the rounds until you convince one or more of them that you've got a *can't miss* idea for a social media start-up, being sure to use the right buzz words, such as *monetization scheme,* *pivot,* and *exit strategy* and dropping names such as Fred Wilson, Charlie O'Donnell, and Mark Suster.

Once you've got about $500k in hand, disappear to wherever you were going to go in the first place, put your wife, girlfriend, or mistress on the payroll (as CIO), buy a sailboat and a lot of expensive booze, and live large for several years. You've just increased your $50k by an order of magnitude. MIT grants PhDs for such things!

 

[scarphe]

Originally Posted by gilwood

So I have 1 more year left to go in a contract. I'm making some good $$ & not spending any. If I play my cards right I should have a pile of cash by next year. Where would you guys go if you had about $50k in cash? I'd like someplace warm, cheap and maybe play a little golf. I also need some "excuse" to put on my resume for when the cash ran out. I'm thinking - rent an apt in Thailand for a year, live it up there, whilest remotely working on a PhD. Thereby I could live cheap, have a blast & still have a respectable resume. Any better ideas? Costa Rica would be nice too...
costa rica is not cheap, go to panama it would cost about 60% what life in tico land would cost. to be exact i mean northern panama

 

[StephenHero]

What about Croatia? Beaches, mountains, brunette women, fairly cheap, proximity to half a dozen other countries, etc. Zadar

Dubrovnik

 

[Joffrey]

Terrible idea. You spent all your time accumulating a **** load of money just to waste it away sitting on your ass? So you burn through it and then what? go back to the working world with no cushion? Take a 3month leave of absence and live somewhere 2nd world - Croatia looks good.

 

[whiteslashasian]

Everyone I know who goes to Croatia names it their favorite place in the world.

My sister lived in Thailand for 3 months, loved it too.

Hard to go wrong with either should you choose to go through with something like this...

 

[StephenHero]

Originally Posted by StephenHero

What about Croatia?

After thinking about this some more, this is still a great idea and you should take the advice. I'd like to be able to say I convinced a stranger to move to Croatia.

 

[gilwood]

Originally Posted by Jodum5

Terrible idea. You spent all your time accumulating a **** load of money just to waste it away sitting on your ass? So you burn through it and then what? go back to the working world with no cushion? Take a 3month leave of absence and live somewhere 2nd world - Croatia looks good.

Not a bad idea either. What excuse could I give my job to take a 3 month leave of absence?

 

[Joffrey]

Originally Posted by gilwood

Not a bad idea either. What excuse could I give my job to take a 3 month leave of absence?

Funny that you asked. Depending on your age, you could just enroll in graduate school and spend a summer or semester abroad (that's my plan anyway but in a comfy first world spot). If you are past that point, sit down with your boss and ask for some personal time off. After your contract is up, just take the three months off. While on break, half ass some projects and put that on your resume.