u/snarrkie

For some background: I’m 30F and still have about 10-12 years to go before FIRE - my target number is $1.5-1.8M in today’s USD depending how desperate I am to exit corporate life. I plan to support two people solely on my savings - my partner has very little and I am the breadwinner.

I am a Chilean citizen (thanks Mom) so I have considered retiring there because I have family there and find it to be a beautiful country, but I speak Spanish poorly. I am working on getting better. I also led the nomad life for a few years while working and I absolutely loved the life but keeping long term friends was hard, and I was limited to those who spoke English. I feel building some kind of community or friends will be important in retirement - I have great friends where I live in the U.S. now and would like to replicate that even if just a little bit when I eventually retire.

I can also legally move to the U.K. with my partner (he is a British citizen) and while I like parts of it, I would have to amass more $$$ to move there and I’m not sure about it yet.

For those who pulled the trigger abroad - how did you find community or fulfillment? Especially interested to hear from those who nomadded for a long time or retired to a country/countries where you did not speak the native language at all or not very well when you moved there as an adult.

Some info:

I’m 30 and I live in Seattle with my boyfriend. I make 145k and we live in an effectively rent controlled apartment (rent hasn’t been raised in at least 8 years) and pay $1k each all in for rent + utilities + parking + extra storage in a desirable neighborhood.

I have a dream of living in an actual house with a yard, where I can host friends, enjoy a coffee on a deck, have a hobby space or two, what have you, and renovate rooms to my liking. I also want more than 850 sq ft. (Important note: my partner and I do not want children.)

But emotions aside, this might be a catastrophic financial decision. To afford an actual house, I’d have to move outside Seattle into the greater Seattle area about a 30-40 min drive from the center. I’d be paying $3400-3600 PITI before utilities, $550-575k home price with 20% down). I would be buying the house alone and I’d be charging my boyfriend rent (he has agreed to a rental contract but he makes much less than me so he would pay the same $1000/month plus half of utilities.)

I have $150k in cash available ($80k brokerage, invested in VTI, $70k in an HYSA). I have an extra $225k in retirement accounts invested in index funds that I am obviously not touching. Because of my cheap rent, I have been socking away a bunch of extra cash into my retirement and brokerage accounts. If I get a mortgage, I’d have to kiss a bunch of extra savings goodbye.

If you were in this situation, would you buy? My apartment is comfortable and a great deal and my landlord is responsive. But sometimes I dream of owning a home and I’m not sure if I should push that thought to the side at this point.