Candidates in the upcoming elections for President of the United States of America say things have to change.
Town Square, Cuenca, Ecuador
And no wonder. Take a look at these numbers.
Figures recently released by the Social Security Administration show that 51 percent of all U.S. workers made less than $30,000 last year. (For a frame of reference, the Federal poverty level for a family of five in the U.S. is $28,410.)
Think about that.
It means that more than half the workers in the U.S. are trying to get by on $2,500 per month -- and that's before taxes.
How do these figures translate in real life? A recent survey by the Federal Reserve puts it into perspective.
In this survey, 46 percent of U.S. adults who responded said they couldn't cover an emergency expense of $400 without selling something or borrowing money.
Landscape of Loja, Ecuador
It also showed that 27 percent went without at least one type of needed medical or dental care during the previous year because their insurance didn't cover it and they couldn't afford to pay for it out of pocket.
This survey also revealed that nearly a third of non-retired adults in the U.S. have no retirement savings or pension. None.
No wonder the current candidates for president are touting the need for change.
Half the country they want to govern is now just one medical emergency, just one lost job, just one broken furnace, or cracked foundation, or unrepairable car away from official poverty.
But as far as we can tell, none of the candidates in the upcoming U.S. presidential election has said anything about these numbers. And no one we've talked to in the U.S. has heard any candidate clearly state a serious, detailed plan for doing anything about them.
Parque Central, Loja, Ecuador
Which leaves fully half of all U.S. workers in the lurch, hovering on the brink of poverty, without any clear plan of action from the country's potential new leadership.
It's not surprising, then, that we hear of so many people giving up on the idea of a decent retirement. They feel that, no matter who gets elected, they won't be able to afford to live a happy, healthy, high-quality life when they retire. They can't even afford to live one now.
To which we say, "You're half right."
You may not be able to afford a happy, healthy, high-quality life in the U.S.--but the U.S. isn't the only place in the world to live.
We know. We've lived all over the world. Right now we live in a place with the most perfect weather, the freshest air and water, and the nicest people we've ever known.
And we do it on about $2,000 per month, all in...and that includes health insurance, utilities, and taxes.
We own our home, so rent isn't included in this monthly total. And we don't own a vehicle...we don't need one where we live thanks to abundantly inexpensive public transportation. So vehicle maintenance and insurance isn't included, either. And thanks to the perfect climate, we need neither heating nor air conditioning...ever. So that comes off the top of our budget as well. And our health insurance isn't the least expensive we could find...we travel a lot, so we need a global policy, and this pushes our monthly expenses up a bit.
But all told, we're living a happy, healthy, high-quality life on a budget that, in the U.S., would make us nearly poverty stricken. But where we live, in Ecuador, that budget affords us a very nice lifestyle.
And there are dozens of places around the world where thousands of other U.S. citizens are finding the same.
And they're doing it without having to worry about who might be elected president back home. Or how healthcare in the U.S. will change over the next few years. Or how high taxes will go--or how many public services will be eliminated-- for what remains of the middle class during the next administration.
We know many retirees who are living well on nothing but their Social Security checks... and as the numbers we talked about above indicate, a large percentage of U.S. retirees are facing the hard fact that Social Security may be all they have when they retire.
For folks in that situation, the option of living in a place where an average Social Security check can cover everything needed to be happy and healthy can be a literal life saver.
Calle Bolivar, Loja, Ecuador
Are these retirees living in mansions and eating caviar and driving Porsches and wearing Gucci and Prada?
Nope.
Are they living in comfortable homes and eating fresh food and getting where they need to go for a couple bucks and wearing whatever they please because the weather is so good?
Absolutely.
And they're doing it no matter what their political beliefs happen to be...Republicans, Democrats, Independents--makes no difference out here in the world.
We're all just trying to do the best we can and get the best quality life out of what we have.
Living and retiring abroad isn't for everybody. It's not even for most people. Most people will settle for the devil they know, no matter how expensive it is or what affect it has on their quality of life. And that's fine... staying in your comfort zone can be important to a happy life, too.
But for those who can imagine living in another country, experiencing another culture, leading a different, more affordable, more relaxed lifestyle, and even purposely getting a little bit outside their usual comfort zone...the options are many and varied.
And those options don't depend on the outcome of the next U.S. presidential election.
This article comes to us courtesy of InternationalLiving.com, the world's leading authority on how to live, work, invest, travel, and retire better overseas.
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