Ask most retired expats why they've moved overseas and you'll get a variety of answers -- many having to do with a more comfortable lifestyle and a lower cost of living. But there's another reason ... and if you're currently on the high-stress, low-relaxation lifestyle path, you may want to read on.
An affordable lifestyle was definitely one of the reasons we became expats nearly 12 years ago. The opportunity to halve our cost of living and still enjoy better weather, healthier food, lower-cost-but-quality medical care, and a truly relaxed, "off the treadmill" pace of life was one we couldn't pass up.
We didn't move to retire, although admittedly, we were tired... of doing what we were doing. We were tired of the rat race. And by completely selling out and turning our backs on our mortgage, car payments, and high self-employment health insurance costs, we did -- in a sense -- retire from life as most people know it.