villas in krabi thailand

Corporate people are cutting ten years off the date they can afford to retire by accepting temporary employment out of the country. And it’s not so much the rate of pay as it is the far less expensive cost of living in many locations.

Being able to ‘afford to retire’ is a big part of the American Dream, isn’t it; to be able to financially sustain an active lifestyle so you can do the things you always thought you’d do when you retired?

Where can you work, enjoy a quality family lifestyle, and still sock away a substantial amount of money to invest for retirement?

Thailand, recommends American expat Cynthia Crowder. She calls it the ‘Cadillac’ of locations to work and live abroad. “People who come to visit either stay or come back and stay. It’s almost a national joke”, said Crowder.

“We’ve cut 10 years off the date that we can retire financially by working abroad,” said Crowder. She teaches English in Thailand, and her husband, Scott, is employed as a corporate executive in the oil industry.

Crowder has lived in several countries and recommends Southeast Asia as the easiest place to adjust. “It’s just a dream”, she says, “the cost of living, the amenities, the fact that everyone speaks English.” And there are lots of jobs and opportunities for Americans to start a business.

Since 1991, The Crowder family has lived in Sumatra Indonesia, Ho Chi Min Vietnam, three years in Paris France, and now Thailand for four years. Their teenage kids grew up as ‘3^rd culture’ kids more at home as foreigners than in their home country. They are the true world ambassadors,” said Cynthia, “to them ‘different’ is normal.”

The Crowders will be coming home this summer to buy a home in Auburn, WA while the housing market is favorable to buyers, but they don’t plan to retire full-time back in the States. “I want a place back home in Auburn, but I’d only want to stay there during the summer months,” remarked Crowder.

The Crowders haven’t thought a lot about where they plan to retire yet, “but we’re considering Costa Rica because it’s quite close to the States, and it’s a country that has a real high expat population,” she said, “and it has a lot of money meaning that the infrastructure is quite good, it’s quite literate, and there are a lot of retirees there who have started their own businesses, so there is a lot to do.”

Copyright © 2008 by Ilene Little Ilene Little, CEO of traveling4health, Inc. was a newspaper columnist for the Journal of the San Juans and The Key West Citizen, and Special to The Seattle Times. To listen to a first-hand account of living abroad in Thailand as a professional couple, visit http://www.traveling4health.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ilene_Little