Could You Live On Just $32,000 Per Year?

[JJReyes]

Could you live on just $32,000 per year? Most retirees do
Robert Powell, Special for USA TODAY 8:16 a.m. EDT July 14, 2016

Estimated median annual household income among retirees is $32,000, and more than half of retirees (53%) live on less than $50,000, according to "The Current State of Retirement: A Compendium of Findings about American Retirees."Could you live on just $32,000 per year in retirement? Many retirees already do, according to a  survey by Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies.

The above paragraph appeared in a USA Today article by Robert Powell. I have long suspected that Americans who retire overseas have more than the proverbial $1,000 a month budget. That includes members of this forum. $2,000 to $3,000 is more reasonable. I also suspect those who have $5,000 or higher per month won't find overseas retirement as attractive. 

(Sorry. I don't know how to add a link to the article.)

Edited July 14, 2016 by JJReyes

[Sander Martin]

Thats 2666USD a month. I could live a happy life with half that a year. With 32k usd a year I wouldn't retire in Philippines as there are much nicer places in the world where you could live a comfy life with that much money per month.

Edited July 14, 2016 by Sander Martin

[Dave Hounddriver]

18 minutes ago, JJReyes said:

Could you live on just $32,000 per year?

If the tax structure is similar to Canada that could easily be reduced to US$ 2,200 a month  Net.  Every American expat I know, who has any kind of pension funding at all in addition to their social security, spends at least that amount.  But not every American expat has pension funding or 401ks.  I know of at least 1 US expat who is living in an area of the province on US$ 650 a month.  He is fortunate in that he has no house payments to make.

Funny how this cost of living topic comes up so often and I still cannot resist from adding my 2 cents, as do many of the rest of us. 

[bows00]

39 minutes ago, JJReyes said:

I have long suspected that Americans who retire overseas have more than the proverbial $1,000 a month budget. That includes members of this forum. $2,000 to $3,000 is more reasonable. I also suspect those who have $5,000 or higher per month won't find overseas retirement as attractive. 

It depends on what you want in the Philippines.  Last time I checked, that's where the Filipinas are. 

[Jollygoodfellow]

4 hours ago, JJReyes said:

(Sorry. I don't know how to add a link to the article.)

Copy and paste from your browser address bar? 

[Jake]

5 hours ago, Sander Martin said:

Thats 2666USD a month. I could live a happy life with half that a year. With 32k usd a year I wouldn't retire in Philippines as there are much nicer places in the world where you could live a comfy life with that much money per month.

Excellent point Sander!  My first thought about having that much income ($2600 a month) would be -- how to keep a low profile living in my native land.  That's equivalent to approx 120,000 pesos per month, a millionaire in the eyes of the Filipinos, which would probably introduce a whole new set of problems.  

No bling-bling por me -- Jake

[chris49]

22 hours ago, Sander Martin said:

Thats 2666USD a month. I could live a happy life with half that a year. With 32k usd a year I wouldn't retire in Philippines as there are much nicer places in the world where you could live a comfy life with that much money per month.

One stumbling block, yeah sure most of us live on less than that, would be an annual trip home to USA. Which most of us don't have, but the better of people esp the husband and wife retirees, do tend to do. Visit kids and grandkids mostly.

$2666 a month is well over 100k in pesos and there's something wrong if you can't live on that.

[frosty (chris)]

We would be very hard pressed to spend U.S.$2666.00  = P120,000.00 Per month, in fact that would last us about 3 months and as Sander said and has been said many many times if I had that monthly budget I can think of lots of better places to live than the P.I.

[mogo51]

We live in Thailand on less than that, $2000Au a month $2300US  but that fluctuates on the exchange rate.

We live ok, but certainly not lavishly.  I am anticipating we can do that also in Phils, as from my research, the cost of living in both places is very similar.

In Australia, that would be a real struggle - not prepared

[Mike J]

9 hours ago, JJReyes said:

The above paragraph appeared in a USA Today article by Robert Powell. I have long suspected that Americans who retire overseas have more than the proverbial $1,000 a month budget.

The article refers to retired people living in the USA.  I do not think you can take that group and extrapolate the results to those USA expats who live here.  The two most common reasons for USA expats to move here are having/seeking a Filipina wife/partner/girlfriend and the lower cost of living.  I think it is reasonable to assume that many, perhaps most, of the USA expats who retire here fall on the lower end of the retirement income curve.  Just my thoughts.