I appreciate the support. We will see what happens; life often takes turns if its own.
2 Likes
Good luck! I’m not far behind you.
We’ll see. I doubt that massive CCP is as rubber stampy as outsiders would believe it to be.
About 1 year away from freedom, eh?
Made the decision yet on where to retire?
2 Likes
That comment didn’t age well!
1 Like
I like the self-reflective tone.
I’d be frightened to go back to my archive of opinions to see how they have aged—likely badly!
Guy
2 Likes
Oh, we keep track.
4 Likes
He has been on the road with the family for quite a while and given us periodic updates. Let me see if I can find the thread…
3 Likes
@Noel 2024 is right around the corner. Have your plans about retiring in Taiwan changed much? It’s something we are considering to do in about 2 years. Actually, our plan is to live half year in Taiwan and half year back in the states.
1 Like
Most likely Hsinchu as my wife has family there. At this point I’d say we’d most likely rent.
1 Like
Funny that you ask this now. After being retired for pretty close to two years already, and almost a year back in Canada, we have decided that Canada is most definitely not for us anymore.
We are heading to Taiwan for the end of November. We will spend a month in Taipei, then a month in Kaohsiung, and the whole time we will travel around a fair bit to check out different areas of Taiwan. After that we will make a decision as to where we want to live in Taiwan.
8 Likes
I hope you document your experiences while in Taiwan for your YouTube channel. I would especially appreciate if you can also include some info that would be helpful ie cost of living, healthcare etc. As an American we pay a ridiculous amount for healthcare and even more so if we retire before Medicare kicks in.
I wish you and your family all the best!
If you can comfortably retire early, there’s a decent chance you can game the system (legally), if you’re so inclined, to structure your income such that it shows low enough to qualify for subsidies under aca, at least some years.
Thanks for the advice. 
How does health insurance work in this situation? Don’t you need to be insured both in the US and in Taiwan? Can you insure for a partial year?
As an early retiree, if you have substantial pre-tax assets in 401K and/or Traditional IRA, you might want to do Roth conversion before taking Social Security. It will bump up your income and affect ACA subsidies, so it’s kind of tricky. If you live full-time outside of the US, then you don’t have to worry about the crazy US health insurance cost. Another option is a healthcare share ministry if you and your family don’t have pre-existing conditions. That’s what I used before moving back to Taiwan, but I don’t think they let you do partial year or get off too many times.
If you’re near retirement age, what’s the point?
If someone is not near retirement age (What is “retirement age” anyway?) or doesn’t need to tap their pre-tax accounts at 59.5 to support their retirement, then they might want to move their assets to grow tax-free before RMD kicks in.
in context, he’s talking medicare, so 65.
Yea, sure. We’re talking early retirement and medical costs, so probably someone not that young (or you’d have a lot of assets and healthcare costs wouldn’t be nearly as big a deal). I’m picturing 50s to early 60s is the most likely context.
pay taxes now or later, if your tax situation is the same, it doesn’t matter, but in retirement, you can partly control your tax situation.
If someone is in their 40s and 50s, then they have a 5- to 25-year of window to do this. It’s just smart tax planning. If someone is in their 60s, it might still make sense before RMD hits.
True if the tax situation is the same or higher after retirement, but tax rate should be lower for most people when they stop working before Social Security and pension kick in.