50 male. Gay. Single. No kids. Paid off house 450k. 300k in 401k. 140k annual income which I just started a few months ago. I’m tired of the rat race and more expensive living expenses here in the US.
Should I just sell my house and move back to the Philippines?
Will use proceeds from the house to live in a $1000/mo condo. Another $1000 for daily expenses. Will leave money in 401k til I’m ready to withdraw at 59.5 yo.
Will collect social security at 62 yo.
Should I stay for another 5 years at my current job and re-assess?
Should I sell my house and quit?
byu/Different_Concert142 inpersonalfinance
Posted by Different_Concert142
8 Comments
Why not rent your paid off house and use that as passive income? You can even use that to cover all your expenses.
If you’re ready to move back to the Philippines and have no issue with possibly not being able to afford to come back (without working) then the math makes sense.
If you sell and put the $450k in a 3% HYSA account and drawdown $2k/month, you’ll have $327k left in ten years. If you invest the $450k, assume 7% market returns, and drawdown $2k/month you’ll have $558k in ten years. Both will bridge you easily until 59.5
Edit – adding that your 401k if left untouched will compound to $600k in ten years. Is that enough to retire on comfortably in the Philippines? And are you also taking into account that your SS projections will end up lower since you’ll have 12 non working years from 50-62, which will bring down your benefit?
Sige go mas masaya doon lalo na may stable na income. Enjoy your money you deserve it. Where in the PI?
Can you find a part time job to get some income just in case
>Gay
Thank you for including this detail as we evaluate your personal finance! Top or bottom?
Do what makes you happy. That’s the best advice I could ever give anybody.
You must be saving quite a bit with that income, a paid off house, and no dependants. How much does it cost to do in your current situation what you plan to do in the Philippines? And then what’s left over in post tax income? Without any extra info, I would personally feel a lot more comfortable with even 2-3 years of savings on top of what you have. You might be cutting it a bit close in case an unexpected expense comes up.
I would put in a little more time at this job. It pays well, keep your expenses as low as you can, open a brokerage account and start investing as much as you can put away every month. Are you from the PH and have citizenship there? When was the last time you were there for a significant amount of time? 10 years is a long time to go without any real income coming in. On paper $20k\yr x 10 yrs = $200k. I can promise you there is zero chance after 10 years you have only spent $200k. Plus prices will keep increasing. The PH is already getting more expensive than most of other SEA and the economy there is rough leading to more poverty and crime. It costs money to insulate yourself from that. Could you make it right now if left, maybe. If you had $500k invested and tried to live off 4% from it not touching your 401k until SS living very modestly and not having any serious health issues or getting scammed or ripped off you might be in ok shape but you won’t be living good and worry free. If you at least went to 55 and grew your 401k to $500k and had a $200k more in a brokerage then you would have a much better life.