Notwithstanding my (fact-based) claims regarding my planning skills, I actually think I’m starting off this new full-time job at a pretty decent starting point. Mostly because whenever I’d be in bed over the last several years, mind-a-spinning with lists of work and beyond-work to-dos, worries of things that were both in and out of my control, perfect responses that I SHOULD have had in conversations where I was caught off-guard, etc., I usually tried to calm & tire my brain out via one of two methods: the NYT Crossword Puzzle app, and imagining retiring at a decently young age, exploring places I’ve never been before or haven’t seen nearly enough of, and NOT being caught up in the rat race and the associated expenses of it–whether financial, physical or mental.

I wish I could remember what exactly spurred me to first Goog “the best places in the world for retirement”, but boy did that kick things off. First, I subscribed to “International Living” magazine, and devoured every article covering new countries and cities. After a few years of dog-earring pages from the magazine (before it transformed into the online-only version which my brain then processed into “this magazine has somehow disappeared”), I started doing additional research on each city and/or country that seemed to earn consensus high marks. Ultimately, I decided to (WHAAAT?!) organize all the info I was learning into my homemade Retirement Matrix. Each row of the Matrix listed a country/city considered to be worthy contenders by various experts (and Reddit users haha). Each column was a category of features I knew would matter to me most in a retirement destination:

Weather (as a loather of humidity, this crossed all of Southeast Asia off the list)
Proximity to past really bad natural disasters
Monthly housing/utility/grocery/etc. costs (okay, guess I’ll just VISIT Switzerland, not move there)
Political leanings of the majority of residents (bye, Austria!)
How close to the nearest international airport(s)
Population & demographics
Nearby nature
How close to other interesting places
Universities/colleges
Treatment of animals (both pets and strays)
Expat access / ease of finding needed resources until one knows the language better

This ended up being an extremely helpful decision-making tool in significantly narrowing down the options. And I’m chuffed to say that while listening to a podcast on the subject of international relocation recently, the guest expert on “choosing a spot” recommended a process very similar to my Matrix. Ha! Take that, ADHD!

Once I had narrowed down my “top 5” contenders (this was at age 53, I believe, because by then, I had calculated that I might be able to reach my savings goals by 58–a subject for another post), I figured I would just take a trip to a different city for a “vibe check” over the next 5 years, and could have a winner by the time I was ready to retire. I embarked with my bestie on my first recognizance trip in the spring of 2023, and had every intention of keeping that plan going. But the universe has its own plans, and for some good reasons as well as a very sad one, I was able to retire a bit earlier than planned, so am relieved and #blessed that Recognizance Trip #1 did not disappoint. At all.

For anyone interested (or looking for ways to settle their own minds at bedtime or after waking up in the middle of the night), you can click here for a very helpful website to compare the monthly living costs between the city and country contenders. And here’s where I’ve visited most regularly to look at/daydream about available housing in France: www.leboncoin.fr