Here's an email I recently received from a reader:
Just wanted to concur with your multiple posts about living in a cheaper location to save money - and to extend that suggestion to moving to a cheaper country. If you can get a job in a different country that pays within the ballpark of American wages, there are many possibilities to saving money and still living a decent lifestyle that doesn't involve scrimping every penny in order to put away a decent chunk of savings. It also has the bonus of living in and learning about another culture and improving your future marketability.
I live in an "expensive" city in the mother of all cheap countries -- Beijing -- and am less than a year out of undergrad. I make about the average earnings of a fresh grad with a liberal arts degree even though I hold a degree in economics, but the rent for my 600+ sq. ft.apartment is under US$400 a month, I eat out a lot, and I take cabs quite frequently. Oh, and because I make under US$80,000 a year, it's all tax free. I still manage to put away a large amount (about 60%) of my paycheck every month to savings and student loan repayment. If I had pursued a job in the United States, I might have been able to make $10-15k more, but the cost of living alone would eat the pay bump up, and cut into my savings ability as well. Plus, I get to have cool experiences that nobody living in the United States ever would.
It might not be for everyone -- since I don't have kids, I don't have to worry about schooling for them or things like that -- but for a young, single person who's interested in seeing the world, I think it could be a great experience and, from a financial standpoint, definitely beats backpacking around for a year.
For my thoughts on this issue, see Move, Save Money, Become a Multiple Millionaire -- All in One Step.
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