You are less than half my age (I'm 65 yo), which I'm sure accounts for much of the difference in our outlooks. I feel that I and my wife are as immune from the effects of these transformations as is possible
I'm 74 and don't feel at all immune from much of what is going on. I'm retired but what I've set aside for the rest of our lives is at risk so even there I'm not immune from possible serious financial disruptions.
I could have elaborated further, so I will now.
Another big difference between
@Laika and me besides our age is where we live. I presume that he and you are both Americans living in America, but you also might be Canadians, Aussies, or Europeans.
My wife and I traded in our American lives to live in the mountains of the Sierra Madres about ten years ago. We benefited in multiple ways relevant to this discussion.
First, we traded an angry, fearful culture characterized by consumerism, racism, guns and mass shootings, bitter division, an indifferent federal government trying to erode away the things important to ordinary people, and extreme weather that takes homes and lives. Plus, Americans pay far too much for everything.
As I described somewhat above, what we got in return was the chance to live in a beautiful place with excellent weather (we neither have nor need central air or heat, and it rarely gets below 50 F or above 88 F) and happy people living simple lives for peanuts. The cost of living is much lower here, and we have been careful not to acquire debt - no mortgage (we buy homes free and clear here, our first for $95,000, though we could have spent half that), no car payment (we drive a 2001 model with 75,000 miles on it), no power bill (we're 100% solar because we so much high sun here and its rarely overcast), and no credit card debt since leaving the States. Plus, we get 8% (before taxes) interest on government-backed bonds.
Our cost of living is about $2000 a month, and we live well. One can get a nice dinner for two with a drink each for about $20 (I had salmon last night, and the wife had teriyaki shrimp with a margarita each - 380 pesos, or about $19.40 using today's exchange rate) Very little that goes on north of the border affects us, including who gets confirmed to the Supreme Court, whether the elections are honest there or not, America's problems with creeping fascism and racism, any Trumpian tariff that might raise prices for those living in America, etc.. The American national debt is irrelevant to us, as is the stock market.
Health care is affordable here. Our health insurance has a high deductible, which keeps it inexpensive, so we pay most expenses out of pocket. I had two cataract surgeries here for about $2000 each. I just refilled one of my blood pressure medicines - $6 for 100 days worth.
We need much less insurance here than we were carrying in the states. Our homes are pretty inflammable apart from contents. There is no wood frame or sheet rock - just stone, tile, cement, and steel. We don't need home liability insurance, for example. Slip down our stairs and that's on you here. And there is virtually no risk of loss to hurricane, tornado, or flood. We just carry auto and health.
We feel financially secure because of the low cost of living and the high interest rates on bonds. But we could live on just our Social Security.
And we feel physically safe - safer than in the States. Violence here is mostly cartel violence, and we expats are of no interest to them. They kill one another, those that challenge them like judges, journalists, and politicians, and unfortunately, the families of all of the above. If we didn't feel safe, we wouldn't be here.
If you're imagining that we live bleak lives with Mexicans in sombreros sitting in the shade of a cactus like an old Clint Eastwood movie, you have a flawed image. This is where we live:
These are the kinds of things that make us feel relatively buffered from American and other vicissitudes. It's not just being older. Getting out of America was much of it.
I also feel called to volunteer with organizations working to address abject poverty. From my perspective, doing something, anything, is much better than nothing.
Perhaps I gave you the impression that we care only about ourselves. We take interest in our neighbors and our local community, but not in much that is going on more than a few miles from the lake. We don't travel any more, and have no use for big cities. Our simple lives are lived mostly on foot walking the cobblestoned streets to local restaurants, markets, and other vendors.
There are many charitable causes locally. Our charitable contributions are all local. We can see how they're spent. A friend of ours is sponsoring two young Mexicans going to college. My wife and I like to contribute to dog shelters. Others are involved with local orphanages or feeding and housing local indigenous people, who, speaking of abject poverty, are among the poorest Mexicans.
Our solution is not possible for everybody - some are still working (this is a good economy for spending, but not for earning anything other than bank interest), some have familial commitments that keeps them in place, some just don't want to live in a foreign land, etc.. But for those who can, this is a good solution to a host of American problems that have all but disappeared from our lives.
Our Mexican problems are trivial. Noisy church holidays that frighten the dogs, and an ever more stressed infrastructure (traffic, and Internet speed have been adversely impacted by the tremendous growth here), and the risk of some tropical diseases like dengue. We still have access to the parts of America still of interest to us through satellite TV and radio, bootleg DVDs for $1.50 each, and Amazon deliveries. Spanish is helpful, not necessary inasmuch as the local economy has adapted to the large American and Canadian presence, and virtually everybody doing business beyond a streetside taco stand or car washing speaks English. I would be fluent in Spanish years ago if that was all we heard and spoke, but it's not. The waiters don't want us speaking Spanish to them. They want to practice their English.
Can you understand why we feel insulated from most of the world's problems, and thus more secure than before relocating? We're not a terrorist target here like we were in the States, and we are less likely to be nuked, shot, or to die behind the wheel.
I hope that all is well for you from here to the end, and I hope your money lasts. I wish you peace of mind.
