Early Retirement Extreme Forums

I have a small condo in Portland and one in Spain. I am looking to invest in a 3rd property but this time in Mexico. Do people with more local experience have any suggestions as to where to buy? I've been thinking about a single family home versus a condo. It would be nice to have a SFH. I want some...

Spain is probably right for the average but I live in Spain and living in Madrid versus Galicia is a huge price difference. With a paid off house in Galicia, say around $100,000, you probably need another $500 for a great quality of life per month.

@Laura Ingalls I am a physician and I am not buying into the US healthcare system in any way. For those with serious chronic conditions of the non-lifestyle sort I think it's tough regardless of what country you live in. I see people getting sucked into it one way or another and then they are swallo...

In medicine we have rules and algorithms and they are good to give you a rough estimate. I don't think 4% was ever a rule or anything concrete. I think OP is asking if 4% from the 90's is different now in 2021. I think you use the 4% rule until you come across something more sophisticated that you h...

My deodorant is water, baking soda, lavender essential oil, just 2 drops for 2 ounces. Never stink (according to partner) and I work out a lot. My research on the topic of toothpaste is that you don't really need it if you have good brushing techniques and good flossing. I have used a touch of bakin...

Thank you for the link above. I've only been in Oaxaca now for 2 weeks and just a couple of days in Mexico City. I would say that it's a great place to learn Spanish. It was much tougher for me to learn Spanish in Spain. We decided to stay here for a few more months and then we'll head back to Spain...

My partner has been to Guatemala and enjoyed it. She said it was quite affordable but I'm not sure she felt like she could integrate into the society as easily. Mexico City was a rather happening city, a bit city feel and the pollution was quite noticeable. Oaxaca has a smaller town feel but it's ou...

Update - we are in Mexico City. It's an interesting city and first time for me to be this far south in Mexico. We're off to Oaxaca next as suggested. The goal is to work remotely and maybe do some volunteer clinical work. Neither of us has any connections to work here as medical volunteers but I'm s...

I've been down this quandary. I have a flat in Spain and there is a tiny washer/dryer combo which installs under the kitchen sink and has attaches with a tiny drain hose directly to the trap drain of the kitchen sink. Very simple. I have a condo in Portland and I have a dishwasher in the kitchen whi...

I retired from medicine back in 2016 at age 37 and was mostly worried about forgetting my skills. After a year or so I did some clinical consulting and it was fine. But because I was never frugal by nature, as soon as my income went up my spending went up accordingly. I feel that the higher income s...

We ended up cancelling the trip. Over the past few days everything shut down in Mexico City as others mentioned on here. Apparently cafes and restaurants and rock climbing gyms all shut down. We're in Orange County, CA for now and it's interesting that places are still open here, so that might be ou...

The alternatives for us are to stay here in Orange County, CA which is an expensive place to live and we don't really have anything other than Airbnb options - unless we get something long-term. Or we can both go back to Portland, Oregon since we have a place there. She's from LA and I'm from Portla...

My partner and I are currently working remotely and due to cost reasons and for the sake of culture have been thinking about traveling to Mexico City for at least a week to see if we can live there long-term. Would appreciate any advice on thinking through this - basically, a sanity check because a ...

I hope that I am wrong in this regard, but there is a bit of a bad incentive for hospitals to take patients into the ICU for management. The payment by 3rd party payers is higher when the patient is in the ICU. But, in all fairness, in some instances, it is easier to manage infection spread by havin...

Galicia is very interesting - a lot of variety. I live in Santiago de Compostela and a flat in the city center will cost around 60k-100k for a studio or 2-br. There is a medical school there, engineering university, major arts, gyms, etc. It's got a decent city feel to it. Further out you can get a ...

I shopped around when I bought my condo in Spain and Transferwise was the best option. I transferred some money through Bank of America but that was a lot more expensive.

The hygiene theory is quite interesting. My homeless population and those patients of mine whom I can't imagine to ever wash their hands, they are rarely sicker than my "hygienic" patients or those who are "ultrahygieners". It does make sense in settings where ultimate sterility ...

It's worth considering that different countries which have different genetic makeup may have different levels of immunity to the virus. Maybe they are less likely to pass it on once they have it, or are less likely to shed it asymptomatically, or they will have less severe symptoms after contracting...

hi @chenda I believe the headline pieces and talking points are all about preventing the spread of the disease but that is only possible if humans don't come into contact with each other, whether directly or by proxy. That's an impossibility. The actual scientific reason was to slow the spread and n...

Great points. I suppose I have the perspective of seeing western medicine as a science which claims to be able to manage all health conditions. And yet most of us physicians couldn't offer up a convincing definition of what health is. I hope that you are right, that we can one day manage this diseas...