# If I liquidated my assets how long could I live in Mexico? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 17, 2013, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-liquidated-my-assets-how-long-could-i-live-in-mexico/647466 "2013-01-17T04:17:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Crime\_Scene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e495f1/32.png) [@Crime\_Scene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crime_Scene)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-liquidated-my-assets-how-long-could-i-live-in-mexico/647466/1 "2013-01-17T04:17:50Z")
If I liquidated all of my assets and cashed out my 401k I figure I’d have around $180,000. How long could I comfortably live in a third world country? Ok, so, let’s not go all the way third world. Let’s say a ‘developing country.’ How about Mexico? How long could I live there, without working, on that amount? By comfortably I mean: Car, modest house, and an internet connection. Also, obviously have food and some night out on the town money. That is assuming I do not get gunned down by Los Zetas or whatever cartel runs my area within days of moving in. ---
**Author:** ![l1I235](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@l1I235](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/l1I235)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-liquidated-my-assets-how-long-could-i-live-in-mexico/647466/2 "2013-01-17T04:22:02Z")
About 5 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Crime\_Scene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e495f1/32.png) [@Crime\_Scene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crime_Scene)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-liquidated-my-assets-how-long-could-i-live-in-mexico/647466/3 "2013-01-17T04:41:20Z")
> [@l1I235](#): > > About 5 minutes. I figured I could make it a little longer than that. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-liquidated-my-assets-how-long-could-i-live-in-mexico/647466/4 "2013-01-17T05:12:25Z")
Hola. I live in Mexico. 2 grand a month would be a nice life. You do the math. ---
**Author:** ![l1I235](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@l1I235](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/l1I235)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-liquidated-my-assets-how-long-could-i-live-in-mexico/647466/5 "2013-01-17T05:17:36Z")
> [@Crime\_Scene](#): > > I figured I could make it a little longer than that. Just joking, nothing personal. 🙂 I would suggest trying city data, they have lots of helpful stats. Also, see if you can find expat books and communities. I came across an online community years ago for people who retired to countries where the dollar was strong. Sorry, I can’t remember the name of it. ---
**Author:** ![Crime\_Scene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e495f1/32.png) [@Crime\_Scene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crime_Scene)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-liquidated-my-assets-how-long-could-i-live-in-mexico/647466/6 "2013-01-17T05:37:12Z")
> [@l1I235](#): > > Just joking, nothing personal. 🙂 > > I would suggest trying city data, they have lots of helpful stats. Also, see if you can find expat books and communities. I came across an online community years ago for people who retired to countries where the dollar was strong. Sorry, I can’t remember the name of it. I know 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Crime\_Scene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e495f1/32.png) [@Crime\_Scene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crime_Scene)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-liquidated-my-assets-how-long-could-i-live-in-mexico/647466/7 "2013-01-17T05:39:14Z")
> [@harmonicamoon](#): > > Hola. I live in Mexico. 2 grand a month would be a nice life. You do the math. Hola. In middle America you can live a nice life with $2,000 a month. In fact, the median household income where I live is significantly less than $48,000 a year, which means on average with two people working they are making less than $2,000 a month individually. ---
**Author:** ![l1I235](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@l1I235](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/l1I235)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-liquidated-my-assets-how-long-could-i-live-in-mexico/647466/8 "2013-01-17T05:43:05Z")
Crime Scene, If you were frugal and old enough, I imagine 180K would last you a very long time in some rural US states. If you want a different country however, I would recommend thoroughly researching visas, culture shock, etc. You’d be surprised. ---
**Author:** ![Crime\_Scene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e495f1/32.png) [@Crime\_Scene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crime_Scene)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-liquidated-my-assets-how-long-could-i-live-in-mexico/647466/9 "2013-01-17T06:03:05Z")
I’m only 29, so I doubt I’d make it forever unless I made some kinda virtuoso investment in some amazing Mexican startup company. I’m not very frugal to be completely honest, but I could give it a shot. I speak conversational Spanish and have been to Mexico and South America a few times and liked it well enough. Of course, those were the touristy areas where I wouldn’t be able to afford to live. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-liquidated-my-assets-how-long-could-i-live-in-mexico/647466/10 "2013-01-17T10:53:09Z")
Health care is going to be the issue. I have no idea what sort of insurance options are available for a 30-year old living in Mexico, but that, not the price of rent or food or transportation, is going to be the most important variable. ---
**Author:** ![simple\_homer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@simple\_homer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simple_homer)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-liquidated-my-assets-how-long-could-i-live-in-mexico/647466/11 "2013-01-17T11:04:35Z")
I spent about 5 years living in the Philippines. For a simple yet comfortable life my budget was around US$1,000 a month. Larger cities like Manila can be much more expensive, and in smaller towns you might get by on $500 a month. Taxis are so cheap that a car is not necessary. Typical taxi ride in a third world country can be as cheap as $2 to $4. About 4 years ago I spent 4 months living in Cartagena Colombia. Spent about $1,000 a month, but I got tired of the petty crime. ---
**Author:** ![Crime\_Scene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e495f1/32.png) [@Crime\_Scene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crime_Scene)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-liquidated-my-assets-how-long-could-i-live-in-mexico/647466/12 "2013-01-18T02:23:47Z")
I see. I looked up some stuff on the World’s Cheapest Places to Live and it doesn’t look like I’d want to live in any of 'em.