This just came up talking about passive income with an English speaker who wanted me to lay out the specifics of how they could retire 40 years early:
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Take a $9000, 40-hour-per-week in-person ESL job.
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Live on $1000 very comfortably abroad, invest the other $8000 at 5%; index funds are a good option and often outperform 5% returns.
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After one year, you have $96000 invested, returning 4800 indefinitely, $400 USD per month.
That’s enough to live in dozens of countries in a private bedroom with utilities/wifi and afford groceries and data.
- After two years, your return will rise to $9600 per year at 5%, $800 USD per month.
That’s enough passive income to live in most of the world in a private house/condo/apartment with utilities/wifi included with $400 left over for food and entertainment.
If you want to work 20 hours a week instead of 40, it takes 4 years instead of 2, working 10 hours a week takes 8 years.
8 years might sound like a long time, but it’s a lot shorter than 30 or 40 years and you only work 10 hours a week.
You can also blitz 40-hour workweeks 2 months of the year and work 10-hour weeks the rest of the year, there’s a lot of customization to be had.


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tldr: that GBG price list is very inaccurate.
Croatia and Hungary are known for being expensive(very tiny countries with severe housing crises), but
even Croatia:
It’s important to remember that most index funds outperform 5%, your actual ESL pay can be higher(my regular tutoring pay was closer to ~70 USD per hour and the highest I’ve received was a little over $100 per hour), and 2 years is not a deadline.
Work 6 more months and have $1000 in passive income. Every month, your leftover income can be reinvested and your passive income will create a little more passive income.
The property guide you’ve provided focuses on a few population centers around the world, a miniscule sample of the housing market.
List claims 1-br in Medellin is $860 per month.
Real world, private 1-br apartment in Medellin is $369 per month:
List claims 1-br in Mexico City is $1290 per month.
Real world, private 1-br apartment in Mexico city is $275
Casablanca, notoriously expensive city, $900 on the list.
Real world: private 1-br apartment in Casablanca is $423:
and $256 in other Moroccan cities