At 72, Jacqueline Mackenzie has lived in almost each state within the U.S. However it’s in Vilcabamba — an Andean foothills city in southern Ecuador — the place the retired instructor plans to spend the remainder of her life. MarketWatch stories:
The Mackenzies dwell on about $2,000 a month, most of that coming from Don’s pension (he’s retired from the army), they are saying. “We couldn’t afford the States, however right here we’re wealthy,” Jacqueline says — including that they now dwell in a house with a “million-dollar view.”
Their greatest expense once they first moved to Ecuador was hire: They paid $400 a month for a three-bedroom home on a quarter-acre of land earlier than they moved to the eco-village final 12 months; now they don’t pay hire, having constructed their house for about $38,000. They lease the land without cost as a result of they assist out on the eco-village; once they die their house and most of its contents will go to the proprietor of the eco-village. They paid for the home by a mix of financial savings and loans.
Now they spend the most important proportion of their cash on meals — roughly $375 a month — partially as a result of, as Jacqueline says, they’re dedicated to consuming natural every time they’ll. Different important bills embody transportation — they don’t personal a automobile however spend about $350 a month on taxis — and medical insurance. That prices them about $100 a month, although they do have out-of-pocket health-care prices like physician’s appointments and prescriptions, which may add up. Web service prices them a bit of over $80 a month, and a mobile-phone plan prices $28 a month. In addition they spend cash on issues like gardening instruments, gardeners, seeds, bushes and soil.
Along with their easy life-style, they lower your expenses by not having a tv — “we’ve not had entry to a TV for eight months, so we’re entertained by nature’s sunrises and sunsets,” Jacqueline says — and by not touring rather a lot and never consuming out. “We like the agricultural life-style,” says Jacqueline. “Consuming out will not be a giant deal to us. We’ve already been to bazillions of concert events and performs. Now we hearken to music with a glass of wine on the patio.”
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