How to Retire Without Money
WHERE TO RETIRE (page 3)
I don't suggest that there is anywhere in the United States where you can live on a keeping up-with-the-Joneses basis for a hundred dollars a month. I don't know of any. I do know of many scenically beautiful, climatically wonderful places where life is easy, clothing informal, housing comfortable rather than luxurious and people judged by their real worth rather than the size of their bankroll or car. In such places either on a pension, or at a job or business which doesn't interfere with the good life, you can retire and live at your ease, pursuing whatever it is that really counts in your life, be it hobby, study, art, or just plain fun.Nor is it necessary to select one spot and take roots there. Remember what I've said about the advantage of the wealthy in having mobility. This might apply to many of our readers, as it once did to me. I spent several years looking over this old world of ours. When I found a delightful spot, I'd settle for a time. It might be in the mountains here, or a river there, on the beach, or in a large cultural center such as Paris. Always I sought the beauty spots, the economical places—and always I found it simple to maintain myself. But this we will get into in succeeding chapters.
§ CASE HISTORY No. 1. Some of us, even those with children, find it desirable to spend a period abroad, then to return to the States for an equal period, followed by another stretch abroad. I have two friends, Shirley and Bert Zerman, who live in this manner. They have decided that their way of life actually gives their children more real education than if they were settled in one town and attended but one school. Shirley and Bert have three children and the first time they moved abroad it was for two years in Italy—Bert was interested in studying the Renaissance in the spare time from the various projects he usually had going.
The children learned Italian in short order, as only children can, and from time to time, although not very consistently, attended Italian schools. Upon return to New York they were placed in public school and to the surprise and gratification of their parents, quickly caught up with their age group—in fact, surpassed it. The sophistication they had picked up in international traveling gave them an advantage over their fellow students.
Next, Bert and Shirley spent almost a year in Mexico (where I met them) and here the children learned Spanish, not to mention a great deal about life as it is led in other lands. Upon their return to New York, this time, the Zerman progeny were head and shoulders above their classmates in many respects.
Next trip abroad was to France and Spain, and, you guessed it, the Zermans wound up with another language to their credit and considerably more in the way of background than even the majority of their teachers could boast.
At this writing, I haven't seen or corresponded with the Zermans for almost two years but when last heard of, the oldest of the boys was attending the Sorbonne in Paris. At the age of sixteen, his French is good enough for this outstanding French university, evidently. The other children are still in their early teens but I can only imagine what advantages their universal backgrounds will give them when they are grown to adult estate.
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