Friends come and go… not just because of distance, but also because people change. True friends remain, no matter what.
My few true friends I see maybe twice a year. According my personality that’s sufficient (my wife calls me “asozial”, but this is who I am). So, going to New Zealand and see them every second year is fine with me…
Ask yourself, are you “asozial” enough?? 
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Poland?
(This is gonna be totally off topic, but I don’t think it deserves a separate thread.)
I am aware of this. To my defense I can say that I find public gatherings and parties, especially the ones where you have to dress up, exhausting. Plus, I have no respect for marriage. I wouldn’t marry, I don’t see the point, I don’t understand it.
I have some good old friends from Poland with whom I exchange memes, but I can’t say I miss them much. I grew tired of their antics, so this kind of limited contact is enough for me.
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Assuming you are retiring after 50, consider yourself damaged goods, thus it won’t help 
Does anyone have any experience of retirement in Mexico?
I think the best solution is to grind some more years and just retire here and do extended holidays wherever you wish. The only downside is the above mentioned grind and ofc if you love pottery or playing the harp it could be a hassle to move around the world.
Or maybe start with my plan and in a couple of years you’ll have tested several places…
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I see a lot of you argue about retirement location vs where your social circle is based. But I have feeling lot of you think that social circle will be same by then like it is now?
Hypothetically - someone in early 40, 10y teenage who can reach RE when he’s 50.
By then your teenage will be in university partying with friends, your own parents in late 70 or already gone, your old friends from 50 will also start departing slowly and ones that did not do proper upkeep will be annoying bunch with aching knees and not willing to go to adventures or make ad hoc barbecue.
This swiss way of joining some club to have some social contact look for me more and more likely probability.
In a sense I say that RE location probably can be anywhere, where you can find people to hang with for a little while.
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That is exactly what I do, spent only 5 months in Switzerland last year. This is the beauty of living in the most expensive place in the universe: you can go anywhere and don’t spend more.
You can rent a whole village almost everywhere in the world for what you pay for a doghouse in Switzerland. You can eat the whole month in restaurants for what you pay for one meal here. And so on and so on…
I love Switzerland, don’t have to pay rent, have family and friends here (and around the world). But as long as I am fit I also like to see other parts of the world. Off to Spain next Thursday… no plan when I will be back.
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It kind of used to be like this before covid. With my Swiss bucks I could rent a hotel room in Dubai, Poland, Spain for 100 CHF per night and enjoy dinners for 10-20 CHF per person.
But I think now when I travel (plus my expectation regarding standard increased), I struggle to find attractive hotels under 200 CHF per night. Food has also gotten expensive. AirBnb ain’t what it’s used to be, I rather go to a hotel, which costs the same and is a professional establishment, not some amateur mystery bag.
Especially in Poland prices have gone up so high, it’s crazy. I stopped doing my dentist stuff in Poland, it’s not worth the hassle.
Thus, I think since I have a flat here in Switz for 2000+300 per month, plus I know where to get food I like for not too much money, I struggle to reproduce the same bang for my buck when I’m on holiday. I deal with the mindset that it will cost a lot, be often lacking but at least it’s something different.
This is totally not my experience. Rent how, as in for 3 months or sth? Because if you just book hotel / airbnb for a week, you’ll pay like $100 for 3-star, $200 for 4-star and $300 for 5-star, regardless of the country. Often times, hotels in Switzerland are cheaper than in Italy, while offering better quality!
I’m really curious how you travel. Do you rent a furnished flat for a longer period and that’s how you save? Because I’ve been to Spain multiple times and I wouldn’t say you can rent a village.
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OK, you got me here. I own a little apartment in Spain. I sometimes rent in Canaries and in the last 10 years rents went up from like 400 Euros per month to 400-600 Euros per week. Mainly because of local laws and taxes.
I always try to make private deals with no paper involved. That is some risk, but saves the landlord like 50% of which I ask for 25%. It helps to speak the language.
If you avoid tourist traps Spain is still very cheap. I eat twice a day in restaurants, in one I have an open tab which costs me 200-300 Euros a month.
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So you pay like 75% of the commercial price? That can work if you know the people, but is not a very convenient option for a beginner in this kind of game. As in, if I wanted to slow travel and spend, say, 3 months at the Spanish/Portuguese coast, I’d like to have something booked before I even get there.
Not gonna lie, this sounds like a sweet deal. Maybe once I’ve had enough of Züri life and have saved enough (or my client can accept me working 100% remote), I can just rent a small place in a small village in Schwyz, just to pay low tax and have an address, and then spend 6-9 months in places like Spain, Croatia, Poland or wherever, like 3 months at a time. On the other hand… it could get tiresome, so maybe just get a Ferienhaus at the sea to escape the Swiss winter months?
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How did you get access to my secret retirement plan? Is my computer hacked?
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I live in Schwyz and expect to retire here. (recently obtained CH citizenship)
Given that say an annual income of CHF 100k would end up being taxed at less than 10% (Federal and Kantonal etc) plus no capital gains, gift or inheritance tax, a couple (unmarried) can generate inncome of CHF 200k per annum and pay <10% tax, I believe there is no other location that would be preferable. Add in the favourable capital tax on Pillar 2 funds plus the fact that when I want to visit my doctor, I can get an appointment the next day.
I’ve lived in 3 other european countries, and there is absolutely no contest (IMHO).
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I case anyone likes more “exotic” places, don’t forget these countries 
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/charted-a-handy-list-of-countries-with-no-income-taxes/
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That hurts, Americas only small (and expensive) Caribbean islands left. No more Costa Rica, no more Paraguay. Costa Rica did add a 40% expat tax, what about Paraguay?
OK, I suppose those are countries that do not tax inland and out-of-country income. For retirement only out-of-country income is important and there I think Paraguay still has no tax.
Thanks for the link.
Dammit, why didn’t I think of North Korea?
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Of course, the balance is between the cost of immigrating to satisfy their criteria ( I believe for the middle east you must purchase property or start a business employing X persons). For example, In Bahrain you must purchase a property worth around $530k link: https://nomadcapitalist.com/global-citizen/how-to-get-a-bahrain-golden-visa/)Then the Tax residency. Are you stuck there for 183 days per year to qualify? Malta, Cyprus and even Greece are interesting in that they do not tax capital gains - and in Malta’s case only tax on income remitted to Malta. If you money and profits stay outside Malta, you pay nothing.
Again where is the negative emoji?
This is tax avoidance.
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You are probably right. But then you can live in any house/apartment in Spain without contract and the owner cannot only not throw you out for months, he has to pay electricity and water. I probably would prefer to pay the tax… 
BTW: they are discussing a 100% tax for non-EU members for buying real estate in Spain.
Fun fact: there seems to be a holiday police in Spain now. They visited me and asked if I did rent the apartment. I said “No, I am an illegal occupant” and closed the door. It was my apartment…
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