“Downsizing” and moving abroad

Guest post by Author Robert J. Vajko, Jr.

In May of 2020, I turned 60. As one is apt to do when one reaches such a milestone, my wife, Jody and I started considering what retirement would look like and realized that, like many Americans, we would not be able to retire when I turned 67. We simply hadn’t saved enough money over the years. We had equity in our home and a 401K, but the reality was that the amount we would get from social security would not cover our expenses after retirement.

We toyed with the idea of renting out the downstairs of our home which has a daylight basement, its own separate entrance, two bedrooms, a separate living area and a bathroom. It might pay for our mortgage but even with the added income, things would be very tight.

Then, one day, my wife Jody asked me what I thought about retiring overseas. I had spent a lot of time abroad, having been raised in France and having spent quite a bit of time in Germany, as well as England. I had always wanted to go back to Europe and Jody had always wanted to live overseas.

We started doing research and Portugal rapidly rose to the top of the list of potential countries where retirement might actually be affordable.

Portugal is consistently ranked as one of the safest places to live. It normally has plenty of sunshine (although this year was the exception). The people are friendly, the food is good, the wine exceptional and cheap, plus it offers access to the rest of Europe. Most importantly, life in Portugal is substantially more affordable, especially when it comes to medical expenses (No one goes broke because of medical bills, whereas more than half of all bankruptcies in the United States are due to medical expenses).

The long and short of it is that one August 4^th, 2021, in the middle of the pandemic, we landed in Lisbon with everything we now owned in the world, namely what fit in six suitcases, most of it clothes.

There is downsizing and then there’s “downsizing”. In our case, we got rid of everything. We asked our kids what they wanted but it turns out they didn’t want any of it. Jody and I are not the nostalgic type. To us, things are simply things. We took photos of those things we wanted to remember and put them on a hard drive to look at some time in the future. It would be more fun to view them on a big screen anyway.

We sold that house and with the proceeds, purchased all new furniture, bedding, towels, etc. in Portugal. Everything else we gave away or donated.  

To be fair, not everyone can do this. We have met many couples here in Portugal who packed up a container and took much of their household with them. To each his own.

For Jody and I, an apartment full of new “everything”, was extremely rewarding. We have mostly acquired furniture, pots and pans, etc. from hand me downs, thrift stores, etc. For the first time in our lives, we bought only what we needed and nothing more.

We have been here in Portugal for four and half years now. We rented for most of that time and recently, due to the rising cost of rent and the fact that the price of new homes is climbing faster that a cat being chased up a tree by a dog, purchased a brand new, two-bedroom, two-bath apartment in a three-story apartment unit. To do so, we had to downsize once more. Much of the furniture was had acquired simply would not fit in our new and smaller place. Fortunately, our landlord purchased a lot of the furniture we couldn’t take with us as the family moving into the apartment we were vacating were willing to pay more for a furnished place. Our 840 square-foot apartment is enough for the two of us. If a single person comes to visit, we can put them up. For couples, they will need to find an Airbnb as the second bedroom just isn’t big enough for a double bed, much less a Queen.

Life is simpler. We take our dog, Goji, a Miniature Schnauzer with special needs (he has congenital myotonia, you can look it up if you are interested) to the coffee shop around the corner where they welcome him inside if the weather so dictates, and where we are greeted by many of the people we see there each morning. We have a coffee and a Pastel de Nata.

Jody and I both have projects we are working on but none of it is anything we have to rush to get done. We take whatever time we need. We often eat out with friends.

We are able to message our kids and grandkids or facetime when the time difference allows (which is hard to keep track of as they are scattered all over) and schedule a yearly visit back to the United States where we all meet up for a couple of weeks of high quality time together.

Yesterday, we went for a long walk in the park, met a young girl from France who has lived here in Portugal for the past 7 years. I am fluent in French, so we spoke for a short while in French but switched to English as my wife doesn’t understand French. (A lot of people here in Portugal speak English, even though they might tell you they don’t). We walk a lot which is an added benefit. Then we paused to enjoy another café at the coffee shop in the park.

There are frustrations and I don’t want to paint life here for what it isn’t. The red tape can be infuriating, and the language is extremely difficult to learn. It isn’t for everyone, but more and more Americans are moving here all the time.

Apparently a simpler, calmer life with fresh, wholesome food and plenty of sun and where everything is built with pedestrians in mind, is something that appeals to people. Go figure!

Please feel free to add to the conversation in comments. I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic.