Modest Money Maps

Paid-off Mobile vs Chiang Mai

Can I Afford to Leave?

Put the paid-off house and the SE Asia estimate on the same monthly table. The answer is useful only when the soft numbers stay visible.

Verify this first.

Chiang Mai is about $1,110/mo cheaper, but the abroad side is estimate-heavy. Verify rent and health insurance before treating it as a yes.

$1,110/mo

Rent, health insurance, and car-count are the verify-lines. A 65+ abroad plan also needs a keep-Part-B decision.

See every assumption - and change any of them.

Domestic-vs-Abroad Split: start with monthly burn, not travel fantasy.

The levers that can move the answer.

Healthcare age

Domestic-vs-Abroad Split

Tilting Balance

$1,110/mo at the fulcrum The US side is better sourced: county, BLS/CMS context, and US utility data exist. The abroad side leans on estimates for rent, utilities, transport, international health insurance, groceries, dining, lifestyle, flights, visa, and FX buffer.
Mobile, AL Chiang Mai, Thailand
$4,104.00 $1,110/mo $2,994.00
  • Housing carrying costs$799.00
  • Utilities$465.00
  • Healthcare$340.00
  • Transport$700.00
  • Groceries$1,050.00
  • Dining and entertainment$350.00
  • Misc lifestyle$400.00
  • Rent$800.00
  • Utilities$210.00
  • Healthcare$600.00
  • Transport$100.00
  • Groceries$500.00
  • Dining$250.00
  • Misc lifestyle$200.00
  • Visa amortized$15.00
  • Flights home$216.00
  • FX buffer$103.00

Paid-off still costs $4,104.00/mo.

The US side is better sourced. That matters.

The US side is better sourced: county, BLS/CMS context, and US utility data exist. The abroad side leans on estimates for rent, utilities, transport, international health insurance, groceries, dining, lifestyle, flights, visa, and FX buffer.

  • Transport / car-count Biggest assumption-driven lifestyle lever. US default is two paid-off cars; Chiang Mai default is zero cars.
  • Chiang Mai rent Size-matched market estimate. Replace with real lease quotes.
  • Abroad healthcare Pre-65 couple policy now uses a $600/mo planning median. Verify with a real quote before relying on the result.
  • 65+ full expat policy The 65+ seed models keep-Medicare-Part-B plus cash/local care. A full expat policy for a 65+ couple is about $1,600/mo and would shrink the 65+ advantage from about $1,270/mo to about $476/mo.
  • Maintenance reserve Annualized sinking-fund heuristic; real cash flow is lumpy.
  • 65+ keep-Part-B-abroad Dropping Part B can create lifetime re-enrollment penalties if returning to the US.

Source Receipt Shelf

Strong means we have a real official source or receipt context. Light means estimate or assumption. The abroad side is labeled that way on purpose.

Assumption Drawer

Every weak link is editable before it gets a vote.

No scraped cost-of-living averages, no scraped rent averages, no fake official numbers. Replace these with lease quotes, insurance quotes, real car counts, and a fresh FX rate when you have them.