Travis Chappell and his producer, Eric, react to a retired American couple who traded their old life in the US for a more affordable, higher-quality retirement in Malta. By downsizing their costs, leveraging rental income from their U.S. home, and tapping into cheaper healthcare and everyday expenses overseas, they’ve created a lifestyle they never could have afforded if they stayed put in the States. Their story is a real-world case study in using self-awareness and geography—not just income—to design a life you actually want.
On this episode we talk about:
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How Mary and Kevin retired to Malta on Social Security and rental income
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Why your ideal life might be more about where you live than how much you earn
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The mindset shift from “big house and car” to “low overhead and freedom”
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Tradeoffs of retiring abroad: distance from family vs. more time and presence when you visit
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Countries where you can live comfortably for under $1,000 a month
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Why lifestyle bloat traps people in jobs they hate longer than necessary
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How to reverse-engineer your cost of living around the life you actually want
Top 3 Takeaways
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You don’t have to become a billionaire to live well in retirement; you may just need to move somewhere your Social Security or modest income stretches a lot further.
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Success starts with self-awareness—getting brutally honest about what you really want (time, freedom, experiences) instead of defaulting to status symbols like big houses and luxury cars.
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Geographic arbitrage is real: by lowering housing, transportation, and healthcare costs abroad, you can often buy more free time, less stress, and more meaningful time with the people you love.
Notable Quotes
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“The choice was basically stay in the U.S. and keep working—or go to Malta and actually enjoy our retirement.”
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“You don’t have to dedicate your life to becoming the next Steve Jobs; you just have to do the math on the life you want and engineer it on purpose.”
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“If you just float and let life happen to you, you get the kind of results that come from living that way—and that’s not how I want to live.”
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