Edd & Cynthia Staton are recognized experts on retirement, expat life, traveling abroad, and health & wellness. They have appeared on network television; written hundreds of articles for national and international publications; and have been featured in major media outlets including ABC News, CBS News, CNBC, Forbes, and USA Today.
Authors of three Amazon best-selling books, Edd & Cynthia are the creators of Retirement Reimagined!, a Master Course providing comprehensive, step-by-step guidance to successfully move abroad. They are also freelance writers for NextAvenue, MarketWatch, and expert contributors for TravelAwaits.
The Social Digest: Can you describe your initial decision to relocate from Las Vegas to Cuenca, Ecuador 14 years ago? What factors influenced this move?
In 2008 we were living the American Dream in Las Vegas. High earners at the peak of our careers, we had a beautiful home and a growing investment portfolio. With only a few years until retirement, we dreamed of a future chasing perfect weather around the globe. Then the Great Recession came out of nowhere. Almost overnight we found ourselves unemployed with the value of our home and investments plummeting. After spending months living off of dwindling savings, we were forced to face a harsh reality. We had lost too much too quickly. At our age there was simply not enough time to recover.
Even in this bleak situation, we refused to give up on our dreams and accept an unhappy, subsistent retirement. Our predicament was beyond the reach of conventional solutions. We needed an outside-the-box idea to somehow make those dreams come true with what we still had. Our solution? We decided to take our remaining assets, retire early, and move to another country with a lower cost of living.
The Social Digest: What were some of the major differences you noticed between living in Las Vegas and Cuenca when you first moved?
Well, for starters they speak Spanish here and we arrived with Taco Bell level fluency. We feared we would perish but found the locals were very tolerant of our feeble attempts to communicate. Plus, they seemed to enjoy playing Charades when we had to act out what we were trying to say.
The pace of life, not only in Cuenca but throughout Latin America, is extraordinarily slower than in the States. Appointments and deadlines seem to be merely suggestions. Bureaucracy can sometimes be maddening. But once you adapt you discover that much of the time pressure of modern western culture is self-induced and unnecessary. There weren’t many Americans in Cuenca when we arrived in 2010. Edd, being bald, 6’3”, and blue-eyed, stood out like a sore thumb. Locals sometimes stared as if they were seeing an alien. Being an obvious outsider was a surprising and unexpected adjustment.
The Social Digest: What inspired you to put your belongings in storage and travel for 2½ years?
Being stuck inside for months during COVID forced many people to reevaluate their lives. In our case, we decided that since we weren’t getting any younger, we should embark on the active travel we had talked about for years before it was possibly too late to do so. As soon as the opportunity to fly began to open up in 2021, we each packed a Rollaboard and backpack and away we went.
The Social Digest: What were some of the highlights of your travels across Mexico, Europe, the U.S., and other countries in South America?
We celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary in grand style over a 5-day period (one for each decade) in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. A remarkable memory from Europe was traveling a short distance from Bordeaux to climb massive Dune du Pilat, the largest sand dune on the continent. Who knew Europe even had sand dunes? The highlight of our South American adventures was visiting both the Brazil and Argentina sides of Iguazú Falls. What a spectacle! We have many exquisite photographs, but they pale in comparison to actually experiencing their majesty in person.
The Social Digest: Can you share any particularly memorable experiences or challenges you faced during your travels? How did you decide which countries and cities to visit during your 2½ years of travel?
Overall we’ve gotten quite good at planning our travels. And expat life has taught us to be adaptable and flexible when hiccups occur. A great example of that happened when we were working on our 2-month trip to Europe. Our idea was to go from Lisbon to Madrid to Barcelona, then north to Paris and London. Unable to find suitable accommodations within our budget in Barcelona, we had to pivot.
Literally looking at a map to see where else we could go between Madrid and Paris, we picked Bordeaux. The photos were beautiful and, hey, there was the wine factor. The city was gorgeous and our two weeks there were one of the highlights of the entire trip.
The Social Digest: What criteria did you use to evaluate each location as a potential new home base?
Mostly the same ones we used to pick Cuenca: low cost of living, temperate climate, excellent and affordable healthcare, and pedestrian lifestyle. Paris and London were exceptions; they were gifts to ourselves for our 51st wedding anniversary. We discovered, however, even those expensive cities are possibilities if you are willing to live outside the city centers. When we were originally evaluating places to live, proximity to the States was important so we could more easily visit our grandchildren. Now that they are older, living in Europe could be a choice, although the time zone difference is always a problem as far as staying in touch.
The Social Digest: What made you ultimately decide to return to Cuenca after your extensive travels? How does your new penthouse apartment in Cuenca compare to your previous one?
We loved a number of the places we visited, with San Miguel, Lisbon, and Medellín (in Colombia) topping the list. But in the end none of them were worth shipping all of our belongings to another country and starting over with residency, healthcare, friends—basically with everything. So we decided to remain in Cuenca and find the best possible place to live here.
We are fortunate that both the previous and current apartments are penthouses. The first one was a huge 2-story unit with 4 bedrooms and 4½ baths. The biggest downsides were we didn’t have an outside space and the building has no elevator. Hauling groceries and luggage got increasingly difficult over the 11 years we lived there. The place we are in now is smaller—3 bedrooms and 2½ baths. We had to sell some furniture to make the space work. But we’re in a modern building with 24-hour security and two elevators. Plus, we have a large terrace overlooking the Tomebamba River that runs through the city. We love our new home!
The Social Digest: How have you managed to maintain a luxurious lifestyle on just your Social Security income? Can you break down your monthly budget and share how you allocate funds for different expenses?
The low cost of living here makes the upscale lifestyle possible. Our monthly rent is $800 for this beautiful penthouse apartment. Groceries run around $600 a month. Utilities are negligible since there is no need for heating and air conditioning. High-speed internet (200mbs) runs $25 and our phone plan only costs $8. These low budget items allow plenty of room for eating out often and periodic expenses like dental appointments.
We have no car expenses and walk almost everywhere for our daily needs. Taxi rides run $1.50–$2.50 to get most anywhere in the city. Our total monthly budget is around $2000, which is less than our combined Social Security benefits.
The Social Digest: What tips do you have for others looking to live comfortably on a similar budget? How do you balance your expenses to allow for travel and saving?
Open your mind to the reality that there are many wonderful places to live beyond U.S. borders that are much less expensive. Is the idea of moving abroad outside most people’s comfort zone? Absolutely. But the bigger question is, how comfortable are you going to be staying put and trying to retire on a budget that guarantees your remaining years will be spent scraping by and having a low quality of life. That’s not what we signed up for, and we were willing to do what was necessary to make our retirement dreams come true.
Taking advantage of huge credit card sign-up bonuses is a great way to supplement travel expenses. Almost all of our accommodations for the two months we spent in Europe were paid for with points we had accumulated. In addition to life in countries outside the U.S. being less expensive, investments abroad can produce a much higher ROI. Our 1-year CDs here in Ecuador pay 10.25%, and our savings accounts pay 7%. Those kinds of returns really help make your money go further.
The Social Digest: How do you manage your healthcare needs in Cuenca compared to your experiences in other countries? What role do your gym and yoga memberships play in your daily routine and overall well-being? How important is maintaining a healthy lifestyle in your retirement, and what other activities do you engage in to stay active?
Being members of Ecuador’s national healthcare system and having a Medicare Advantage plan that provides generous emergency coverage outside of the United States, we have healthcare wherever we are in the world. Maintaining optimal health is a major priority in our lives. Through our gym and yoga studio memberships, we combine strength and flexibility training with cardiovascular fitness. Also, our pedestrian lifestyle contributes greatly to our physical activity. We consume a healthy diet filled with an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables that are always available due to the 365-day growing season at the equator. Our life is remarkably stress free, and we make sure to get adequate rest as well. We want to live in good health as long as possible and are actively doing our part to make that intention manifest.
The Social Digest: Are there any resources or communities you found particularly helpful during your travels and relocation process? What are your future plans now that you are settled back in Cuenca?
The amount of information on today’s internet is much more expansive and comprehensive than 15 years ago. When we became expats in 2010 there were very few resources available. We and other early expat arrivals had to create our community. Now every top expat destination has multiple Facebook groups where you can make online friends before you ever set foot in the country. Today Cuenca has every special interest group you can imagine, from bridge to birdwatching to bilingual churches to pickleball leagues.
The name we chose for our online program to help people become expats is Retirement Reimagined! Interestingly, we’ve reinvented our own retirement multiple times during our 14 years as expats. Currently we have a comfortable home again back in Cuenca, but plan to continue our travel adventures to other parts of the world. Who knows what the future will bring? Whatever comes along that makes sense for us at that stage of our life, we’ll do that..
The Social Digest: What has been the most rewarding aspect of your journey and lifestyle change? Is there anything else you would like to share about your experiences or any other insights you have gained?
Leaving behind a financial train wreck in the United States, we arrived in Cuenca pledging to each other that no matter what, we were going to make this move succeed at the highest possible level. Not only did we survive, we have absolutely thrived. Our expat life has overall been the happiest years of our 50+ years together.
Our message to others? Don’t give up on your dreams, because the game is never over until you quit. Instead of bemoaning how things haven’t turned out the way you expected, change your mindset and be open to some possibility thinking around making it work with what you have. Get creative. Moving abroad may not be the answer for you, but something is. Find it.
This interview was conducted by The Social Digest on 16/07/2024. If you have any interview recommendations or have a story that you want to share with our readers, write us at editor@thesocialdigest.com
