Our plan was this: I go back to the States, enter a truck driving school and earn my CDL, get a truck driving job, save everything, invest those savings, and retire and live off the investments, making this happen in 5-7 years. The investments would be three $100k investments, each or the average of each yielding no less than $600/month, which would be more than enough to cover our living expenses here in Ecuador plus allow savings for vacations or trips plus emergency expenses, such as the replacement of appliances as needed. *Brief side note: it has always amused me when retirees here speak of 'going on vacation' when they go on cruises, or return to the States or whereever they're from, etc... ... as I see it, if you're retired, you're on permanent vacation. Every day's a vacation or holiday. What exactly are you taking a vacation from? Our investments would be a mix of financial and real estate. We overshot a bit on investment #1, when purchasing our first property to rent, but it was one of those unicorns, a rare deal on a condominium that we simply could not pass on. It's a phenomenal condo, one that after seeing with my own eyes led me to tell my wife that when I returned home from driving, we were going to move in to that unit and rent out our current home. 
I'd eventually change my mind on that, as our home,while it may not have the balconies or awesome
design that the newer condo has, does feature amazing
views of mountains and the valley, and rainbows.
Yes, rainbows. We can see a whole lotta sky from our windows, affording us spectacular sunsets, a few nice sunrises, and lots and lots of rainbows!
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| NOT a rainbow, or a sunset, but nonetheless a very cool sight! |
Our first investment, the 'unicorn' condo, was such a fabulous purchase that when we went to register the sale with the notary, the notary hesitated an awkwardly uncomfortable amount of time before approving the sale, as the city's assessed value and the sale price were in such disparity. I say we 'overshot' on the investment because we spent considerably more than $100k on the property, but our return is equal to the purchase; the value of the condo is more than $200k, and the rent we're getting from its occupant is significantly more than $600/month. Investment #2 became a CD we purchased in a bank here, one of if not the largest bank in South America offering an insanely high % on our CD. Our 3rd investment isn't really complete... it started out as another condo we purchased with the intent of renting it out, but after buying decided it would be best put to use as a studio for my wife, who has become an extremely accomplished artist (more on that later). To offset its overhead, my wife has been selling artwork and teaching art classes out of it. We did purchase another CD in a different bank here, one that was offering another crazy good % on our investment, which is allowing us to continue to earn some savings or fun money, just not as much as we'd planned. I don't know how the banks here are able to offer such a high rate of return on their CDs... allz I'll say is it's worked out really well for us.
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| That's my wife. |
This post was initially going to be about my transition after my first year driving from Schneider, into another avenue of trucking, but it morphed into a summary of our investments, which allowed me to return home after five-and-a-half years of driving. My goal when I started driving was to accomplish this feat in 5-7 years; getting it done in five-and-a-half wasn't easy... I missed out on many of the perks other drivers enjoy by not taking any time off or allowing myself too much fun, but the payoff has been more than worth it. I'm now sitting at home, where I get to spend every day with my wife, for the rest of our lives. This is what I worked and saved for.
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| My wife & I enjoying an afternoon coffee at a rooftop café |
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| Favorite morning pastime: coffee with Popa & Cuchuflí on my lap! |
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