A friend I recognized him at the lobby of my condo in Bangkok, I remember in mid-October 2018 that I came across a Chinese quietly sitting on a sofa and reading a book in a quiet lobby where tenants got no same face and skin as him (Thai is not yellow at all, skin color appears slightly black). I saw him just one there sitting close to the corner of the lobby after I had open the security glass doors to get in. Intentionally I showed him my kindness and asked him of “Are you Chinese? Coming from HK?” in Hong Kong English. The man quickly responded to me with a familiar and pretty lovely language (in Cantonese), “Yes, I am.. I come from Hong Kong”. Great! That was definitely amazing, a majority of people whatever he or she is Hong Kong people or not or perhaps he or she is in any nationality in the world always feel excited to see the one who’s in their place of origin. The man (later known as Mr. T) is a retiree, who undertook a medical-related job in Hong Kong before retirement. This is the year of 2020, Mr. T has been there for nearly two years since he quit his job and retired at 55. T told me that he still enjoys his retirement life in Bangkok.
Mr. T bought his first apartment overseas in April 2018, his apartment at 18/F, mine at 12/F purchased in September 2017. In the property orientation and view, we can both look at the swimming pool down from the balcony of ours because of the swimming pool located on the seventh floor in building B while ours in building C which opposites to B with an acute angle. Every morning, I liked having a cup of balcony’s Lipton tea and laying on the Balcony to see the view on which other residents were swimming.
I was so grateful and never thought I might meet Mr. T in Bangkok when I came back at that time, 1556 kilometers away from Hong Kong. On the first night, at 19:00 hrs., we gathered in the lobby of building C for our first Thai meal.
Mr. T took me to many places worth visiting where he knew and wanted to suggest to me. We went out every day starting from the second day to the day before the last day I was in Bangkok (an eight-day trip).
For a lot of people, achieving early retirement is difficult, particularly they have to have financial independence and freedom from work. I know this lifestyle isn’t for everyone, but Mr. T is now luckily enjoying his gift from heaven. T said his early retirement took years and years of planning, discipline, saving, and investing. Meanwhile, Mr. T and his wife have their own passive income (i.e. rental income, municipal bonds, and interest from savings) to sustain their retirement expenses in Bangkok. Mrs. T (T's wife) will follow her plan to now prepare a retirement for herself, which could happen within three to five years.
I’m glad I’ve got a friend Mr. T, he’s now enjoying there in 1556 kilometers away from Hong Kong. His thoughts inspired me to make a retirement plan according to my own wishes for the next ten years.
Mr. T said: he’s glad because he did.
I’ll say: I’m going to be happy because I’ve got to get it through my next 10 years.
