As I pointed out in the chapter entitled WHEN TO RETIRE, the reader who is seriously determined to get out of the rat-race and build a new and satisfactory life in retirement, must decide to do it now.

If you lack this determination to do it now, you will probably never do it at all and retirement will come to you, if it ever comes, at the age of 65 or more when most of life has passed you by.

But if you have read this far in this book and have assimilated what I've had to say, and have read the scores of actual case histories I've used as examples, you should have that determination.

To do it now!

However, I have no desire to send you off half-cocked. We want to do it now but we also want to do it right. We want to go into this cool minded, determined, and using every advantage we can find to assure ourselves of success. Tens of thousands of others have done it. People who were no more intelligent and with no more of the "breaks" on their side than you have on yours. "Breaks" are made, there is no such thing in reality as "luck."

Fine. What is the first step?

I divide the readers of this book into three groups, roughly.

The first group is that person, or family, that has a pension or income which they have thus far thought of as insufficient upon which to retire.

The second group is that of a person, or family, which has a very small income which truly is not enough upon which to retire, at least not on a desirable scale.

The third group, and that which this book is most strongly directed toward, is that of a person or family that has no regular income at all—but still wishes to retire.

Let's take them one by one.

GROUP No. 1. Let us say you have an income of from $100 a month up. I have no idea what the source may be. It might be a pension, military or otherwise, or it might be social security or even investments in stocks, bonds or what have you.

You can retire on this income and live a full existence without ever doing another lick of work in your life. But you cannot do it on a keeping-up-with-the-Joneses basis. And probably you can't do it in your present locale, since the majority of we Americans today live in the big cities or in their vicinities and this is exactly where prices are such as to be prohibitive.

Your first step, then, is thoroughly to investigate those places both in our own country and abroad where you can live on such an amount.

In this book we have already indicated a good many foreign countries and American bargain paradises and art colonies where $100 a month is a notable amount of money. Probably the des­criptions of one or more have interested you.

The job now, then, is to investigate these further. Go all out, to find everything you can about those localities. Do not go off without further investigation. My description of Spain might have absolutely inspired you, but it is quite possible that once there you would find you hated the place. Why? I don't know, because I don't know you as an individual. But suppose, for instance, that you are a very fervent Baptist. You'd have a dickens of a time worshipping in Spain. The state religion is Roman Catholic and it dominates the government like no other country in the world. You can't even marry a Spanish girl in your own church in Spain. You're a Roman Catholic, or else.

That, of course, is just one example. Perhaps you might dislike the fact that it is seldom that a movie is run in the local theatres in English; that there is no TV; that newspapers in English don't get to Spain until three days after they were printed. Perhaps you'll find that you don't like Spanish food—it's delicious, in my estima­tion, but many Americans like the food they're used to and refuse to learn any others.

I think the point is made. You might absolutely hate Spain. I don't think that you would, but it's possible. Very well, if you are thinking in terms of Spain, then find out everything about it that you possibly can before heading in that direction. If at all possible, make a preliminary tourist trip to in­vestigate the country before making your big move.

Your public library should be able to supply you with books on Spain. If your town is a small one and there is little travel literature in the library, ask the librarian if it is possible to secure additional books through the larger library at the State capital by mail. If not then I suggest that you buy at least one good thorough travel guide to the country in which you are interested, Spain or otherwise.

The following series of travel guides are excellent:

Sydney Clark's All the Best guides which cover in separate volumes, the Caribbean, Central America, Cuba, England, France, Hawaii, Holland, Italy, the Mediterranean, Mexico, Scandinavia, South America, Spain and Portugal, Switzerland, and Japan. Any one of these volumes costs about $5 and is well worth it.

The Fodor Modern Guides cover, in separate volumes, Italy, Britain and Ireland, Switzerland, Scandinavia, Spain and Portugal, the Benelux countries, Germany, France, and Austria. Fodor also puts out an excellent guide to all Europe in one volume but obviously this is not as detailed as those books devoted to individual countries. The Fodor guides cost $4 to $4.50.

I have no connections with either of these publishing houses, and my recommendation is sincere.

Besides these guides I suggest you get in touch with the tourist offices of the countries in which you are interested. The addresses of these particularly recommended in this book are as follows:

Mexico: Mexican Government Tourist Bureau, 8 West 51st Street, N.Y.C.

Spain: Spanish Tourist Office, 485 Madison Avenue, New York 22, N.Y.

France: French Government Tourist Office, 610 Fifth Avenue, N.Y.C.

Italy: Italian State Tourist Office, 21 E. 51st Street, N.Y.C.

Austria: Austrian State Tourist Department, 48 E. 48th Street, N.Y.C.

England: British Travel Association, 336 Madison Avenue, N.Y.C.

Greece: Royal Greek Embassy, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, N.Y.C. Morocco: Moroccan State Tourist Bureau, Tangier, Morocco. Japan: Japan Travel Bureau, 10 Rockefeller Plaza, N.Y.C.

In addition, you might well write the nearest consulate or em­bassy of the nation to which you might think of going and ask for information on retiring, and any other questions you might have in mind. They will be glad to supply you with all the answers you need. Following are the addresses of embassies or consulates of the countries which I have recommended:

Mexico: Mexican Consulate, 745 Fifth Avenue, N.Y.C. Spain: Spanish Consulate, 515 Madison Avenue, N.Y.C. France: There are French consulates in New York, Chicago,

San Francisco and other major American cities. Write simply

to: French Consulate, New York City, N.Y., etc. Italy: Same as France.

Austria: Austrian Embassy, Washington, D.C. England: United Kingdom, 99 Park Avenue, N.Y.C. Greece: Greek Consulate, Room 1820, 30 Rockefeller Plaza,

N.Y.C.

Morocco: Moroccan Embassy, Washington, D.C. Japan: Japanese Consulate, Room 7112, Empire State Building,

N.Y.C.

If you have decided to remain in the United States and retire in our own country, your task of investigation is simplified. You should be able to take a trip to the locality you have chosen. Cer­tainly it is easy enough for you to write the State Tourist Bureau, at the capital city of the state in which you are interested and ask them for full information. If there is no State Tourist Bureau, your letter will be directed to whatever governmental division is in charge of such information. Better yet, direct your inquiry to the Chamber of Commerce of a city or town in the area which interests you.

Beyond this investigation, you should spend a considerable time reading further on retirement. There is a lengthy library of books on this subject. In particular the federal government issues a large number of pamphlets and books either free or inexpensively priced. Write the Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. and ask for their list. The government is on your side when it comes to retiring economically—the more citizens who can do it success­fully the fewer demands for assistance is the government con­fronted with. And they have no way of knowing, of course, how old you are when you decide to take the step.

Frankly, I recommend living abroad under your circumstances. What you get for your money is often more than doubled.

GROUP No. 2. Let us say that you have an income of $50 a month or so. It is possible in some places in the world, and I have presented case histories in this book to prove it, to live somewhat frugally on no more money than this.

I don't recommend it.

Even though in such places as the Balearic Islands, it is possible to secure your food, clothing and shelter on this basic amount, you find yourself without reserves and the smallest emergency that comes up leaves you in a tight spot. You'll have to augment your income in order to lead a care-free life and that is what we want. The idea of retirement is to escape from the pressures of modern life.

So I suggest that you go through this book again and choose, not only the location in which you wish to retire, but also figure out from our scores of case histories one that you yourself think you could swing.

Then, as recommended above for those persons with a larger income, investigate thoroughly everything you can find out about both the country and the business you are thinking of going into.

There is not a case history mentioned which you should go into without some further investigation. Even take the simple example of the young fellow in Greece who was making an easy-going living selling and trading used paper-covered books. Had he looked further into the possibilities he would probably have considered selling subscriptions to American magazines to the same people who were his used book customers. This is a lucrative field in itself and I know of several Americans abroad who make a full time living by doing it.

Several of my case histories deal with persons who are operating fish camps, but none of them had gone into the raising of earth­worms, a highly profitable side-venture. Full information on this can be received free from the U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C., in the pamphlet Earthworms for Bait.

I think I make my point. Make haste carefully in this matter of going into retirement. The fact that you are intelligent enough to be reading this book and investigating the possibilities of retiring while still young, is proof that you are also intelligent enough to progress toward your goal with proper precautions all along the line.

Any amount of regular income is priceless in retiring. Even though you have only $25 a month coming in, it's a great help and makes it that much the easier to find the full life you seek.

GROUP No. 3. I have seen both men and women, and even families, blow their tops, quit their jobs and jump down or! the treadmill without a cent in their pockets. And make a go of it.

But I don't recommend it.

It's possible, but difficult. You can do it, but you'll have a hard row to hoe and particularly if you have dependents.

I strongly suggest that if you haven't any reserves at all, and no income, that you plan this out even more carefully than those preceding two groups. I don't mean by this that I am reneging on my promise to show you how to retire without money, I'm merely charting a course for you to guarantee that you won't go on the rocks.

First of all, there's a good chance that you are currently in debt. Only a comparatively small percentage of working class families in the United States are free of debt.

I do not recommend that you attempt to go into retirement with the sword of debt dangling from a horsehair above your head.

Get rid of it.

By whatever means it takes, get rid of it.

If things are such that it will take a year for you to get free of your present debts, even by cutting every corner, then postpone retiring until you are free of them. You'd be hard put to retire, without a regular income, with a good deal of money owed.

However, I do make this suggestion all over again. Ask yourself, what it really is you want in life.

If those debts you have hanging over your head are for a large house, a larger one than you really want and need, I would suggest you think twice about saddling yourself for the next twenty or thirty years with those monthly payments. If it's a new model car, one of Detroit's fabulous monstrosities, I suggest you think twice about getting a smaller or cheaper one. Or even disposing of a car altogether. An astonishing number of Americans who have little need for an automobile saddle themselves with one. If your debts are for a whole flock of installment purchases ranging from TV sets to refrigerators, I would suggest you wipe them out as soon as possible, by whatever means is easiest.

If you really want to retire, you can do this. You can free your­self from debt and start fresh. Yes, you can. Remember that when we started this book we pointed out that you're going to have to get out of the keeping-up-with-the-Joneses state of mind. And that you must do.

I do not want to put over the impression here that my system of retirement means that for the rest of your life you aren't going to be able to enjoy some of the more expensive things of life. That's up to you and up to what you really want. If these things are what you really want you can acquire them—in time, and while still retired. But you're not going to be able to start off with no money at all, and no regular income, and support the usual pyramid of modern gadgets that the man on the treadmill has been taught he must have.

Okay. First of all, then, get free of debt by whatever means you must take.

Secondly, I suggest that you build yourself a suitable nestegg. You might have decided to go to, say, Greece, and take up making your own way in some variation of one of the case histories des­cribed in our chapter on Greece. But obviously you'll need money for passage and at least a minimum to keep you until your project is under way. You'll probably also need at least a small amount of capital to get this project going.

I'm not denying that I know many people who have started retirement money making projects on nothing at all. In fact, I've done it myself in my time. But to the extent that you have a nestegg, no matter how small, you've parlayed up your chances.

How do you build a nest egg7

There are various methods, of course. It is possible that you can start your retirement project in your spare time, right now, while still working at whatever work-a-day position now supports you. As the project grows, and grow it will, if you've picked cor­rectly, you'll get closer and closer to the point where you can quit the job.

Or possibly you can get a second job on the side, cut all expenses possible, even to the point of laying up your car, and save every cent you can get your hands on. If you are married and your wife is sympathetic to this retirement idea (or, if you're a woman, if your husband is) let her (or him) get a job, or a second job as well. Make a hobby of saving money. Eat cheaper food, move to a smaller apartment, keep your entertainment costs to an absolute minimum. When you realize that your goal is retirement, a complete escape from this rat-race which has driven you to desperation, you'll find that a year's time devoted to building up a basic amount of capital with which to get started, can actually be fun.

Most of we Americans attempt to live-it-up far more than is necessary. If you've decided that retirement is your aim and pull every trick you can think of to acquire a starter, you can do it.

Once you have this, proceed much as I have suggested for those readers who have a small income. Select the American bargain paradise, or the foreign one, which appeals to you most and study up on it. Select the case history (or dream up a new one of your own) that you think you could swing and study up on all ramifica­tions of that.

And then go to it!

Tens of thousands of your fellow Americans have retired, starting absolutely from scratch, and have made a wonderful, satisfying success of it.

CASE HISTORY No. 1. (Group No. 1) Emmanuel Feldman who had served in the army during the war, came out without disaster, but a few years later, after acquiring a wife and two chil­dren, was stricken with polio. Totally disabled, he received a pension of a bit more than $150 a month (I think the amount has been increased since I knew him).

He knew that if he was to remain in Long Island City that it would mean his wife would have to go to work and this he didn't want. He didn't consider himself capable, confined to a wheelchair, of raising the children.

He had read about the bargain qualities of Mexico and wrote for further information from every source he could discover. When he was thoroughly satisfied, he and his wife drove down to Mexico and checked several towns which they were considering. San Miguel Allende was finally chosen as their retirement town.

They went back to New York, sold their home for the equity in it, bought a trailer on which to haul their refrigerator, stove and various other pieces of favorite furniture and drove down again, complete with children this time.

When I saw them last, the Feldman family was in a large house, complete with extensive gardens and kept up by two maids. Emmanuel was learning how to set the Mexican jewels, such as opals, in silver settings, as a hobby, although sooner or later he hoped to make money at this handicraft. His wife spent full time keeping the house and raising the two girls. To the extent happiness can be achieved by a man fated to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair I think Emmanuel Feldman has done it.

CASE HISTORY No. 2. (Group No. 2.) I am not sure how big (or, rather, small) the income of Martha King is. I would imagine she has something like $45 a month.

When her husband died, leaving her a widow of not quite forty, she decided to see a bit of the world before looking for employ­ment. How much she saw before getting to Marbella, Spain, I don't know. She'd had a few savings which she was spending, keeping the income as a reserve.

When she arrived in Marbella, she fell in love with the Med­iterranean fishing village and decided to take roots. She wrote back to the States and put ads in three or four different magazines in the classified sections. The ads read:

Have your letters mailed from Spain. Spanish stamps are pro­vided free. Astonish your friends. Also postcards, Xmas cards, etc. .25 apiece. Also any questions you wish answered about retiring in Spain, $1. Martha King, Marbella, Spain. You've probably seen such advertisements yourself, probably even Martha's. Evidently a considerable number of persons, for jokes, or for whatever other reason, would like to have letters mailed from Spain. Martha often gets a batch of as many as 100 at a time, particularly at Xmas card time. Between the income from this service and her regular $45 a month income she lives a pleasant life indeed in her small villa. Occasionally she talks of pulling up stakes and moving to Tangier, or to Portugal, but if she does she will take her "business" with her, merely changing the address that she promises to mail her letters from.

§

CASE HISTORY No. 3. (Group No. 3.) I met Cliff White and his wife Joyce in Southern Spain. Joyce was a topnotch cook and they were making a comfortable living catering parties for the American and British permanent colonies in towns such as Malaga, Torremolinos and Marbella. Joyce did the cooking (Brother! her fried chicken) and Cliff did bartending, and they had two Spanish girls they hired as waitresses. This is the story of the Whites.

They aren't white, by the way. Cliff and Joyce are American negroes which is one of the big reasons why they are now living abroad. They decided not to put up with the guff that so many American negroes experience in their own country.

Cliff worked for the Studebaker plant in South Bend, Indiana. Joyce had done restaurant work but now they had a two year old child and she was staying home. Cliff's assembly line job paid pretty well.

One day there was some sort of row—I never learned the details —and Cliff and Joyce decided to call South Bend quits. They sat down and figured it out in considerable detail.

First of all Cliff sold the car. They decided they didn't really need it. Secondly, they rented their house, meanwhile putting it into the hands of real estate agents for sale.

Then they moved to a very small, two room apartment, near Cliff's job, and the baby was left with Joyce's mother during the day while Joyce went back to work.

Cliff got a second job, working in the evenings and on weekends, at a service station.

They quickly paid off every debt they had, letting such items as their brand-new TV set go back to the finance company.

IN A LITTLE OVER A YEAR'S TIME THEY HAD SAVED NEARLY $5,000.

To this they added almost $2,000 which they realized on their house.

They had heard a good deal of Paris, and took off for France, all three of them. However, it was much too expensive and they could find no work possibilities. Newly made friends told them that Spain was cheap and booming so they made their way south.

They took their time looking around, decided that catering for the many parties that go on in the resort towns was a natural. At this writing they average three or four parties a week and could double or triple this amount if they wished. They don't wish. Living is too much fun to have to work any more than is necessary. They own a house. Drive a British Land Rover (something like an American jeep). And have the assistance of two maids.

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