average monthly expenses in mexico can be like $1500/2500 per month (before you splurge). if you can trade your house for a house or condo in mexico then you are mortgage free and their property taxes are next to nothing. tax treaty so no double tax on income, similar income tax rates. healthcare is western, American/Canada trained doctors in the popular spots. residents are in the Mexico health care system and you can get additional coverage. residency requirements are manageable. temp I think is less than $100,000 in cash and a very modest income requirement - nomad work or investment income is fine as I recall.
ineffective cost wise to borrow for housing even when you can, so you should pay cash. housing varies. there is some very expensive real estate in Mexico but there's considerable value too. We are currently looking at Puerto Vallarta and San Miguel de Allende. PV is extremely hot and humid in the summers - and that's by Texas standards - and most only winter in PV - at least 5 months out the year are tough - by May it's hot, and it's still pretty hot and humid in October. But November through April can be really nice. SMA is in the central mountain region about 6000 ft elevation so it can be quite mild.
once you can determine your housing situation, then it's all downhill from there.
full time assistant - grocery shopping, errands, miscellaneous personal assistant stuff, $5 USD per hour. $1000/month and you're getting a pretty solid assistant. you can add gardeners if you need one, a cook, maid service too for part time next to nothing.
PV has 35,000 US/Canadian ex pats, SMA something like 10,000.
Cartel violence is aimed at rivals and gangs, Mexico has virtually zero non-cartel gun violence. So school shootings, movie theatres getting pelted with ammo, concerts, malls, indiscriminate gun violence is not a thing. violent crime is higher in Mexico but it's predictable.
remains to be seen how politics will change things for expats but there's a decent chance we are applying for temp residency this summer.
there is a similar equation in southern Europe - Portugal, Spain, Italy, Montenegro, Greece, Croatia. Housing is always the wild card but there are plenty of opportunities. Costa Rica, Panama, South America as well, plenty of opportunity where your money will amplify 3-4-5x compared to in the US.
At this point I don't see how we stay, the ability to retire early and not go bankrupt with health care is just too inciting. Tradeoffs are real, but for us, if our actual cost goes down to $5000-6000 per month, then we should have plenty to travel ALL the time - a month or two in the US in places we love should be infinitely doable. So live in SMA or PV and summer or winter or travel all the time wherever, even a month in California or Colorado is completely doable. picking up flights from PV to ATX for a weekend to see a baseball game at the Disch or even going to a concert and staying for a week suddenly becomes not a dream but an easy reality. spending an entire summer in europe becomes easy too, no housing costs to speak of, you can pick up and go.