- 5 minutes ago
At 57, Debbie Welsch sold her US home and belongings for $550,000, then relocated to Bali with her 82-year-old mother. Today, she pays $375 a month in rent and has built a new life centered on making her savings stretch. In this episode of Cost of Living, she breaks down exactly what it costs to retire in Bali and how she budgets for life abroad.
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00:00Hi, my name is Debbie Welsh. I'm 57 years old, retired, and living in Bali with my 82-year-old
00:06mother. I'm going to show you exactly what it cost us to live here. This is my cost of living.
00:13I currently live off of $1,300 a month, and it comes from a savings. The savings actually was
00:20from when I sold my house back in Los Angeles. I sold everything, actually, my house, my car,
00:26everything I owned, and it's around $550,000, and that's right now in investments. I also make
00:35around $4,000 a year through my hobbies. I'm doing contemporary romance writing. I have a YouTube
00:42channel. Currently, I earn about $380 a month on my YouTube channel, and the cost of living here is
00:50so low that the savings keeps growing. My job before retirement was interior design, and I did
00:59more than just the design. I actually did development, and being an independent consultant,
01:04I made about $120,000 a year. So you would think $120,000 is good. Well, I couldn't even afford
01:11to
01:12live in my house because my mortgage was too high, along with my property taxes. So I rented my house
01:17out, and I was living in a small room at my friend's house and renting from her. That's how I
01:23could maintain living in Los Angeles, unfortunately. I just realized, like, I maybe needed to change my
01:30lifestyle. I went to meet with a financial advisor, and the financial advisor sat me down and said,
01:37okay, you can basically live off of your income from your house for the rest of your life if you
01:42live
01:42on a certain budget. He said about $2,000 a month. I'm like, okay, I can do that. I can
01:49figure this
01:50out. So I decided to travel to about five different places in the world to see if I could live
01:58there
01:58full-time. Bali's always been my happy place, and a lot of it has to do with the people. After
02:04moving
02:04here, I felt like just a big weight was released. Life is just simple here for me.
02:11Currently, I live in a one-bedroom, one-and-a-half bath. The square footage is about 1,100 square
02:19feet. I'm currently renting a 10-year lease. Because I had a 10-year lease, I was able to do
02:25some
02:25renovations during that time. Rent was $4,500 a year each year for total 10 years, so $45,000 for
02:3410
02:35years. The one caveat to that is that I had to pay my landlord upfront that money. And the renovation
02:42costs $3,500 per year on average, or $35,000 total. Combining the two, my total cost per year is
02:52about
02:52$8,000 on average. My monthly maintenance cost is about $60 per month, and that includes pool
03:00maintenance, air conditioning, water delivery, waste management, that kind of thing. For utilities,
03:07my average cost per month is about $75, and that includes water, gas, electric, my phone, my internet.
03:18I do have a maid that comes and cleans once a week, and it's about $11 per cleaning, which totals
03:26about
03:26$45 per month. Hi, come on in. First, I want to show you the door. These are carved by a
03:34local,
03:35and I intentionally got this because I want to make sure that the house I'm living in
03:40is Bali. So welcome. Come on in. One of the renovations that I did was adding a pool. Is
03:48that Balinese tradition? No, but water elements are. So I'm thinking water elements, I might as well go
03:55with the pool. The cost of the pool was $7,000. The cost for a monthly maintenance ends up being
04:01about
04:01$25, and that's someone coming and cleaning twice a week. Now here, I just did a pony wall,
04:08which means it only comes up halfway, and then finished it with sliding windows. And I wanted to
04:14have a little greenery that surrounds my house, so I'm not staring at just a cement wall. So before,
04:20the house was concrete everywhere you can look. And so I also added these skylights to add in more light,
04:27because, you know, having a bright light environment makes me happy. Here's the air conditioner that I
04:33added. And I think these air conditioners run about $150 each. And now let's get into the kitchen.
04:41I had a cabinet maker come, and he created the cabinetry to my liking. So my goals were keeping
04:50things simple, keeping things a little more monochromatic, and let the decor really pop out.
04:56And the decor can pop out if you have a simple white background. We drink bottled water. We get it
05:02delivered monthly. The size is about a dollar US. When it comes to the whole house, like the plumbing,
05:11everything, I actually have a filter, a salt water filter. But the bottled water, very important for
05:17brushing your teeth, for washing your vegetables. Anyway, so that's the water situation.
05:23And then this is the office area. This is where the contemporary romance happens here. The YouTube
05:30channel happens here. And then I have the view of the outside, which is nice. Keeps me inspired.
05:37So this used to be the only bathroom in the house. So I made this a half bath,
05:42so just to sink in a toilet. But skylight, bright white, and then of course the natural Bali decor
05:51slash functional pieces. You know, you've got a rock sink, rattan mirror. And then now we are going
05:58to take you behind the house. This is where all of the extra towels are and washer and dryer.
06:04Here's our pump along with the hot water heater. This is the tankless hot water heater. It's a lot cheaper
06:11than having a tank water heater in terms of not having to keep the hot water always hot.
06:16Okay, now we're in the bedroom. And if we look up, this is a traditional Balinese ceiling. All of the
06:24parts of the ceiling come together and form the structure. Very typical. You'll see I have a mosquito
06:30net. Also very typical. If you're going to sleep overnight somewhere, you're going to want a mosquito net.
06:37The area that I currently live in has about 16 houses around here and it's owned by the same family.
06:45That means that they all will have a few temples in that same area. The Balinese believe they want a
06:52place for the gods to hang out in. So there's a temple here. There's actually three temples in front
06:57to keep the energy alive. So I have a view of one of the temples in the back here. So
07:04sometimes
07:04they'll see them doing a ceremony and it's very lovely. Now I really love this view here. I feel
07:10like I live in a tree house sometimes. They say that if you wake up and you have a view
07:16of something
07:17green outside a window, like that's the first thing you look at, that starts your day in a positive light.
07:23So I get to see this on a daily basis. I'm so blessed.
07:29So this is mom's house and we were able to get a four-year lease fixed. Again,
07:35we had to pay up front $16,800 for the full four years and that averages about $350 a month.
07:43Before my mom moved from Los Angeles, her rent was going to be raised to $1,500 a month and
07:50her only
07:51getting $2,000 a month income wasn't sustainable. That's the moment she realized she couldn't afford
07:57to live in Los Angeles anymore. I enjoy the walk to the market, which is about a 10 minute walk.
08:05I like that. I got my earphones on because it drowns out the noise of the motor scooters. Yeah. A
08:11lot
08:11of people ask me if I take you on my motor scooter. What do you say to that? Debbie refuses.
08:17I currently have a scooter and the cost for that scooter was $500 US. I buy gas and maintenance and
08:26that ends up costing on average about $6 a month. I feel like a car would be too cumbersome anyway.
08:31There's not much parking here. I don't want to drive in Bali. There's no way I would drive in Bali.
08:37I
08:38just choose to sit back, relax and hire a taxi or a Gojek grab. It's not very pricey to order
08:47a car.
08:49For us to go from point A to point B that'll take normally an hour, it costs like $7. But
08:55most other
08:55times, you know, we're just, you know, going around town and it's only going to cost us probably a few
09:01dollars to get from point A to point B. So we spend about $22 a month, or at least I
09:06do. Mom has her own
09:07life and we don't do everything together. She likes to do her own thing. So her monthly taxis are a
09:15little bit more. She's about $33 a month. I feel that transportation here is the most efficient and
09:21cost effective thing about Bali next to the food. My typical monthly grocery spend is about $310 a
09:30month. Local items are a lot less expensive than the imported Western items. The inflation is not on the
09:37local products. The inflation is basically on the Western imports. Organic foods I get from the
09:43organic farm, which is up in North Bali. Whatever I don't get from the organic farm, I get from the
09:49local market. And then there's the main grocery stores that are nearby us. There's Frestiv and
09:55Bintang. Those are the two that are most closest to us. Okay, so when I got back from the grocery
10:01store,
10:01I thought I just put together some basic stuff that you probably would be interested in how much it
10:06would cost if you were just to get some basics. I got an organic milk, and this is a thousand
10:12milliliters, which is about a quarter of a gallon. Some brown rice, it's organic as well, one kilogram.
10:20And then I got a imported butter. I also have a loaf of bread, major seeds. You can tell I'm
10:29a health nut.
10:30And then I got some coffee. So this is the local coffee and it's pulverized. And then I have 10
10:38eggs
10:39because you can't get a dozen eggs. It only comes in 10. So total of all of this was 226
10:46,000 rupiah,
10:47which equates to $12 and 60 cents. All of this stuff will last me 10 days. Let's talk about pets.
10:55I have a dog and two cats. The cost for the vet to come to the house is $10 just
11:01for them to visit.
11:03Now, if they do vaccinations, that ends up costing 50 bucks. The dogs, I think are a lot cheaper.
11:09The food is cheaper. And I just get a kilo of meat and mix it with vegetables. And it tends
11:15to be about
11:16$3 for a kilo. That kilo lasts for about three days worth of food. And that's eating twice a day.
11:24The cats, on the other hand, that's a whole different budget. They're very picky. If you know
11:29cats, if you have cats, most cats are picky. I spend more money on cats than I do my own
11:34food
11:35because the cat food here is not cheap. We do cook at home a lot. We'll only eat out about
11:41two
11:41to three times per week. The average cost to eat out, which is, I guess, per meal would average
11:48about $7. Is it cheaper to eat out? Sometimes. It depends on the meal that we're cooking. But
11:54if we're just wanting a simple salad, of course, it's going to cost less. And I think that's why we
11:59order a lot from the organic farm is that at least we're getting four or five salads per week.
12:08A lot of people from all over the world are attracted to come to Bali. So a lot of people
12:12from all over the world set up cafes here. So you can get a Turkish meal here, a Greek meal,
12:20Italian meal, all from an Italian person, Greek person, Turkish person. So you have an array of
12:26different types of foods. I currently have an international health insurance plan. It works
12:31in Bali and it works in a couple of other areas in Southeast Asia. I pay about an average $124
12:38a
12:39month, but it's just for emergencies. And I have a $10,000 deductible. So I make it a point to
12:44do
12:45self-care. I eat healthy, make sure I get my vitamins in. My mother currently has health insurance
12:51insurance, like Medicare at $200 a month, but it only works in the United States. The health services
12:59here, pretty decent. The cost to go to a local clinic here is about $15 on average for the visit.
13:07And then if you need medication, it's about $2 to $3 up to $6 per medication. We actually have had
13:15really good experience with the healthcare industry here. We walk a lot. And that's because we're in a
13:20walkable area. So we are local. We have access or walking distance to the beach, to many cafes,
13:27to boutiques, to art galleries. So walking is kind of our main exercise. I like taking a car if I
13:35have
13:35to go a distance, but I would prefer to walk because I know it's better for me. I also on
13:41the side do yoga.
13:42There's a lot of yoga studios here, but I do yoga using my iPad and an app.
13:49So, and I do a lot of meditation here too. We are very grateful and very blessed to live here
13:56because
13:56if she were to get sick, not only am I to care for her, but we can hire a full
14:01-time person to live
14:03here upstairs and care for her. And the cost of that would be nominal, maybe $500 a month total.
14:10I'm seeing mom like actually have more energy because she's getting her exercise in and eating
14:16healthy at the same time. So overall, aging in Bali is pretty easy as long as we have each other.
14:27I currently feel extremely financially secure now for the first time in my life. Even when I had
14:33property, I always felt like, you know, the taxes kept going higher. My insurance kept going higher.
14:40Food kept going higher. And this was even before I moved out here. And so I cannot imagine what it
14:45is
14:46right now. I haven't been to America in a few years, so it's been a while, but there's no way
14:51I could afford
14:52this lifestyle in America. I was living in a small room. I now have a house. Mom couldn't afford,
14:59you know, her small apartment at $1,500 a month. Now she has a house. For the first time in
15:04her life,
15:05she's not worried about money. And I can say the same thing about me. For the first time in my
15:10life,
15:11I'm not worried about money. One of the biggest misnomers is that affordability, you can live off
15:17that $550,000 to the rest of your life. Not really. First month you're thinking, oh, it's cheap here. And
15:22then
15:22you add a little more and add a little more. And then the next thing you know, you think that
15:26your
15:26lifestyle is so cheap here. Like it's cheap. This, this is cheap. This is cheap. Like, and then that's
15:31all adding up. People come here because they think that they're going to be able to afford living here,
15:36but you can unafford yourself living here as well. Currently I have a two-year visa and the two-year
15:46visa
15:46total is $732. Now that after two years may change because visa costs change all the time.
15:54My mother's visa costs about a thousand dollars for one year. That also changes on a yearly basis.
16:01It seems what shocked me most about living full-time in Bali was things take time here. We are from
16:09a
16:10Western standpoint, have a habit of, we want it now, now, now, now, now, now. I mean, it's not just
16:15island life, but it's a way of life is no rush. We'll get there. When we get there,
16:21it could take a year to find a place to live. It's a different way of doing things here. Sometimes
16:27you'll have a lease that's 20 years that they want all the 20 years up front. Sometimes it's a lease
16:34even for a year, they want the full year up front. So it's just adjusting to the lifestyle here. Now,
16:41the culture I don't think was hard at all because that's why I moved here. I adore the culture. I
16:46adore the Balinese and the way they live and their rituals, their ceremonies. Everything is just
16:52brilliant. The people are the most beautiful I've ever met. I mean, no offense to anywhere else in
16:58the world, but they are the kindest, quietest souls that I've ever met. And I feel so safe here,
17:05especially being a single woman. Yeah, there's parts of Bali where there's a lot more busier than
17:11other parts of Bali. But in the grand scheme of things, it's an attitude and it's just a sweet,
17:17calm attitude. And I love it. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else right now. When I first moved
17:22here, I was very lonely. So it took a while to find friends. The other thing was I realized that
17:28I no
17:29longer had a purpose. My job was my purpose. My job was my identity. I had this huge identity of
17:35my job,
17:36but moving here, it's like I was able to shed that. Now it took a while, but I'm now just
17:41me.
17:42So the biggest shock was finding out who I was again and realizing that I'm no longer having to
17:49focus 90% of my life around a career. I get a lot of people asking me,
17:54what would I say to anyone wanting to move to Bali? And I mentioned that I sold everything and moved
18:01here. I would not recommend that. Dive into the culture here, live in a local village, you know,
18:09connect with the local people. I think the most important thing about Bali is the culture,
18:15the people, because their culture is number one for them. And if we don't adapt to their culture,
18:21we don't belong here. Moving to Bali was 100% worth it. I don't think I'd want to live anywhere
18:28else. I chose Bali and, you know, so far, so good. I think Bali has given me an internal peace.
18:38I know
18:38that sounds woo-woo, but I don't have that scarcity mentality. I have abundance now. And it's not
18:46abundance of money and it's not abundance of food. It's abundance of, of life. And that has created
18:54satisfaction. I guess you'd say satisfaction. I'm satisfied. I don't need anything more,
19:01nor do I need anything less.
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