Taking extended foreign vacations to escape U.S. hyperinflation

The 101/22/12 Wall Street Journal had an article written by a 70-year-old woman who, with her husband, lives overseas in various countries for 30- to 90-day periods.

Their monthly expenses, not counting transportation to the countries in question are $1,000 to $4,000 less than their former cost of living in California as homeowners.

What’s the trick?

1. They used to live in California which is expensive.

2. They traded a 2,500-square-foot house for 500-square-foot furnished apartments.

3. They sprinkle cheap countries in among the Paris and London stays.

4. They love doing this. Many would hate it.

However, I see their article not as an argument against living in the current U.S., but as a bunch of tips regarding how you might deal with hyperinflation that made the U.S. uninhabitable.

It is quite good for that. They use cheap repositioning cruises to change continents. They recommend vrbo.com and homeaway.com as the best web sites for finding 30- to 90-day furnished apartments.

They say a good Internet connection is crucial. They offer helpful information on health care when overseas including international health insurance and returning to the U.S. for annual physicals and such.

I think we all need to start rehearsing this sort of lifestyle as sort of fire drills or maybe more accurately, lifeboat drills, in preparation for America becoming temporarily uninhabitable. By rehearsing and practicing switching to another country, we can work out the kinks and get better and more efficient at it. I expect hyperinflation will probably last about six months to two years.

John T. Reed