I haven’t had to scrape frost off my car’s windshield for more than 8 years.

I haven’t had to shovel a snowy path or driveway, and I haven’t had to put on a winter’s jacket–other than during a 2 week Christmas visit to my wife’s family in Pennsylvania.

Eight years.

No cold hands.

No heating the house.

No treacherous driving.

No cold spring wetness.

Ahhh, the luxury of never spending a winter in Canada—ever again.

To be honest, I hate winter. OK—there are a few winter activities I like, but I’d prefer jetting into winter, skiing for a weekend or a week, and then getting the heck out to thaw at Pulau Tioman or Pulau Rawa

I haven’t retired. My wife and I are still working at Singapore American School. But when we decide not to work full-time (the word “retire” sounds too much like dying to me) we’ll spend summers in North America, and we’ll do long term rentals in places like Lombok or Bali, where we can find accommodations for $250 a year. Yeah, you read that right: $250 a year.  We won’t be paying tourist prices. … read more

We might rent a different place every winter—in a different country each time. My wife and I love to travel, meet different people, experience different cultures and soak in perpetual summers.

When we’re no longer teaching in Singapore, we’ll officially move back to Canada where we’ll spend the more pleasant months of the year. We’ll move our money into a Canadian brokerage account, probably “couch potato” our investments (with a 50% bond component) and draw roughly 3-4% of our portfolio each year into our chequing account, for living expenses.

Overall, this lifestyle will allow us to quit working much earlier, giving us far more time with family and friends. In fact, we’ll be around so often, they won’t be able to wait for winter to come.

And when it does come—we’re gone. No more cold Canadian winters for us.