He gives up his high salary at 41 and moves to the best country for retirees: “I save $5,000 a month”

This is the story of Alex Trias, an American who in 2011 decided to walk away from his job as a lawyer – and saw life smile back at him. Now 41, he has already managed to retire. As he explains to CNBC, he had been working for decades and, after building up six-figure savings in his checking account, he quit his job and left the country.

Trias moved to Portugal, a country he describes as “where Americans most want to relocate.” “I spend my free time enjoying the local food with friends and walking along coastal trails filled with wildflowers. Retiring early is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made … but I remember how overwhelming it felt at first,” he says.

He now tries to encourage others to do something similar – to move elsewhere if that’s what they want – because, as he puts it, “uncertainty is an opportunity, not an obstacle.”

“For most of my adult life, I followed a predictable path: law school, summer associate jobs, and eventually a stable legal career. Then the 2008 financial crisis hit.” The law firm where he worked collapsed, and with it went his sense of direction. “I couldn’t imagine doing anything other than practicing law,” he recalls. Ultimately, he moved to Portugal, a place where he knew no one and didn’t speak the language.

When Trias relocated to Portugal with his wife, they found that despite no longer working, they were saving a huge amount of money. In Washington, they had been spending heavily on income taxes, health insurance, and property taxes, among other costs. “All told, we estimate we save about $5,000 a month just by living abroad,” he explains.

“We followed the same financial strategy we used when we were working: live below our means, reinvest the difference, and let compound interest do the work,” he says. “The only difference is that now, instead of salaries, our income comes from investments.”

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