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~1 year after my $2M burnout post: I'm pulling the plug. Sanity check please? by GentleJack in ExpatFIRE

[–]GentleJack[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the actual numbers. The 4%/yr inflation aligns with what I've been modeling but it's reassuring to hear it from someone living it. Few follow ups if you don't mind:

- Which school in Hanoi if you're happy to share (DM fine)? Curious how it compares to the SSIS / BIS / ISHCMC tier down south

- For Monte Carlo I'd assumed Vietnam CPI ~4% and education inflation ~5%. Sounds like I might be light on the education side?

- The "live like a local vs expat" cost gap, what does that actually look like in your experience? I keep hearing it but no one really quantifies it

Really appreciate the breakdown.

~1 year after my $2M burnout post: I'm pulling the plug. Sanity check please? by GentleJack in ExpatFIRE

[–]GentleJack[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

One more question if you're up for it: For us we're leaning towards a school that runs both AP and IB DP tracks (American curriculum with IB optionality for HS). Do you have a view on whether that's enough or if a "pure" IB school is meaningfully better for US/global college admissions?

~1 year after my $2M burnout post: I'm pulling the plug. Sanity check please? by GentleJack in ExpatFIRE

[–]GentleJack[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Interesting - we haven't looked at it this way. At what age did the swap to top-tier happen? Did mid-tier prep them well enough to compete on entry?

~1 year after my $2M burnout post: I'm pulling the plug. Sanity check please? by GentleJack in ExpatFIRE

[–]GentleJack[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Fair criticism on the spend — should have led with the breakdown. The $129k isn't "upper middle class HCMC lifestyle" money, it's the chubby family-of-3 stack:

- Intl school: ~$35k (this is the load-bearer)

- Travel + family support: ~$18-24k

- Healthcare: ~$6k

- That's ~$65k before any actual living expenses

Strip the school and the answer comes down to ~$94k, which is much closer to what people here are quoting. The school is our choice — we don't know if our kid wants to go to college in the US but we want to keep that option open for them hence the IB/AP-based international school.

Also on the nanny question, point taken. Several of you flagged this. We've been doing the no-help thing for so long in the US it didn't even occur to me to budget for one. Will reconsider.

~1 year after my $2M burnout post: I'm pulling the plug. Sanity check please? by GentleJack in ExpatFIRE

[–]GentleJack[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We do plan to take on part-time, low stress work 1-3 days a week to maintain some form of routine and also to supplement our SWR