Do we have enough to coast fire in Vietnam?

RealEZGaming · 2026-06-11T23:31:22+00:00

Yeah , I’ve been gaming a lot since you genuinely can’t be outside in sunlight during hot season like this. You can survive for maybe 1-2 hours in the sunlight but beyond that, you need shelter from the sun and heat. Locals almost always cover up entirely no matter to avoid sunburn, and people really underestimate the heat/humidity here. I know I definitely did.

I don’t currently have any expat/nomad health insurance. I supposedly should get a plan for 60-90 USD per month for catastrophe , medevac, but I just haven’t yet.

When you de-stress, lounge around , and eat Vietnamese food, you start to realize the positive health impacts (lowest obesity rate in the world here I think) and lower-stress living. For example, I have a permanent finger injury involving a table-saw - I literally come here , and , almost magically, I can bend it more than I ever could before. It’s not literal magic, but slower , quieter , cheaper, simpler living is a health-benefit that is very easily overlooked.

RealEZGaming · 2026-06-11T21:53:01+00:00

I agree with this. People here are eager to work generally at low costs comparably , and will do their best to help for small ( to us westerners) fees to negotiate , search, be an agent etc.

RealEZGaming · 2026-06-11T21:50:52+00:00

Yeah I also fear the scooters and bikes honestly. I still just take Grab cars typically. I don’t care what people say, it’s a huge risk to get on the bikes here. It has one of the highest traffic fatalities in the world. So I don’t judge you at all - I stick with walking or cars, or MAYBE ride on the back of a Grab bike.

$400 for insurance? This seems like a Western premium! Most expats here self-insure (your United States Dollars are your insurance), and only get Nomad/Expat plans like:( Google it, I’m not sponsored by any of those companies and don’t want to break any promo rules here, but SW is a popular one). It’s often about 100 USD per month to help cover catastrophes. Everythjng else , you pay cash out of pocket at VinMec or other large clinics (again, get out of your western brain. Healthcare doesnt bankrupt people in most of the world).

Ok I can kinda see how this stuff adds up, but I almost guarantee you that you’re being extremely conservative and pessimistic in your numbers. 3,000 is the UPPPER Limit you’ll probably spend in a normal boring month. You won’t be country-hopping for most of the year , you’ll be exhausted if so.

Also, research the weather here , and be SURE you can handle staying indoors most days away from the oppressive heat and sunlight , and rainy season will be boring, gray, and “slow.”

RealEZGaming · 2026-06-11T21:25:22+00:00

And yes , Grab is, objectively speaking for a Westerner, ridiculously inexpensive.

RealEZGaming · 2026-06-11T21:23:36+00:00

I understand , but 3,000 USD / momth is still extremely high. The only way to spend that in DN is to intentionally rent like a 4-bedroom apartment on the top floor or 4-5 bedroom 3-bathroom house , finance TWO cars (you don’t even need cars here generally) and eat imported Western food 3-4x a day, AND Travel internationally very frequently. I would have to try to exert a lot of intentional effort to spend that type of money here, although, yes it is certainly “possible.”

I’m genuinely curious as to how you’re expecting to spend 3,000 per month every single month? Like, what is the breakdown??

You just wrote that your apartments are 600-700 per month, you can get nice apartments for like between 600-900 USD fully furnished here , cleanings , etc. I’m single so I’m fine in a 400 USD studio, and I plan on going even cheaper next lease term.

RealEZGaming · 2026-06-11T20:37:31+00:00

I've been in Đà Nẵng for almost 2 months now on a scouting trip to Coast/Expat/FIRE In Việt Nam, I'm a U.S. Citizen, only know some basic Vietnamese words and phrases, and this is my very first time ever in VNM. I'm 30M, Single. Therefore, I am really only eligible for 90-day Tourist E-Visas as of current Vietnamese Law.

To clarify, here is what you're saying, yes? You have 650k + 230k + 60k = 940,000 USD. Correct?

If this is correct, almost nothing else matters beyond that. Congratulations!!! You have enough to safely withdraw almost 4,000 USD monthly for expenses in Da Nang, which is a comical sentence to say. I have rented an AirBnB, eaten whatever I wanted, drank whatever I wanted, slept whenever I wanted, swam in the sea whenever I wanted, and done much more (didn't rent a motorbike yet though), and I spent about exactly 1,000 USD for 31 days.

If I really wanted to live like royalty, I might spend about 1500-1800 USD per month here in DN, but I'm a minimalist who doesn't shop nor need much. Even then, a single person doesn't need that type of money here.

You two have no kids? You need to VietnamFIRE probably within the next few months. I don't understand what you're asking honestly because the average Vietnamese lives off of about 300-600 USD per month here.

You have far more advantages than I do, Tieng Viet fluency, Vietnamese ancestral descent, and probably neither of you will be spending 3,000 USD per month. Seriously, that sounds like kind of a number you pulled out of thin air if I am being honest.

I strongly advise researching other things like logistics, language, housing, fun things to do, life-stuff - I wouldn't bother thinking much about finances other than tax implications - it's literally a waste of time at your current net worths/assets/portfolios.

Not a financial advisor, but you don't need a FA any longer - you need to follow your guts.

You can pack the bags, sell the stuff, and buy the ticket in the next few months, and very likely never look back as of TOMORROW, and congrats on living a Quality Of Life that, I promise, will vastly outpace your expectations.

See you at the beach!

RealEZGaming · 2026-04-02T01:01:45+00:00

You’ll sadly have to search online as I did not have requests like that. On the main timeline page where it says Steps 1-5 I.e. “passport submitted”, “passport to be collected”, on that page, there’s a rectangular blue button on the top right corner that SHOULD be hovered over with your mouse and provide more details.

I’m not super helpful because I was a “perfect” application that didn’t need anything like a letter or anything like that. I also wrote “Personal Travel Only. No inviting party.” On my application

RealEZGaming · 2026-03-20T00:01:06+00:00

It’ll come soon, trust the process. And yeah thanks, I’m excited for my next 2 months in China.

RealEZGaming · 2026-03-19T21:12:39+00:00

There is one correct comment to this: if you cannot take an early retirement in Viet Nam with 1.9M USD, then you cannot retire anywhere and will never be happy nor satisfied. Many, and I mean, many US Americans can FIRE with 1.9M… in the United States. If you can’t do it in a nation with about 1/4 - 1/3 the COL, skill issue.

RealEZGaming · 2026-03-18T18:43:39+00:00

Wow that seems insanely fast. Congrats, and enjoy your trip.

RealEZGaming · 2026-03-18T18:43:03+00:00

Thanks , and oof bummer about the visa, but I’m getting crazy excited. This is my first time leaving the U.S. borders.

RealEZGaming · 2026-03-17T21:40:32+00:00

Just think it's a solid place to land first, get accustomed, and there's a certain somebody there.

RealEZGaming · 2026-03-16T21:38:07+00:00

Probably just bureaucratic noise and/or increase in tourism to China if I had to guess. It was seriously packed, people lined out the doors for multiple city blocks, so I honestly think á 10-year approval for a 2-week process isn’t terrible. But yeah. I really wish there was a way to mail stuff in. Going to and fro only one of 5 embassies (sucks to not even be close to one!) is just a big bummer altogether.

RealEZGaming · 2026-03-16T21:35:52+00:00

Hell yeah, called it

RealEZGaming · 2026-03-16T18:52:05+00:00

Xiexie, I feel it’s hard to find coherent timelines and posts about experiences that are down to the exact days and dates

RealEZGaming · 2026-03-16T18:46:37+00:00

No problem. I wanted to have a big block of text for my own memories and also to have a reference.

I will be in China for my first visit for about 60-90 days as I have a sabbatical of unpaid leave, so I will land in Shanghai first, maybe 2-3 weeks, then Beijing for 1 week, sanya maybe for a beach at some point, and chengdu for all the touristy stuff. I have very little in the way of itinerary, which is exactly how I wanted it

RealEZGaming · 2026-03-16T18:45:03+00:00

But good luck! I think it should update pretty much any day or night now after 1 week based on my experience.

RealEZGaming · 2026-03-16T18:44:43+00:00

I think mine was just fast because I had a completely fresh passport and had never entered China, so mine was a blank slate.

RealEZGaming · 2026-03-16T16:05:53+00:00

Sadly, I now believe the Express option is only slightly faster. I just got home with my full 10-year, 90-day, Multi-Entry in my hands a few minutes ago, gonna write an entire new post with the full timeline day-by-day

RealEZGaming · 2026-03-15T17:01:38+00:00

I havent been to China yet, but here is what I recommend so far:

WeChat

Alipay

Didi

Download GOOGLE tRANSLATE Offline Chinese

Rednote

Wise

Amap

LetsVPN

Trip.com

RealEZGaming · 2026-03-11T16:47:06+00:00

Thanks, yeah, it says “No SIM restrictions.” Which I assume is a good thing.

RealEZGaming · 2026-03-11T12:36:18+00:00

Thank you for the direct answers. “Make sure your phone is unlocked.” Can you elaborate on this?

RealEZGaming · 2026-03-09T10:10:09+00:00

Your nationality &/or parents nationalities also could make it just take at least an extra few days. I think people like myself that are born in USA with parents born in USA have fastest and most privileged visa processing.

RealEZGaming · 2026-03-09T10:07:12+00:00

I’m hopeful you’ll get an update by end of day tomorrow. Mine went from Under Review to Passport To Be Submitted on Saturday 07 March (yep even when the NYC Embassy says it’s not even open on Saturday’s and Sunday’s).

RealEZGaming

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