The Big News
The Solo Agers Guide to Getting The Hell Out of America is now available! A candid, step-by-step field manual for leaving the US and building a better life in Southeast Asia on a realistic budget. Subtitled “How to Retire to Southeast Asia: Improve Your Quality of Life on a Budget,” the book delivers a clear roadmap from first questions to first-year success, written by Edward M. Colbeth in 2025.
Who It’s For
This guide is designed for solo agers. Single, unattached men at or near retirement who want to trade financial stress and stagnation at home for a higher quality of life, stronger health, and a better dating pool abroad. If you can count on roughly $1,000–$2,500 a month and can eliminate debt, you’ll find realistic pathways to relocate and thrive without gambling your future. The guide will work for women, just ignore the dating sections.
Why Now
If the U.S. has stopped working for you. Ageism in hiring, costly healthcare, a thin social life, and a cost of living that erodes savings, there are amazing locations across Southeast Asia that deliver safety, comfort, and culture at a fraction of the price. The book makes a simple case: staying put can be the riskier move if it drains your health and capital, while a structured exit can extend both.
What’s inside
You get a complete relocation framework: assess finances, shortlist cities, plan a scouting trip, build an exit plan, and execute a smooth landing into your first year abroad with fewer surprises. Expect practical guidance on visas, transportation and lifestyle, cultural fit, and a framework that determine whether you flourish or flail in your new home.
The YouTube companion
For readers who learn best by watching, the YouTube channel @EddieColbeth features a video for each chapter. You can absorb the playbook visually and revisit specifics anytime. Recent episodes like Why Get Out of America? and Build Your New Life reinforce the book’s stepwise approach and keep you moving from research to action without spinning your wheels.
Planner + tutorial
Every reader gets access to the free Get the Hell Out planning tool to score cities by your priorities, model budgets, plan and manage your scouting/exit trips a track checklists. It’s built to reduce friction and help you compare options with clarity. A tutorial video for the planner will be added to the @EddieColbeth channel, so you can follow along screen‑by‑screen as you tailor scenarios and turn decisions into a practical, dated plan.
Country coverage
The guide focuses on the six most suitable destinations: Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. It covers visa access, cost, infrastructure, healthcare, and quality of life and more. Each country section distills where expats live, lifestyle tradeoffs, rough monthly budgets, and what to expect on the ground so you can match place to priorities instead of chasing hype. There’s a reference section that will point you to excellent research sources.
Real budgets, not fantasy
You’ll find grounded monthly ranges instead of wishful math, with clear reminders that Western imports inflate costs and that eating local wins on both price and health. See a fully itemized Da Nang budget of $1,024 per month—including rent, medical, gym, and weekly quality‑of‑life extras to understand what “living well” actually looks like by line item.
Healthspan as strategy
This isn’t just a more affordable life, it’s a stronger one: the book emphasizes resistance training, protein, and recovery so you can keep independence, cognition, and capacity as you age. The guide talks about healthcare and insurance options, including self-insuring.
Scouting made simple
The scouting trip chapter shows how to turn unknowns into confidence: narrow target cities, create requirements, validate medical access and medications, and test your lifestyle (gym, hobbies, social life) in real conditions. You’ll also handle logistics like eSIMs, airport transfers, ride‑hail vs public transit, and smart packing so the trip answers questions you can’t solve from a desk.
Visas without drama
You get a plain English overview of visa pathways and requirements, plus links to official visa websites and a reminder to verify details on official sites before you select, since costs and rules change. From accessible options like Cambodia to income‑based routes in Indonesia and Thailand and tourist‑visa realities in Vietnam, you’ll know where you fit and where to focus.
Settling in
Expect a realistic first‑weeks playbook: land, get connectivity, secure a 3–6 month rental, set up payments, and build a routine around food, movement, and sleep that supports your goals. You’ll also learn how to build a social life intentionally with expat groups, classes, language exchanges, and everyday haunts so you feel rooted, fast.
Author perspective
Eddie has lived in six countries and traveled through forty, currently based in Da Nang, Vietnam, bringing on‑the‑ground judgment to every chapter and checklist. His story, moving when work dried up, fixing health, and rebuilding a life that fits and underpins a no‑nonsense tone focused on results over excuses.
Hard truths, fewer mistakes
The book is clear about what derails expats: trying to live your old life in a new country, refusing to adapt culturally, and ignoring the basics of budgeting and visas. Instead, you’ll adopt local rhythms and systems that lower friction and raise belonging, making the first year a launchpad instead of an obstacle course.
Your move
If life at home feels like paying more to get less, the path is open: lower costs, higher healthspan, safer cities, deeper community, and a plan you can run this quarter, not “someday”. Open the guide, open the planner, and open the channel. Chapter by chapter, checklist by checklist, toward a life that finally matches your values and your budget.