Claim Your Dream Life: How to Retire in Paradise on a Shoestring Budget

By Dawn Fleming

In this unconventional book about “retirement”, Claim Your Dream Life, trailblazer Dawn Fleming explains how and why she and her husband, Tom, threw caution to the wind after financial devastation in the 2008 crash.

Sailing over 5,000 miles from California to Florida, the couple found their direction in the winds of change. At age 50 and 60, they knew it was probably too late to accumulate that “magic number” in their bank account in order to retire. Instead, they moved overseas and found a simpler, happier and richer life at a fraction of the cost of living in the US. After so many people asked Dawn how they could do it too, she had to teach others how to create their Dream Life in Paradise. She launched the Overseas Life Redesign podcast to share the wealth of inspirational stories from people she’s met who are Living the Dream. In Claim Your Dream Life, Dawn outlines the step-by-step process she and Tom used to turn their dream into reality, along with sharing the success strategies her guests have used. Dawn wrote Claim Your Dream Life to provide a roadmap for others to follow.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Morgan James Publishing
• Release date: Dec 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9781631956669

Dawn Fleming

Dawn D. Fleming, JD is an Attorney turned Alchemist who went from being afraid of dying at her desk to living her Dream Life in Paradise. An author, podcast host, serial entrepreneur and Strategic Lifestyle Designer - she's cracked the code and launched Overseas Life Redesign, a global consulting company to help serve those in midlife looking for their next adventure. For over 25 years, Dawn has trained, coached, and mentored thousands of successful entrepreneurs at all different stages - from those who never had a business to seasoned serial entrepreneurs.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1:

Claiming Your Dream Life

Did you ever go on a vacation and never want to go home? Have you been thinking about living overseas for years? Do you believe it is even possible? Are you living your dream life?

In these pages, I hope to inspire the courageous action that turns dreams into reality. To help you understand that it is okay for you to be happy. To encourage you to not settle for what is realistic, practical, or expected. To not live a life based on should or the expectations of others. To remove the limits we impose on ourselves and not let your dreams remain dreams. Life has an expiration date. Don’t wait until it is too late.

Over the last century we have seen profound shifts. In the United States, average life expectancy in 1900 was 48 years, in 2050 it is predicted to jump to 85 years. In 1900 there were 3 million people aged 65 or older, in 2000 there were 35 million. Models predict there will be 86 million people over age 65 by 2050. Over the last 100 years we have been gifted an entire adult lifetime.

This change presents us with both challenges and opportunities. Many people are falling behind financially or fearful of outliving their retirement funds while the cost of living continues to go up. Companies continue to add more and more contract workers instead of full-time employees to keep overhead costs low and flexibility high. Pensions have become obsolete and generous benefit packages rare.

Students of all ages are taking on staggering debt loads, earning diplomas but not learning the high demand skills the marketplace requires. The rules have changed, the economy has changed. Change is to be expected but today it is happening at an incredibly accelerated pace. There is no roadmap to navigate and thrive amid all these changes. This book shares the stories of people who have adapted to these societal changes and how they did it!

I had an amazing career as an international business attorney, but it did not make me happy. When I realized that practicing law would not give me the lifestyle I wanted, I found a way out. I wanted to have a great quality of life and, to me, that meant being happy, healthy, and a valuable member of a loving community.

Today I’m a non-practicing attorney and serial entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience in setting up, marketing, managing and maintaining thriving businesses. After retiring as an attorney, I became a top producer and popular sales trainer in the relationship marketing industry. For two decades I mentored and coached people to become more than they ever thought possible. It was a great experience. But I always knew I was destined for more.

I have completely started over, changed my life, changed my career, created new lifestyles, and moved to places where I literally knew no one, not once or twice or three times but four moves to completely new locations. I have been fortunate to have incredible experiences. I am blessed to have met wonderful people and made lifelong friends along the way.

In this book, I share the process that empowered me to blaze a trail, take risks, make uncomfortable changes, and audaciously go after the lifestyle of my dreams. We live in a globally mobile economy that presents many new opportunities that never existed before and I took full advantage of them.

When my husband Tom and I lived in Southern California, we had successful businesses until 2008, when we didn’t. Our lives were a blur, hustle and grind, wash, rinse, repeat day after day. We were living a fast-paced schedule with never enough time. We were making great incomes, but money flowed out just as fast as it came in. Maybe you can relate? When it became clear that we could no longer hold onto our past careers, businesses, and real estate investments, we simply let go.

We had waited until our comfort zone was so uncomfortable, we had to make a change. You have probably heard the phrase jump and the net will appear. We did just that! Was it scary? Yes! It would have been so much easier had we known what was waiting for us.

In 2010, we left Southern California and sailed 5,000 miles through the Panama Canal to Florida, where we lived for six years. Moving to Florida was good for us but it still did not feel like home. We yearned for a vibrant community, a beach lifestyle, and richer cultural experiences. We packed the sailboat and began a voyage of discovery that led us back to Isla Mujeres, a tropical island in the Caribbean. The place fit. We stayed and are living our dream.

In Chapter 2, you will find a fun exercise. If you take it seriously, it can shift your thought process and open up an entire world of possibilities for your future.

Today we own and run a stunning oceanfront vacation villa, Castillito del Caribe, and Integrity Vacation Property Management. We own and operate Overseas Life Redesign, a coaching and consulting business teaching others to discover their dreams and turn them into reality just as we did.

A common theme I hear from my Overseas Life Redesign podcast guests is the sense of community they gain because of their overseas move. They joined like-minded people (expats) who left their home country, and now feel at home in a new country. They appreciate being part of a culture that values community, the wisdom of elders and caring for each other.

Our associations matter, so we must choose them wisely. We need to be around people who allow us to feel safe, to be our true selves, to feel loved and supported without judgment or criticism. With modern technology, people are more connected now than any time in history, but in many ways, are so alone. Our souls yearn to belong, to be connected to something bigger and to each other.

When I think back about the most difficult period of my life, the divorce from my first husband, I distinctly remember a major turning point. A friend suggested I check out a nonreligious divorce recovery program offered by a local church. I will never forget the feeling I had just walking through the door. The sanctuary was packed with about 500 people. They were all going through a divorce just like me. I felt like the weight of the world was lifted and things got so much better for me just by being in a community. I no longer felt so alone.

According to Robert D Putnam in Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, As a rule of thumb, if you belong to no groups but decide to join one, you cut your risk of dying over the next year by 50%. If you smoke and belong to no groups, it’s a toss-up statistically whether you should stop smoking or start joining.

A further survey conducted by the health provider Cigna, revealed widespread loneliness with nearly half of all Americans reporting they feel alone, isolated or left out at least a part of the time. In addition, the survey showed 54% of respondents feel that no one knows them well, and 40% report lack of companionship, and say relationships are not meaningful, and they are isolated from others. These are not good numbers, especially when looking at the direct impact these findings have on physical health and quite frankly, the health of society. The bottom line is we all need loving, healthy relationships and communities of belonging for optimal health.

Using our experience, the experiences of others and the latest research, we developed a vision for our business. To grow an Overseas Life Redesign community to encourage connections, build communities that foster compassion, create environments for embracing individual uniqueness and encourage others to do the same.

If you, dear reader, have few or no dreams or have lost hope, this book is for you. You can learn to dream again. The future is filled with inspired possibilities. If you have dreamed of adventure, if you are not sure what life holds in middle life or after, I promise that your mind will be racing with excitement by the time you are finished reading. Your current circumstances do not have to dictate your future.

Early in our relationship I asked my husband Tom to attend a personal development workshop. The trainer asked everyone to write down a list of their dreams. The exercise made Tom extremely uncomfortable because at age 50, he had no dreams. He now admits that at the time he was a walking cadaver. He was twice divorced, he had lost his aerospace engineering business in bankruptcy and survived melanoma, all while raising his two boys as a single parent. It took him a while to begin to dream again, to imagine what the future might hold. His advice Keep at it. It gets easier with practice.

Today I see myself as an alchemist, an expert at change. I have a burning desire to help others through life’s transitions. My goal is to provide inspiration along with a roadmap that worked for us and many others, plus practical tools, step-by-step methods, and a supportive community of like-minded people.

In this book, I use personal stories to illustrate life-changing results from the live workshops, attended by hundreds seeking their dreams. Many workshop attendees have gone through them multiple times because they are so impactful.

Paul attended my workshop twice. After the first workshop ended, he sent me a heartwarming but gut wrenching email about the past thirteen years of his life. He was broken, having experienced divorce, financial devastation, a resurgence of PTSD and later addiction to pain meds, the death of a son and more! He said he was in what he called the winter of his life, beaten down with no dreams or hope for the future. Paul told me that learning the content and doing the action steps, had a profound impact on him. It had taken him out of winter into spring and summer. He had a newfound hope and a clear vision of what was possible!

To continue his journey of reinvention, Paul joined my Dream Life Academy. He flew down to Isla Mujeres, Mexico for a one-month Beta Test to see if he would like to live here. He did, very much. Paul returned to Canada spent time with his family for the holidays and returned to Isla to live full time. He had met Diane, another Dream Lifer (Academy member) during his beta test and they had hit it off at once. When Paul returned from Canada, he brought an engagement ring. Diane said yes. Who knows, if you are seeking a life companion, perhaps you will find them in this tribe.

While there are lots of books to help with the mechanics of moving overseas, the financial benefits and logistics of retiring overseas, this book is for people who want to dream again, to explore new possibilities in middle life, for those who feel a deep void and know something important is missing.

This book will help you to Claim Your Dream Life. By the end, you will have a custom roadmap and step by step plan to get you there from wherever you are now. You will also learn how to change your mindset, a skillset we all need to live our best life.

CHAPTER 2:

But Where Do I Start?

Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.

Henry Ford

Here is the fun exercise I promised to share in Chapter One. If you take it seriously, it can shift your thought process and open an entire world of possibilities for your future. Right now, I know you are thinking, it’s just not that simple! But I am here to tell you Yes, It Really Is" and I am here to help you do it. I just ask that you genuinely believe that changing your thoughts can change your life. We are all creative beings and if you take this exercise seriously, your mind will provide you with surprising and amazing possibilities. Take some time with it and let your subconscious go to work. It will come up with amazing things.

Step 1: Imagining a Different Life

The foundation for creating the life we want starts with visualization. Human beings are the only creatures on the planet blessed with the gift of imagination. No other creature on the earth has the ability to envision what their future could be. Our imagination fuels our creativity and helps us bring forth the things we want in our lives. If we can see it all in our mind’s eye first, we can dream it and we can achieve it.

Do not get caught up in the busyness of life, the distractions, and constant demands for our attention. Set aside a time when you can really think about these questions. Think more deeply about your vision, reminisce, reflect, remember moments of joy in your life, let your mind wander and see what comes up for you. Take out a notebook and write down all your responses, thoughts, ideas, and feelings about each