Sound familiar?
Have you thought about it for years?
- You do the math on your check every month, and it comes out shorter every year.
- You see a woman your age living by the water for less than your rent, and you can’t tell if it’s true.
- Your kids say you’re too old. Some nights you wonder if you waited too long.
- You picture getting sick in a place where you don’t know a soul.
- Every guide you find is written for couples, for men, or for people with savings.
It isn’t you. Nobody wrote it down for a woman on her own, on one check.
What you were told, and what works instead
You’re too old to start over abroad.
The oldest woman I ever helped move was 81. The Fit Test asks what your health and your check can carry, not how old you are. p. 12
You need a husband or a fortune to retire overseas.
By the 2000s most of my clients were women on their own, on one check. On $2,089 a month, 13 countries on the table still let you in. p. 17
Buy a place so you’re settled.
Rent first. For 26 years I watched the women who rented first make fewer expensive mistakes. Thirty days, one suitcase, a pen. p. 85
Healthcare is the scary part, so leave it for later.
Look at it first. Medicare usually doesn’t pay for care outside the U.S., so every card ends on who looks after you there at 80. p. 76
Living alone abroad means being lonely.
Alone isn’t lonely. Aim for three faces by the end of month one, and try two of the five doors in. p. 92
Look inside
Four real pages from the book
Swipe to see all 4 pages →
What’s inside Not Too Late to Go
Not Too Late to Go is the one-check way to choose: 20 country cards and one table, so you find your three countries in one evening with a pen.
| # | Part | Page |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Start Here: Not Too Late? The Fit Test. Ten questions with a pen that narrow twenty countries to your three. | 10 |
| 2 | The One-Check Table. Every country on one page: what one woman spends, the income line, care, heat. | 17 |
| 3 | Twenty Country Cards. One card per country, the same parts in the same order, to lay side by side. | 26 |
| 4 | Choosing Your Town and Your Street. Find a street you can walk at 80: pharmacy, market, clinic and a place to sit. | 69 |
| 5 | Care as You Age Abroad. What Medicare won’t do abroad, help at home, and who comes if you fall. | 76 |
| 6 | The Trial Stay and Your First 90 Days. Rent before you buy: the 30-day trial stay, my fourteen boxes, your first 90 days. | 85 |
| 7 | Finding Your People. Five doors in, one a week, until three faces would notice you missing. | 92 |
| 8 | Telling Your Kids. Tell your kids so they help instead of worry, with the visit plan and family page. | 98 |
| 9 | If You Go Home. When coming back is the right call, and how to do it with your head up. | 104 |
A few things you’ll find out
- The five countries I’d look at first if you can’t drive anymorep. 24
- What a $2,089 check leaves you each month in Ecuadorp. 17
- What Mexico’s IMSS charges a year at 60, at 70 and at 80p. 53
- Kristen’s one question for every care plan, from a hospice nursep. 76
- What I put in my own fourteen boxes, and what I left behindp. 89
- What the return shipments taught me about the women who came home wellp. 104
At the back: who to ask and where, the numbers the book works with, conversions, and printable pages for your three countries, the trial stay and your first month.
Why I wrote it
Twenty-six years of other women’s kitchen tables
For 26 years I ran the overseas desk at a moving company in San Diego. I did the estimates at kitchen tables, where the real decisions happen.
By the 2000s most of my clients were women on their own. Retired teachers, nurses, school secretaries, most of them on one check. Nearly every one asked me first: am I too old for this?
Most of those shipments never came back. Some did, and I booked those too. The women who stayed rented first, looked at the doctor before the view and found their people early. None of it was luck.
In 2017, at 62, I clipped a fresh inventory sheet to my old clipboard and packed my own move. Fourteen boxes, alone, to a lake town in the highlands of Mexico. I didn’t need a fifteenth.
This book is what I’d tell you at your kitchen table, country by country, with a cup of coffee.
Joanne Tally
Is it for you?
It’s for you if
- You’re a woman on your own, or about to be, and home is getting hard to afford
- You’ve dreamed about it for years and have no clue where to start
- You want honest numbers with the month they were checked
- You want to know who will look after you there as you get older
It’s not for you if
- You want someone to file your visa or do your taxes for you
- You want a glossy travel brochure
- You want a dating guide
What it won’t do
It won’t file your visa, do your taxes or pick your insurance. For residency, ask the consulate or a licensed immigration lawyer. For taxes, Social Security and Medicare, the IRS, the SSA and a licensed professional. For your health, your doctor.
Rules and prices change
Every rule and price carries its source and the month I read it, October 2026. Check the official page again before you sign anything.
Where I’ve lived
I’ve lived in only two countries, the United States and Mexico. The others I know through the women I moved, their letters, and the published sources named beside every figure.
Get Not Too Late to Go
Not Too Late to Go
- 20 country cards: what one woman spends, the way in, care nearby and life without a car
- The one-check table: every country on one page, so you cross out what your check can’t reach
- The Fit Test: ten questions with a pen, about 20 minutes, and you have your three
- Care as you age abroad, with the emergency page to keep by the door
- The 30-day trial-stay planner and my fourteen-box moving list
- Finding your people and telling your kids, with the family page they’ll want
- Printable pages on ordinary letter paper, and a quick reference of who to ask
- PDF and EPUB, for your phone, tablet, computer or e-reader
Secure checkout. One payment. No subscription.
Right after you pay, the download page opens, and the link comes by email too. Start with the Fit Test on page 12: about 20 minutes with a pen, and you’ll have your three countries.
The Return-Shipment Promise
In my old job, if a move didn’t work out, I booked the shipment home, no questions. Same with this book. If it doesn’t help you within 30 days, write to me and you get every cent back. You keep the book.
Questions women ask me
Did I wait too long?
The oldest woman I ever helped move was 81. The Fit Test asks what your health and your check can carry, and there’s a page for women 75 and older.
Can I really live on my Social Security?
The book works it out on $2,089, the average retired worker’s check in September 2026. Thirteen countries let you in on it, two more with a bank deposit, and Ecuador’s $910 month leaves about $1,179. Put your own number in.
Will you tell me how to get my visa?
Each card shows the residency route and its income line as the government publishes it, with the month I read it. For the application itself, ask the consulate or a licensed immigration lawyer.
What about healthcare as I get older?
It’s on every card, and every card ends on who looks after you there at 80. A whole part covers what Medicare won’t do abroad, help at home and who comes if you fall.
Is it safe for a woman on her own?
I won’t call a whole country safe or unsafe. Every card gives the official US travel advisory, with the month it was read, and the towns published guides name for women on their own.
How do I read it? Is it a paper book?
It’s a PDF and an EPUB for your phone, tablet, computer or e-reader. The Fit Test, the planners and the family page print on ordinary letter paper.
What if it’s not for me?
Write to me within 30 days and you get every cent back. You keep the book.
Why is there a clock on the page?
The launch price of $27 holds for 20 minutes on your screen. After that it goes to $37, and that’s the real price.
Find your three countries tonight
Open the Fit Test with a pen and a cup of coffee. By bedtime the 20 cards are three, and you’ll know why.
You’re not too late. You’re just not packed yet. Joanne
P.S. P.S. 20 country cards, the one-check table and the Fit Test for $27, one payment. If it doesn’t help within 30 days, every cent comes back and you keep the book.