Germany? Native born, but no longer for us ...

Wild, shot in the dark ideas

Malaysia is a lovely country as long as you have the cash to join their second home program.
Loads of English speakers around to it's a very soft landing for expats.

More of a challenge is Indonesia, costs are far cheaper but it's harder work and far fewer people speak English. Even paying medical insurance, what is a nothing income in Europe or the US is a very nice living over here.

Just a couple of thoughts to play with, but only for the very open minded as both options mean a serious lifestyle shift.
The big trick is to pick a place with a Pizza hut as one or more of them means the town has everything you're likely to need for day to day living as a foreigner with foreign tastes.

I tried Thailand but it wasn't to my taste, but that's only me and I know a lot of expats settle there and have a good life.

Is it time to get a little wild?

Thanks, Fred.

Moving Overseas & Culture Shock are not too big of an issue for us. But with our retirement income the cost of healthcare in Malaysia as well as some of the nicer areas to live in, are out of the question for us. If I remember correctly from my research, the climate is also hotter in the summer and during the entirety of the year there is much more rain than in areas of Ecuador that we've been looking at.

As an American Citizen, I would not choose Saudia Arabia due to the current political situation there. We did check into Tunesia too, but the hotter climate was one of the deterrents there as well.

Looked into Thailand & Viet Nam also (ditto on Panama, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica). Thailand is a very close 2nd pick for us, very similar in price to Ecuador, excellent Retirement features, etc. In Ecuador it's the slightly better climate and the US dollar as primary currency, which makes Ecuador a better choice for us. Also, we don't plan on renting. In Thailand land/homes are leased for decades with renewable leases. In Ecuador you can own the property outright. That's another plus for Ecuador.

Hah, I like the idea about looking for a Pizza Hut, that's funny, but probably true.    We've totally gotten away from the fast food chains. I honestly can't remember the last time that we visited KFC, Wendys, McDonalds, Burger King, Subways, or any of those other places. It's been several years, that's for sure. We do buy the occasional "Doener" (Turkish fast food) and fries about every 8 weeks or so ... they're not as fat laden.

We've done tons and tons of online research during all of March 2018, and we're not done yet. We have folders full of bookmarks/favorites with info. that we're analyzing for us. Been Online since 1991, so to us the Internet is like breathing or going to the restroom, just daily life for us. Worked Online for many years too. Heck, my wife and I even met Online back in 1996 ... when most people still thought that that was totally taboo to do ... there were even TV Shows about "The Wicked Web" back then. 

It is a strange idea to post a rant about USA and Germany, coupled with a question about where else it is better to live, in the GERMANY forum.

In any case, with an income of only 2000/month for two, you are near the poverty line in both countries and cannot reasonably expect to benefit from all the niceties both countries offer that do cost money (e.g. car, travel, etc.).
Since you get what you pay for, this will not be better (only different) in any other country - keep in mind that most of them (and especially the "cheaper" ones) fare much lower on any quality of life index than Germany and USA.
In many cases like yours, moving only leads to another "bad" place on the list and the search continues.
I recommend only to move when one has a positive attitude and predominantly pull factors ("I want to move there because ..." instead of "I must leave this place because ..."), as this is necessary to overcome the unavoidable stress, confusion and frustration of an international move in a good mood.

That said, I also disliked Thailand because I wasn't able to get closer to the locals (and hate living in an expat bubble). But if you don't mind that, and have no problems with (or even like) ubiquitous prostitution, you might be fine there. I lived there 10 years ago on not much more than US$1000/month (not counting holidays and international trips, which would be impossible on your budget), although I earned far more. Please note that it is very difficult to get a proper residence visa for Thailand in your situation and, although some poeple do it, I won't recommend living under the radar and doing regular visa runs.
Malaysia (and probably many other countries) welcomes only wealthy expats (in the MM2H programme) , so there is no visa for folks like you.
Indonesia is a wonderful and cheap country for the adventurous and flexible kinds, but not for retirement. I have no idea about the visa situation (I worked there 20 years ago).
Altogether, I prefer living in Germany and, given the very good social security network, excellent health and elder care, plus all the benefits for poorer folks, I wonder why anyone on a limited budget would want to move out. You won't be financially more independent anywhere else!

Problem with the forum is simply that we have interests in various Countries and had no idea that when you sign up with your present location, which appears to be a requirement, that you're then automatically subscribed to the forum of that Country. I was only trying to sign up and say hello, followed by subscribing to threads on my own when I see the ones that are relevant to us. Ah well ...

Thank you for your comments. I wasn't ranting, but rather ... explaining ... since many people tend to provide inaccurate, incomplete, or even downright negative comments, when very little information is provided. If it wasn't for the health insurance in the USA, we could actually live quite comfortably there, since we always purchased our own property no matter where we lived. So when I talk about $2000 monthly ... that means there's no rent or mortgage involved. My wife and I are living very nicely in Germany, in our own paid-for home, with a very nice 3 year old car. It's the weather and 5 months of winter that's been driving us mad for that past 3 years.
5 months winter temperatures ...
10 months grey skies, rain, sleet, or snow ...
1 month of Spring/Fall in between here and there ...
1 month of Summer weather ... 2 weeks in August, the rest scattered ...

I've spent 27 years in Germany over a time period of 50+ years, so I know exactly how things have changed to the worse, regardless how beautiful everything is, that the Country has to offer. Same with the USA, although I have to admit that the rapidly increasing downward spiral in the US during the past 15 to 20 years has been quite shocking to my wife and I. Never would have thought that such a great Country could fall so far and so fast. People are working 2 - 3 jobs, just to survive month to month and pay their bills. No benefits, no free time, no vacation, and more often than not, no affordable healthcare ... which literally causes millions American families to declare bankruptcy every year, due to astronomical medical bills. (boy, I could tell some first hand stories).

Also, I don't know how much research you've done on your own, but there are plenty of Countries that have phenomenal cost of living for well below $1500 or even $1200 monthly for that matter. So with $2000 monthly, living in a place like Ecuador, Thailand, Costa Rica, Tunisia, and several other places, should be no problem at all. And yeah, we're older so we're looking for peace and quiet, as opposed to luxurious travel or sightseeing trips that require the booking of a Motel. Albeit, for that there's plenty of AirBnb available in some of those Countries as well.
Okay, enough of the ranting & raving ... 
Have an awesome day! 

There are general, non-country-specific forums on this site where your thread would be better placed. Check the list at the bottom of this page:
https://www.expat.com/forum/

And by the way: I found more expats complaining about the weather in tropical countries than here (Germany). I must admit that the constant sweatiness with everything rotting and molding quickly does need some getting used to, but I was fine with it in the end. I disliked only those places where the temperature in the cold season goes below comfort, but there are no heaters and thus no place to hide from the cold indoors. This was the case in Taiwan, Southern China, Northern Thailand, Northern India and Tunisia. I find winter much better in temperate climates, where every indoor is warm and you dress appropriately before going out.

Thank you. I already got myself dialed in to some of those other forums. About the heat ...

... we lived on the Gulf coast of Florida for 3 years, and on the East coast of Florida for 6 years, pretty central (but toward the coast), where the summer heat reaches about 33 degrees celsius quite regularily. Combined with 95 to 98 percent humidity ... YES ... it's impossible to walk out of your air-conditioned home without being soaked fairly quickly.

But my wife and I are perfectly fine in temperatures up to 28 or 29 degrees celsius and due to my wife's health condition she actually needs to have around 24 degrees ceslsius 7 days per week. So as long as the climate isn't quite es extreme as it was in Florida, we'll be fine. Thank you for all of your input, it definitely provided a bit of food for thought.

Wow, good luck finding a place that fits all your requirement (AND is cheap).
You certainly don't sound like people ready to step out of your comfort zone!