Dying to Retire is straight talk for men who already did the time — Boomers, early Gen X, former federal employees — and are done pretending retirement is a vision board.
Doug came up in a small town, did a Marine Corps hitch in the 1980s, then worked blue-collar, white-collar, and finally a federal career. Over 40 years in. He walked away on his own terms. No HR-speak. No toxic positivity. No polish.
Now he’s on the ground at Casa Douglas, the retirement house outside Antigua, Guatemala, that he planned while he was still on the clock. Mini-fridge weeks, techs who walk off the job, FERS cliffs, residency paperwork, marriage math, and why some countries are starting to protect men while the West writes new ways to bill them.
Firepit, cigar, beer. The money, the identity shift, and the unfiltered reality of leaving.
Questions or comments: dyingtoretirepodcast@gmail.com
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#053: Week 3 at Casa Douglas, Claro Runaround, 5 Hours in the Rain & Lessons Learned!
In this episode, Doug is back at Casa Douglas outside Antigua for Week 3 — mini-fridge living is over, but now it's an internet war, a theft lesson, and Mad Max detours.
What started as a simple Claro install turned into a week-long runaround, a WiCom van he sent away over 999 quetzales a month, a blocked conduit, 5 hours in the rain on a Sunday install, throttled from 250 Mbps to 10 Mbps until first payment, and a power bank that walked off during the fridge install. Plus, the new traffic circle detour, starting Spanish tutoring, and why curtains just became urgent.
As always, I'm Doug. This is Dying to Retire. And I'll see you on the next episode.
Questions or comments?
Email dyingtoretirepodcast@gmail.com
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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DyingToRetirePodcast
28 Sept 2026
#052: First Two Weeks at Casa Douglas, Panama Criminalizes Paternity Fraud, & Britain’s War on Unmarried Men
In this episode, Doug is finally at Casa Douglas outside Antigua — mini-fridge living, an F9 AC error the community office will not fix, a half-painted fountain, and an appliance tech who walked off the job. Salesman Miguel had to come back that night and finish the install. No car, bad roadwork, Uber drivers who want extra quetzales, and furniture shopping with a wife who does not budget like a dude.
Then the show leaves the house. Britain’s proposed Cohabitation Rights Bill would give unmarried partners a cut of a man’s pension, property, and pre-relationship assets. Doug ties that to why men stopped marrying — and why some are leaving the West.
The closer: Panama’s Bill 510 makes paternity fraud a crime — prison time, mandatory DNA, no statute of limitations, and support orders canceled when the lie is proven. El Salvador is talking mandatory testing at birth. A small Central American country just did more for men than London or D.C.Questions or comments?
Email dyingtoretirepodcast@gmail.com
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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DyingToRetirePodcast
3 Sept 2026
#051: Insurance Bureaucracy Nightmares, FERS Supplement Cliff, and the Death of Accountability
In this episode, Doug gives us an update on why he’s stuck in Maryland instead of setting up Casa Douglas in Guatemala. He details the absolute nightmare of dealing with bank and insurance bureaucracy — from insurance and mortgage companies taking weeks to cross-check paperwork for a main line repair to waiting nearly a month for an adjuster to look at a leaking sunroof.
He drops a practical tip for anyone working through Guatemala residency, breaking down how doing your own state-side apostille work can save you over $1,000 to put toward your home.
He then tackles federal retirement math and explains the FERS Special Retirement Supplement "cliff" at age 62 — why it disappears whether you claim Social Security or not.
Doug wraps up with a raw perspective calling out modern society's total collapse of personal accountability — taking aim at the academic fraud scandal surrounding fake Cambridge professor Jason Arday, the media excuses in high-profile violent crime cases, and a lighthearted rant about why men will never loan out their shoes.
Questions or comments? Email me at dyingtoretirepodcast@gmail.com Follow me on X: https://x.com/Dying2Retire (https://x.com/Dying2Retire) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DyingToRetirePodcast (https://www.youtube.com/@DyingToRetirePodcast)
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