You are somewhat overblowing the situation. Mexican financial solvency requirements are fairly low to get temporary or permanent residency. I applied for and received permanent residency for our entire family with 12 months of statements of a reasonably sized 401k. Portugal’s D7 visa requires $9k/year in passive income for a single person, $18k for a family of four (these numbers are likely lower now with the EUR approaching parity with the USD). These are not crazy numbers to accomplish. They’ll also accept a remote job if your company attests that they supports you doing so. I learned this from casual reading of Facebook groups and a gaggle of Reddit subreddits, confirming ground truth with immigration attorneys.

It is not one click, for sure, but these hurdles are nothing tremendous to overcome for a functioning adult. It is a reasonable path for people who have been priced out of a good life in the US by way of its economic and policy configuration. If the situation isn’t going to improve, you shop for a better jurisdiction to exist in.

Eh, depends on where you decide to go.

Switzerland & New Zealand-- yes, to all that stuff.

But Mexico? You purchase a 6 month visa (which is just a paper receipt and a passport stamp) at the airport, border crossing, or immigration office, for about $40. Stay longer? No problem, just pay a small fine ($30? I forgot the exact price) when you leave.

Learn a foreign language-- Spanish is among the easiest to learn. And there are bountiful opportunities in the US to learn, between classes & native speakers.

partner/dependents-- of course, this depends

friends/family-- yes, but you can visit them, they can visit you. And if you're willing to be outgoing, you can build new friendships they sometimes even become like family (or actual family)

One can see it positively-- as a growth experience. Or one can see it any way they choose.

The level of ease depends on many factors, including how much a person invests in consumer objects-- such as expensive furniture or vehicles. Personally, I've always bought used furniture at goodwill, and cheap used vehicles. And so I'm not super attached to most of my stuff. There is storage available for some things as well.