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ExPats Where you at? (2 Viewers)

Highli99 said:
You could emigrate to Coastal Delaware. No sales taxes, 3rd lowest property taxes in country, no tax on retirement income, periodic home to Joe Biden, and generally full of people who feel similarly to you, politically. The climate is only bad 2 months of the year, and great 4. And meh the others.

Getting any construction done is hard and overall similar to challenges you’d encounter in Caribbean islands.

Town politics are similar to national politics, but more personal, less civil, and generally full of sexual innuendo. Outside of incorporated towns it’s pretty normal.
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Friends of mine are probably moving to Lewes. He has a boat and wants to move on the water, can't blame him there.
 
ekricket said:
Seriously, maybe consider downsizing your footprint here - you still have family and friends you will want to see from time to time - and then get 3-6 month work visas in various places, and you can check them out for long term viability.
Maybe also consider a cruise in any areas of the world you may be considering? You can see some of the cities and talk to people that live there.

As they say often here, get samples
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Your suggestion is probably going to be the reality. We are already planning on spending the summer in Colorado Springs, as that is where we'd move if we stay stateside.

The thought of spending 3-6 months outside the US could be a happy medium.
 
CraigT78 said:
Your suggestion is probably going to be the reality. We are already planning on spending the summer in Colorado Springs, as that is where we'd move if we stay stateside.

The thought of spending 3-6 months outside the US could be a happy medium.
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I’ve got a nephew that married a Costa Rican and they live there off of rental units they own there and here. They love it.

I’ve got an older brother that retired and moved to Costa Rica. His wife is very very family oriented. They lasted two months and came back, couldn’t stay away from the family.

It works for some but there are things that tug at you.

We know some Colorado Springers and one, @masonpips has a table and chips, hosts, and plays in some games there.
 
CraigT78 said:
Your suggestion is probably going to be the reality. We are already planning on spending the summer in Colorado Springs, as that is where we'd move if we stay stateside.

The thought of spending 3-6 months outside the US could be a happy medium.
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My goal: max out tourist visa stays, hit up different countries. I suspect the kids would be more willing to visit us then go home for holidays. The downside, is you’re kinda living out of a suitcase. The upside, is you buy very little.

Too many amazing places in the world to stay at home in the burbs, even if the city you live in/near is incredible.
 
PCF ads are trying to tell me something.

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warma said:
My goal: max out tourist visa stays, hit up different countries. I suspect the kids would be more willing to visit us then go home for holidays. The downside, is you’re kinda living out of a suitcase. The upside, is you buy very little.

Too many amazing places in the world to stay at home in the burbs, even if the city you live in/near is incredible.
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Ditch the suitcase. I’m serious. Buy clothes wherever you go, it’s cheap. I joke a lot but this isn’t one of those times. Typically in any of the places mentioned in this thread you can buy tailor made clothes for cheaper than you can possibly imagine.
It’s also amazing how much cheaper food is in those places. In some countries it’s just cheaper to eat out almost every meal than it is to buy the ingredients in bulk and cook and hold leftovers.
A big piece of this is not buying imported goods. It’s hard not to in the US anymore, but in a lot of places locally or in-country produced goods are a thing, and it helps hold prices way down. You may have a town or city and everything the people need to live is made or grown there, and the money used to buy it stays there. Kind of like it was here about 80 years ago before we got addicted to Taiwan, then Japan, and now China.
 
I lived in Malaysia for nearly a year. If you want to travel, it’s an incredible location with access to cheap flights to places like Cambodia, Bali, Philippines, even Australia. Food was great if you weren’t looking for American cuisine. The people were great as well.
 
CraigT78 said:
Off topic discussion.

Recent events have me thinking about YOLO'ing and retiring out of the US. Initial research tells me that Malaysia, Portugal, Costa Rica, and Thailand are viable options for me to retire today and live off $100k/yr until we draw SS. I'm willing to work a bit if needed, but conservative calculations tell me that $90-$100k is a safe assumption.

Do we have any ExPats on the forum that could shed some light on your experiences?
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I'm not an expat yet, but I have been working towards that goal for more than 10 years. Your budget is off the charts. You can live very well for $3K per month in many places that I am interested in (Thailand, Cambodia, Philippines). Also pro tip: have 3 residences in 3 different countries. Be a tourist, not a resident. This solves visa and tax problems. I have real estate in a few different countries as part of my retirement program. Some I will use to live in and the rest will be my income source.
 
LeCoq said:
I'm not an expat yet, but I have been working towards that goal for more than 10 years. Your budget is off the charts. You can live very well for $3K per month in many places that I am interested in (Thailand, Cambodia, Philippines). Also pro tip: have 3 residences in 3 different countries. Be a tourist, not a resident. This solves visa and tax problems. I have real estate in a few different countries as part of my retirement program. Some I will use to live in and the rest will be my income source.
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Interesting plan. I hadn't considered nomading between three countries.

Ideally we'd keep a small house in the US to return to for holidays and visit with friends and family, but I just figured we'd rent a nice condo wherever we decided to land. The more I think about it, the more I like Portugal.

I have 5 kids, no way $3k/no would cut it. I'd still need to budget for helping them out in their early adulthood.
 
CraigT78 said:
Interesting plan. I hadn't considered nomading between three countries.

Ideally we'd keep a small house in the US to return to for holidays and visit with friends and family, but I just figured we'd rent a nice condo wherever we decided to land. The more I think about it, the more I like Portugal.

I have 5 kids, no way $3k/no would cut it. I'd still need to budget for helping them out in their early adulthood.
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Let me know if you need any info related to EU and/or Portugal, now I'm an official EU servant I have access to all specific info needed (or I'll find out).
Wowser, my BFAM only a short flight away....i'm getting degen tingles only thinking about that.

With 5 kids and current standard of living (meaning your alcohol bill :ROFL: :ROFLMAO:).... 8 - 10K will be fine.
A lot will depend on region, housing will be cheaper compared to Texas but don't go too much off grid to ensure good healthcare & mobility.
Weather wise, you will love it there but again...all depends on region (Porto vs Lisabon vs Algarve).
 
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CraigT78 said:
Your suggestion is probably going to be the reality. We are already planning on spending the summer in Colorado Springs, as that is where we'd move if we stay stateside.
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Hmmm, I'm curious -- what is the big attraction in Colorado Springs? Yes, snow and 60-degree days in the winter are nice, but...

My wife grew up in Colorado Springs, school in Fort Collins, worked for the governor in Denver, etc. Came out to DC working for a CO congressman (David Skaggs), which is how we met. The family lived about two blocks from the Broadmoor, and when her mom finally died, none of the five kids wanted the (very nice) house. A shame, really. Especially for us, since we were married in the back yard.. :cool Ourselves, we'd be much more likely to head up toward Boulder or Black Hawk.

There are a lot of realities in Costa Rica, as well. We have two tennis friends, German and Dutch, who ran their Dutch flower exporting business for many years from the Puntarenas area, but when they retired, they headed up here to the Sarasota area. The only thing they still go down there for is serious dental work -- oddly enough, it's a bargain down there.

And another couple, who retired (he) from being food and restaurant critic for an L.A. newspaper, and (she) from a career in nursing and wine importation (don't laugh!) to Tamarindo, and enjoyed it for about two years -- until they were victims of a home invasion, tied to chairs, pistol-whipped, etc.

As they say around here, get samples -- with extended stays in the places you're considering.
 
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Reread through, feels like there’d be more info on this type of topic given our demographics regarding age/money/travel/etc.

Comes up infrequently, but came up again at tonight’s dinner.

You just don’t see a ton of expat families who made the jump with kids approaching/in adolescence. Taking a gander at the various online local expat communities, there’s something for everyone from poker games to doc recs to financial advice, but there’s so little mentioned for kids, trips, play dates, etc. for 10+ yo.

I’m sure the kids will have plenty to complain to their therapists about re mom and dad, would hate to add “they moved us again to a strange land right when we were making our social strides” :ROFL: :ROFLMAO:
 
We moved with three small kids to Mexico (Cabo San Lucas) a few years ago. Planned to stay longer-term, but health issues with family and friends back home necessitated a move back after a little over a year.

It was a great experience in many ways (pace of life was great, beaches and food were awesome, and while the kids didn't become fluent like we hoped, at least they learned some), but also, the day to day living in a place with awful roads and drivers, no mail or package delivery service, corrupt local officials, and where you have to figure out how to find 40k pesos in cash to pay the electric bill every two months sometimes made it feel like the juice wasn't worth the squeeze. Also I had to fly back and forth a lot for work and am now so sick of airports...

Met a lot of other expats down there--and knew some already. Expats tend to be an interesting community.

If anyone has any questions for someone who's tried it (with kids), I'll do my best.
 
You won’t see much for kids because it all happens around the international schools. They are a community in themselves, the kids make friends and you become friends with the parents. The exceptions are when the kids have to go to local schools…

We had kids in international school in Trinidad and Abu Dhabi and it was easy. But my wife didn’t want us traveling when they were in the last few years of school so we stayed put once they were in middle school. Now the youngest is a junior in high school so I only have 2 more years before I can explore traveling again.
 
Just wanted to add, my son is a freshman in college and started last fall. My wife asked him how it was settling in to a new environment and he said that we travelled around so much when he was young that he’s used to moving and it was easy to adapt to his new lifestyle. He’s made new friends and got into the new routine without problem.

So not all expat kids need therapy!
 
Darson said:
Just wanted to add, my son is a freshman in college and started last fall. My wife asked him how it was settling in to a new environment and he said that we travelled around so much when he was young that he’s used to moving and it was easy to adapt to his new lifestyle. He’s made new friends and got into the new routine without problem.

So not all expat kids need therapy!
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I am glad to hear that!

And also think that it's made it easier for mine to fit in and make friends as well, which can't be a bad thing.
 

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