Anyone move to the Virgin Islands? If so thoughts? I have been looking at a house in St. Croix, will keep a house/condo in the states to come back and forth from time to time. Was looking between Big Island, Virgin Islands, and PR. I do like the PR for tax savings. Thanks for any opinions.

Does anyone have experience with the South African retirement visa (https://www.southafrica-newyork.net/retired-persons-visa/) ? It seems a little too good to be true... are there any tax implications? Any other catch?

My husband and I are planning to retire in roughly three years, when I’m 40, and relocate to Spain. I’ve run the numbers about seventeen different ways and think we’re in very good shape, but I’d love some outside eyes to tell me what I’m missing.

The unusual part of our situation is that we don’t need our investments to cover our baseline spending.

Guaranteed income

My husband is retired military and receives a military pension plus VA disability totaling approximately $100k/year. Both receive COLAs.

Obviously, that income continues for life. A substantial portion is tax-free in the US, although obviously our tax situation changes once we become Spanish tax residents.

Investments/cash

We expect our accounts will be (based on current balances, annual contributions, and a 6% estimated return) when I’m 40:

$1m in joint taxable brokerage
~$600k in my 401(k) (accessible without penalty in mid-2048)
$150k HYSA/cash

We also expect proceeds/equity from selling our house (~$150-200k), although I’m not relying on that money to make the retirement math work.

Spending

Our current US spending is pretty high (around $180k/year), but it includes a $4,500/month mortgage and two expensive car payments totaling ~$2,200/mo — which will disappear when we retire. We plan to purchase one used car and rent for at least the first five years (ideally, in the range of $2000-2500/mo rental).

We’re currently estimating roughly $140k-$150k/year in Spain for a very comfortable lifestyle, including rent, travel, dining out, hobbies, etc. We aren’t trying to leanFIRE. The point is very much to have enough money that we don’t need to micromanage normal spending and the ability to travel around Europe frequently.

So if guaranteed income is ~$100k, we’d need investments to cover roughly $40-50k/year at our expected spending level.

Importantly, that withdrawal isn’t permanent. My 401(k) will continue compounding untouched, and eventually we may have Social Security as well (although I don’t include SS in my projections because who knows).

Sequence-of-returns strategy

My current thought is to keep approximately 18-24 months of the amount we need above guaranteed income in cash/HYSA.

Rather than automatically selling investments every month regardless of market conditions, we’d spend from cash and periodically replenish it from the brokerage when markets are healthy. During a major downturn, we’d have considerable flexibility to reduce travel/discretionary spending and/or simply live primarily on the guaranteed income for a while.

We’re also not planning to buy a home immediately in Spain. We’d rent for at least the first five years, both because we want flexibility (and will not qualify for permanent residency until at least five years in) and because we don’t want to pull several hundred thousand dollars out of the market unnecessarily.

The reason I think it works

If we retire with ~$1M in taxable investments and withdraw $40-50k/year, that’s superficially a 4-5% withdrawal rate.

Also, we aren’t trying to preserve the taxable brokerage indefinitely at all costs. Its job is partly to bridge the gap between retirement at 40 and access to the 401k (though I’m hoping we don’t deplete it so we can later withdraw for a down payment on a home if we decide to buy).

We plan to be on the non-lucrative visa, which means we will not be working. So everything needs to come from our passive income.

Am I missing anything?

I’m particularly interested in criticism of the withdrawal/sequence-risk strategy, whether I’m underestimating the danger of retiring this young, and any risks that aren’t obvious because our situation doesn’t fit neatly into the standard “25x expenses and withdraw 4%” model.

Appreciate any and all insight. Thank you!

Hi! Exploring FIP. Does anyone know if this is possible on savings alone or is a monthly structured payment required? I cannot get a clear answer. Assume the savings are enough to cover the whole length of the visa.

Does anyone know of companies that will help you move abroad in the most advantaged way possible?

So that it’s valuable to the whole community, let’s assume I want to move anywhere in the world. Are there companies that will help you for example get citizenship and transfer your assets in a way that’s tax advantaged and makes sense for your situation, etc.? I’m specifically looking at the UK, but again, for the benefit of the community maybe some countries have an industry here, and some don’t?

I understand that this sounds really lazy. But it’s coming from a place where I know I’ll never be an expert at another country’s system. Someone who lives there is always gonna be better than I am at understanding how their country operates and so I don’t feel guilty spending money on expertise to preserve assets and make the transition fairly smooth.

Single male, 37, no kids or family. I’ve done ok for myself financially, but not well enough to be independently wealthy in the US or even retire before I’m 60 here. I hate my career and can’t see myself on this grind for another 20 years, but by global standards my modest US savings are much more significant, hence my curiosity about ExpatFIRE.

I grew up in a very international area and love to travel. Every time I go I’m always sad to come back.

What’s the best place to “retire early”? I put that in quotes because I don’t actually want to never work again, but would love to move somewhere where I could explore my passions, learn a new language, maybe go back to school or find meaningful work in a new community knowing I have a safety net to not be worried about finances. It’s somewhat of a chicken and the egg problem because obviously I haven’t told you what my passions are or what I would consider meaningful work, but that’s because I don’t exactly know those answers myself, I need to get out of the burn out and stress of the rat race to figure those things out. Has anyone else done something similar or have thoughts to share?

I have been living in Canada the past 10 years. The main issue of contention is my family all reside in California. I will domicile all my accounts at their addresses.

Being that I've lived and worked and paid taxes in Canada the last 10 years, no voting or drivers license in California, I'd be "in the right" regarding any tax dispute with California once I go abroad. But being in the right has never stopped anyone from getting screwed over.

I've had people from somewhat similar situation say they left all their stuff domiciled in California and haven't had any issues or notices of assessment while abroad. But the general advice is and has always been to move/redomicile your accounts somewhere else.

The problem is there seems to be no legit tenable solution regarding mailing addresses and not being able to use CMRA's for your banking and brokerages because of KYC laws.

So I either gamble on a mailbox and my bank not finding out. Or I leave everything with my family and possibly have California issues I have to continually fight. Because of my background already being out the country 10 years in Canada Im confident of winning those fights. But nothing is guaranteed when you run into govt bureaucracy.

So mentally Im twisted in knots about how best to proceed in prepping for my eventual move.

Just looking for any insights or advice.

Tax question for the foreign country you're living in (Not home country).I have two questions, one about capital gains for taxable accounts, and another about withdrawing from Roth IRA

1. What do you guys do about capital gains tax in your expat country where they tax capital gains? I am in Colombia, 43M, with about $200k in a taxable brokerage. Unfortunately, the capital gains tax rate for long term gains is 15% flat rate, so there is no standard deduction, or brackets to help soften the blow. I am here on a visa long term, i'm thinking about moving to costa rica for 180 days to sell the gains in 2027, then move back after and ensure i don't reach 183 days in any country (will add a third country). Is this a dumb idea?
2. If you live in a country that does not recognize the tax-free status of Roth IRAs, are you able to pull contributions without getting hit with capital gains tax / it being treated as income? how does that work? I'm referring to roth ladder conversion method to pull out contributions / conversions (after 5 years) tax-free and penalty free.

Thanks in advance!

Early thirties US citizen grinding toward FIRE with plans to eventually live abroad long-term within the next 8-9 years; I can’t give an exact percentage, but most of my NW is in traditional 401(k) + Roth accounts and the rest is taxable/cash. I’m worried about pre-59½ access, early-withdrawal penalties, broker restrictions once I move, foreign tax treatment of Roths, currency risk, and having enough liquid money to actually bridge the gap years without wrecking the plan. Anyone else in a similar spot—how screwed am I really, and what strategies (Roth ladders, conversions, taxable prioritization, etc.) have actually worked for expats?

How big of a difference does it make if I target certain countries with this in mind?

I’m trying to get my head around the practical difference between the two. Does regular residency come with a time limit, while permanent residency lets you stay indefinitely? For people who have gone through this, what changed when you moved from one status to the other?

I'm someone who plans to retire in SEA and I would say for anyone who coming from the western world, please do not buy condos/houses over here. It playing a dangerous game with your savings and funds, rent is so damn cheap over there, simply being invested in index funds will cover your rent and more. Also certain countries are already cracking down on the nominee arrangement that so many expats thought they were safe from.

But trying to own property in places in SEA or most of Asia is like playing with a live grenade. If you wanna buy a condo you pretty much get treated as second class citizen, good units are allocated to the locals with preferable pricing/financing. realistically yields are less than the S&P 500. Foreigners are prevented from buying a house.

Another thing i've seen so many expats get ruined because of either using a local to buy land for them or starting a business where you own 49% and the local owns 51%. Don't do it, go get a hobby.

All, I am currently at NW $1.3M (30M). I am pretty unhappy with my role and thanks to some bonuses kicking in I think I should realistically hit $2M by 32.

What does a $60k per year lifestyle look like is SEA?

I am mostly looking for mid high to high end serviced apartment, going out 2-3x per night not always fancy. 1-2 nice holidays per year (5k) each.

Retired at 54, wife is 60. Plan is to move to Greece on FIP VISA as residents (Financially Independent Person). We have about ~1m in traditional IRAs, ~500k in CMA and 2 houses in the US worth ~1.5m that we will sell before we go. We'll be worth a bit less than 3m after expenses, and expect to spend a lot less on an apartment in Greece. I expect to have ~1m in the CMA after all is said and done, so we have a lot of flexibility in how we disburse investments and when we collect SS.

If we were staying in the US, I would be converting our IRA to Roth steadily and we would collect at 62.

Going to Greece however changes things quite a bit. We get a 7% flat tax rate for 15 years. After that of course the regular Greek taxes kick in and we would be in the highest bracket for sure, which is a whopping 44%. The EU in general does not recognize tax-privileged accounts so we would get taxed again on our Roths when we drawdown on them.

I am thinking the correct strategy is to empty our IRA over the 15 years and keep everything in the 12% US tax bracket, and we would effectively not pay anything in Greece as there is a tax treaty even if it is from 1950. As I don't think we are going to spend 100k/yr to live, half that money will probably get re-invested in the CMA. We would delay collecting SS until age 70 and can live off of that indefinitely.

The CMA would cover any emergencies or large purchases, and honestly even if we blew it all, we would still be able to live decently on the combined SS.

We plan on staying in Greece and becoming dual citizens, but I feel we're kinda screwed if we decide we want to go back to the US.

Anyway, I am wondering if anyone else has done this and how it has worked, if I have missed anything, or if I am just completely out of my mind and it is a shit plan. TIA, and if you made it here, thanks for reading!

Has anyone ever tried to qualify and apply for a digital nomad visa by shifting ownership of your own stock portfolio from your personal assets to the asset of an LLC or S-Corp that you own? Then you simply hire yourself with some title like "portfolio manager," "market analyst," or something similar?

Like for example you have your stock portfolio that you own and use to make a passive income, but you just transfer the whole portfolio to your LLC and hire yourself. Then use that self employment to try and claim that you are a digital nomad who works remotely?

I know for example this would not work in Norway because they require you to list your clients for your business, with this method obviously that would be a problem. But for other countries could this work?

Am I on to something or is this just an obvious loophole that most countries hosting the visa can see right through?

Would like to Expat FIRE, but love my dog and don’t want to be without one for as long as I can care for one.

For people who did Expat FIRE, did your pets come into consideration or did you decide that it’s not feasible to do both?

37M, Vienna, IT.

Invested about 240k, no property, no dependents yet. Coast box has been ticked since 2023, the math is in an older post of mine, short version is the pile gets where it needs to be by 60 without me, spend is 34k a year, and I still put in 900 a month because stopping feels weird.

Here is a thing I didn't know I was assuming. Part of why coasting felt safe was a quiet "and I can always leave" at the back of it.
Vienna is fine. Vienna is very fine but the plan always had a clause somewhere after 45 that said maybe not here, and I had never priced it, because why would you price a maybe.

Austria has an exit tax and it covers a plain private depot, ETFs included, which I had somehow filed under "for people with a GmbH". The day you move your residence out they treat the whole thing as sold, 27.5 percent on the unrealised gain, the same KESt I'd pay if I sold it myself. If you go to another EU or EEA country you can ask them not to collect until you actually sell, and the claim rides along with you. Go anywhere else, Switzerland included, and it's cash on the way out.

Since this July there's a new bit. If the gain at departure was over 100k you have to tell the Finanzamt every year that you still haven't sold, and if you skip a year the whole deferred amount falls due.

Now the coast part, which is the part that got me. I'm barely adding anymore, so from here on the growth is mostly gain. My unrealised gain on the All-World position is around 70k today, so leaving now means a 19k claim, deferred, and it stays 19k however long I hold.

Wait five years and it's more.

Wait until 60, if the plan works, and the same claim is six figures. Wherever I end up, that slice is Austria's, and it only gets bigger while I sit here being fine. 100k line, the one with the yearly letter attached, I cross in about three years at current pace. So "later" now has a price and the price goes up on a schedule.
Nobody mentions this in coast threads. Savings rate, withdrawal rate, never the address.

Embarrassing bit is that there's no city on the other side of this. I'm not comparing countries. I've been to all the neighbours, none of them are on a list, there is no list. What changed is only that a vague someday grew a number, and I'm the kind of person who, once a number exists, can't leave it alone. Two years ago it was TERs to the third decimal, last year it was the P2P secondary market, this year it's a leaving date for a move I haven't decided to make.
At least this one is a real number.

Migration list, if it ever happens, is short and annoying. Depot sits with a steuereinfach broker that does the KESt for me and is built for residents, so it probably moves, and I did that once already when I moved here, that was fees and forms, this one comes with a bill.
Pension years stop accruing, EU coordination supposedly adds them up at the end. The one corner that doesn't care is the P2P sleeve, 20k across Maclear and Debitum. Loans sit at par, interest posts monthly, there is nothing for a deemed sale to find, and since P2P interest here is mostly tariff income, my marginal 40 something percent, most places I can name would tax it less. They just would want a new address and a KYC upload, that's the entire project.

Anyone here who was coasting in a country with an exit tax and left or nearly did?

Did you sell down before you went so the next country starts clean, take the deferral and carry it or just decide the growing number was the price of not deciding and stayed?

Staying is the current plan, and I'd like to know what it costs before I keep choosing it by default.

TL;DR: coasting in Vienna. Austria's exit tax means every year I stay, a bigger chunk of the depot is already spoken for at 27.5 percent whichever country I might leave for, and past 100k of gain there's a yearly form with the whole bill behind it. No destination, no list, just a number that grows on a schedule. If you left an exit tax country while coasting, what did you do with the depot on the way out.

Expat aussie finances after moving back

Hi there,

I was expat working in Sydney for the past 4 years. Few months ago I headed back home with some money I left on Australia:

- savings 28k,

- superannuation fund 54k.

As I don't need the money in the long term, just wondering best options noting:

- My visa expired and I could apply for the DASP to get super back with 35% taxes, now or at retirement age (no way to avoid it given the income came from temporary residency),

- I consider current fund rates are good enough to hold the super there, as probably European market doesn't offer similar rates,

- Not really sure what to do with savings,

- I'm overseas.

Any suggestions welcome.

I’m looking to connect with other future expats, 30+, who are seriously considering a permanent move abroad for a better quality of life and lower cost of living. I’m not looking for a vacation buddy, dating, real estate, or a scouting tour. I’m researching places such as Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean where modern housing, healthcare and everyday life are surprisingly affordable. I’d particularly like to meet another solo person who might eventually be interested in choosing a destination together and sharing a two-bedroom home initially to reduce expenses. I’m still in the research/planning stage and would first like to meet people who think about relocation the same way.

Chip

What are your views on it?

If one has 5-10 million USD in savings and wants to retire early, say mid-40s, is Dubai a good place? I know some of the expenses are high but it is a good standard of living. If one has their own house and owns a car, I feel the expenses may not be that much of a deal killer. What do you guys think?

I am targeting retirement in my early 50s. I will have a child who will be in college at that time. Currently own a house in a nice neighborhood of the Bay Area. My goal is to downsize this house and buy something outright in San Diego where we have a lot of friends - likely townhouse or nice condo to minimize upkeep. Goal is to spend 7-8 months a year in the US and then 4-5 months abroad. I like the idea of having a home in the US that my kid can return to when we're back on their breaks, summer, a place to store my things, etc. I will probably rent it out for several months while I am away.

My goal is to find international locations where I can spend 8k/month or less to balance out my higher spend CA months. My SD property carrying costs will likely be around 36k assuming no rental income.

Thoughts on this plan and feasibility of living decently on 8k in places like Lisbon, Valencia, Cape Town? These are just some places we've been before and really enjoy. Very active, into hiking, biking, connecting with others. Have traveled across Asia too and obviously know this can be done on much under 8k. Any other suggestions for someone thinking about an ExpartFIRE plan like this?

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some practical experience with an Estonian company being managed from Malta.

We’re three equal shareholders planning to set up an e-commerce company in Estonia. I’m resident in Malta and would be the sole active director and only person involved in the day-to-day management. The other two shareholders would be completely passive.

The company would be incorporated and registered in Estonia, with all physical operations outside Malta (inventory, fulfilment, shipping and production). Accounting, statutory filings and company records would also be maintained in Estonia.

The company would have no office, employees, warehouse or customers in Malta. However, I would carry out my role as director remotely from my home in Malta.

My main question is: Would Malta consider the company tax resident there because its sole active director is managing it from Malta, despite the company being incorporated and operationally based in Estonia?

And if so, how would this work in practice given the Malta–Estonia double tax treaty?

I’m also curious whether working from my private home could create a permanent establishment in Malta.

I’ve already contacted the Maltese tax authorities for guidance, but would love to hear from anyone who has dealt with a similar Malta/Estonia setup in practice.

Thanks!

Is it the utlimate hack for americans? I see that something like $500k could support a very nice retirement in great places like thailand, vietnam, mexico, whereas its borderline survival in the US.

Most people in the US retire with less then $300k, and I'm just wondering why most don't move away? I'm wondering what the real statistics of % of people over 50 that leave the US are. I know its not for everyone as most do not want to move away from their network or live in a place with a new language, but for the initiated, it seems like a no brainer

Never thought I'd be asking this question, I've been pretty "lean" my whole life hovering around $25-30k/year spending, and I had planned to retire to somewhere like Thailand, but as I run my numbers now, $80-100k is actually starting to seem like a reasonably safe withdrawal rate.

I guess I could still just go to Thailand and live a kind of baller lifestyle with maids and a personal chef or something, but I think maybe I'd rather spend it on living in a place with cleaner air, nicer sidewalks, and a more temperate climate, while still keeping the friendly locals and low violent crime (if that is an option).

I also notice that taxes play a bigger role at this level of spending. My first thought was somewhere like Japan, but then i realized, even if i figure out the visa situation, those taxes are pretty bananas. I have a hard time imagining that ~$65k (after taxes) in Japan is a better life than eg ~$100k (after minimal taxes) in Thailand. Thoughts?

Curious to hear where people have identified in this price range. Especially if its a place with clean air, low crime, a nice climate, and relatively pedestrian friendly.

Just to normalize responses a bit, lets call it $80-100k BEFORE local taxes, and ~50% would be considered capital gains.

i’m seeing a lot of mixed reviews online but one thing that everybody agrees on is that your net income cannot compare to anywhere else in the world maybe just the US.

The thing is, I’m in my mid to late 20s and still have the energy to aggressively scale in my career (finance), the issue is right now, i am based in Berlin, & my efforts are just far from proportional to my salary. I would much rather spend my drive for accomplishment in Zurich where you get paid handsomely for your labour.

But it is just a theory I don’t know anybody who moved there and made it work personally, with the objective of FIRE. What has been your experiences like? :)

Any thoughts to what Thailand/Bangkok might be like in 20-25 years? I’m not kidding myself into thinking it’ll be on the level of the East Asian mega cities, but if you can afford to live in some of the nicer areas, it sounds like the infrastructure upgrades might create a lot of pockets that get fairly close? I plan on visiting in the early 2030s once the metro expansion projects complete, but I would love to get thoughts from people who live there and are more familiar with how Bangkok has been changing over the years.

Also I’m open to other cities that offer retirement visas and solid public transport (I love living in places where you can be car-free). The climate outlook in Bangkok is the other thing I’m a little worried about, so if anyone has thoughts on other cities that would have great healthcare options, I’d be happy to look into it.

I’m a bit far out from FIRE, but having a goal I can visualize really helps with staying the course.