Tag: expatriation

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Six reasons to consider Ecuador

April 20, 2010 Cuenca, Ecuador Ecuador is not one of those places on everyone’s radar. In fact, when I recently announced that I would be returning to Ecuador, I received a handful of subscriber emails like this one: “Why are you wasting your time in that communist money pit? [SB: strange choice of

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This place may be your Shangri-La

April 13, 2010 Medellin, Colombia Just about anyone who has been to Medellin, Colombia in the past 5 years will tell you that the city is about as perfect as it gets. I’m one of them. Travel there yourself and you’ll find that it’s no understatement. Medellin is one of Colombia’s largest cities,

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7 hard truths about New Zealand

April 1, 2010 Panama City, Panama No place is perfect. There’s not a single country on the planet that is a total paradise, so prospective expats need to be willing to make compromises and trade-offs. Naturally, it’s much better to be well-informed in advance about the challenges and limitations about a particular country…

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7 reasons why you should consider Malaysia

March 22, 2010 Hong Kong, SAR If you have been considering planting a flag somewhere in Asia, I think you should really consider Malaysia. I briefly discussed the country in Friday’s Q&A updates, but I wanted to dedicate a full letter on the subject because I really think the country is worthy of

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The best places in the world to meet like-minded expats

March 3, 2010 Pattaya, Thailand One of reasons that a lot of people are hesitant about making a move overseas is because they’re concerned about being isolated. The world can be a cruel place, especially to newbies. Sure there are the nomads out there who want to be left alone with their little

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Second passports and citizenship

February 23, 2010 Pattaya, Thailand Throughout our conversations, we have routinely discussed the importance of planting multiple flags. If you live, work, bank, invest, own a business, and hold your assets in the same country of your citizenship, you are putting all of your eggs in one basket, and once that basket heads

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Why you don’t want to go at it alone

Blair is in her early 40s from Southern California.  She’s intelligent, fairly aggressive, and an experienced financial executive at a mid-sized manufacturing company. In total, she has about $250,000 in savings, some of which she used to buy property in Panama. She is single with no children and has been traveling to Panama

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Panama vs. Costa Rica

January 27, 2010 El Valle, Panama For a future expat, there are three places worth seriously considering in Central America– Panama, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.  Much is written about Panama, and rightfully so; the country is the most stable, economically liberal, and business oriented. Not to be completely ignored, though, Costa Rica has

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Go to this city if you want to disappear

January 18, 2010 Tangier, Morocco If you’re on the run and looking for a place to lay low, one city you should consider is Tangier. You have to start with a bit of history– as far back as the days of the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, Tangier was an important commercial center due to

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How to avoid living in a police state

If I have been too subtle in the past, let me be absolutely clear this afternoon: the time to do something, the time to take action to safeguard your future and your families livelihood, is NOW. I’m more impassioned than usual this morning… and with reason.  Reluctantly, I tuned in to Team Obama’s

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How to value foreign property

January 6, 2010 Reporting from: Estepona, Spain I’m sitting now in lovely Estepona, Spain– a coastal town on the Mediterranean that experienced a massive property boom over the last decade. The community I’m in is anchored by a five-star Ritz Carlton golf resort, and surrounded on all sides by the mountains or the

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Multiple Flags Overview

Reporting from: Malaga, Spain I do not have tremendous faith in world ‘leaders’ (as ridiculous a moniker as that is to use); last month’s debacle in Copenhagen only further underscored how perverse and ineffective the existing political process is, and everyone is really starting to see it. The Social Contract is deteriorating rapidly,

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Why not Thailand and Uruguay?

Seriously… isn’t it time the investment community stopped listening to the rating agencies? Moody’s, Fitch, and S&P– these are the usual suspects who completely missed the boat on the US sub-prime debacle.  Back in 2005, they gave pristine credit ratings to risky mortgage portfolios stuffed full of borrowers who are notorious for not

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It’s not your problem, it’s my problem

Tony looked the part– measuring tape draped over his shoulder, wire frame spectacles, and ashy hands that had been sullied by the chalk marks he had been making on my garments.  “SAHM SIP!” he said in Thai, announcing my 30-inch waist to an anxious-looking recorder.  The fitting was almost over, and Tony’s crew

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