So, Where Should You Move?

[@NoKingButChrist]

I resonate with the “places being boring” statement when evaluating alternative home countries and low tax jurisdictions. What people like me think of in those cases is places where it feels like people are there to retire, relax, to “get away from ‘it all’”. Well I’m not looking to get away from that, we just want to live in a place where people do ‘it all’ but we’re not taxed for it :) The fear is moving as an entrepreneur or builder to a place where no one is building or striving. That’s my two cents on the feeling anyways.

[@NoNonsenseForex]

Great video Michael, a topic that never really gets discussed. For example, a lot of people buy a home because it's "great for entertaining", when they're very unlikely to ever have people over. If you listen to online chat groups, they will say Panama City is boring, but I had the time of my life living there. Any large city should have enough to satisfy most people. Certain cities have a real energy and vibe to them I'll admit, but I like to travel to those places as opposed to living there, since there's always something to look forward to. Give me the peaceful, "boring" areas (which still have plenty to do) to live in, and the more vibrant places to go experience for a week or two.

[@MathiasTchamengo]

This guy has a lot of depth. It is so refreshing! I hope we meet one day!

[@OffshoreCitizen]

Thank you 🙏 appreciate it!

[@quocodile]

I totally agree: creative activities/pursuits are much more enjoyable than problem-solving. When you create something, you can create from nothing or from very little. So you don't need anything or anyone else to start you on the way. When you like creative activities, you'll rarely get bored.

[@billhennessey6374]

Amen, Michael. I enjoy the gym, hiking, clean mountain air, and excellent restaurants. Boquete, Panama is perfect for me, while others would find it too slow.

[@tinglestingles]

The reasons why we are relocating to Malaysia... very different cultures, much better food options, many Asian countries within a couple of hours, excellent urban sketching art scene, jungle activities, tropical beaches and many vibrant cities to visit.

[@tinglestingles]

Solitary pursuit - I enjoy interacting with different AI platforms and transforming my published books into online courses.

[@OffshoreCitizen]

Yeah I find Asia feels better than most of the world these days...

[@tinglestingles]

@@OffshoreCitizen certainly less adversarial.

[@omarelmohri]

Amazing Michael!

[@michaelgreen5515]

Great points as always. People need to do their research and then visit their short list. I know you love cities versus someone like me who loves the country. I cannot fly fish in the desert😀 When we where in the Isle of man I loved it, but many of my friends got Island fever.

[@KorathWright]

Fantastic!!

[@Justin-wk5mi]

Good points however for me its not that a place is boring necessarily but how much you will be embraced by the locals and how warm and genuine people are. Living in Canada sometimes can also be boring but the people are also becoming colder and ruder. No sense of community and more cliques than high school. I personally wouldnt want to move to a country like Switzerland because they are also quite cold in general and keep to themselves... all the time.

[@soundslight7754]

Words of wisdom 👍

[@chipyoung4396]

You can never have everything in any one place you are in. Some things will always be lacking no matter the size, sophistication, or natural setting of your choices.

[@zackeryzackery9381]

I never thought about the receiver consumption vs being more creative. Interesting.

[@larsschouw5]

Moving to a new place also is a chance to change things and find new interests.

[@ian7379]

So true about receiver consumption …

[@KevinBanks512]

Michael, you’re getting fitter and fitter and we’re all noticing it 💪

[@OffshoreCitizen]

Ah thanks I think it's more a function of I got into the worst shape of my life during covid around the time when I was making a lot of videos. Sadly a bit injured right now but working on improving

[@RFXZ67966]

You can get a beer in most cities but I think 'boring' relates to the expat scene and general vibe. You can hang out with people in Geneva just as you can in Medellin and Bangkok but the 'vibe' of the conversation (and the plans for afters) might be slightly different

[@infiad1275]

Boring seems to mean places where the people don't act like idiots. I'll take boring all day long(and night, too).

[@vivi_75]

Avoid the tourist traps.

[@malthus101]

boring....... 🥱

[@tw9419]

I suppose you don't like to party or socialize a whole lot 😁

[@vnairchannel]

You should review places and structures favourable for physician corporations

[@soundslight7754]

Another wiseman said: "Try to add life to years not years to life"

[@OffshoreCitizen]

Now Bryan Johnson is coming and telling you the script has flipped 😂😂😂

[@soundslight7754]

@@OffshoreCitizen He is an outlier from another world, I don't approve of his extreme obsession, I'm not so sure he is happy also not many people have $2M in loose change to spend on their faces. I however agree that we need a few like him to advance human understanding and push the envelope out - it's always been this way in human development over the millennia.

[@elkinjohn]

Balaji Fan! I probably spend 8-12 hours online; bug or feature? it's that last mile problem! How much can be acchieved in the network state? lean in; or push back... top 10%; 33% wealth in stuff, the other 67% could be online; Mike, is that what you said? You brought up some great ideas... thanks for your wisdom

[@OffshoreCitizen]

I think it's worth noting that moving up a network State model is a gradual process. The last mile problem you're referring to likely won't go away in the next 10 years but might be able to be addressed in the next 100 years

[@3335pooh]

good comments

[@Hunters61]

Love these thought-provoking videos

[@macaccount4315]

I’m in Zurich and split my time in Portugal. I have helped tons of friends to move to Switzerland. I cannot say enough good about it and the tax environment is good for Americans 😊

[@OffshoreCitizen]

I would disagree about Americans The issue is there's no equivalent in the US to Swiss wealth tax so you can't get a tax credit for paying that tax

[@runderwo]

@@OffshoreCitizen If he's moving them in under the lumpsum regime they're not paying wealth tax. Also even in the non-lumpsum case Swiss wealth tax is not imposed on foreign real estate, if that's the primary source of wealth.

[@macaccount4315]

@@OffshoreCitizen I plan for that using the tax law. Real estate out of Switzerland is not taxed as part of wealth tax. Also, you can hold assets amongst family members which help. Moreover choose the right canton!

[@s_u_n_j_a_y]

🥰

[@laram8255]

Nice video 👍🏼

[@OffshoreCitizen]

Thanks!

[@lucchese20]

Great video-as usual. 👍🏻 BTW…international airports? Yeah, I’ve been saying what you point out for years. Unless you’re a flight attendant or have a business that requires you to fly (say) 12+ times a year; it’s not really important to live near an international airport. 🇺🇳 Cheers.

[@dovygoodguy1296]

Michael, you're just a nice Jewish boy from the great province of Alberta. Just like me. Only younger and more optimistic!

[@torontovoice1]

That was a great video, truly! A lot of people are grappling with where to go? And you start going down the list of countries and start discounting one two three and four and unless you're looking at very high tax countries, everything is somewhat less than where you are if you're in a high tax country. So I like to start with the corruption perception index and sort of look at the first 60 on the list. Once you get past 60 it starts to get a little bit concerning. I think healthcare is important too. But of course you can buy private insurance and if you need a complex operation, you can go to a country that is top notch. Even without health insurance you can just pay for it out of pocket. It all depends on what the problem is? I know I saw another video the book is very topic and the author said how much is healthcare really worth? So he said you look at the total expenditures on healthcare of a country and divided by the population and you get a number. I think in Canada it's probably like 5 or 6,000. Does that mean that's how much it's worth? It all depends if you're 20 or 75, have serious medical conditions or a marathon runner! Of course, anything could happen to anybody, but the likelihood is less if you take care of yourself eat right etc. I really like watching Ray dalio and his video how the economy works. He described corruption to a tee. He showed a cartoon of a guy collecting taxes, with a whole bunch of holes in the bucket where all the water was leaking out. That's pretty good analogy of corruption. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hnnIYZWOdq6ooZIsi=b6fPUWfF3VRS4Ovi But I think what's important for most people is how they're going to earn a living? And the people that are the most mobile are the ones that are not licensed by a particular licensing agency. And their vocation is not the location dependent. Moreover, if you can do it online without having to be in a certain place, then the Dynamics are pretty open. Probably the worst thing you could possibly do is be involved in a profession with one employer. Policeman fireman school teacher social worker etc. When you see cutbacks in government spending, some of these people are first to get axed. And even if you have studied and are involved in one of those types of single employer vocations, it's never too late to reinvent yourself. And I think that's the most important thing.

[@OffshoreCitizen]

Corruption is really a double edged sword. I made a video previously about understanding which jungle you're in. Sometimes it makes things much easier, but then in other ways it can be super negative. The negative side I don't think it's fully captured by the Dalio analogy because it ignores the flows and distorted incentives the undermine the system broadly independent of taxes etc. On healthcare yes I did a video a few years back on what is healthcare really worth cost wise. The thing is you've also got to consider quality. Canadian haircare is pretty bad compared to private by global standards. If you need surgery how long will it take? What's your wait time at hospitals? I'm so used to no wait times around the world that the waits in UK and Canada strike me as third world so maybe they are worth X thousand per year but that masks the quality of service aspects

[@BobKnight-mm2ze]

Michael I've been watching you five, possibly, SIX YEARS. My plan STARTED with Switzerland. You can't get in. I looked. And looked. And looked. Barring paying them 400k a year, EVERY year. It's not really a thing. I HEARD you could "get it down" to 250k. And I appreciate this examination of the philosophical view on life decisions-but can we take a peek at the money stuff? I've been trying to get all my little pieces in place so I can leave. Now it looks like it's gonna happen, so I REALLY dug in these last few months with the research. So you've asked the question I'm asking; does it matter where you go? Financially. As an American? We can look at this deal and that deal, and these advantages and those new programs. But no matter what's waiting on the "arrival" side, if the "departure" side has a set of unavoidable rules in place--it's kinda all the same right? I'm looking at a high tax EU member vs Cyprus. And Cyprus has all these good things going: pro -17 year non-dom status -the low cost and ease to set up a company (pretty much streamline/turn key) -the 50% deduction if you earn 100K (or is 55k) -the 60 day tax residence or the 183 -the 2024 accelerated naturalization -no tax on dividends or trading capital gains -12.5 corp tax con right side driving!!! no totalization for self employed, so you have to form a corp (there's some "social stuff" I'm hearing about, but never SEEN with my own eyes, so I won't post it) Looks great right? BUT, if we compare it to a Sweden or a Germany or Netherlands, factoring in the FEIE a 100k income would be equal for all FOUR countries right? Fully exempted. And if we look at 200k income, and we've formed a company. Ok so, FEIE covers 126K and then the other 74K is in the company. That 74K is now taxed at 10.5 for GILTI. We take it out as dividends, pay the local taxes and THEN, the same US tax rate for individuals applies. This is my comprehension, as a regular guy, with no special financial training. So low tax country, high tax country; same deal. At that point it's all about WHERE a person wants to live, quality of life, medical coverage etc., Speaking of which; my understanding is that the other big financial consideration is the social charges you have to face in the new country. And maybe a few nuts and bolts like wealth tax, inheritance tax, etc., So as an American, it seems to me, the biggest factor might be-where does a person actually want to live their life.

[@OffshoreCitizen]

A few disagreements with some of the assessments along the way but the final conclusion about where an individual wants to live is definitely one of the most important points

[@rodneywalden3995]

Cyprus looks good, but the major disadvantage is its proximity to the Middle-Eastern war, and the presence of a UK(NATO member) airbase there. Maybe wait until the war is over.

[@BobKnight-mm2ze]

@@OffshoreCitizen I mean, you definitely know the details, I'm just guessing. But I'll get that consultation call going at some point to help me hammer out my plan, the price is about 50% up from when I first thought about doing it! Still, I absolutely trust your clarity and knowledge the most in this space.

[@AsomughaPromise-qr5fh]

If i do drop shipping from another country inside the US and the company I'm making the purchase from is in the US but my purchase would be online, the goods would be handled by a 3rd party fulfillment (even the storage and i have no physical presence or worker), am i liable for taxes? Please sir just help me out with this question, it has been bothering me.

[@TheSimArchitect]

I do that comparison. I am too poor and without passive income to benefit from most deals without having to move to a country with a lot of poverty, exotic language and culture or bad essentials like good health care. When you are poor you get less than what you pay for. I would be happy in a place that is similar to the Netherlands but with lower cost of living and better health care, or a place like Portugal with much lower taxes. Brazil would be even better without violence and zombies walking all over the place stealing, robbing, causing nuisance, you can't even stop at traffic lights without being bothered when going outside. I dare to say I would seriously consider the United States if I could move there. For my personal taste and situation it's difficult to find a better deal. When you are wealthy it becomes possible to structure yourself better. Otherwise you are stuck with default taxes and you are heavily affected by governments restricting your freedom when you try to do the most basic things. You can't even change your door color in the Netherlands without a permit. Thanks anyways. I still benefit from the information you share. 🙏🏻

[@KorathWright]

I love the tailored approach... Instead of a blind one size fits all

[@manfred116mr7]

Hey Michael don’t you miss going to NHL games ?

[@OffshoreCitizen]

Haha in my case no, I've never really been especially interested in watching professional sports Generally if I'm not playing I don't pay too much attention but then again that's just me and everyone is unique

[@malthus101]

Bangkok - crazy, almost 24/7, wild, unpredictbale, real, street life, cheap, sunny, playground... Switzerland - expensive, grey, cold, boring, predictable, nothing ever happens, best days are behind it, stuffy, legacy, boring, yawn, sleepy. Off the dome!

[@vioreliachim5646]

Bangkok -you will always be a farang, you are not allowed to own land and most likely a unpredictable, wild Lady or Boy going to scam you. Switzerland - property rights protection at it's best, law and order , clean air and drinking water and lots of Sun if you know where to look for it.

[@AlphaConviction]

Doens't matter where you move to just as long as it's not communist Australia

[@davidrusso6629]

Good analysis but too INTJ. Even if I'm self entertained, the quality of people in a certain location matters quite a bit. There are social network effects, even for introverts like me.

[@OffshoreCitizen]

It can but you can also form online communities do depends on your hobbies etc

[@cy6412]

I can't help but think that glass railing at the staircase corner is a freak deadly accident waiting to happen.

[@OffshoreCitizen]

Why? 😱

[@paulrowe4502]

As soon as I hear "aboot", I'm out.