Thought Experiment - Leave Your Current Country - Where do you go? What do you do for income?

pheller said:

I think it's interesting how many folks would either work themselves in a mechanic type job, or lean on their partner's globally employable skills. 

 

Also interesting is how many of us are confident in our abilities to work remotely for a US-based employer. My company wouldn't allow it (they don't allow us to work out of the state), but my wife's company probably would. 

 

 

Manual, remote work, or partner's job doesn't require intricate knowledge of a foreign language and culture, especially if it's only for 1 year.

Otherwise I think I'd be limited to English speaking countries. There are big global hubs like Singapore where you can get by, but they're expensive.

Cuba, a boat, some fish, and lots of rum

Canada or Australia and I'd do what I'd have to do. I've got a few different skillsets, so I'd look for something I could handle and that I could prove to an employer I could handle.  And I'd accept that I'd probably have to pay some dues.

I've done this to some extent in the past. I've worked remotely for 6 weeks in a furren country for my existing US employer. I've spent a year in Australia working odd jobs. I've moved from Canada to the US and started over in a job that had nothing to do with my previous one. Just get your head down.

I've done this. I went to the island of Vieques in Puerto Rico for 4 years. I cooked and bartended. It was berkeleying amazing.

A tropical island country and I'd bartend and make art and barter for everything.

Aruba is the easy button for me. When we go there it always feels like we're home, and I must fit in because tourists are often asking me for directions and where things are. There's also a pretty strong car culture, but not a lot of performance expertise, so I could find work if need be.

I've also said I wouldn't mind spending time in Germany, possibly go for a month or two. PW speaks the language, and I've picked up enough over the years I'd be fine. Either way we're mortgage free and comfortable, and I'm coming up on retirement in a few months so it's not out of the question that either one could happen. Maybe not for a year. But you never know

I would go back to the land of my people and take my rightful place as their king.!

Poland. The imminent fame and hassle of women throwing themselves at me, is the only reason I haven't been yet. 

Folgers said:

I would go back to the land of my people and take my rightful place as their king.!

that was my thought as well but there are trees growing through the castle walls and its been roofless for centuries

likely Ireland or the UK but more likely would keep it in the EU even if the Germans speak better English. 

New Zealand. At 60YO, I'd probably have to buy my way in. But I love the place and have friends and family there. Other short listers: Canada, Slovenia and Greece. I wouldn't have to work. My other fantasy is to go (almost) full gypsy. Air B and B my home and spend most of the year slowly circling the globe. I have limited tolerance for personal sloth, so I imagine working at things and places that interest me, even if the compensation is non-existent.  I'll be the worlds oldest intern!

A) Eastern coast of Ireland near Dingle Peninsula.  Bring the Ducati and enjoy the entire country.  Rent there and rent US house.  Work for one of my current suppliers in their Irish branch office.

B) Austria-north central area.  Same scenario as above-rent/rent/work for current supplier.  Tour Europe on Ducati.

C) St John USVI.  Sell everything, retire early and never come back.

pheller said:

I think it's interesting how many folks would either work themselves in a mechanic type job, or lean on their partner's globally employable skills. 

 

Also interesting is how many of us are confident in our abilities to work remotely for a US-based employer. My company wouldn't allow it (they don't allow us to work out of the state), but my wife's company probably would. 

 

 

I know mine would for a fact. Just for the Commerce team I'm on we have offices in Waterloo, London, Barcelona, Brno, Montevideo, and Manila. We have more offices with Commerce people in them in the US, but you specifically said out of the country. And that's just Commerce, plenty of other offices in different countries that aren't specifically Commerce. 

I think we have a Barcelona-based writer that's back home in Australia for a long stay, or maybe moved back. I'm happy to work for a "we don't care, get your E36 M3 done" vs a "I need to look over your shoulder every second because even though we hired you, we don't trust you to be an adult and get your E36 M3 done" type company. 

I'd move back to England and probably keep my current job.  We have software engineers working remotely all over the world with a bunch of them in Europe already, so it wouldn't be a big deal.

I would definitely keep the house I have now if I was planning on moving back.  I think there is a lot of tax involved in moving assets out of the US (they want to stop people from doing that to get around the estate tax), so doing that temporarily doesn't make sense.

If you're doing this for real, note that US citizens have to file US federal taxes even if they don't live in the US.

First off,  I'm not worldly.  But, here in the US I have worked more with Australians than any other single nationality.  I really like the Australian people (at least the ones I've met which means the ones who leave Australia...ha.)  In US terms, Australian people are an interesting combination of West Texas open spaces and self sufficiency combined with a bit of Southern California "laid back" as well as surf and sun.    Yes, all the bugs there want to kill you but I'll choose Australia for the people. 

The lack of a language barrier makes it favorable.  But, Australian is also a language all it's own!  

I suspect New Zealand is similar so I'll make that my second choice.  I hear NZ is awesome but I also hear it is near impossible to get in (as in they know it's great and want to keep others out.)  

My current employer is based out of Denmark and has production sites in Brazil, Japan, France and other countries so I guess I could do this if I had a desire.   Ive been asked to take an EBT (extended business trip, one year or more) to Denmark in the past but its not really on my to do list.  I do enjoy visiting the sites for a week at a time when the opportunity presents itself though.

When my daughter is off to college we have talked about maybe running off to a tropical island to open a Husband/Wife detective agency out of a shack in the sand. Even if it was tomorrow we could liquidate everything easily and without emotion.

 Realistically, this only works because we already live well below our means  and wouldn't need to generate much income. Yes, it is essentially recreating most murder mystery TV show tropes but we actually have relevant skills and experience, too.

I have few marketable skills but very little sense of self preservation so my first thought would be to follow Bill into Ukraine,  I'm thinking bigger than a 4 Runner though.  Probably a semi, there are a few companies that specialize in eastern Europe, and points east that looked fascinating before the war started, and think that could keep my days interesting.  a close second because I hate cold weather and only speak English would be Australia driving road trains.    

While we're dreaming about where we want to go, if you're looking to kill some time look around here Workaway

I want to say tour India for a year learning to cook, but berkeley cobras. 

Maybe Venezuela? Ecuador? Somewhere the measly residuals of renting my house out while covering the mortgage would let me live decently without bothering with a job. 

Scotty Con Queso said:

Costa Rica.

Came here to say this.  I lived there for almost three months on about $60/week.  Ate like a king, slept in a hammock on the beach.  I performed with a buddy at some local restaurants for tips.  We could do gigs three nights a week, travel the other four, and still have enough left over for multiple modes of recreational substances.  When I went down, I had a friend of a friend find me a motorcycle, which ended up being a Honda 80cc moped.  I gave him $50 for it and drove it the whole time.  Since it never had his or my name attached to it, I drove it to the airport, parked in the loading zone, and walked inside for my flight home.  I figure someone stole it or they towed it away.

The buddy lives there every winter.  One year he helped a local put a new roof on his house and it paid for most of the winter.  Two years ago he worked at the hospital as an orderly, which down there is a gratuity industry.  "sorry my bedpan was pretty ripe, here's $10 for your trouble."  This past year he taught yoga classes twice a week.  The secret to CR is to do the left coast.  Gulf coast is where the resorts and cruise ships are.  Pacific coast is the real CR.

Purple Frog (Forum Supporter) said:

Somewhere north of Gananoque, Ontario.  Like Seelys Bay.   Live on the pension, IRAs, and SS.

Soon their winters will be like North Georgia.  There is a reason French wineries are buying up land in northern England.

I spend the summers near Perth, a wee bit above that.  That area is just amazing.  Google crotch lake.  Not kidding.

I'm something like 60 miles from the place I have been thinking about escaping to for something like 50 years. Oh Canada... ay?

I dunno. Where can I go and get a resident visa easily with cheap healthcare?  Maybe Denmark? 
 

Or a place my wife can get a job as a teacher. Lots of sponsorship for that in Australia. But unless you're from the commonwealth and or have unique skills you're screwed for work in Australia. 

Fueled by Caffeine said:

I dunno. Where can I go and get a resident visa easily with cheap healthcare?  

For the most part, you didn't need to include "cheap healthcare" since anywhere is cheaper than the US.  Just stick with the resident visa part and you're golden.  The next closest is Germany at about half the cost.

Fueled by Caffeine said:

Or a place my wife can get a job as a teacher. Lots of sponsorship for that in Australia. But unless you're from the commonwealth and or have unique skills you're screwed for work in Australia. 

A friend of mine moved to Australia about 10 years ago.  Even though his father was an Australian citizen, it was still a long road for him with lots of traditional crown redtape.

Maybe the scuba guy but I won't look as good in a Speedo.