In the prior article in this series, we talked about the Five Flags or Three Flags model for moving out of your country and living abroad. I will be following the Three Flags model, which means I will be:

1. Moving my “home base” (permanent residence) out of the US to another country, while leaving that country on a regular basis, for a few months at a time, to visit my friends and family back in the US (and to not overstay any visas I have). Call this country A.

2. Getting a second passport in another country, country B

3. Basing my legal business entities and operations (and perhaps investments) in a third country, country C.

Today, I’m going to talk about the biggest and most important of these, which is country A, the country that I’ll actually move to and live in for most of the year. You’ll be able to see my thought processes as I look at the various options.

Criteria

The criteria for a good place to live, at least in my opinion, are the following:

1. Decent long-term economics, both governmental and private. Most places in the Western world are speeding towards either collapse or deep economic recessions. Places like Europe have embraced overspending nanny-state socialism. Places like the US and Japan have embraced overspending corporatism. Socialism or corporatism, the West is spending, borrowing and money printing itself into oblivion. The place I move to doesn’t need perfect economics, but it shouldn’t have all the massive overspending, monetization, trade imbalances, and debt the Western world has.

2. Low odds of war and/or civil unrest. The country I move to must be more or less peaceful and keep out of its neighbors’ business. I don’t see countries like Singapore or Uruguay itching to launch military attacks on other countries.

3. Low or zero terrorism. The more terrorism in a country, the more abuse, crackdowns, legal limitations, problems and hassle you’ll face from your own government. If you’ve been to any airport in the US lately you know what I’m talking about. Those Muslim extremists are dying to kill Americans and Europeans, but I don’t see terrorists trying to kill mass amounts of people in Hong Kong or Chile.

4. Not close to or reliant on other countries with the above problems. Sometimes, people will defend Canada, saying it has better long-term economics than the US. The problem is that Canada’s economy is much too reliant on the US, so if we go down, they go down. Sometimes, people will defend Eastern Europe, saying that they don’t have the insane immigration policies of Western European nations. The problem with Eastern Europe is that it’s too close to, and reliant upon, Western Europe. If Western Europe goes down, Eastern Europe goes down too. Not to mention that most of Eastern Europe is just as addicted to suicidal socialism as the West. Therefore, moving from the US to Canada or W. Europe to E. Europe is moving from horrible to slightly less horrible. That seems like a waste of energy to me. I’d rather move from horrible to imperfect-but-way-better.

5. A climate I can tolerate. Singapore was near the top of my list to move to until I spent an entire week there. The country, economy, and people were all wonderful, but the weather was so horrible I wanted to kill myself. Right on the equator, it was hot and humid like a white boy from the Pacific Northwest USA has never experienced, and that’s saying something, because I’ve been to some seriously hot/humid places in my day. Thus, Singapore is off my list. Since I’ll be spending as much as nine months a year in my new home, I have to at least tolerate the weather. I can’t hate it.

Given the above criteria, here is my analysis of various possible places to move to.

DEFINITE NOs (Places I will absolutely not be living in, no matter what.)

The US, Canada, Japan, and anywhere in Europe (Western, Eastern, or Scandinavian). These places are ground zero for the dying West, and I want to be as far away from these places as humanly possible. While I enjoy those locations and will be visiting then often as vacations spots, I will not ever consider any of them for my future home. Suicidal Europe, all of it, is completely fucked, bankrupt, corrupt, overrun with terrorism that’s going to get much worse, and controlled by self-destructive psychopaths, as I’ve discussed many times before. I love Europe and will be going back there this year, but you couldn’t pay me money to live in any European country. The US has more time than Europe does, but it’s also screwed, and the taxes in most cases are even worse. Canada is a beautiful land full of very cool people, but it’s fate is too closely tied to the US. Japan is also a cool place, but it’s a land of zombie economics that isn’t long for this world.

Africa. If I was younger, I would definitely move to Africa. There is huge opportunity for an aggressive, business-minded white person to make massive amounts of money there in relatively short periods of time. However, while I’m not old yet, I’m not young any more. I’m at a place in life where Africa would be too much adventure, at least for me.

Brazil. Brazil is great! However, based on the numbers I’m seeing, I think Brazil has peaked. I think Brazil will do fine in the short or mid-term, but will stagnate in the long-term. I could be wrong, but I crossed Brazil off my list quite a while ago.

Singapore. Love it, but it’s too hot and it has massive debt levels similar to the West. It won’t be my country A, but it could very likely be my country B or C.

Russia. It’s a wild card. Russia may turn out great long-term, or it may destroy itself, a 50/50 toss-up. It’s nationalist, has lots of natural resources, and lots of super hot women. It’s also corrupt as hell with a bankrupt economy and is run by crazy neocons who love to attack other countries, violating two of my criteria (stable economics and war). Putin controls Moscow and St. Petersburg, but not much else. Not good. I have nothing against Russia and will be visiting there, but can’t bet on Russia long-term.

Anywhere in the Middle East, for reasons I assume are obvious. Dubai could be a viable country C though, not sure.

Philippines. Too hot and I don’t find the women attractive at all. Other than that, it does match all of my other criteria, so many of you might consider Philippines a great place to move to. Very inexpensive, beautiful landscapes, and fun people. It’s just not for me.

LIKELY NOs (Places I probably won’t live in, but I’m not 100% adamant about it.)

Central America and Northern South America. There are some countries here that interest me, but it’s just too damn hot in most places. It’s also populated by a lot of sad-sack old Western men who go to retire there. Not my idea of fun.

The Caribbean will likely be the location of my country B (2nd passport country), but I won’t be living there. Too hot, too third-world (I like cities), and often too expensive.

India is headed for some real problems. Its government is bureaucracy on mass-overdrive; they can’t even feed their own people despite vast amounts of lush farmland. Half a billion people there defecate in public, causing all kinds of health problems. Their anti-sex culture is also a turn-off for me. No thank you.

South Korea is pure awesomeness, but it’s too close to North Korea which would love to wipe it off the map. Once North Korea stabilizes and joins the rest of the world (which it will at some point), then I might reconsider South Korea. Until then, it’s a no. I don’t want to move to a place with millions of missiles pointed at it that can be launched by madman at any time.

Taiwan has the same problem as South Korea; it faces a possibility for either military or economic conflict with China, though I think this will cool as time goes on.

MAYBES (I might consider these places, but they’re not my favorite.)

Australia and New Zealand. Earlier, these countries were on my ‘Definite no’ lists, but lately, I’ve upgraded both of them to ‘Maybe’ status, since unlike the rest of the Western world, they’re so close to Asia and China that they will likely be spared the fate of the US and Europe. They’re both socialist and left-wing as hell, and their infrastructure is far less than what I’m accustomed to. However, their debt to GDP ratios are a tiny faction of what the US and Europe are choking themselves with. I still don’t think I’ll end up in either of these countries, but it’s possible.

SE Asia, particularly Thailand. A hell of a lot of you are in love with Thailand, and I understand why. SE Asia is also on a steep growth curve as these manufacturing nations slowly enter the first world. The weather is warm and somewhat humid, but not nearly as bad as Singapore, so I might be able to tolerate that.

Puerto Rico has huge tax advantages for Americans living there, despite its economic downsides. Spanish is also an easy language for a Westerner to master. I’ve been tempted, though it may end up being my country C instead.

MY CURRENT FAVORITES (This is my ‘short list’ of best countries; I will likely move to one of them. They are listed in no particular order.)

Hong Kong is still my all-time favorite country and will likely remain so. Strong economy, peaceful culture, ground zero for booming Asia growth, lots of super hot women (the white ones anyway), the best food I’ve ever eaten, and English speakers are common. It’s expensive, but I know of ways to stay there relatively cheaply. It gets very hot in the summer, but I’ll be in the US in the summer. I’m not 100% decided on it yet, but Hong Kong is one of the most likely places I will move to.

Paraguay or Uruguay are both super inexpensive, peaceful, friendly places with economics that look good for the long-term. I lean a little closer to Uruguay, since it has a coast (Paraguay is landlocked), but both are very likely for me. The only downside I see to these is that they might be a little too boring.

Argentina has a government that has been an absolute cluster fuck for many years, to the point of insanity. However, other than that, it seems ideal for a non-citizen expat. It’s very cosmopolitan, while still being extremely inexpensive. I know a lot of business-minded Westerners who have moved to Argentina and love the crap out of it, so it’s on my short list.

Chile is my number one choice for South America. Its government is doing everything right, and doing it’s best to grow smartly. Beautiful beachfront property is also very inexpensive. Like in Argentina, I can live further south where it’s not too hot.

China is the least likely country on my current short list, but it’s still hanging on. Living in the nation that will soon run the world would be exciting and make sense. It’s also getting more free and less totalitarian with every passing year, and as a white, non-citizen Westerner, none of its communist and anti-free speech bullshit will be affecting me personally. The problem is that China is on the verge of a huge economic bubble and it has many military Generals chomping at the bit to launch military attacks against Japan and Taiwan, violating two of my key criteria. So we’ll see.

In the next article, I will be discussing Country B, where I will likely be getting my second passport.

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