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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I think you need to do further research.
Hong Kong – HK is not a country it is part of China. Moreover, it is going to lose its independence in less than 50 years. Thus, its future is far less certain than Taiwan.
Paraguay or Uruguay
Paraguay is fine on paper but is really not that developed. I think someone like you who was complaining about how inconvenient is was in Australia compared to the efficient Asian cities is in for an awakening. Uruguay is a lot nicer and more developed but the taxes.
Uruguay is more developed and a much better option in my opinion. Taxes are somewhat reasonable.
Argentina: Look at the tax rates for the country. They are also quite a left country even though the new president is not.
Chile is not doing everything right. They are moving left again. Again look at their tax rates.
China has taxes, geopolitical risks, hard to integrate (most westerns I know there just hang out with each other and try to avoid speaking Chinese).
The best options for quality of life for you if you don’t like heat is Central/Eastern Europe. Many of these countries understand the world very well. They don’t want Muslims taking over like they did in the West, they don’t want high taxes, they don’t want insane welfare benefits, and their quality of life is very high if you have money. Sure their economies are heavily connected to the West but you are kidding yourself if you that South America is not. Eastern Europe is not perfect but as someone who likes tall busty women, low taxes, high quality of life, ect you are pretty silly to dismiss it.
Yes. Clearly I know nothing.
Half right. It’s a SAR.
I know.
Huh? How? I know for a fact that China will never launch (or threaten) a military attack against Hong Kong. The same cannot ever be said about Taiwan. I also know that the Chinese aren’t going to radically change HK because it’s too much of a cash cow. (All countries become more socialist over time because of social reasons, but I’m not talking about that.)
I know. Don’t care.
Apples to oranges. I was complaining about Australia because Australia isn’t a third word country like Paraguay is. I expect more from first world countries. It’s fair to compare Australia to Asia. It’s unfair to compare Paraguay to Asia. My expectations for places like Paraguay is much lower.
I also addressed your point, saying that a place like Paraguay might be too boring for me.
Yeah. That’s what I said.
I have. I will be making out-of-country income as a non-citizen from my country C. I will not ever be generating income from Argentina as an Argentinian citizen.
I know. The entire planet Earth is moving left. That is inescapable. As I said in the article, I’m not looking to go from bad to good, I’m looking to go from bad to not as bad.
…that for the most part won’t affect me as a non-citizen making out-of-country income
True.
Don’t care. I’m an introvert who will be out of the country for many months a year.
Read what I said about Eastern Europe in the above article. You guys keep forgetting that Eastern Europe is part of Europe, and Europe is going down.
WTF? Everything you just said is incorrect regarding most E. European countries other than the Muslim thing. You chide Chile for moving left when most E. European countries are already left or moving left (again, other than the Muslim thing; E. Europe is the nationalist flavor of left, which I agree is slightly less bad than the usual suicidal version of left). It’s true their welfare states aren’t as expansive as W. Europe’s, but that’s only because they don’t have the money W. Europe does, not because E. Europe (most of it) isn’t left. They’re still left.
I don’t like tall women. I like short women. And I’m not silly to dismiss it for all the reasons I stated above. But hey, if you seriously think that Eastern Europe has a bright future (chuckle), then great, go for it and move there. I’ll be visiting there and having sex with their women, but I will never live there. There are too many other places in the world that are slightly less bad.
Hi,
If you’re not going to be earning money in the country, why do you care about the economic situation? I don’t see how that affects you or why it should be a criterion. For example I could move to Kiev (or wherever) and it wouldn’t affect me if the economy went to shit, because I earn money outside the country, online. In fact, it might even benefit me because relative to the natives my wealth would increase.
This is such a good series. I had often thought about living in other countries but hadn’t really thought of the pillers strategy.
Will country A become the place you move your investments to after you have cashed them out of the USA? And are you doing this so you do not get taxed in USA for your investment income?
Because I may be owning property there.
No. That will be country C (or perhaps even a 4th country).
Plus I may not “cash out” all of my US investments before leaving. I might keep some of them depending on economic conditions in 2025. I won’t know for sure until then.
Correct. Capital gains taxes are bullshit. As an investor I help stimulate economic growth for all. I should not be penalized for this.
Regarding 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”
Could you please expand on that? Very curious to hear about this.
Interesting article. Could you expand on how to live cheaply in HK? Also, I’m not sure if you’re aware of CFC (controlled foreign company laws) as you didn’t mention them here but it would apply to you. If you have a business incorporated offshore where there is no corporate tax, you would still pay corporate tax to your country of residence if it had CFC laws. If the country had territorial taxation/no CFC laws (like HK), you could live corporate-tax-free with an offshore business. Page 71 here shows countries without CFC laws http://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/Tax/dttl-tax-guide-to-cfc-regimes-210214.pdf
Another interesting option is getting a residency in Paraguay (requires 1 visit there with some documents and deposit a few thousand in a bank account). No need to live or even visit Paraguay yet you will still maintain resident status there. It does not tax foreign income so you could have a business in an offshore zero tax island, and live tax-free in developed high-tax countries up to 6 months a year (more than 183 days a year and you will be considered a tax resident there).
Damn that’s a long comment but these things are so exciting!
Oh man, so many opportunities for business growth in Africa. Water, electricity, food, healthcare, infrastructure, mining, I.T., and on and on.
If it were me, it would be water. I would move there and immediately start (or get involved with) a business focused on drinking water.
I’ve been looking at apartments and various other things in HK for many years. I live very simply and I’ve found apartments for under $1200 a month that I would be perfectly happy with, including ones downtown (just not fancy ones). The only other expenses I would incur directly in HK would be things like groceries, camping, occasional eating out, etc. It wouldn’t be any big deal at all. I wouldn’t need a car at all (which would be great!!!) and the mass transit there is ridiculously inexpensive as compared to the West. The only thing I haven’t looked into yet is healthcare costs.
The problem is if I have a “wife”/OLTR by then. That would make things a little more complicated in terms of costs and lifestyle, since women aren’t very happy living in semi-shitty apartments (for example).
I am aware, but that has to do with country B and C, which I will be discussing later.
Yep, Paraguay is awesome, and on my short list for my country B. More on this later.
I’m from an Eastern-European country, and while the girls are insanely hot, and I’m happy with my life here, I should buy a house/apartment in some other country. If you are not here, you can’t see how volatile this place is. The only reason we don’t have muslim immigrants by millions, because the leading parties here are mostly right wing(while economically socialist, like BD said it). The moment they vote in real leftist, we will have millions of migrants, and still now there is a very big pressure from W-EU countries to let them in. Also economically fucked, tons of debt, etc.
My only question is, if I’d like to move to a S-American country, and I only like tall women(preferably big boob/ass), which country is the best?! Argetina and Brazil has some of the best looking ladies, but the goverment looks crap, and it seems they have tons of criminals. Also I HATE sweating, but not spending the summer there is also an option.
Chile looks the most promising…
Yep. The women are super hot but Eastern Europe is not a good place to plant your flag long-term. That guy commenting above was just getting defensive. Suggesting that Eastern European nations aren’t left-wing because they don’t want immigrants for the moment is simply untrue.
Every man has different tastes in women, so you won’t get any consensus answer on that. My understanding is that if your number one priority is hot babes, you should probably move to somewhere like Columbia. That’s not on my list because women are not a priority for my country A. (I can find hot women I like anywhere, in any country, and I only need 1-2 new ones per year.)
Fun ON: We should make a BD Corporation with your fans who also pursue the Alpha 2.0 Lifestyle and buy an own Island, where we can set up a brand new country, and the only immigrants could be just HB´s. Fun OFF
I vote for Chile or Argentina!
Hi Caleb,
Why do you say Africa is great for young aggressive business minded people? Do you have any examples of potential ways to make money in Africa?
How is china becoming less totalitarian? It isnt. Its getting worse. They are going after foreigners now too, which is new and in HK too with british booksellers “disappearing” recently.
Chinas low growth will likely mean more internal crackdowns and external manufactured crises. And why such faith in authoritarian economies? They have never beaten free societies and I cant see that change with their primitive approach.
And an economic basket case like Argentina is considered good, whereas europe is considered poor because it
Is supposedly going the same way. Not only do I disagree but the argument doesnt seem to make sense.
I dont see the west going anywhere. If I were to pick a place, I would say Switzerland, the apparent socialist hell hole that nevertheless tops the lists again and again as the most competitive nation on the planet.
Read above.
Over the long haul it will, not right this minute. China has some huge eoncomic bubbles that will be bursting soon, and during that time, yeah, I’m sure they’ll crack down in stupid ways. Over the next few decades though, China will lighten up. They’ll have no choice.
By the way, North Korea will lighten too. So will Myanmar.
Argentina doesn’t face wars, mass immigration of Muslims, risk of civil war, a 35 trillion dollar derivatives market, or declining resources. Europe does.
Switzerland is great. Lovely country. The problem is that it’s in Europe, and Europe is going down.
@BD
HK is a no go. You may want to review the HK situation in more detail. Currently, it is politically unstable with an extremely incompetent government. Its culture is also heavily western influenced and thus very left-winged similar to the west. It is in economical decline as its position is being taken by major China cities like Shanghai.
A lot of HK people who used to be in Vancouver to escape 1997, who went back mid 2000, are now returning to Vancouver.
HK is a shit hole and there are no signs it will improve.
Uh, you might want to look at this:
http://www.heritage.org/index/
That “shit hole” with a “left winged” government is the freest economy on planet Earth.
I’m Venezuelan-Uruguayan, will advice you discard Uruguay from the list, for personal security reasons. On my last visit 2 years ago, I noticed an increase of homicides, robberies and crimes, that made me remind how all started in Venezuela (currently one of the most dangerous, unsafe and totalitarian country in the world). Argentina following same steps of insecurity. Have also family in both Argentina-Uruguay and they confirm my fears that insecurity and crimes rates going up (robbery and homicides modus operandi with 2 guys in motorcycle carrying handgun mostly imported from Brasil and Colombia)
Best place from your list would be Chile where at least the police still do his duty and keep cities safer than rest of South America. I’m from hot climates, (so my case is contrary to yours in that aspect) hate cold like the plague and is only reason stopping me from moving to Chile. Instead I have planned in 3 months to move to Quito, Ecuador, good security, economy and stability. Even with the earthquake danger is still safer than Chile in that aspect. Anyways as things are in Venezuela, any other country in South America would be heaven, but yeah my advice as a Latino and knowing the current situation and experiencing this hell, is that is good idea to reconsider your choices taking in consideration the personal safety and current homicides-crime rates of the city and country you are planning to move here. No point run from USA-Europe collapse if you gonna end killed at gunpoint in South America, sad but true 🙁
I’ve been following Venezuela closely, and I’m very sorry to hear about what’s happening in your country, but Uruguay is on a very, very different path than moving towards another Venezuela. You could argue it’s going in the exact opposite direction.
Agree on Chile though.
Ah yes, here is the new list!
Uruguay is high on my list as well. I’m also looking at Argentina, Ecuador, Panama and Dominica.
Brazil would have been on my list five years ago. Now it looks like it’s going down the shitter for the time being lots of crime as well. The Olympics should be quite the shit show.
Colombia was/is on my list, but it looks like they may have a bit of a refugee problem in the coming years seeing as how Venezuela has basically become a failed state.
Caleb, in this article you said “…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.” regarding Australia and New Zealand.
As someone still getting a grasp of the basics of economics, I’m curious: besides having less debt (an obvious plus) are you saying that geographic proximity to Asia and it’s booming economy will spare them (to a degree) from the fate of the US/Europe/Canada?
If so, why is that? It would be cheaper to ship goods/ fly people back and forth but other than that… I’m drawing a blank
The answer is maybe. I don’t know for sure. But I certainly give them better odds than US/Europe/Canada.
A number of reasons just off the top of my head…
– Aus/NZ have less infrastructure than the US/Canada (and much of Europe) and are thus more hungry for Chinese investment. This is certainly true with smaller countries in the area like Fiji.
– There are more Chinese economic ties in these countries already (based on a per capita basis) than in the larger, more distant Western nations. More seeds mean more growth.
– Much cheaper to ship goods, as you said.
– Much cheaper/easier to fly to business meetings, presentations, conferences, seminars, social events, etc.
– Chinese views them as closer to the Chinese “sphere.” There a belief among many old school Chinese elites that China rules, or should rule, all of Asia anyway. You can’t say the US or Europe is in “Asia,” but you could stretch the definition a little to include Aus/NZ.
– Less feelings of nationalism or “We’re number one!” or “We do it right!” in Aus/NZ than in both US and Europe. Aus/NZ folks are a little more chill about this stuff.
There are more reasons I could come up with if I thought about it more. Again, I’m note sure any of this will help Aus/NZ when the West collapses; I’m just saying I think these two nations have much better odds than the rest.
What cities were you considering in Argentina and Chile?
Buenos Aries and Santiago.
Montevideo in Uruguay as well.
Caleb, do you have any resources you would recommend with regards to the business opportunities in Africa you mentioned?
I’m still young–22–so that really caught my eye.
Thanks in advance. Your blogs and writing have improved my life dramatically.
I was considering Paraguay too, until I found out there is an article in their constitution that says that naturalized citizens can lose citizenship if they spend more than three years outside of the country.