Which countries have the most US expats?

[Philhelm]

Bullshat on "no language barrier" as well.

Their working and lower class version of English is unintelligible.

You wot, mate?

 

[sparebulb]

You wot, mate?

Exactly.

 

[Matt Collins]

Puerto Rico still falls under the Constitution but it is really separate from the US. They have no income tax for ex-pats and you don't have to give up your passport to live there and not pay US federal taxes. Of course, it is crime-ridden, bankrupt, has an angry proletariat that might revolt against whitey at some point, and has earthquakes and hurricanes. Also the electrical grid is prone to failure. But if you can live in a gated neighborhood and still have a place to go on the mainland in case of hurricanes, zero income tax is a pretty big incentive for some to move there. A big risk is they remove the tax incentives, property values in ex pat (i.e. white) areas would plummet overnight.

Giving up US citizenship to live in some of the third world countries mentioned in this thread seems like a very bad idea. Puerto Rico at least gives you the option to move back to the US

PR has a wage tax. But they have made it exempt for business owners and investors from paying tax on those earnings.


See Act 20/22:






There are several problems with PR though....


It's an island so resources can be scarce. Also the Jones Act makes it exceptionally expensive to import goods. I'm sure their property and gas and sales taxes are outrageous. Owning and even carrying a firearm is very difficult to do, if not impossible.

Their government is openly corrupt and after the last major hurricane they literally confiscated imported solar panels at the docks and prevented home owners from installing them even though the government run utility provided refused to provide power for nearly a year.

It is subject to devastating hurricanes.

And the people don't have a foundation of freedom like the mainland US does (I admit it isn't much anymore but it is still a noticeable difference).

 

[Madison320]

Yeah $1 million isn't enough to retire on, and never put it in savings. It has to be invested in order to out pace inflation.

I think if you invest in inflation hedges a million is way more than enough to retire on in the US, under the current conditions.

Like I mentioned before my worry is that they go to some type of means testing for SS and Medicare. In that scenario a million wouldn't last long because you'd basically be supporting hundreds of people. In that scenario your health insurance could easily be 100K a year to cover all the uninsured that qualify for the means test.

 

[Madison320]

The original "Schifferite" has figured this out..

What's a Shifferite?

 

[Invisible Man]

I think if you invest in inflation hedges a million is way more than enough to retire on in the US, under the current conditions.

I agree, assuming that your home is paid for and not included in that million. But keep in mind that current conditions include the ability of retirees to supplement those savings with Social Security. The day will come when that can't be counted on.

 

[Madison320]

I agree, assuming that your home is paid for and not included in that million. But keep in mind that current conditions include the ability of retirees to supplement those savings with Social Security. The day will come when that can't be counted on.

I agree. And the question is how does the US govt make ends meet when the dollar collapses? Will it be a massive wealth redistribution plan (means testing)? Or will it be across the board cuts? If they cut things without means testing (like raising age at which you get benefits), I think a million will still be good enough. But if it turns into a massive welfare system at the federal level pretty much everyone will get wiped out.

When only one group gets a benefit it becomes a tax to the non-benefit group. For example in an extreme case suppose they gave everyone a million dollars every year, except for you. Even if you didn't have to pay any tax explicitly, it would still be a massive indirect tax that would wipe you out, although I haven't figured out the math on this exactly.

This is one case where I strongly disagree with Rand Paul. He's made a lot of comments like "why should everyone get a stimulus check?" I think stimulus checks are stupid but if you'e going to have them, everyone should get them. At least that way it's less of a forced redistribution plan.

 

[Matt Collins]

I think if you invest in inflation hedges a million is way more than enough to retire on in the US, under the current conditions.

drawing 4% from $1 mil = only $40k/year. That's not enough to live on really unless you want to live poor. Now if you combine that with $1500/mo social security, then it could be ok, especially with no other obligations or debt. But we all know Social Security isn't going to last very long.

 

[Invisible Man]

drawing 4% from $1 mil = only $40k/year. That's not enough to live on really unless you want to live poor.

If you have a paid for home, that's easily enough for a person or married couple to live on comfortably in a lot of the country. Maybe not in some of the more expensive areas. Add Social Security to that, and then it's more than enough to do quite well. You also have all the principle, not just the interest.

 

[Krugminator2]

PR has a wage tax. But they have made it exempt for business owners and investors from paying tax on those earnings.


See Act 20/22:






There are several problems with PR though....


It's an island so resources can be scarce. Also the Jones Act makes it exceptionally expensive to import goods. I'm sure their property and gas and sales taxes are outrageous. Owning and even carrying a firearm is very difficult to do, if not impossible.

Their government is openly corrupt and after the last major hurricane they literally confiscated imported solar panels at the docks and prevented home owners from installing them even though the government run utility provided refused to provide power for nearly a year.

It is subject to devastating hurricanes.

And the people don't have a foundation of freedom like the mainland US does (I admit it isn't much anymore but it is still a noticeable difference).

Sure I have been there. It is a shit hole. That's why I don't live there. But let's say you are Peter Schiff and make 10 mill a year, 3.5 mill in tax savings is probably worth the headaches. Whereas I can't really see any justification to live in even poorer Central American countries unless you own a sports betting site or something that needs to be out of US jurisdiction.

 

[PAF]

Ex-Pat

So, leave the U.S., in search of a freer place, weigh the economics, and then “invade” other countries.

Do you plan to document yourselves (register with the government) so that you can sponge off of the system, or just go down as “illegals” and support yourselves?

LOL

My, my how the tables suddenly turn.

 

[CCTelander]

Ex-Pat

So, leave the U.S., in search of a freer place, weigh the economics, and then “invade” other countries.

Do you plan to document yourselves (register with the government) so that you can sponge off of the system, or just go down as “illegals” and support yourselves?

LOL

My, my how the tables suddenly turn.

ROTFLMAO!!!

"You must spread some Reputation around..."

 

[Krugminator2]

Ex-Pat

So, leave the U.S., in search of a freer place, weigh the economics, and then “invade” other countries.

Do you plan to document yourselves (register with the government) so that you can sponge off of the system, or just go down as “illegals” and support yourselves?

LOL

My, my how the tables suddenly turn.

Looks to me like most of the posters in this thread are some of the most pro-immigration posters on the site. So I don't see any tables turned or hypocrisy.

And I see exactly zero places mentioned that are even remotely close to being as free as the United States.

 

[PAF]

Looks to me like most of the posters in this thread are some of the most pro-immigration posters on the site. So I don't see any tables turned or hypocrisy.

And I see exactly zero places mentioned that are even remotely close to being as free as the United States.

I wasn’t born just yesterday... I’ve been around ;-)

 

[Pauls' Revere]

https://www.discovercookislands.com/about-the-cooks/visas-immigration/

Please register me, and register me often.

 

[Matt4Liberty]

Ex-Pat

So, leave the U.S., in search of a freer place, weigh the economics, and then “invade” other countries.

Do you plan to document yourselves (register with the government) so that you can sponge off of the system, or just go down as “illegals” and support yourselves?

LOL

My, my how the tables suddenly turn.

Yes, because everyone here is proposing violating the immigration laws of the nation they would consider immigrating to. That's exactly the same as enforcing our own laws.

 

[PAF]

Yes, because everyone here is proposing violating the immigration laws of the nation they would consider immigrating to. That's exactly the same as enforcing our own laws.

The difference being, in my personal experience, some places welcome ex-pats, and do not enforce immigration laws, knowing that money spent will help their local economy. Little to no social programs exist, you are on your own. The locals there do not observe or enforce authoritarian laws, they and the ex-pats simply go about their own private business.

Here, "republicans", democrats, even the let's-pretend-we-are-freedom-advocates, go into a hissy fit, demanding that "illegals" register with the government, the same government that they complain about regarding taxation and other stupid, restrictive, authoritarian laws. The result of that is once registered with the government, they become eligible for government programs. As you can see, social programs are completely out of control here in the states, all because "we must abide by immigration laws and sign them up!".

 

[Krugminator2]

The difference being, in my personal experience, some places welcome ex-pats, and do not enforce immigration laws, knowing that money spent will help their local economy. Little to no social programs exist, you are on your own. The locals there do not observe or enforce authoritarian laws, they and the ex-pats simply go about their own private business.

.

Name some countries that aren't unfree shit hole messes that fit the description you listed. I would like to know for my own benefit.

 

[TheCount]

Well, Americans get very preferential treatment in a lot of places at the moment, so US citizenship has its perks.

The hat trick is to get some other citizenship (or at least long term residency permit of some kind) while remaining a US citizen.


...


Anyway, the Nicaraguan program is pretty clever.

You can invest the $30,000 in reforestation and actually (in theory...) get a return, so it's not a straight loss.

In many countries, you can use the value of property or a house/condo/etc toward the value of the investment. So there are housing communities which have a veneer of a "co-op real estate investment" smeared on top of them, and the price of the units are conveniently the exact value required to earn permanent residency.

I have some good candidates for that for myself.

 

[PAF]

Name some countries that aren't unfree $#@! hole messes that fit the description you listed. I would like to know for my own benefit.

I would rather not advertise the places that I’ve found. Think of it like the U.S., there are areas more conducive to a freer lifestyle and other areas deep in socialism. If you are a vacationer/traveler, do you do the tourist route, or do you routinely venture off the beaten path? If you do travel abroad, do you make it a point to talk to locals, establish, maintain friendships, see and learn how they actually live and fly under the radar? That would be your best bet... the lifestyle that you want to maintain or establish, your wants/needs, may be completely different than mine.