The #1 Income Hack in Every Expat Country
When people first think about spending time outside of their home country the first things they see are all of the positives. That’s why they are attracted to the idea. Great weather. Relaxed lifestyle. Freedom from constraints. Life on your own terms.
Those things are all true for expats. They are obtainable. And, in my opinion, they are more than worth the effort.
But most people starting out don’t really know “how everything works.” When I tell people I’ve lived an expat lifestyle for decades, the questions I hear are pretty basic. Like, “Did you have to give up your original citizenship? How did you get a job when you don’t speak the language? (The answers are ‘no’ and ‘I didn’t.’)
Here’s a podcast from The Expat Money Show where Mikkel and I talk about safely leaving the rat race by starting an online business!
The Two Big Constraints
There are two broad obstacles that obstruct people from becoming expats immediately.
I’ll show you something that overcomes both of them.
Immigration Laws
Every country has rules about who can move into the country, how long they can stay, whether or not local companies can employ them, and much more. Some countries make it pretty easy to comply, some make you hop from your left foot to your right foot for years.
For example, say you have a US or a Canadian passport; you can spend 90 days at a time in most big European countries. No questions asked. Just show up like Joe Tourist and stay up to 90 days.
But then you have to leave and stay out for 90 days before you can return. And you can’t jump around from Spain, to France, to Germany because they all report to each other.
Other countries like Mexico, Belize, Panama make it easier to stay longer. You can do some basic paperwork, pay a small fee, and stay much longer. Usually you can’t work or operate a local business until you jump through several more legal hoops.
Everybody wants to “prevent foreigners from taking our jobs!” And, in any case, local wages can be shockingly low and not worth the hurdles of compliance.
Which connects to the second obstacle.
Making Money
Many expats are retirees. The average Social Security payout right now is about $1,300 per month. So, $2,600 per month for a retired couple.
Yes, you can live in a lot of sunny places on that budget, but it won’t be a life of material luxury or include a lot of international travel.
According to the most recent SSA table of life expectancy, a man or woman who is 65 years old today has an average of 18 to 20 years of needing to have a solid income every single month.
It used to be that if you had a big retirement nest egg, you could coast indefinitely from safe, solid returns. Today’s world of artificially ultra-low interest rates and unprecedented financial volatility make that very difficult, to say the least. Hence the financial catchphrase, “Five million is the new one million.”
But let’s be real – retiree or no retiree – life as an expat starts to get pretty sweet when you’re making, say, $5,000 to $10,000 per month like clockwork. That’s how you simultaneously live well and add to your nest egg, instead of diminishing it.
So how do you do that in Timbuktu when you don’t even speak Timbukian?
The New Solution
To recap, you just you need:
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- 20 years of generous and reliable cash flow
- you need it no matter where you live in the world
- you need it no matter how much you move around
- you need it irrespective of any local immigration and employment laws
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Having your own online business fills all of those requirements.
Anybody with some life experience and a decent work ethic can start and operate his or her own online business starting right now.
And it’s perfect for the expat lifestyle because you don’t need a local business license. You don’t need an employment permit. You don’t need to hire local employees. You don’t even need a local bank account.
You can be basically invisible to the local government while you just live like any other tourist. Meanwhile, you could have an online business incorporated in Panama that does its banking in Hong Kong while you spend your time in Mexico and Thailand.
You obey all the laws, but you aren’t the low hanging fruit that gets plucked by politicians looking for easy money to grab.
There are thousands of options regarding which online business model and which proven sub-niche works best for you personally.
But they all fall into six basic categories:
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- Freelance / Gig Work
- Expert / Coaching & Consulting
- E-Commerce / Drop Shipping
- Affiliate / Passive Income
- Market Builder / Community
- Membership / Recurring Revenue
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We’ve lived on four continents using these methods for over fifteen years. So have a lot of other people. Millions more are jumping in. You can too.
Ready For Plan B?
Are you ready to live life on your own terms – create your own online income? Reach out to us at Safely Leave The Rat Race. We are committed to helping you get from whatever point you are right now – to the point of earning regular, predictable online income.
Here are some articles I’ve written about entrepreneurship and a Plan B, please enjoy reading them:
Visualize Your Life Outside the Rat Race
