How to Prepare for Life as an Expat #expatlife #livingabroad

How to Prepare for Life as an Expat #expatlife #livingabroad

How does one prepare for life as an expat that’s what we’ll be discussing today on the expat live show from the travel to money podcast thank you for being here and joining Pablo and I for this conversation that I know is going to be helpful for so many whether it’s

Spain Portugal Indonesia or numerous locations in South and Central America so many people are choosing to move abroad often looking for a better quality of life or a more affordable life I’m excited to get into it hi Pablo how are you doing today today hey how are you Nicole we’re doing great I’m

Excited to be here and there’s a lot of things to prepare and to take in consideration when you’re moving or relocating abroad and we excited to talk about about this topic I think it’s very useful a lot of people also make mistakes so we want to be careful

Absolutely well yeah let’s get into the conversation about preparing for expat Life In your experience what are some of the most important considerations for those who are planning to move abroad I believe believe you know I see a lot of mistakes you know I I know I said this

Before but I’m the guy that people call when they want to move to a country six months later they call me because things did not work out so I pretty much have nail what are some of those reasons uh and a lot of people Overlook a lot of

Different details uh so one of the most important things is first Getting to Know Yourself what is your reasons having a good understanding of why is it that you’re doing this because a lot of times you’re just pulling the trigger on a destination or a country because maybe

You are running away from something maybe you things did not work out in a relationship then you just find that the easy way out maybe leaving abroad uh or living in Spain or no just trying to fix not just trying to fix or or work on yourself and getting a good

Understanding on who you are what are your particular needs will be a great a huge uh would be a huge step because what you need to try to identify of what I have seen is you need to identify what’s a good fit for you I mean often times

People move to a place like Costa Rica or Nicaragua thinking oh it looks so great I’m in vacations all year long not taking considerations that maybe in a small little Beach town in Costa Rica is not what you’re used to maybe you’re coming from a huge City in the state you

Like the night life you like you know going out and dining in restaurants every other day of the week you’re in a small little town in Costa Rica you know that’s not going to be the same you’re gonna have a little friction there from your normal lifestyle a lot of people

Looking for change a lot of people looking for change but at the same time uh you have to you know make a list of the things you really have to have and to make the list you really need to understand your motive your motivations and I’m not a psychologist I’m not you

Know but I just I just had so many people you know calling me and and they’re they’re making a big Investments big investment to move abroad and they’re calling me hey can I ship everything back with my International move back to Washington back to Virginia and that’s going to be another

$10,000 and they are May willing to make that is that investment uh or because things did not work out because maybe and this believe me it’s not just one person you need to take your entire family into that into that uh equation sure often times I I found uh couples

That they end up having a divorce because one of them love you know small San Juan deur nicara or they love F Del Carmen and they fall in love with all this you know new life but maybe wife she wants to be closer to her parents

And she wants to be closer to family or for many different reasons uh you know one of one of them did not adjust so having a good understanding of who you are having uh after having a good understanding who you are what your needs making the list making that

Magical list of things that you have to have in a destination that really fits your needs and with when that when you have that it’s easier for you to pinpoint what are the destinations that might have those boxes okay m you don’t care about the timeone so Spain might be

Working Portugal might be working uh but you do care about the cost of living because maybe your budget is time sensitive I mean no uh budget sensitive I’m sorry uh right so there are countries that are less expensive maybe Mexico is better because it’s a little less expensive maybe Nicaragua or

Ecuador less expensive than Costa Rica or Panama or Europe so understanding your needs who you are your motive your intentions and making in that list I think is a good way to start that makes a lot of sense and it almost kind of sounds like what the need here is for

Therapy before moving overseas and whether that’s for you figuring out your why or maybe even Coupes therapy while after you’ve moved before and after um that could be helpful um I think uh yeah maybe if you’re not good at internalizing that yourself maybe talking with someone and working your

Way through that I think um knowing your why is really important and makes a lot of sense that’s really helpful um so how do you think individuals if they’ve decided okay I know I want to go somewhere how can they effectively research and choose the right destination for their experience um I

Think it’s we start with the same answer a little bit first you need to know your budget you need to know what are the things that you must have and once you have that you’re going to have a lot less options at the beginning you know Costa R sounds exciting but also huai

But also all of these different things uh but once you know you know I must have these things I must be three hour in a three- hour flight to my house in case something happens so you want to stay in Central America Costa Rica Mexico Panama uh once you know uh my

Budget is only it’s amount of money uh then you want to start you know if you’re if you have you know all the money in the world you may you might you might just want to do you know UK or France or Monaco or some of these

Countries that offer a lot more more luxurious type of lifestyle and but a lot of a lot of people uh you know they’re looking for that Arbitrage of the exchange on the on the currency saving money uh you’re living in California you’re spending $5,000 a

Month in rent but then you are living in Costa Rica with only $1,000 a month in rent for a gated community with pool and amenities uh so a lot of people are looking for that so if that’s your motive okay understanding those those motives and then after that believe me

You’re gonna find a lot a lot of places that are GNA follow into that those categories of course before you pick any place I would just probably try to visit okay will stay one one or two weeks in one place and one or two weeks in in

Another place I get a feeling of you know what’s out there because there’s a lot of things like just food you know a lot of people love Mexican food and that will be everything you need great food unexpensive but uh some of places you know maybe Mediterranean food is not for

Everyone and that’s what you find everywhere in some you know Spain or Greece so getting to know those things that are going to be a deal breaker breaker it’s it’s it’s important uh to visit it’s important to have an experience but have this experience with the set of eyes of somebody that is

Going to be leaving there because it’s a different thing a lot of people travel for tourism a lot of people travel for you know you know just to have a good time Margarita’s on the beach uh you know hiking every day exploring you know beautiful cultural architecture but

You want to if you if you are going to a place to to to go with a potential you know hope for this place for you to leave you have to do a visit with with a different set of eyes you have to visit the market you have to visit the

Supermarkets the stores get a good idea of how much I think things are worth you know maybe one of one of the great exercises I I see people do and people recommend uh for corporate relocations is go to Walmart in your home Community bring that invoice with everything that

You purchased that month whatever the amount might be you’re spend maybe spending $500 a month in your groceries Sams clubs or Walmart or whatever store you go boo whatever bring that when you when you do that exploration trip bring that with you and then go and explore

Okay this here wine in my town in the states I’m paying $10 here I’m paying eight or I’m paying 12 and just going through a a list of groceries to get an idea of what is the cost of things and what’s available right like you might

Not have some things that you’re used to that’s a big that’s a big one that is a big one oftentimes people ask especially in phots and exper groups and uh the people ask well where can I get anything where can I get this kind of meal dressing yeah yeah think like that

Peanut butter peanut butter is a very popular one where can I get uh no parai you know we don’t have that in parai maybe you know I’m just saying maybe maybe they do but so that’s a good exercise when you go and make these first trips exploration trips go with a different

Set of eyes go understanding that you’re going to be there and make a investment in that in that place whether whether you buying a property or not but just making the switch moving into another country making a list you know for a long-term onee rental in a place that’s

An investment just that alone means that you are investing your time energy you’ll be you’re going to be away from your family uh you’re going to have to change your lifestyle to a new culture so go with a different set of eyes understand understand that oftentimes you are not gonna speak the same

Language and then you’re gonna you’re not going to connect with everyone the same way you’re used to that’s that’s an important step when you’re preparing for a place try to make your trips go with the intention of learning what would be my my life absolutely thought of a

Couple of points as you were talking about that one you just mentioned what does my life look like abroad because I’ve done like long-term travel to different places which looks very different than showing up to a place for a vacation for 3 to seven days where you’re just going out and doing touristy

Things regular life every day looks different from that and if you’re not in a touristy area touristy areas are built for tourists and so they often have folks who speak English it’s easier to find the things you’re looking for so um that like going to visit Rome is very

Different than going to visit a town on the outskirts of Rome and so understanding what that feels like every day in everyday life I think really matters I think of I live in a small town in Spain when I’m there and I love my life there and I love how that flows

But I also stayed in a small town in Italy when I was traveling for the first time and I really struggled like no one spoke in any English anywhere and that’s okay it’s not their language but I don’t speak Italian and I really I couldn’t connect with anyone and I struggled in

Everything I did and I had health issues while I was there and it was just like it was so difficult that I almost quit my travels during that during that season there and it wasn’t that the town wasn’t incredible but it’s just very different so I think it’s important to

Go spend time in a place like you said and I think even if the place is nearby another place that you’ve been to like I bought a house in pgo that was only 10 minutes away from a town where I had stayed but pgo is so different from

Oliva which is only 10 minutes away and I lucked out because I did purchase my home before I went to see it which is not something I would recommend people do so I got really lucky because my town is incredible but I could have that could

Have been a mistake and I can see how easily that could have been a mistake so I think spending time in the exact place is probably important let me add something something else uh there is nothing like you having the experience yourself and going places and visit and

Visit these places uh but I understand you know nowadays we all use interet we all read blogs we all watch YouTube videos we all this is what we do to inform ourselves um but one of the biggest challenges for technology uh for Content about anything is all of this

Information tend to change and in some in some countries especially Latin America this is my experience uh is I mean you learned that you could do this and that in Costa Rica but six months later it’s not the case maybe you know just Costa Ric alone just passes maybe

Three laws for that affects digital lats and that affects you know people that want to move to Costa Rica and I know that’s the same thing in Panama that things change every other year could be the same thing in Spain or Mexico and so on so whatever you see out there do not

Take it as that’s the TR yeah I read this blog and they are telling me that I can do this use information to inform yourself to get a general IDE aidea of how are the Dynamics of the place you’re going to be living into but before you

Take anything as truth my best advice is to talk to a professional that talks in that particular industry so we’re talking about real estate because you’re you’re a real estate investor before you take anything as true from the internet look for a resource that does real real

Estate Investments on a regular basis on the place you’re looking to make an investment because someone that is doing that every day looking at the market every day is going to have Insight that is not going to be maybe published online or maybe it’s just too new for for it to be out

There and it’s it’s the case in almost every single area of services that you’re going to need uh it’s the same thing with shipping Customs regulations uh and on top of that uh depending on what you’re looking to do uh let’s say legal services so you want to have F information about something

Legal services in Portugal so you talk about an attorney in Portugal but your concern is about how to do immigration in Portugal but out of the entire Legal Services Spectrum you have immigration attorneys you have family attorneys you have litigation attorneys you have business attorneys you have many different type of professionals and

Believe me the guy that does business Inc corporations or business corporations he may not have the day-to-day operational knowledge of doing and filing immigrations immigration uh so it’s not just looking for a professional on a particular field but look for the professional that specializes on your particular need uh

It’s the same thing with shipping you look you may you need to do shipping uh but you go online and you’re gonna find Aon shipping companies but out of those many companies there is only a handful of companies that specializes in uh International moves that specializes on Customs that requires immigration to

Approve the Customs process uh so look for the specific type of shipment you’re looking to do and for the specific type of professional and then that person is going to have the day-to-day operational knowledge to give you the advice is going to be the winner and not just a

General anybody could give you general advice but you have to if you’re going into new country it’s it’s just better to have someone that help you with the best possible buys you could you could get yeah that makes a lot of sense um so I know money is a big consideration

There’s so many things to take into account when you’re making a big move so what are some Financial considerations that should be thought about before moving to another country to live as an expat one of the things I see um a lot is a lots of people are looking to do

This big move they’re looking to do that this is not just about money but I’m gonna I’m gonna get to the money part but a lot of people are looking to do I’m now moving to Panama so they’re doing looking for a property they’re also flying with their pets uh so

There’s a lot of paperwork veterinarian uh paperwork and uh they’re also uh bringing their kids their kids may need to find you need to find a school that is appropriate for someone that doesn’t speak Spanish or or the local language uh they’re also need a car so looking

Looking to chop shopping for a car they’re also doing immigration they’re also doing so there is at least five big gigantic tasks that people has to do and on top of that I’m going to open a business now GNA you know on top of buy a house getting a car getting the school

Getting all the kids you know used to a new country getting used to a new culture in General on top of that I’m going to figure out how to do business in a new market where I don’t know anything about I think is I think it’s a

Mistake a lot of people are able to pull it off uh but most people uh are not going to pull it off as easy uh in fact I do believe uh if you’re coming from United States stes to a country like Panama or Costa Rica wanting to open a business

And make money locally in Panama or make money locally in Nicaragua Costa Rica uh you’re gonna find a lot a lot of more people that are very sharp on the business you’re trying to get into because they know the market for 10 20 years they know the cost they know the

Product they know where to import how to import they have the contacts and then you’re coming new to the market making a gigantic investment sometimes okay I’m doing this I’m putting $50,000 on this I’m fixing this restaurant I’m I’m hiring people and you don’t know the

Local laws to hire people and then you don’t know the local laws to file taxes for the country uh and on top of that you’re trying to do your move immigration you know it’s just not it’s not realistic sure and I know it’s very exciting I mean for for that for that

Entrepreneur of heart which I am an entrepreneur you know I have different businesses uh I know it’s very exciting to to try to do something else but I’ll was just before you do anything about on that level finish with everything get settle get used to make sure you wanted

To stay you know spend you know a lot of people say do not buy a house and that’s for Unico you don’t buy a house first leave one year leave one year in Spain before you want to buy a house yeah so a lot of people would say that that’s kind

Of like the general Common Sense advice that we hear here uh for the expat the newcomer community so if you’re doing a business yes do that and wait a little bit and then looking to getting to know understand the market now now Financial so where is my money coming from uh my

The money it’s easier this is my my bet in business you know my business is I live in Costa Rica I make money in United States I have different businesses and I have my business is Incorporated in United States because I’m selling to the largest consumer Market there is in the

World so thinking that the local market in in your local town in Portugal or the local town in Nicaragua sanan dour is going to be a better Market than millions of consumers in the states does not make sense it may be exciting it may be a great idea because you think you

Know yes I can maybe you know I seen I saw this yesterday jaman is buying Golf Cars to maybe 10 20 Golf Cars to rent in a local Bach town in uh here in Costa Rica there is there is already three other people doing it it’s a very there

Is a a very little town to do that and there is a is a seasonal business as well like I don’t know that industry as much I just know business in general but perhaps there is a lot of ideas you can Implement in your country make money in

US Dollars and spend that money in local currency colonis and that has the potential to grow even more and and to have a good business in in your own country and perhaps you already know the rules in your country perhaps you already have the contacts to do to file

The IRS properly to to do the marketing properly within your local market and you don’t have to start figuring out figuring that out from a scratch in your country where you’re living into so that’s on the business side money-making side uh I think that’s this is one of

The most mistakes I see all the time I see I see that all the time I don’t know if that answered your question or you want to go into other areas of that makes a lot of sense let me ask you financially so when I think about let’s

Say that you are earning money from the US or maybe you’re retiring with your savings and investment savings and you’re moving yep and so you know you have the money to live somewhere but what are some maybe expenses or things that people might not think of when they’re planing planning their move well

There’s a lot there there’s a lot of things that you over you’re going to overlook this things because the rules are different uh the rules are different on almost everything so in real estate you know in the US uh you are going through the real estate agent and somebody pays

The commission the seller the buyer whatever it might be uh then on top of that you have the the famous property inspector which is part of the but that property inspector that’s not exists in Costa Rica we don’t have that okay it’s not in the local market maybe in Spain

There is one but the the local culture here or I don’t think it exists in Nicaragua or Panama very little uh so you’re end up buying a property without having the additional set of eyes uh that could pinpoint the things that you need to invest later so if you don’t

Have that you’re going to have a lot of different things that you go oh I didn’t know the roof needed to be replaced I didn’t know many things and that’s just on the real estate side um on the shipping side you get a quote it’s going

To be an international move with all the bells and whistles is $110,000 but you’re dealing with a bureau with the bureaucracy of another country and there is a lot of fine pring when you do that uh import taxes so a government like Nicaragua will charge an additional three to4 th000 on import

Taxes to the shipment uh government Costa Rica it’s about $2,000 Panama allows you to have an import taxfree shipment uh for your house of goods and every country is a little bit different but you as a consumer you don’t know so depending on the country

Spain I think I I did one uh not too long ago we a 40 foot container import taxes on the particular case because they they did not qualify for the acceleration and it was a large shipment it was about 4,000 Heroes Heros oh so it’s it’s an additional expense and it’s

It’s a shipment that is already it’s already expensive to do an international move but on top of that you get hit with this additional expense so there is a lot of potential heating cost along the way on Legal Services on immigration as well on real estate you know uh so once

Again going my best advice is to trying to find a local service provider that is a good name good track record on make an appointment with this person if this is a good service provider it’s going to be busy it’s going to be busy and perhaps

It may be a little expensive but believe me that the advice you get from someone that does it on an everyday basis could save you potentially thousands of dollars literally literally it could be save you you may just pick and choose not to ship anything to Spain if you

Knew that you have to pay this additional $4,000 uh you may just speaking shoes not to buy that property or maybe they would share that property for $10,000 less if you knew that the roof was you know needed to be replaced so right going with professionals even if it cost you a

Little bit for that consultation I think it’s a good idea absolutely having people that you can really rely on and like you said that are reputable I know you give a lot of referrals out which is awesome people should check out your sites I’ll put them up here on the

Screen so that they can see that uh for information um but I’ve also found it super helpful in like my town in Spain you mentioned U Facebook and that that’s been really popular um for you in Spain it’s huge there’s an expat community on Facebook in every little town in Spain

And so anytime I need something I just pop into the group and I ask them for a referral and I hadn’t thought about doing that before a move because I didn’t do that until I already owned a home in Spain but you could do that if

You kind of know there’s an area you’re looking at pop into a local Facebook group there and for referrals yeah and I think it can save you a lot of headaches so yeah I I do that all the time I am in expert groups in almost every country you can think of

And literally over 400 groups because we service oh my goodness it’s it’s crazy of course I only focus on the count we do more business Costa Rica Mexico Portugal Panama I see what people comment if you need a service provider you’re gonna have people recommending

Hey you can talk to this person you can talk to that person uh you still have to be careful because you don’t know who is out there you see a picture on the screen you don’t know you don’t know but at least if you see somebody recommending an immigration attorney and

You see three other members saying yes I have used them mhm that’s a that’s like Google reviews or gelp but very organic on the spot the same day very organic so people are like saying yes uh so it’s even to me it’s even stronger than than a Google review because it’s very it’s

Very organic there are people that are supporting that business because they’re thankful for the job this particular professional did uh so I think it’s a good idea uh but even with that look at the name look at their business Google it look at the Google The Google reviews as for

Referrals uh even with that I will just probably try to do the best I can to understand what is the record the reputation of this particular service provider or company uh I think is huge it’s important as new Commerce as experts as people in a new country we are uh very is subject

To trust people I mean we are excited about the 10 different big projects we’re doing and sometimes it’s easy just go with with the first recommendation but trust me it’s worth it to spend some time and doing the D diligence on anybody especially with bigger purchases right that makes a lot of

Sense um well I have one more thought before we finish up this episode and it’s really kind of going back to what we were talking about earlier but I just want make this point we talked about the importance of going and visiting an area and I just want to say

Something that I think might help explain why I think that’s important and that is that you can see for example Portugal is like the place that everyone’s been moving to the last few years it is become an expat hotspot to the point that the country has had to

Make some Law changes because they have so many people making purchases there and as great as a places like Portugal it doesn’t really have to do with how wonderful a place is that doesn’t mean that you’re going to enjoy it there I feel like every single town every single City every single country

Has a different vibe to it and just because it’s a wonderful place for most people doesn’t mean that that’s a good fit for you it’s just like when you date someone you could date a wonderful person that doesn’t mean it fits you well and so that I think is one of the

Reasons it’s not okay it’s not that not trusting other people’s opinions it’s just that you’re different from other people and the way you respond in a place might feel a bit different than others and so I just want to encourage people to spend plenty of time traveling visiting places see what fits you

Because I think that could make a really big difference for you um or you could be like me and you just travel everywhere forget having a home just live everywhere I love that too yeah definitely I think you know you know everybody’s different that’s the first

The first thought we had on on on this on this uh conversation everyone is different understanding yourself it’s key for you to plan and have your list of things that are good for you and if you if you can only take that from this conversation and plan your relocation

Project uh with that uh I’ll be happy that you’re gonna you’re going to you you’re going to do better you’re going to do good yeah that’s awesome well for all of you listening out there I really hope this conversation has been helpful to you if you are considering life as an

Expat we are going to have an expat conversation every week so be sure to subscribe now next week we will be talking about how to adjust to a new culture if you have other topics in mind that you would like for us to cover be

Sure to let us know thank you so much for being here and thank you Pablo for being here with me as always I can’t wait to see where your dreams will take you

In this episode, Nicole and Pablo discuss the important considerations for those planning to move abroad as expats. They emphasize the need to understand one’s motivations and needs before choosing a destination. They also highlight the importance of thorough research and seeking professional advice when making financial decisions. Additionally, they stress the significance of visiting and experiencing a place before making a permanent move. Overall, the conversation provides valuable insights and guidance for anyone preparing for expat life.

👋 My name is Nicole and I created Travel to Money to help you learn about how to travel adventure and have fun on the road to financial independence. I have traveled the world, I own a couple of houses in Spain, and I’m on a creative journey to financial independence. I believe the road to financial freedom can and should be fun. I hope you’ll subscribe and join me on this journey, no matter where you are starting from.

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Keywords: expat life, expat, live abroad, living overseas