A decade ago, Bradley Krae left the United States to teach English in Shenzhen, China. He spends less money and says the has found his own version of the American Dream there.
I’m sure China, Thailand or somewhere like that is great to go to for a while if you’re being paid a salary meant for the US or Europe. I doubt the people who have always lived there see the value at all and have all sorts of bullshit that a visitor probably doesn’t even see. Especially for China that imposes all kinds of social controls that highly restrict free expression, free movement, etc.
Unlike other countries America taxes you if you live here or not. The main barrier to people living cheaper lifestyles abroad is their obligation to continue to pay American taxes for what amounts to no benefit.
The main barrier to people living cheaper lifestyles abroad is their obligation to continue to pay American taxes for what amounts to no benefit.
This is largely a myth perpetrated by rich people. It’s similar to the handwringing about the estate tax. It’s just rich people bitching. The first $133k of foreign earned income is completely tax free. And additionally, any foreign taxes paid can be deducted as tax credits. So if you would normally owe $10k in taxes to the US government, but you paid $8k in taxes while living abroad to a foreign government, you’ll only owe the IRS $2k.
The idea that this is a substantial barrier to middle class people moving abroad for a cheaper lifestyle is just fucking comical. It’s only a problem if you are very, very wealthy. And even the very wealthy don’t end up getting double-taxed. No one who moves overseas for cost of living reasons is going to have to worry about taxes being a problem.
A U.S. citizen or a U.S. resident alien who is physically present in a foreign country or countries for at least 330 full days during any period of 12 consecutive months.
Its actually ironic that people in Puerto Rico don’t even get representation but if you last lived in the 50 states and then go abroad, you can mail your vote.
You still have the right to vote as a US citizen living abroad. The only taxation without representation is of people living in the US on a visa or green card.
And residents of DC, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, USVI, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Probably the rest of the territories too, but those ones have members of Congress that aren’t allowed to vote.
Funny enough, my family also did this, but reversed.
I was born in China and we moved to the US when I was 8 years old… my parents found more success here… I mean, not at the very beginning, but eventually… now they have more income and more time off vs back in China…
I can’t speak for everyone, but in my specific case, my mom had to work long hours and did not have the 1.5 overtime bonus she has now and have less breaks vs now, and then dad… well… he didn’t really have a stable job, spend a lot of the time looking for jobs…
social programs, healthcare, and such.
Not according to my parents. My parents were kinda shocked how much welfare American Citizens have, and at one point, my parents claimed that “Americans are lazy and just wanna not go to work and live on welfare”.
And in terms of housing, okay when we were in Brooklyn, NYC, that place was so expensive it was impossible buy a house, so they bount a house in Philly moved our family here… where we’ve been living ever since…
Okay it was like approximately $100k around 2014 but this place has very shitty schools :/
But both the Brooklyn place we rented and this house in this ghetto place called Philly, both looked nicer than the neighborhood where used to live in Guangzhou, a CITY btw… (okay to be fair there are a bunch of problems in this current Philly house but like that’s just parents being frugal lol)
As for the healthcare part… eh… my mom really don’t trust doctors in China (well she also doesn’t really trust healthcare people overall, but especially those in China). Mom told me about a lot of situations that she felt like she got scammed, I can’t remember all the anecdotes she told me, but at one point, she told me how she thought the doctors are trying to get her to do a C-Section just to make more money (cuz surgery = more expensive bill), she thought it was unnecessary and wanted to give a natural birth, but she doesn’t wanna risk it being that, in fact, the doctors told the truth and then us dying, so she just gave in and went along with the C-Section. And she told me they want to overprescribe medicine so they get a kickback from the pharma companies. Bascially, my parents say US quality of healthcare is better for those who can afford it. But even then, because of their experiences living in China for so long, they just became so skeptical of the medical industry which is why mom really don’t want me seeking help for depression, cuz: “yOu dOn’t hAvE dEpReSsIoN, tHe dOctOrs aRe jUsT lYinG tO yOu!” cuz she thinks they are just trying to get paid fot overdiagnosing people… so because of their experience in China, they now kinda grew skeptical of medical professionals overall…
Cuz there’s just so much sketchy stuff and scams in China, and on top of their own experiences, warnings about scams are always circulating throughout their WeChat.
So it can look cheaper… but you risk running into corrupt doctors because corruption is a very big thing there, I mean they could easily bribe their way into having a medical license when they shouldn’t be qualified…
I’m sure China, Thailand or somewhere like that is great to go to for a while if you’re being paid a salary meant for the US or Europe. I doubt the people who have always lived there see the value at all and have all sorts of bullshit that a visitor probably doesn’t even see. Especially for China that imposes all kinds of social controls that highly restrict free expression, free movement, etc.
There’s a lot of places that heavily lured digital nomads for a time that ended up pissing off tons of locals when rent went up across the board.
it’s trading one capitalist place for another. china is just a unit of measure ahead in terms of tech, social programs, healthcare, and such.
i worry that US corps will be pushed to not allow remote work from other countries when enough of us do move the hell away.
Unlike other countries America taxes you if you live here or not. The main barrier to people living cheaper lifestyles abroad is their obligation to continue to pay American taxes for what amounts to no benefit.
This is largely a myth perpetrated by rich people. It’s similar to the handwringing about the estate tax. It’s just rich people bitching. The first $133k of foreign earned income is completely tax free. And additionally, any foreign taxes paid can be deducted as tax credits. So if you would normally owe $10k in taxes to the US government, but you paid $8k in taxes while living abroad to a foreign government, you’ll only owe the IRS $2k.
The idea that this is a substantial barrier to middle class people moving abroad for a cheaper lifestyle is just fucking comical. It’s only a problem if you are very, very wealthy. And even the very wealthy don’t end up getting double-taxed. No one who moves overseas for cost of living reasons is going to have to worry about taxes being a problem.
Isn’t there a Foreign Earned Income Exemption (FEIE) up to $130k that many US expats qualify for? Specifically:
I thought Americans didn’t like “taxation without representation”…
You can vote overseas…
Its actually ironic that people in Puerto Rico don’t even get representation but if you last lived in the 50 states and then go abroad, you can mail your vote.
You still have the right to vote as a US citizen living abroad. The only taxation without representation is of people living in the US on a visa or green card.
And residents of DC, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, USVI, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Probably the rest of the territories too, but those ones have members of Congress that aren’t allowed to vote.
Funny enough, my family also did this, but reversed.
I was born in China and we moved to the US when I was 8 years old… my parents found more success here… I mean, not at the very beginning, but eventually… now they have more income and more time off vs back in China…
I can’t speak for everyone, but in my specific case, my mom had to work long hours and did not have the 1.5 overtime bonus she has now and have less breaks vs now, and then dad… well… he didn’t really have a stable job, spend a lot of the time looking for jobs…
Not according to my parents. My parents were kinda shocked how much welfare American Citizens have, and at one point, my parents claimed that “Americans are lazy and just wanna not go to work and live on welfare”.
And in terms of housing, okay when we were in Brooklyn, NYC, that place was so expensive it was impossible buy a house, so they bount a house in Philly moved our family here… where we’ve been living ever since…
Okay it was like approximately $100k around 2014 but this place has very shitty schools :/
But both the Brooklyn place we rented and this house in this ghetto place called Philly, both looked nicer than the neighborhood where used to live in Guangzhou, a CITY btw… (okay to be fair there are a bunch of problems in this current Philly house but like that’s just parents being frugal lol)
As for the healthcare part… eh… my mom really don’t trust doctors in China (well she also doesn’t really trust healthcare people overall, but especially those in China). Mom told me about a lot of situations that she felt like she got scammed, I can’t remember all the anecdotes she told me, but at one point, she told me how she thought the doctors are trying to get her to do a C-Section just to make more money (cuz surgery = more expensive bill), she thought it was unnecessary and wanted to give a natural birth, but she doesn’t wanna risk it being that, in fact, the doctors told the truth and then us dying, so she just gave in and went along with the C-Section. And she told me they want to overprescribe medicine so they get a kickback from the pharma companies. Bascially, my parents say US quality of healthcare is better for those who can afford it. But even then, because of their experiences living in China for so long, they just became so skeptical of the medical industry which is why mom really don’t want me seeking help for depression, cuz: “yOu dOn’t hAvE dEpReSsIoN, tHe dOctOrs aRe jUsT lYinG tO yOu!” cuz she thinks they are just trying to get paid fot overdiagnosing people… so because of their experience in China, they now kinda grew skeptical of medical professionals overall…
Cuz there’s just so much sketchy stuff and scams in China, and on top of their own experiences, warnings about scams are always circulating throughout their WeChat.
So it can look cheaper… but you risk running into corrupt doctors because corruption is a very big thing there, I mean they could easily bribe their way into having a medical license when they shouldn’t be qualified…