Post: #1

Lets say you have around $200k cash in the bank, no kids, no dependents, and are sick of America..I just turned 30, i'm relatively good looking, well dressed, and a fit guy. Where would you live in the world if you had a choice? I'm thinking SE asia....PI or Thailand....

In the past I had a few successful internet businesses, so i'm looking to start that up again for a side income/business to keep me busy and cover my expense so i don't blow all my cash. That said, i'm going to be doing some traveling, but want the run down from some well traveled guys on this forum. My criteria:

1. dollar goes far/livable city

2. local women like white guys/Americans

3. good night life

4. low cost/high quality housing

5. warm weather

6. Somewhat business friendly *(Unlike the U.S.!)

I am headed to check out bogota next month, but all signs point towards SE asia....any advice or tips you guys have would be much appreciated.

thanks- Jack

Post: #2

I would probably go to Argentina to learn Spanish or to Russia to learn Russian.

Post: #3

Thailand and Phillippines are the only places I know that fit all of those qualifications. Other places, like S. America or E. Europe do better in some categories, but no where hits all six except SE Asia.

Post: #4

USA ranks in the top 5 on the ease of doing business index:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ease_of_Doi...ness_Index

If I were you, I'd first plan a 3 month research trip where you spend a couple weeks each in a handful of locations. Deciding to move somewhere before doing recon, especially if you don't have a lot of travel experience, is setting yourself up for coming back home prematurely.

Post: #5

Boils down to a choice of 3 :

1. S.America
2. SE asia
3. E.Europe

Buy a round the world ticket and sample all 3 and then decide

Post: #6

Id advise investing that money and not blowing it on traveling.

Your 30 not 20....

Post: #7

I'm with what Roosh said . . . if you're looking to become a resident alien, that's a big step that requires a real understanding of what you're getting into.

Post: #8

Do you have to stay in ONE single city all year around? You could think about splitting time between two or more, especially if your business is online.

You could spend 3-6 months in Asia, some time in South America and the rest in the US even.

That way you can pick and choose the weather and won't get easily bored. Depends if you want to truly settle though I suppose...

Post: #9

Buy/rent a house in Koh Samui. Good place for new businesses after the tsunami. Learn how to scuba dive in one of the many Koh Samui diving schools, go dive in Koh Tao and Koh Phi Phi. Enjoy Chaweng roads nightlife and meet amazing women and make friendship with the upperclass Samui people. Go to Hat Rin in Koh Phangan for the full moon party. From Koh Samui Airport, you have direct flights to many other Thai or SE Asian delights. In one and a half hours you'll be in Bangkok to buy whatever you can't find in the islands. In one hour you'll be in Phuket and after a 30 minutes boat trip you're in Koh Phi Phi.
Always wear a condom because money can't buy health. Enjoy!

Post: #10

...

Post: #11

(09-01-2011 08:07 AM)Dash Global Wrote:  Id advise investing that money and not blowing it on traveling.

Your 30 not 20....

That's actually one reason to move abroad - to preserve your wealth through investing. I was in a similar situation as the OP, but with more financial resources. I've been abroad travelling 1.5 years now and its been an awesome way to have a really good lifestyle while still having time to focus on investing.

If I had stayed in the US I would have blown more of my savings just surviving, while having a lower quality of life (I would not be able to eat out three times a day, drink whenever I wanted, or do whatever activities I wanted). Staying in developing countries is an awesome way to preserve wealth compared to blowing it in NYC or SF. So far I've been able to break even through investing, and at one point before the recent crash I was way up.

So if the OP has 200k he can stay abroad for a year or two and still go back to the US (if he wants) with a significant amount of money. If he pulls only a 5-6% return he will be fine.

Post: #12

(09-02-2011 11:40 AM)nomadicdude Wrote:  If he pulls only a 5-6% return he will be fine.

Six percent on 200k is pretty thin. Do-able in the right setting for the right person. But, boy are you hoping nothing goes off the rails.

Although I just got done in Paris for ten days and spent something to the order of $4000 there, not accounting for place tickets. My view of money got very skewed by Paris.

My long term "give up work and retire target" is $6 million, to give you a sense of where my targets are. I'm presently summiting that first million.

Post: #13

(09-02-2011 11:46 AM)mycleverid Wrote:  

(09-02-2011 11:40 AM)nomadicdude Wrote:  If he pulls only a 5-6% return he will be fine.

Six percent on 200k is pretty thin. Do-able in the right setting for the right person. But, boy are you hoping nothing goes off the rails.

Although I just got done in Paris for ten days and spent something to the order of $4000 there, not accounting for place tickets. My view of money got very skewed by Paris.

My long term "give up work and retire target" is $6 million, to give you a sense of where my targets are. I'm presently summiting that first million.

Haha, your budget is way above mine. With 1 million I would semi-retire right now and I'm only early 30's.

I think I can get by quite nicely on 20k a year living abroad. Of course in developing countries, not France. And for the OP I was thinking that if he can pull a 5-6% return he can go back to the US and he'll have only lost maybe 10k/year if he sticks to a 20k/year budget. That is not too bad, 10k, for the experience of travelling and living abroad for the year without having to work. Back in the US I spent 10k a year just on booze and bitches. He will still have plenty of money left, given his age.

Post: #14

@Nomadicdude- I agree w/ the U.S. being expensive. Last year I came home to spend time w/ family, and bled funds like a stuck pig. I ate almost exclusively at home, didn't make any significant trips, and mostly stayed outta bars and still spent enough to live in the Phils for a year and a half. The U.S. will nickel and dime you fo sho! And yeah, a million in the bank would retire me also.

Post: #15

Ali i dont know why but i always had a feeling you were worth a million.


Anyway to the OP - I think you should get more travelling experiences and then you decide where you want to live, people here cant tell you where to live.

Post: #16

(09-02-2011 01:18 PM)Aliblahba Wrote:  @Nomadicdude- I agree w/ the U.S. being expensive. Last year I came home to spend time w/ family, and bled funds like a stuck pig. I ate almost exclusively at home, didn't make any significant trips, and mostly stayed outta bars and still spent enough to live in the Phils for a year and a half. The U.S. will nickel and dime you fo sho! And yeah, a million in the bank would retire me also.

Yeah, that is why I am dreading going home. I've been abroad so long partly because I don't see the point of going back to the US in the middle of a fucking horrible job market. Sadly, the job market still sucks so I don't know.

One month in NYC or LA and I'll blow what could be at least three months expenses living in SE Asia. And I'd have to be careful what I do in the US: no clubbing four times a week, or sit-down restaurants, or taxis, or clothes shopping. And don't even get me started on the other stuff no one really thinks about, like how in poor countries you usually can pay someone 1-2 bucks to do your laundry, and you never have to take out the trash.

Post: #17

(09-02-2011 03:50 PM)nomadicdude Wrote:  

(09-02-2011 01:18 PM)Aliblahba Wrote:  @Nomadicdude- I agree w/ the U.S. being expensive. Last year I came home to spend time w/ family, and bled funds like a stuck pig. I ate almost exclusively at home, didn't make any significant trips, and mostly stayed outta bars and still spent enough to live in the Phils for a year and a half. The U.S. will nickel and dime you fo sho! And yeah, a million in the bank would retire me also.

Yeah, that is why I am dreading going home. I've been abroad so long partly because I don't see the point of going back to the US in the middle of a fucking horrible job market. Sadly, the job market still sucks so I don't know.

One month in NYC or LA and I'll blow what could be at least three months expenses living in SE Asia. And I'd have to be careful what I do in the US: no clubbing four times a week, or sit-down restaurants, or taxis, or clothes shopping. And don't even get me started on the other stuff no one really thinks about, like how in poor countries you usually can pay someone 1-2 bucks to do your laundry, and you never have to take out the trash.

Dude, you got 200K cash in the bank, and you're saying that you can't eat at sit-down restaurants or afford taxis or new clothes? Shit maybe you got all the money by being the world's biggest meizer, I got similar funds, but I'm able to eat out twice a day, buy nice new clothes, etc.

It's nice to be frugal and spend wisely, but I don't think eating street food in Bangkok is really all that it's cracked up to be.

Post: #18

Oh shit, forget my last post, I think I got nomadicdude confused with the OP, man I really need to stop smoking so much weed.

Post: #19

[/quote]


Dude, you got 200K cash in the bank, and you're saying that you can't eat at sit-down restaurants or afford taxis or new clothes? Shit maybe you got all the money by being the world's biggest meizer, I got similar funds, but I'm able to eat out twice a day, buy nice new clothes, etc.

It's nice to be frugal and spend wisely, but I don't think eating street food in Bangkok is really all that it's cracked up to be.
[/quote]

This applies to me to, I'm in a similar spot as the OP. With 300k+ I can afford sit down meals and all that in the US, my point is that it costs 2-5 times more to do that than in developing countries, so what's the point. I don't get off on blowing money in more expensive restaurants or bars. I like being in developing countries actually. And I'd like to preserve my wealth as long as possible instead of blowing it. If things work out I can turn this into a nice retirement, I just have 35 freaking more years to wait. Haha

Post: #20

(09-01-2011 08:07 AM)Dash Global Wrote:  Id advise investing that money and not blowing it on traveling.

Your 30 not 20....

Ooops, 35 at the end of the year and blowing all my money till the last dime on traveling.

Post: #21

(09-02-2011 10:34 AM)UKM Wrote:  Do you have to stay in ONE single city all year around? You could think about splitting time between two or more, especially if your business is online.

You could spend 3-6 months in Asia, some time in South America and the rest in the US even.

1) Depending on the countries you're interested in, you may HAVE to move around if you're using tourist visas because in a lot (perhaps most?) countries you won't be allowed to stay within the borders anywhere close to 100% of the time. For example, in Thailand you would have to leave every 30 or 60 days (I was never able to figure out which number would apply to me, but neither is good enough in any case. If anyone here *really* knows the rules for Thailand I'd love clarification!) You can play games that involve leaving Thailand (e.g. via cheap flight to Vietnam or Indonesia) only to return right away, but my understanding is that there is a second rule that prevents you from staying in the country more half of the time (once again, if anyone really knows about this please enlighten us). So really *living* in Thailand is pretty much out, at least on a tourist visa. As far as I can tell other desirable countries have rules presenting similar obstacles. I asked about this general problem here: /thread-6100.html but didn't get too many replies.

2) As far as cost savings is concerned, it's going to be difficult to beat the cost of living in US *hugely* if you want appropriate health insurance and also be able to visit your family periodically. When I was pricing out living in Bangkok, it seemed pretty cheap until I factored in returning to the US twice per year to see my aging parents, which added in $3-$5k USD per year (ticket prices fluctuate). Also, I wanted to have catastrophic health insurance coverage in any country including the US (otherwise, if something happened to me during a visit home, I'd be screwed). I never managed to pin down the exact price of that but I suspect it's on the order of $3600+ a year. After adding up all of my potential expenses (including a good 1-bedroom apartment near the Sky Train, and plenty of nights out at expensive Bangkok bars and clubs) I ended up with a number close to $30k USD per year. Bangkok is definitely cheaper, but it's not a HUGE win for me. I was hoping it would be more like $20k USD per year. Fat chance for the lifestyle I wanted.

A true nomad could really benefit from living in developing countries from a cost of living point of view.

Post: #22

DashGlobal- no offense, but aren't you the dude who drops data sheets on places he hasn't been yet?

And to clear things up, I won't be leaving forever, probably a year or two, then come back to the U.S to start a new project. So I guess you could call it a "Mini-retirement", however, I plan on working on my online projects while i'm traveling.

Thanks for all the replies!

Post: #23

Jack,

I dont take offense to anything a stanger says on a message board.

Invest the 200k in real estate.

That will generate 2K in rent money a month allowing you to travel indefinably.

No need to blow your money when you can make / increase your money and travel at the same time.

A very important key / lesson in life is making your money work for you.....