Living Overseas on a Dime - Noel's channel

:laughing:

My point was that traditional expat locales are getting pricier most probably because of said expats. Capitalism works. How about that. I suppose I was splitting hairs between “on a dime” and “shoestring” budgets.

No big deal, but save the triggered talk for someone else. lol

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A good idea, and I am going to do something along those lines: 10 points are a bit much imho.

I will mostly try and keep it simple initially, and be focused on two things: how much does it cost, and can expats live there.

The first point, how much does it cost, will be broken down into cost of living and taxes. The second point, can expats live there will focus on types of visas and residency requirements (which will include real estate).

I will also include a section on “Living Environment”, which will include some of the other points you mentioned, but I am still firming them up. I want to avoid some of the more subjective and contentious points for the most part, such as safety and health care, which I will likely deal with in specific videos for each location (possibly, still thinking that over).

I do really appreciate the feedback, and this is an evolving thing that I need to refine as I go. Thanks a lot.

Racist much? How is their color related to the quality of their work?

Their skin color is very relevant. They always emphasize how awful their childhoods were and how poor they were, but a lot of what they talk about makes it clear they have no idea what it’s like to be a woman or a person of color in the US

That’s why I liked Taiwan of the past without all the expats. Japan is almost unbearable in terms of pricing due to all the tourism and being insanely busy with tourists everywhere. Korea was like taiwan too and now they are full of kpop star chasers. In other words I want to be the tourist but I don’t want other tourists to come and ruin it :slight_smile:

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Good stuff. Keep being consistent, that’s the key for youtube. But at a pace that is manageable for you. Also consider adding chapters to your videos, for folks like me who’d prefer to skip around. :slight_smile:

My countries of interest in the Americas are:
Mexico, Dominican Republic, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Argentina. We may actually be on a similar timeline trajectory with you now…looking to potentially do some nomading around central/South America before heading to Taiwan in fall 2022. We will have to keep each other updated in case we cross paths!

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Thanks a lot. I am really enjoying the whole process, and even really liking the editing! You just pushed me to learn how to add the chapters for the videos - it is now updated for the most recent one.

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Great stuff…please keep it coming! We are a few years older and a few years behind you on retiring abroad, but Taiwan and Malaysia are at the top of the list. Did you see that the Malaysia long-term social pass criteria just got a lot more restrictive, with a fixed deposit requirement of a million MYR plus a monthly income of 40,000 MYR (quadruple the previous amount)? Looks like the government is reviewing now.

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Yeah, the new MM2H requirements are completely ridiculous. Hopefully they get repealed.

Yeah, almost $10,000 USD in documented income and a quarter million on bank deposit during retirement… My wife is Malaysian, so I do t think I will need that program. But still, will likely discourage a lot of moderately well-off expats from using the program. Who wants to park that kind of money in a bank earning what I guess would be low interest?

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Exactly! It makes zero sense.

(Apologies for the self-promotion, but this is very relevant to your comment)

Interest rates are typically much higher than in the US, fwiw. Right now I see rates around 1.5-2%. 2 years ago (pre-covid) mm2h’ers were reporting 4.5-4.8%. Not necessarily earth-shattering numbers but not bad. What you have to watch out for is currency instability.

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Thanks… Great information! Seems like no downsides to the Sarawak program compared to federal. Also looking into the spouse visa option, although our wedding was in Taiwan and we have not registered in Malaysia… so that could be a problem.

I actually really like Sabah and Sarawak and could happily disappear there for a few years. It has most of the stuff I like, rainforest , beaches and coast, laid back locals , old shop houses, decent enough food, cheap housing , aboriginal and old Chinese communities , good exchange rate with TWD plus they speak English and Chinese. Coffee too!

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Yeah not really any downsides if you are 50+ and you don’t mind spending 15 days per year in Sarawak.

I first stumbled across this visa about 3 years ago as we considered the federal MM2H for ourselves, and although I am too young to participate, I always thought way more people should know about this if they’re considering the federal program. So much better.

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What is this Sarawak program?

It is a variation of the Malaysia My Second Home program. The regular MM2H program is being revised and will likely have much more restrictive criteria. The video in projectmaximus’s post above describes it.

The newest video, with the second half of my list of countries, for Europe and Asia is up:

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Hi Noel,

Love your videos and have watched every single one :slight_smile: Well done on them all and I look forward to seeing how the channel evolves. My wife and I are looking to make a similar move with our children in the next year or so and our primary focus is Taiwan but are interested in other locales given the increasing tensions with China.

Definitely would love to see more about ease of getting visas in the locations you’ve mentioned in the Europe and Asia video. And also job opportunities for expats for side hustles or just extra income (maybe harder to do but just a thought for future videos).

Best of luck to you and your family on the move and looking forward to following your journey either here or on youtube!

Cheers,
Kevin

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Hi Kevin,

I am glad you like the videos! As I have said, there are too many videos (and certain magazines) that just seem to gloss over some very important topics (taxes and visas???), and it drives me crazy. That was a big motivator in making the channel.

I also have always really been into looking at different countries to live and/or retire in. I have been doing research into the different options for almost 10 years now, so I am really looking forward to sharing what I have learned.

We will also be doing “boots on the ground” report type of videos as we travel through the countries in the next few years - it should be interesting!!!

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