Being "expatriotic"

So who is this article for?

Anyone who's becoming disillusioned with the country that they're in and wants to live somewhere else. Anyone who feels like they can't save a dime living in a "civilized" or "western" country. The general message here is that, by leaving the US, UK, Germany etc., you gain something. That is, you gain a life that is potentially A LOT cheaper to fund. This can be a game changer for a lot of people. Is it your mission in life to travel? Why work for five years to go spend 2 weeks in Japan? What if you spent those five years travelling instead? This is a concept I borrowed from the AMAZING book "Vagabonding" that talks about how one shouldn't say they want to travel if they spend all their life just working 9-to-5. It's not intellectually honest. You're essentially a wage slave at that point and your dreams have become disassociated from your reality. And yes, I can hear the retorts now, "but muh family!!!" and sure, that's a factor. But does your family really want you to be miserable your entire existence so you can MAYBE do some traveling when you retire at 65?

To vagabond or to expat, that is the question.

An expatriate is one who leaves their country to work abroad. Usually it's not permanent. It differs from being an immigrant because expatriates (expats for short) usually hold short-term visas that are sponsored by their employee. Being expatriotic is like being a typical expat, except with a certain degree of scorn for the country of your origin. Of course you don't need to become an expat. You could just stay in rural America and focus on your earthship, self-sufficient, Citadel. A la Mandibles. However if choosing to go abroad, it will come down to leveraging disparities in the global cost of living and desparities of income.
The Sovereign Individual, a book ahead of it's time, predicted this outcome. A world where people could be paid in Bali for work done in Sweden, transcending geographical and fiscal contraints in exchange for autonomy and the ability to SAVE MONEY. But if you decide to go abroad, what are your options?
1. Digital nomad. Work remotely and become a perpetual traveler.
2. Employee at a foreign company abroad
  • Working at VW (fill in any western company name) but in China or Thailand
3. International school teacher
  • One area that is booming is international schools. It only takes nine months to get a certification from a state in the US--EVEN if you AREN'T in the country!! Check out Moreland University.
Table 1: Examples of countries relative purchasing power using the US as base 100.
RankCountry/RegionCost indexMonthly incomePurchasing power index
1Switzerland131.47,958 USD94.6
6Ireland110.66,644 USD93.9
9Australia107.05,070 USD74.1
15United States100.06,398 USD100.0
16United Kingdom98.54,103 USD65.1
18Sweden93.95,292 USD88.1
21Japan84.93,537 USD65.1
22France83.23,774 USD70.9
24Germany82.34,503 USD85.6
29Singapore72.15,600 USD121.3
31Portugal67.92,163 USD49.8
32United Arab Emirates67.24,097 USD95.3
39Chile58.31,280 USD34.3
40China57.61,071 USD29.1
44Brazil49.8678 USD21.3
45Ecuador49.7525 USD16.5
48El Salvador48.2393 USD12.7
49Honduras47.5229 USD7.5
63Colombia38.2542 USD22.2
67Philippines36.5329 USD14.1
75Thailand34.7603 USD27.2
77Indonesia33.1382 USD18.0
79Vietnam32.4334 USD16.1

My story

Debt

I probably worked 20 jobs before I went overseas to Indonesia for my first international teaching gig. Suddenly instead of only being able to eat out once or twice a month I was fairly comfortable. I could eat out every meal because although by US standards I was earning a modest wage, it was 8x more than what the poorest wage earners were getting. And this meant that my money went far. Meals were cheap and I ate out almost every meal. I tried to save up, but after being a poor college student, I wanted to be comfortable. Plus, getting married and having, not one, but two kids kept my savings in the red. By the time I was in my early thirties I was in debt and using credit cards. I felt pretty damn hopeless. And the fiat system is built on keeping you in debt. My credit rating actually went down because I had the audacity to pay my debt off too quickly.

Saving

Saving money in fiat is almost impossible. In most cases people live paycheck to paycheck, or worse, they live outside of their means. But even the rare person saving 5-10% of their salary will be exposed to monetary inflation as countries actively and maliciously debase their currencies.
Bitcoin is the perfect savings technology. It's a money that truly allows you to be in control. Plus your savings will increase in value rather than decreasing. Saving in bitcoins is like having a literal superpower. Just working 9-to-5, you can save enough money to retire by the time your 45 or 50. Even better if you can earn bitcoins instead of buying them!
But it's not enough to just earn more and save in bitcoins, you have to find a way to CUT costs, and this is where choosing where to live is key.

Enter China

China (the part I'm in at least) is EXTREMELY cheap to live in and I earn as much as I would in the states. Plus international school teachers rarely pay their own taxes. We get annual flights home for the family, free health insurance and housing. And if you live on campus like I do, you can even opt out of car payments, gas, garage bills, car insurance etc.
Financial independence comes way sooner when you manage your expenses and live on less. In other words, if you need $50,000 a year to maintain your lifestyle, you're going to have to retire way later than if you need $25,000 a year. Maths, amirite? Bitcoin plays a HUGE part of my calculus. Before it, I was all into having a balanced portfolio. I was constanting fixated on how to invest my money to get a return or yield. Meanwhile Bitcoin waltzed in as this pristine savings vehicle. All I had to do no was stack. Saving 50-75% of my salary a month and I could see my way to being financially set up for life.

Conclusion

Retool your life. Optimizing for freedom, choice, and financial self-determination.
This article is 100% AI free.
This article is 100% AI free.
FUCKING LOVE THAT! Proof of work.
I would like to see what @Natalia will say about this post.
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  • Stage one, you realize that there are many places you can spend less but to live the same quality of life or even better.
  • Stage two, you are no longer satisfied with only living somewhere so to "save money", you want to see how you can take advantage of the local surroundings.
  • Stage three, you look at yourself to see what you want/ need, then you choose where to live and absorb the knowledge within.
  • Later stage, maybe you decide to share those secrets that you discovered to help others to leave the cage 👀...
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Like Maslow's Hierarchy for the digital nomad.
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Thank you sensei. One day I'll be as prolific as you
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This is an informative post and;
  • This article is 100% AI free.
makes it AMAZING.
Please share more and appreciate any thoughts on citizenship/nationality arbitrage.
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Yes I originally wanted to call this either wage or location arbitrage. I've not delved too deeply into citizenship arbitrage being a US citizen just because of the strength of my passport ATM... But having to file taxes whilst working abroad is just asinine... Plus most countries that let you "buy" citizenship charge an exorbitant amount... I'd rather visit a country than get citizenship there, but that's just me.
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The problem with the US system is they take their taxes first… there are some places that allow citizenship by investment, have relatively strong passports and minimal capital gains however.
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Interesting. I'd love to hear more about bitcoin in China, and what China is like for an expat to live in right now.
Seems like there's lots of capital flight, and people wanting to leave China? This is my impression, but it might be just based on a biased YouTube algo.
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Regarding capital flight, YES. People just want to get their money out. I get paid and 5 minutes later I'm on telegram with my guy and their are sats in my wallet and RMB in his Alipay. Plus the amount of tourists coming has fallen hard. It's bad, and yes as you mentioned people want to leave. But when 70% of people earn 2,000 RMB a month or less, it's a bit hard to pick up and move.
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what China is like for an expat to live in right now.
I left there 10-12 years ago, it was already getting oppressive then, and it's gotten a hundred times worse. Don't try to go and live in China as a foreigner.
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Well I arrived post COVID and it's absolutely fine. I stay at my apartment mostly though, which is on the campus of an international school. But I don't feel super oppressed going out. If anything I think the biggest problem is too much "convenience", so everything from online taxis to order from Taobao (similar to Amazon) is REALLY easy, but EVERY app has your phone number and you just know there's got to be spyware on apps like WeChat and the like... So that's not great
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The Chinese culture is so completely fiat poisoned, it would be hard to live there unless you’re a hermit and can avoid the people (good luck!)
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Haha, I suppose. I live in a bit of a bubble... And because my cost basis per month is only about 5,000 RMB or $750 or so, I can save tons of bitcoin. I have a guy from hodlhodl and it takes about 5 min from getting paid 'til I have sats in my wallet.
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Imagine the the cognitive dissonance of moving into a country with an oppressive authoritarian regime that does a communism-LARP and trying to frame that as optimizing for freedom.
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There are many types of freedom. The freedom I'm referring to is financial freedom which is EXTREMELY difficult to attain in the US right now. By living in China I can "retire" in Thailand (a cash based country) by 45, then sure, I'll suck it up.
Also, the US has freedom sure, it also has a lot of shit policies and government overreach. Being an expat in China is actually not that bad (shockingly). Wouldn't want to stay here forever of course. But then again, I never want to live in the US again either haha.
A few things I commented to someone else are appropriate here: Refer here #458074
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8 sats \ 1 reply \ @joko 9 Mar
Optimizing for freedom
lives in China
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500 sats \ 1 reply \ @nullama 10 Mar
Having lived in a couple of countries, I can say this is a very personal topic.
Some people would thrive in the middle of a desolated dessert, while others will be happy to be in the middle of Manhattan.
Instead of pushing a specific route like the article suggests, i.e. from a High Cost of Living (HCoL) place to a LCoL one, I would invite the readers to simply consider what it is that they want from life and start country shopping.
Once you have your rough idea of the country, which includes things like is is possible for you to obtain the visa, language, etc, then you can start fine tuning the plan by choosing the actual city where you would like to live. Even inside a single country there is a massive difference between cities.
Once you have that city pinned down, I would recommend visiting there for at least a couple of weeks, ideally a few months. Get to see the place, live like a local. You will get a pretty good idea of what it would be to live there.
Once you are happy to go, start the required processes, like getting a visa, learning the language, etc.
Since the world is a massive place, and you are randomly born in a single city, it is quite unlikely that your favorite place to live is the one where you were born. Some people are of course lucky, but it's not the norm.
Explore the world and make it your home!
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Excellent point! Great contribution
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500 sats \ 1 reply \ @OT 9 Mar
Traveling in my 20's I found that the money you saved in the west would go a long way in the east.
I met one traveler who was riding a bicycle around the world. Taking his time, he had an apartment in London that was paying his endless travels. This was kinda inspiring for me. I was jealous that he could do something like that.
Anyway, now with a family the costs of perpetual traveling would be more. I'd like to do this when the kids are a little older. As for working online.... I might try some more writing. My field is music and that doesn't pay much or work that well traveling. Maybe composing or electronic music.
Enjoy China! I was there for 15 years. Teaching, then later playing music. Had the time of my life!
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Wow! Thanks for the feedback!!
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I didn't expect to come across such a good article. Many immigrants try to go to America for better living conditions. But as this article points out, people in the US are also looking for places where they have more purchasing power. I guess this is what it means to be human, we think that if we change our situation everything will be better. When in reality it is ourselves that need to change. Thanks OP!
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Good luck. I hope your strategy works out. CCP is a significant counterparty risk. Perhaps you will escape with your fortune and perhaps not. Thank you for compiling and sharing this research.
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I convert most of my salary to bitcoin the moment it hits my bank account. I most assuredly will not be losing my "fortune" as you call it. I've got the metal seedplates for my cold storage in a safe with family in the states also.
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I am not here to judge other's bitcoin security profile, but I would caution you against providing any details, significant or not, on your keys / backups.
My point was: Your really swell time with the CCP sounds very rewarding right up until it isn't. Reminds me of so many pumpcoins, great when the exit liquidity is rolling in, and catastrophically bad when the rug gets pulled.
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I literally have almost NO money in China... I actually have to send coworkers dollars or euros sometimes at the end of the month just to get more Chinese currency for something unbudgeted or unexpected expense. They don't mind because they love getting their money out of the country. But yeah, very little rug risk
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Wow this is great, well done keep it up!
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Thanks!
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OOPs, looks like the links in the article are all broken somehow. Let me share here.
  1. https://www.plebwork.com
  2. https://www.bitcointalent.co
  3. https://www.bitcoinerjobs.com
  4. https://www.bitcoinerfreelance.com
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100 sats \ 1 reply \ @ek 10 Mar
You unfortunately used the markdown link formatting in the wrong order. You wrote:
* [https://www.plebwork.com](PlebWork) * [https://www.bitcointalent.co](BitcoinTalent) * [https://www.bitcoinerjobs.com](BitcoinerJobs) * [https://www.bitcoinerfreelance.com](BitcoinerFreelance)
but it should have been:
* [PlebWork](https://www.plebwork.com) * [BitcoinTalent](https://www.bitcointalent.co) * [BitcoinerJobs](https://www.bitcoinerjobs.com) * [BitcoinerFreelance](https://www.bitcoinerfreelance.com)
Happens to the best :)
You can select something and then use CTRL+K, then we will format it correctly for you and you only need to paste the URL.
Same for CTRL+I for italic and CTRL+B for bold font
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Dang you're right, I just checked my markdown file... It's backwards
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It's a shame some of these sites require you to sign up and don't support LN login.
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The pleb one is the best imo regarding allowing you to be a nym
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @anon 9 Mar
I thought it was a great article until you started talking positively about China. 50 Cent Army confirmed.
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HAHAHAHAHA, this made me smile. Thanks for that. I had to look up what 50 Cent Army is. So, apparently my post qualifies. A few things:
  1. I live in a bubble because I stay on campus
  2. I don't like China (or the US). I think most states and governments are shit.
  3. Having said that, I can teach in the US for $50k a year with expenses of $40k a year or work in China at a private international school making $50k a year with expenses of almost $0 (basically just paying for food and travel which is somewhat discretionary).
  4. I signed the contract to work in China before I got heavily into bitcoin and self-sovereignty. But now that I'm here, I'm making the most of it.
  5. Oppression of the state is bigger (by far) for locals than for expats. Case in point, my school's internet network uses a VPN by default so I can use YT for lessons or use telegram to communicate etc, meanwhile a local using a VPN would be a criminal
  6. China is bad yes, also, you probably (at least experientially) know way less about China than you think. Other than big ticket news items.
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Tef 9 Mar
Great post! Actual proof of work!
China (the part I'm in at least) is EXTREMELY cheap to live in and I earn as much as I would in the states. Plus international school teachers rarely pay their own taxes. We get annual flights home for the family, free health insurance and housing. And if you live on campus like I do, you can even opt out of car payments, gas, garage bills, car insurance etc.
Would China be a good option even for a translator?
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I'm not entirely sure, do you speak Chinese? Not sure what languages you're referring to. Clearly English. Care to elaborate?
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that bitcoiner freelance link is broken, and I wanted to visit that site, what's the url?
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This one works for me, let me check the one in the article to see what happened. https://bitcoinerfreelance.com/
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Fabs 9 Mar
In other words: save some strong currencies like the $ or € (or Bitcoin), move to a poor country, exchange stronger savings for weaker local currency, find a job which pays well-above the local averages (westerners probably have a better education than the locals), live like a king.
I get it, it's not as fancy as your post, but it hits the nail nonetheless.
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Kind of, absolutely! Even when I was working making a middling wage (by US standards. Let's say like $30k a year) in Indonesia I could afford to eat out every day. It's a very inexpensive country. Jogjakarta (where my wife's family is from) in Indonesia was listed as one of the cheapest cities in the world. I concur, plus it's a fantastic place to visit and holiday in. MUCH cheaper than Jakarta or Bali.
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Welcome to the party!
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Thanks!
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I am also an English Teacher. But I'm working in my original country. I want to work overseas. I want to know more. Can you be my guide on this?
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Sure, no problem.
  1. Sign up for Search Associates
  2. Make sure you have a teacher's license.
  3. If you don't, no sweat, search for Moreland University.
  4. Go back to #1, you're assigned Associate will help guide you into the international school market.
  5. Go abroad!
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stackers have outlawed this. turn on wild west mode in your /settings to see outlawed content.
1008 sats \ 9 replies \ @r3drun3 9 Mar
deleted by author
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Chances this commenter is an (insular, ignorant, insecure) US American ?
(Just one of many in this thread trotting out their tedious CCP! Authoritarianism!! takes)
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deleted by author
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Ok, so you appear to live in Italy (from whence Marco Polo set off on his travels to the east in the 13th century, demonstrating a far more open mind than yours).
So I was wrong in this instance of guessing your nationality (although I don't think I'm wrong about the majority of similar derisory commenters in this thread).
But anyone who drops only a two word "China...LOL" comment in any thread touching on China only proves themselves intellectually moribund and closed minded. China, the country and the civilisation, is eminently worth of study, as has been recognised down through the centuries, and obviously going and living for a time in that country is one good way to learn more about it.
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I'm tired of ignorant commenters polluting threads with moronic & bigoted 'LOL' comments like you did here. (And so predictably on a subject like China.) Even so, if you hadn't been zapped 1000 sats and had your idiocy not been mirrored by many other commenters in this thread I may have stayed quiet.
You can write whatever dreck you like, sure, but sometimes ppl will call you out on it. When I described you as ignorant, insular and intellectually moribund, I really meant it. Maybe you should reflect on why ppl perceive you as such when you make utterly puerile 'LOL' comments. Because if you don't stop and reflect you're only going to get more closed-minded as your life goes on, and pollute more and more of the discussions you enter into.
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Makes a bigoted comment. Gets called on it. Suggests the person who calls them on it is the one with the 'hate problem'.
All the signs of someone completely lacking in self-awareness.
I wouldn't recommend everyone live in China, it just so happens to be where I am. That's why it's in the section called "My Story". US, China, I'm not a fan of many governments, but since I'm here, saving 75% of my income is definitely not a bad situation to be in. Long term I'd like to be in (cash based) Thailand.
How about you? Do you live somewhere that has a high cost of living?
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