Dear Future Expats,

This is not the column I had planned for today. However, when I got this letter in my mailbox yesterday, I knew I had to share it with you ASAP. It’s from Leif Simon of Live & Invest Overseas.

I’ll have a few further comments at the end. . .

“The IRS is grabbing headlines again this week. Unfortunately, this time, it’s at the serious expense of a friend of mine, U.S. tax attorney Chris Rusch.

“Kathleen and I spent last week with Chris in Medellin. He was a presenter at our Live and Invest in Colombia Conference. We had breakfast with Chris Sunday morning at our hotel in El Poblado, confirmed our plans to have dinner with Chris and some other friends back in Panama City Tuesday night, and then waved good-bye as Kathleen and I left for the airport. Our flight was a couple of hours earlier than his.

“Early Tuesday morning we read the first press release, from Bloomberg.

“When Chris’ plane landed at Tocumen Airport in Panama City, U.S. and Panama officials were waiting for him at the end of the jetway. Only I guess they weren’t sure what Chris looked like. Other friends also on that flight have told us that officials were calling aside and checking the passports of every male gringo who appeared to be over the age of 30. Once they identified Chris, they confiscated his passport and escorted him away without a word. His Panamanian girlfriend, too (though she was quickly released).

“We’ve pieced the story together in the two days since. You can read the official version here.

“The charge, according to the press releases, is conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. Chris has been arrested and is being charged along with two former clients of his, who face a number of additional charges against them.

“Are the charges against Chris or his clients founded? We have no idea.

“However, what this still-evolving situation does show is that the IRS is going to extreme measures to make headlines…just as Chris has been saying for a long time. Chris made this point during his presentations in Medellin last week. The kinds of press releases being circulated and picked up by all the media right now not only make headlines. They also frighten some of the folks reading them into voluntarily coming clean regarding unreported income or unreported offshore bank accounts.

“And that, as Chris has been explaining to his clients and our readers for months, is the IRS’s current agenda.

“The IRS has just launched a new amnesty program, whereby people who haven’t properly reported offshore bank accounts or who have unreported income can come forward, pay back taxes and penalties, and avoid criminal prosecution. Previous amnesty programs in 2009 and 2011 generated US$4.4 billion in income for the IRS in back taxes, interest, and penalties. Chris wrote an article about this current amnesty program for this month’s inaugural issue of my Simon Letter.

“The bottom line of all this is straightforward. The U.S. government needs more revenue, and the IRS is doing its best to find it.

“We remind you often and want to remind you again now: Hide and seek doesn’t work. It’s a transparent world in this 21st century. You want to show and tell. File your forms. Declare your income. Disclose your bank accounts. Remain fully compliant.

“The trouble is that most Americans don’t understand all the current, new, and ever-expanding filing requirements. You need to work at keeping up right now, because the playing field is being reconfigured all the time.

“If you’re an American or a green card holder, you are required to file a form (it’s called the TD F 90-22.1, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts) telling the IRS about any non-U.S. account or accounts that have held an aggregate of US$10,000 or more at any point during the previous tax year. This is required whether you are living overseas or not. No matter where in the world you reside, from New York to Nicaragua, from Poughkeepsie to Panama, if you have a non-U.S. bank account, your filing and reporting requirements are the same.

“And I strongly recommend that you understand and follow them.

“Keeping in mind that they are growing more specific and more complicated with the new FACTA rules, some of which still haven’t been finalized and will continue to take effect over the coming two years.

“Meanwhile, the IRS will continue working to do everything it can to create headlines. Just as they’ll continue to pressure the global banking system into divulging U.S. client account information to track down those who aren’t in compliance.

“I can’t make this point strongly enough. If you’re doing something you shouldn’t be doing or failing to disclose the existence of an account you should be disclosing, the tax man is going to catch up with you. It’s only a question of when. The IRS’s current amnesty program, as Chris detailed it in this month’s issue of my Simon Letter, could be a good chance for you to come clean.

“Once you do, stay clean. Disclose, report, and pay what you owe.

“That said, I want to make another point:

“It remains very possible to reduce your overall tax burden tremendously by relocating yourself, your assets, and your business to another country. We say this often. We’re right.

“And we’re speaking about fully compliant options. It can be complicated (or not, depending on where and how you earn your income), and it must be part of a deliberate, well-thought-through plan, but it is possible to organize your affairs within the rules (constantly changing as they are right now) to minimize your taxes and to protect your assets offshore.

“Legally.
“Lief Simon

“P.S. Speaking about all this publicly might be akin to sticking a target on my back. You never know, I guess, who awaits at the end of the next jetway.

“I’ll be in touch again soon. I hope.

“Meantime, Chris remains in custody, in Miami, where, three-and-a-half days following his arrest, according to the latest information we have been able to receive, he has yet to be arraigned.”

Like Leif, I don’t know whether Mr. Rusch is guilty of any crimes.

I find it very disturbing, however, that a few days ago a US Presidential candidate was in the news for paying very low taxes and hiding money in his Cayman Islands and Swiss bank accounts, while a hard-working attorney — who advises people like you and me how to survive an economic disaster that we didn’t create — is arrested and held.

I don’t have a lot of money to worry about, but what little I do have I plan to move out of the US while I still legally can. Because there are just too many indications that window may be closing.

photo by DonkeyHotey on flickr

Tomorrow is February 1, the day we had planned to move to Panama.

But we’re not going.

Why? Still no tenants for our Florida house. Everything else is poised and ready. Once we get the go-ahead — in the form of a signed lease agreement — we’re ready to whip into our last-minute action. Until then, we wait.

I admit, I am not good at waiting.

Here’s a quick rundown of what we’ve been doing, then I’ll let you know our plan for our quick getaway once we’ve got the lease.

Week of January 23

Renting the House

We showed the house a bunch of times. One couple seemed quite interested, but it turned out they had three large dogs. While we’re willing to rent to pet owners, we didn’t feel comfortable with this. If they’d had three Yorkies, we probably would have agreed.

We also have new competition in the neighborhood. Neighbors just two doors down and across the street listed for rent. They’re asking a bit more than we are, but this particular house has been completely remodeled. To stay competitive, we instructed our rental agent to drop the price.

Maintaining Our Lives

I purchased new luggage. It’s a classy set if I do say so myself, and sports an elephant motif. Those who know me know that I have a soft spot for elephants and my house used to be full of wooden, porcelain, brass, jade and other renditions of elephants.

I finished up our tax returns and started my daughter’s financial aid statements. Those will be done before the end of this week, so I’ll be able to check off another task completely.

There’s one project I have on my list before the move that’s proving more complicated than I expected.

Our middle son is getting married in April, and I need a mother-of-the-groom dress. I also need to get it before we move, because I know I’ll be too busy getting settled in Panama’s interior to spend time shopping in Panama City.

Their wedding is semi-formal, with a garden party motif. Attendants will be wearing floral sundresses. I don’t plan on wearing a sundress, but something street length in springy colors would be appropriate.

Epic fail.

Stores here are just beginning to get their spring lines on the racks, so I have to wait.

Remember what I said at the beginning about waiting? Exactly.

The Panama End

We’ll be staying in Panama for a while on tourist visas, which means we’ll have to leave the country regularly and return to renew our visas. It also means our US drivers licenses will be valid for only 90 days each time.

I checked into whether it would be worthwhile to get the Latin American version of an international drivers license, and determined it would be a waste of time and money. So that’s one more thing I can scratch off my to-do list.

Looking Ahead. . .

Here’s the plan for when we have the signed lease agreement in hand.

1. Purchase airline ticket for me to fly to Panama City
2. Let my contacts know when I’ll be arriving
3. Start looking online for short-term rental
4. Sell my car before leaving Florida
5. Fly down, and start scouting rentals on the ground. We’ll be looking for something furnished for 3-6 months, between Penonome and Las Tablas

While I’m doing that, my husband will pack up and store the few things we’re keeping. Then he’ll set up a time for the estate sales agents to come in and start setting up the sale.

During the sale, he’ll go to Atlanta to visit his family.

Once I’ve lined up a rental in Panama, he’ll start the pet countdown by taking the dogs to the vet to get their health certificates and we’ll arrange for their flight.

I’ll go to Panama City to meet the dogs on arrival. My husband may fly with them, or may take a later flight depending on a couple of other variables. I’ll stick around to meet him when he comes in, then we’ll travel to our new base of operations.

That’ll work, won’t it?

You’ve set up your blog, you’ve found a terrific theme, you’re producing content. . . now what? How do you attract the right target audience?

Create a social media strategy.

Which specific social media platforms you use will depend on your niche and your audience. Basic rule of thumb? You need to hang out where your audience does.

Here are five social media hangouts almost every blogger should use.

LinkedIn

If you’re blogging about kids or puppies, you don’t need LinkedIn to reach your target audience. However, if your blog is part of your portable career strategy, a LinkedIn presence is a necessity. Yes, LinkedIn is smaller than some of the other social platforms, but it’s the one social media platform that’s exclusively for business.

Joining is super easy.

1. Go to http://www.linkedin.com/
2. Fill out your first and last name, password and email
3. Click “Join Now

Once you have an account, you need to create your profile. We’ll walk through that in another post.

In the meantime, once you’ve joined, please invite me to connect with you — just let me know you’re a Future Expats reader. (You’ll find me here.)

Facebook

You probably already have a Facebook account. If you don’t, get one. With almost a billion members worldwide, your niche doesn’t matter — you’ll find like-minded people on Facebook.

If you have a portable career, you should have a Facebook Page for your business as well as a personal page.

To get started on Facebook, point your browser to http://Facebook.com and provide your

1. first and last name
2. email (twice)
3. password
4. gender
5. birthday (they limit children’s usage so they want to know you’re over 18)

Press the “Sign Up” button and you’re in.

You can follow the Future Expats page on Facebook — in fact, pop in and say “hi.”

Twitter

Ah, Twitter. You either love it or you hate it. But believe me, Twitter isn’t just for broadcasting to the world what you had for lunch.

Some people don’t get the 140-character mini-blog. Others, like Chris Brogan and Brian Clark, insist it’s the best social media platform for connecting with others and for sales.

It’s not as intuitive as some of the others, and it takes a while to get a feel for how really useful it is.

Twitter’s easy to join. All they need is your

1. Full name
2. Email
3. Password

Once you’re on board, send me a tweet to introduce yourself at http://twitter.com/FutureExpat and I’ll start following you.

Google Plus

This is the new kid on the social media block. No, G+ doesn’t have as many members as Facebook or Twitter. But there’s a compelling, over arching reason you should have a presence: Google Search.

Google is the king of search, and as a blogger you need to be found. So if you want to rank well in Google Search get active on G+. It’s that essential.

If you already have a Google account because you use GMail, Calendar or any of their many other services, signing up for Google Plus just takes a second. Go to https://plus.google.com/up/start and Sign In with your Google account.

If you’re a new Googler, head on over to https://plus.google.com/up/start and select “Create an Account.”

They want a little bit more from you:

1. First and last name
2. Username
3. Password
4. Birthday
5. Gender
6. Phone
7. Email
8. A little captcha to prove you’re not a robot
9. Location
10. Check to agree with Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Click the “Next Step” button and follow the instructions.

You’ll find my Google Plus profile here. Introduce yourself, let me know you’re an expat or future expat, and I’ll add you to my Expats circle!

Pinterest

Pinterest is another relatively new platform, but it’s growing fast.

Pinterest lends itself exceptionally well to creative endeavors — photography, art, crafts and design of all kinds. I’ve just started using it, so I can’t speak from a lot of experience, but I can see tremendous possibilities.

Pinterest works by invitation only, so joining has a couple of layers.

If you know someone with an account, you can ask them to send you an invite. (Leave a comment or send me an email and I’ll send you an invitation if you’d like.) Otherwise, go to http://pinterest.com/landing/ and fill in your email address to request an invitation. Once you receive it, follow the instructions to create your account.

Create a Profile

After you’ve joined any of these social networks, your next task is to create a profile. We’ll talk about that next time.

This is the 12th installment in our Blogging for Expats Tutorial Series. You can find the previous installments here.

My parents both had hoarding tendencies.

Oh, I don’t mean their house was like some of those horrible places you see on TV shows — you didn’t have to weave your way through towering piles of old newspapers or anything like that. But they held onto stuff.

After my mother died last summer, we found bins full of the little boxes that fancy teas come in. . . Christmas cards from 20 years ago. . . checkbook stubs from accounts that were closed decades previously. . .

It inspired me to come home and be even more ruthless about getting rid of my excess stuff in preparation for our move to Panama.

Now that the move is imminent, my husband is starting to let go of things he’s been holding onto. Old report cards from elementary school. . . syllabuses (syllabi?) from some of his Master’s degree courses. . . cards, photos, books. . .

We’ve moved before. Back in 1989, we packed up our (then) four kids and a house full of stuff and moved from upstate New York to Florida. Before the move we had a huge sale and sold off a ton of stuff. After arriving in Florida, we realized we had kept way too much.

When we moved from one house to another in the Orlando area, we got rid of a ton of stuff before the move. We still kept too much.

This time, though, we can’t just put things on the truck, so keeping what we don’t need is simply not an option.

How Do You Live with a Light Footprint?

We’ll be living with a light footprint, for a while at least. We plan to rent someplace furnished for 3-6 months initially. In the meantime, my husband’s brother has offered to let us store a few things in his basement.

So we have a few boxes of books — and only those which are out of print and unlikely to become available digitally. We have one piece of furniture, a lovely teak desk which I’ve had since 1971. My guitar and my husband’s trumpet. Some (but not all, thank goodness!) of his tools.

We’ll ship them down once we’ve been somewhat settled in Panama a few months.

I know a couple who consider themselves perpetual travelers. They spend most of their time in Asia, going from Thailand to China to India to other Asian countries every few months.

They don’t have to worry about residency as they don’t stay long enough in one place for it to be an issue.

Their personal belongings are limited to clothing, a small netbook computer each, and a favorite coffee mug. Wherever the mug is, that’s home.

I don’t know if I could live a life pared down to that extent. Certainly not now, anyway, although I can see the appeal.

In the meantime, I’m looking around and thinking, “I haven’t gotten rid of nearly enough.”

photo by Orin Zebest on flickr

As we approach our planned exit date, uncertainty has taken over.

No, not uncertainty about whether we should go, uncertainty about the timing.

Until we have a signed lease agreement for our house, we’re not buying tickets or going anywhere.

Our rental agent had been very sanguine about finding tenants in the allotted time, but showings have been sparse and we’re getting nervous. it’s difficult to forge ahead when you’re not confident . . . tempers have flared, harsh words have been spoken. . . it hasn’t been pretty.

Week of January 9

This week has been a bit of a hodgepodge of activity. Dealing with a lot of paperwork — taxes, bills and such, and a lot of miscellaneous small details. It’s rather boring to write about, actually, so this update will be short.

Packing and Organizing

We sent more boxes of stuff to various family members. Packed up more boxes to move into our “these are the things we’ll store” area in the garage. My husband still hasn’t begun sorting through his papers and books, which is making me very nervous.

Maintaining Our Lives

Spent the week pulling together information for taxes, and I did start our tax return this week. It’s more complicated than what you file if you’re working for someone else and get a W-2 form at the end of the year. Thank goodness for Turbo Tax.

I also realized there were some bills we only pay twice a year (life insurance!) that I hadn’t switched over to electronic payments, so I dealt with that. One of them was easy. I could go online and switch it over on the website, and set it up to draft our account automatically.

The other required me to download, fill out and mail a paper form. In this day and age, why is that necessary? Anyway, it’s done.

Now, back to those pesky tax returns. . .

So you’re planning on living overseas — do you really need to learn the language of your adopted country?

I have a simple, two-word answer for you: it depends.

Don’t learn the language:

• If you plan to live, work and play among other expats
• If you’re not interested in immersing yourself in the local culture
• If you plan to hire someone to take care of your administrative tasks

However, if you want to explore your new country on your own, handle your own bill paying, banking, and other business, and interact with local people, learning even a little of the language is a good idea.

With that said, how do you choose among all the available options? There are several well known and highly rated programs, lots of websites, there are private language lessons and group classes, Skype classes, and on and on.

Best Option: Language Classes in the Country

Ideally, you’ll have the time and the budget to hook up with some total immersion language classes once you arrive in the country. There are several big benefits:

1. Attending a class means you’ll set aside the time and devote your attention to your language learning, increasing the likelihood you’ll actually follow through with it.
2. You’ll learn the language as the locals speak it. If you’re living in Panama, for example, as we plan to, you can learn Spanish as the Panamanian people speak it, with local idioms.
3. You’ll learn from interacting with your fellow students, and get to practice in a “safe” environment
4. Participating in a class with others is more enjoyable than sitting home alone

If You Want to Learn Before You Go

If you want to start your language program before you go, there are lots of choices of online or computer-based programs. If you’re in the US, check your local community college. Often they’ll offer conversational language classes. (That’s how I got started with Spanish.)

I’ve also worked with each of the programs below. They approach language learning differently, and each has its strengths.

Online and Computer Language Programs

Interested in finding an online program or buying a computer-based program you can work at in your spare time? There are several good ones. They each offer lots of vocabulary building and grammar, but their approaches differ. If you know your own learning style, it’s easier to evaluate them to figure out which will work best for you.

LiveMocha

There’s an excellent website called LiveMocha which offers interactive language instruction in a whole slew of languages, starting with Abkhazian and ending in Zuni. The basic program is free, or you can access extras for reasonable fees. You can even put together a program for group lessons.

Transparent Language

Transparent.com produces several different programs. They offer a small “starter” program that’s designed solely to drill vocabulary, called Before You Know It, or BYKI for short. The basic version is free online. Or you can pay a modest amount to get a more robust version. (They offer a mobile version as well.)

The next step up would be Everywhere Audio, a 5 CD set (or you can download the MP3s). This program helps you build your vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation.

Or there’s the Transparent Connect program, which combines self-paced computer study with live instruction.

Premium Edition combines the BYKI vocabulary-building system with practice using the language in realistic settings.

Or, choose the Complete Edition, which includes all of the Premium Edition, BYKI Deluxe and Everywhere Audio.

They’re offering 20% off on purchases before January 31. Save 20% off of orders of $125 or more. Use TWNTYOFF at checkout. Expires 1/31/2012

Pimsleur

Pimsleur also offers several levels of programs. If you buy the Quick and Simple program, they’ll give you a credit toward Pimsleur I, which is the first substantive program. If you’re going to choose Pimsleur, that’s where I suggest you start.

Pimsleur I, II, III and IV offer 30 units of instruction in each module.

I’ve done well putting Pimsleur on my iPod and listening to it in the car.

Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone may be the best known of the major language software programs. They’ve gotten kudos from CNN, the New York Times, PC Magazine, and lots and lots of customers. They offer instruction in 29 languages, including Latin American Spanish and Spanish from Spain.

Fluent in Three Months? Really?

Last but not least, take a look at Fluent in Three Months. This is a website that doesn’t teach specific languages, but teaches you how to learn a language.

Author Benny Lewis calls himself “The Irish Polyglot.” He grew up in Ireland speaking only English, but for the past nine years he’s been traveling the world. He’s taken his natural curiosity and linguistic ability and put it to use teaching others how to “hack” language learning. Definitely worth a look.

(His blog is pretty interesting, too.)

Even if you don’t feel the need to become completely fluent in the language of your new country, knowing some common words and phrases can ease your transition. Or you can immerse yourself in the language, with the confidence that soon you’ll be able to transact business and carry on a conversation with a local friend.

Following in a more experienced person’s footsteps is a great way to learn something new, or to take the fear factor away from a scary new undertaking.

Sharing an expat’s experience with the process of relocating, or their life overseas, can teach some very useful lessons.

Here’s a list of expat and travel blogs and websites that are worth a look. To my surprise, I discovered it’s been about three months since the last one, so here’s a new list for 2012.

1. My Life In Canada Under the Snow
2. Gringos in Paradise (Mexico), for American expats in Mexico
3. Anywhere in the World, expat entrepreneur from France
4. The Road Less Traveled, American couple spend part of every year in Mexico in an RV or boat.
5. Overseas Exile, American currently in Amsterdam.
6. Far Away Hammer
7. The Venice Experiment, American expats in Venice, Italy.
8. Without Any Walls, expats in Germany.
9. Gringos Abroad, a family of Canadians in Ecuador.
10. Piglet in Portugal, writes a lot about food as well as other aspects of everyday expat life in Portugal.
11. Nicaragua Dispatch. This is actually an online newspaper, but I found it well worth spending some time with.
12. Expats in Italy
13. The Zieglers Blog, expats in Canada

Travel

These are not your typical travel sites, but sites of people who spent most of their lives traveling.

14. A Little Adrift
15. Travels of Adam
16. Magic Travel Blog
17. The Adventures of D
18. How to Travel with Pets
19. Fox Nomad
20. Tech Guide for Travel
21. Ramble Crunch, an American/Canadian family traveling through Europe and Turkey.

Do you have a favorite expat or perpetual-travel blog you’d like to recommend? Leave a link in the Comments section!

Guest Post by Steve Harris

New Year is a time when people take stock of their lot, with many pondering “would I be better off somewhere else?” Millions of Brits live abroad both temporarily and permanently, and if you are considering joining them for an exciting new life in the sun — or just an exciting new life — there’s a lot of not-so-exciting planning that needs to be done.

Some people move because they are offered a career opportunity that’s too good to turn down, while others pack their lives up into boxes and hop, skip and jump towards what they hope will be a better lifestyle for them and their families. Of course, many hope to bag both.

You’ll Need Enough Cash (or Income)

Whatever your reasons are for heading overseas, ensuring you have enough cash to enjoy the life you want when you get there is extremely important.

In recent years, some retired ex-pats have found themselves struggling financially due to inflation in the Eurozone where they’ve resettled, highlighting the need to plan for every eventuality.

If you’ve been offered a job you’ll need to check the wage you’ve been offered and see if you have the purchasing power or potential rent money to get the pad you want. Or, if you are retired, you ought to make sure everything is in place for you to collect your pension or other investments while you are abroad.

The current state of the UK housing market could put a real spanner in the works for anyone wanting to access the cash invested in their home, and playing a waiting game to find a buyer can put paid to even the best laid plans. One possible solution is to sell your house fast with a property buyer.

For those with school-age children a bit of good honest research is required. You’ll need to investigate whether the kids can go to public or private school in the area and if that is within your means. Your employer or future colleagues are likely to be the best people to go to for advice on this, but don’t dismiss review resources available on the web.

Once you’ve made sure you can afford the lifestyle you have, or want to become accustomed to, there are a few other things to put in order.

You’ll Settle in Faster if you Learn the Language

Take the responsibility to learn the local lingo ahead of arriving in your new home and you will be able to settle in far faster, so plan time to practice; don’t be afraid to put what you are learning to the test on any pre-move visits. Spend as much time as you can getting a feel for the place before you relocate and you’ll find it far less of a culture shock and hopefully meet some friends to help you when you arrive.

Tie Up Loose Ends

Finally, before you ship out, tie up any loose ends and notify people of your move. This should include your relatives and bank and also the likes of HMRC (That’s the UK version of the IRS for my American readers.)

Be ruthless about what you take with you — shipping does not come cheap, though if you get a series of quotes you are likely to net a better deal. It’s also worth remembering a lot of electrical goods won’t work outside of the UK, so it’s better to buy afresh when you get there, giving you a chance to practice your conversation skills.

There is a lot involved with planning a move, but ultimately, when you see the plan coming together and you are safely in your new home or starting the job of your dreams, dealing with all of those little things along the way will have been worth it.

Steve Harris works for Gateway Homes, who help people in the UK sell their house to follow their dreams of moving abroad.

Wow, the time is really flying by as we get closer to our move to Panama.

It seems just last week When I started this weekly recount of all the preparation steps we’d taken toward our upcoming Panama move. But actually, it was two months ago!

Now we’re within 30 days of our projected move date, and stress levels are rising.

Hopefully, by seeing what we’re doing, you’ll be able to avoid some of the pitfalls that seem to be an inherent part of a big move like this.

Weeks of December 26 and January 2

Quite honestly, I didn’t do anything about our upcoming move during the week between Christmas and New Year. We were visiting our children in the northeast, and I took some time to chill — literally and figuratively. We saw temperatures in the single digits more than once during our stay. (Actually down to zero one night, and a couple hours after we flew out the temperature dropped into the minus numbers.)

Since returning home on the 3rd, though, it’s been pretty busy.

House Repair

We thought we were done with this category, but a couple things came up this week. We had to replace a ceiling fan that conked out unexpectedly — better now than after we’re in Panama with tenants in the house! We also had to call the Roto Rooter folks to clear out a clog in the line from the washing machine. Both pretty small compared to some of our earlier projects, thank goodness.

There were also several big tree limbs that needed to come down, so my husband’s spent some time this past week working on that.

Packing and Organizing

We’re clearing out more stuff. I’m shipping a couple of boxes to my sister in Virginia and another to my son in LA. Now that I’m home from the frozen north, I’ve packed up my heaviest winter clothes to dispose of. I’ll keep a couple of sweaters, but all the other sweaters, sweatshirts, etc., are going. I’m trying to get my clothes, shoes and personal items whittled down so they’ll fit into two suitcases. . . I’ll let you know how that plays out.

We’ve also designated an area in the garage for boxes that will go into storage. We’re gradually getting more out of the house and into that storage area.

My husband, the avid cyclist, has been researching bicycle options. He currently has two road bikes. He’ll sell one and ship the other to Panama. He’s decided a mountain bike would be a good choice for riding in Panama, so he’s researching to see whether it’s better to buy one here and ship it down, or buy one there.

Selling Stuff

We had another estate sales agent come to the house last week. She was much more encouraging than the first one, and was pleased that she’d be able to work us into her busy schedule because the house is small and clean. I liked her attitude — instead of seeing obstacles she saw opportunities. She understands that we can’t set a date until we have a signed lease in our hot little hands, and she’s willing to work with us practically any time as long as we give her a week’s notice.

I think we’ll be able to deal with her.

At this point the tentative plan — and again, it’s contingent on having a signed lease — is to set up the sale for just before the tenants’ move-in date. While the estate company is here setting up and conducting the sale, we’ll head up to my in-laws’ place for a visit with them before we take off.

Renting the House

Still nothing definite, but more activity. If you know anyone who might be interested in a charming 3-bedroom, 2-bath home in lovely Winter Park, FL, let me know!

Remember those stress levels I mentioned? We don’t have a definite move date yet, and won’t until we’ve found tenants for the house and signed a lease. I’m confident we’ll have someone in here by February 1, but the extra uncertainty isn’t helping.

Moving the Pets

Nothing particular to report in this category. The dogs are healthy, they’ve adjusted to their new kennels, and there’s nothing else we can do until it’s time to take them to the vet for their final checkup and the start of the paperwork race.

Maintaining Our Lives

So far the auto bill pay I set up through the credit union is working without a hitch.

Last week my husband finished collating all his paperwork that I’ll need to do tax returns. So this week I’ll be starting the tax returns and the financial aid paperwork for our daughter.

The Panama End

I found another Panama forum last week, on Reddit. Got some new leads on places to rent. . .

Somehow, when I write it down, it doesn’t look like much. But I assure you, we’ve been very busy this past week preparing for our Panama adventure.

You’ve heard the siren song of that soft Caribbean breeze, or the bustling Asian street scene with the bright colors and temple bells. Or maybe your overseas dream runs more toward soaking up the culture of the City of Lights. The only problem is, the US economy has eaten your retirement nest egg and you don’t know how you can afford to make any changes.

The solution? Create a portable career for yourself. Ideally it will be something you can develop in your spare time that will generate enough of a passive income to cover your expenses in your chosen country.

Not sure what skills you have that can translate to a profitable online venture? Read on. . .

When discussing portable careers, I write often about developing a website or blog to support you overseas. In the past couple of years, the distinction between website and blog has become blurred. So what’s the difference, really?

What’s a Website?

Basically, a website is a piece of online real estate that you can do anything you want with. It’s what pops up when you type a URL into your browser. It can be a blog, a forum, a discussion group, or a corporate information site.

YouTube is a website. So is Future Expats Forum.

Merriam-Website defines a website as

“a group of World Wide Web pages usually containing hyperlinks to each other and made available online by an individual, company, educational institution, government, or organization.”

What’s a Blog?

A blog is simply one type of website. Originally, blog was short for weblog. A blog was a type of website that was updated regularly. Articles or posts appear chronologically with the most recent first. Special blogging software was developed to make the process easier for those not technically inclined.

Blogs were often used as public journals, places where their authors could express their personal views, experiences and thoughts.

Businesses gradually entered the “blogosphere,” and blog software became more robust.

When I talk about blogs, I’m referring to websites that are built using the WordPress platform.

Blog Software

Today you can use WordPress, the most popular blog software platform in the world, to create sites that don’t look anything like yesterday’s blogs. It’s become a robust CMS (content management system) that allows you to create online magazines, portfolios, newspapers, corporate sites, freelance sites, virtually any kind of website you can think of.

WordPress is available in two flavors: self-hosted (the type I recommend) and hosted by WordPress itself. Google also offers a blog platform which they host for you, called Blogger.

If you’re just starting out and feel as though you need some technical hand-holding, Blogger or WordPress hosting is a good way to ease in. But if you want to develop an online business where you make money, both these options are too limiting. (They also don’t give you the same professional aura that a self-hosted WordPress site does.)

If you’re comfortable with technology, you can jump right in with a self-hosted WordPress site. (And I walk you through it with the Blogging for Expats tutorial series.)

It’s not all technology, though — there’s another part of the equation which is even more important.

How the Heck Do You Make Money with a Website or Blog?

If you already provide a service or a product (especially a digital product), your site becomes your marketing and sales platform. Writers, consultants, photographers, life coaches and programmers, we have it pretty easy.

But what if you’re creating a business from scratch and you don’t already have a skill that’s easy to transport, or an ability that lends itself to online delivery?

There are thousands of books, hundreds of videos, dozens of online courses you can buy to help you create an e-business. (“E-business” just means that you generate your income online.)

Or, you can look at another online option altogether.

SiteSell

SiteSell combines the best of two worlds: it provides you with the technical help and tools to make your site creation easier, and it also walks you step by step through the entire process of developing a workable business idea and executing it through a website.

You get the technical hand-holding for putting your information online. You also get tools for attracting traffic, and even more importantly for making money from that traffic.

Their system works. I know people who are earning pretty well ($60,000/year and up) using SiteSell. They tell me it provides a full-time income with part-time effort. I personally have no experience with it, but I’m impressed enough with the results I’ve seen that I’ll be starting a new site with them in the new year, once I’m settled in Panama.

Once I do, I’ll share that process and my progress with you as well.

Now, I have to admit, I’m biased. I like WordPress and I’ve not yet used SiteSell. (In other words, expect to hear lots more about WordPress from me.) For their take on the “blog vs. SiteSell” issue, here is SiteSell’s slightly biased viewpoint.

If you’d like to earn your overseas income online, check out SiteSell. And if you choose that route, let me know how you’re doing with it!