Holding On and Letting Go

Accumulated junk - not mine, thank goodness

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 [...]

Countdown! Uncertainty Rules

Countdown to expat moving day

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 [...]

Countdown! Less than 30 Days to Panama

Countdown to expat moving day

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 [...]

Countdown: Why Did I Ever Think Moving Right After Christmas was a Good Idea?

Countdown to expat moving day

Last week we skipped the Countdown post because we were doing the 12 Days of Christmas guide to expat gift-giving, so we’ll combine weeks 6 & 7 this week. In this installment we’ll review the steps we took over the last two weeks toward getting ourselves moved from Orlando to Panama. At this point, I’m [...]

Countdown! Week 5 Already!

Countdown to expat moving day

Wow, I can’t believe this is the fifth week of Countdown! posts. When we got within the 90-day window for our move to Panama, I started this weekly recount of all the preparation steps we’d taken during the week. Any move is a big undertaking, but the first overseas move is ginormous, so I thought [...]

Countdown! Sleepless Nights

Countdown to expat moving day

I think this week’s countdown can be described as “sleep-deprived zombieland.” The end of our fourth countdown week saw us taking away our dogs’ big wire crate where they’ve happily slept at night for several years, and putting them in their spacious travel kennels to sleep. It wasn’t a happy experience, for them or for [...]

Black Friday Shopping List for Untethered Expats

Black Friday at Target

If you’re about to move abroad, you certainly don’t want to collect more doodads, tchotchkes, knicknacks and other stuff you’ll have to store or move. So what do you give a soon-to-be expat for Christmas? I thought we could join the rest of America in some Black Friday shopping, but for things that will help [...]

What’s Involved in Preparing for your Overseas Move?

Not the recommended way to move your pets abroad

Here at Future Expats Forum, we focus on two main topics: portable careers and what I call “prepping the move.” Prepping the move is anything you have to do to prepare for moving overseas, from getting rid of stuff you don’t want to move or store, to telling your friends and family your plans, to [...]

Shock Announcement About the Easiest Place to Retire

uruguay beach

While you’re reading this, I’ll be at the Live and Invest Overseas Conference in Orlando, FL. It’s an intensive, three-day get together where we’ll talk about the 20 best countries to retire to, along with sessions on the practical issues of relocating to and living in a new country. I’ve been invited to speak about [...]

Living Abroad — Does it Make Financial Sense?

financial sense

“Why do you feel moving outside the US is the only option you have?” an online acquaintance inquired recently. The answer to that question feels so painfully obvious to me that I had to really stop and think about it. If you’ve been thinking about living abroad and you’re not sure whether it makes sense [...]