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 [...]

Countdown! Spinning in Circles

Countdown to expat moving day

This week has been characterized by some nice relaxing-with-friends time, and spinning in circles. We’ve just completed the third week in our countdown toward our Panama move, and the week was a pretty mixed bag of getting stuff done, relaxing, and frustration. You can see previous Countdown! posts here. I hope that sharing what we’re [...]

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 [...]

Your Top 20 Country Choices for Overseas Retirement

getting ready for the China session

And the winners are. . . drumroll please. . . Yesterday evening the Live and invest Overseas Conference ended after a densely scheduled three-day smorgasbord of information for expats and plan-to-be expats. (I’ve decided that’s a better phrase than “wannabe.”) Last month I speculated about the 20 countries they’d recommend, and I’m happy to report [...]

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 [...]

7 Ways Hurricane Irene Taught Me Not To Lose My Head as an Expat

traffic

Last week Hurricane Irene roared onto the Outer Banks of North Carolina and made its way up the East Coast of the US. To my surprise, I found myself in the midst of massive evacuation. I was just trying to get from Massachusetts to Florida after delivering my daughter to college, but I got caught [...]

7 Planning Steps Bridget Jones Can Teach Future Expats

Darcy Bridget Daniel

“Earth to Bridget Sodding Jones!” yells Bridget’s boss. As the sequel to Bridget Jones’s Diary opens, lucky Bridget has been chosen to try skydiving — on camera — to see if it’s great fun or a terrifying risk. After being forced out of the plane, forgetting to pull the ripcord (prompting the above exclamation from [...]

Are You Meeting Your Expat Goals?

Future Expats, what can I do to help you move closer to your expat goals during the coming year? Please choose up to three topics below to let me know what you’d find most helpful. I’ll let this poll run for a couple of weeks, then share the responses with you. You can also contact [...]

Finally! A Real Roadmap for Moving Overseas

A real map for expats

I’ve found it! Earlier this year, I wrote about my disappointment in a product that promised to be a roadmap for expats. Instead, it was a bunch of fluff — mostly recycled fluff, at that. I haven’t given up the search, though, because we future expats need something that will take us, step by step, [...]