Who? Why? How?

We’re here to look at who decides to live overseas, why they do, and how they accomplish it. There are probably as many reasons to live outside of your native country as there are people who do so. In my case, my husband and I realized several years ago that, if we stay here, we will never be able to afford to retire. Add to this my lifelong desire to spend significant time in another country, and we began looking at the possibilities of retiring overseas. But that’s not the only reason, not by a long shot! More

A Video Look at Some Expat Destinations

For a change of pace today, I thought I’d share with you some YouTube videos about expats and their new homes. A quick YouTube search of “expat” turns up over 4,000 videos. As you’d expect, some are good, some are terrible and most are in between. Some are slick, commercially produced efforts, most

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Teach English in Asia to Finance Your Life Overseas

Penang Malaysia

So, you’ve decided you want to live in Asia, to travel to exotic locations, eat incredibly spicy food, and generally enjoy life in a culture that’s completely different from what you’ve grown up with. But you have to be able to afford it.

Previously, we’ve discussed teaching English as a second language as a

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Which Countries Have the Best Health Care?

In the Expat Web group on LinkedIn, a member asked recently, “As an Expat, which countries do you think have the best and worst healthcare systems?”

Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Canada, Malta and France all received positive comments. One poster said Japan’s was “the worst I ever experienced.” The US was mentioned favorably, but “only

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End-of-Year Lists

International Living’s annual Quality of Life Index. Every year, IL produces a Quality of Life index, which usually differs quite a bit from their recommendations on best places to retire. France has topped the list for several years running.

France (was #1 last year as well)
Australia (moved up from #5 in 2009)
Switzerland (down one

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Bahrain: World's Friendliest Country?

According to Forbes.com, Bahrain scored the top spot in HSBC’s recent survey of 3,100 expats. They admit this might be a fluke — only 31 responses came in from Bahrain, compared to 450 from the UK, for example. But it’s an interesting list, nonetheless. Canada moved down from its No. 1 spot last

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Top 10 Retirement Havens

Live and Invest Overseas publisher Kathleen Peddicord has named the Top 10 Retirement Havens for 2010, and the list includes some surprises.

Panama occupies the top spot, and Peddicord comments that “this country manages to become more appealing all the time.”

Vietnam

Her Top 10 picks include:

Panama
France “World’s best quality of life, world’s best health

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A Town Like Alice: Expat Book Review

This entry is part 9 of 19 in the series Expat Books and Movies

A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute is multi-layered expat novel, which was made into a TV mini-series in 1981. It has been one of my favorites for a long time, not only because of the expat themes, but because it also features a strong female protagonist who overcomes some truly daunting obstacles.

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