OVZA
New Horizons Paraguay
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Best combination of high quality of life, entrepreneurial freedom and low taxes

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Nice analysis, i︇ agree with you on most of your points. I don't remember if you have family︈ or are you planning for yourself.

In this case maybe you can consider to live︉ somewhere half of the year (for tax saving purposes) and travel somewhere else when it's︊ cold.

Anyway i thought about moving to Florida or California as well so many times.︋

The second choice probably fit me better.

But the cost of living, hard time to︌ get visas and high taxes froze me out from making the move.

Have you considered︍ these things?

How much will be your tax rate and cost of living there? And︎ what's your plan to get a visa?
 
Where are‌ you in the Caribbean? Also i forgot to add Gibraltar to the mix: 10% tax‍ (very shortly will reach 12.5%), mediterranean weather, probably boring but you can go to Puerto⁠ Banus whenever you want.
 
I am planning mostly for myself.

I actually considered doing half / half, preferable with︂ Winter Caribbean, Summer Mediterranean but I've traveled so much in the last years that I︃ am more looking to settle at one location at the moment.

Also, what I don't︄ like about a 50 / 50 or even "Trifecta" setup (https://<<snippet>>.com/2017/10/11/trifecta-travel-less-tax-free-nomad/) is that (depending on︅ the exact setup) you could be forced to travel. E.g., you actually have to move︆ from one location to another because otherwise the tax-free status falls apart.

I don't want︇ a setup like this. I like to travel and want to do it, but on︈ my own terms and not because I have to. Therefore I've decided that an approach︉ where I have a fixed home and tax residency in one place but can travel︊ whenever I feel like suits me a lot better.

And yes, I agree, the US︋ has a lot of downsides. Cost of living can be high, the visa situation is︌ a complete nightmare and the tax system is very draconian and complex.

Actually on top︍ of that there are lots more downsides to consider, e.g.:
- fucked up health insurance︎ system
- imperial metrics
- rampant obesity
- two party political system
- taxation based️ on citizenship / Green Card
- gun ownership
- homelessness / poverty
.. and much‌ more..

So, there are definitely lots of cons. Nevertheless, I think with the complex requirements‍ that I have it still comes up on top.

Concerning tax rate and COL -⁠ I estimate to pay about 20-30% tax. Dividends and capital gains are actually quite okayish⁤ at 15-20% (Dividend Tax Rate 2021: Find Out What You'll Owe), self-employment income⁣ tax rate is about 25% at $200k. Not great, but far better than Australia and⁢ most European countries. Cost of living depends highly on where you want to live. A︀ beachfront condo in Miami Beach will definitely not be very cheap.

Concerning visa - that︁ is of course a tough one, as the US doesn't really have a "Tech Entrepreneur"︂ visa. I've talked to some advisors and the closest to that is probably the O-1,︃ however the criteria that you have to fulfill are quite specific.

Other possible routes are︄ the diversity lottery, H-1B, potentially marriage or maybe a completely new visa that addresses international︅ entrepreneurs that want to relocate their companies to the US.

For me I think I'll︆ work with a company like Legalpad | US Immigration and Work Visa Technology to get︇ as close as possible to the profile that they are looking for for the O-1︈ and then just give it a shot.
 
I mean Gibraltar gets⁠ thrown around quite regularly over here, but it is definitely not a great fit for⁤ me:
- too cold in Winter
- shitty beaches
- no real city close by⁣
- very boring

I've actually traveled along the entire Spanish south-eastern coastline and was not⁢ impressed. Even Marbella seemed to be quite boring if you are under 40. Malaga (besides︀ being Spanish of course) is far too hot in Summer, too cold for me in︁ Winter. The beaches were *very* average. So all in all that is a no for︂ me.
 
Unfortunately what makes⁠ my entire situation more complicated is that I am quite a beach snob 😉 Like, every⁤ place that doesn't come close to the image is automatically quite "meh".. And you don't⁣ have beaches like that anywhere in Europe.
 
I hear so little⁠ about Gibraltar, need to look it up, you got me curious.
Regarding 'boring' aspect of⁤ many small islands and countries - for some reason people don't take into consideration that⁣ a flight ticket of 50-80 EUR in countries of European continent, gets you anywhere in⁢ the region - equivalent of a cost for a local bus ticket in some countries....︀ I find EU proximity to be a great advantage, for any of the 'boring' little︁ countries in the region 🙂 , I'd even grab my suitcase and go shopping in Germany︂ or Italy for a weekend, when the COVID nonsense will calm down and things will︃ get back to normal. So far that's the plan, despite my friends told me Montenegro︄ is a boring village. It's kinda little and boring/chill indeed. But I like it more︅ every day 🙂)) this is my first summer here, pretty cool place. But really boring︆ and lack of usual infrastructure like large retail stores (compared to US) and parking is︇ a nightmare most of the time. But the location so close to all other European︈ countries and 3 airports an hour drive from each other, is bad-a*s. Like a tiny︉ retreat country, hidden in the mountains. No white sand beach, but perfect clean water all︊ the time.
 
In your case I think︀ the best choice is to settle in a place that has a "perfect" spring/summer/autumn conditions︁ for your taste, and travel outside every winter into a more suitable place like Asia/Australia.︂ Since in Australia, for example in Cairns, Brisbane, Perth, it'll be summer and also many︃ attractions to explore. But that's costly, in case of coming from Europe. So possible combo︄ might be Asia/Australia, or Dubai/Caribbean, Dubai/Asia. Something like that... In terms of English speaking country,︅ that's difficult to satisfy, but so many people know average English in many countries, I︆ would not let it restrict the list of options. Usually we socialize with expats anyway︇ so interaction with locals is limited to some basic paperwork/stores/transportation, and it's easy to learn︈ the basics of any language for this purpose.
 
Gibraltar sounds not to be the worst place for someone to relocate to.
 
Of course it is not but if the benchmark are the Caribbean‍ beaches it loses every day.
 
Beach snob here too. Actual real sandy beaches and clear water snob, not artificial tourist⁤ traps with shitty fake sand and dirty water.
Yep there are beaches like that in⁣ Europe, actually imho even better. You'll find them only in the Med islands IMHO not⁢ mainland: Sardinia, Greece comes to mind as easy wins for sheer beauty.
Many of these︀ place don't allow big/commercial buildings close to the beach, aside from the high tourism spots.︁ They are more into natural rawness. So they may lack services.
I mean just google︂ them, they are actually like that not photoshopped as many other mainland "tourist trap" beaches.︃
Caribbean and the med are different obviously, but both at the top.
Only issues of︄ the european locations are 1) they're no year round, during winter everything is dead and︅ cold and windy 2) high taxation 3) business aversion 4) water temp not as high︆ as Caribbeans...
best places in europe are tax nightmares.
Mediterranean only for holidays and maybe︇ to retire, not for living/doing business / improving your situation. 😉
 
I just realized, there's a whole African continent, and especially the Northern part, in the‌ Mediterranean, which we're not even discussing as an option. How is the beautiful shoreline of‍ Africa is not a host to dozen of great locations like Caribbean / Greece /⁠ etc' ? that's just sad gru87¤¤
 
Haver you looked at Mauritius. Just spent 3 months there... Beaches are Indian Ocean so‌ excellent. Standard of living is good and with a decent income can be very high.‍ Yes there is an element of 3rd world but seen far worse in the Caribbean.⁠ Tax can be managed to around 10% or even less if you have a business.⁤ There's one of the easiest digital nomad visas available for a 1 year stay which⁣ is renewable. I commuted every other week to UK and flights on a whole were⁢ good. Only downside is the import duty on alcohol is very high so if you︀ like wine it's an expensive hobby!

Alternatively, if you like to ski take a look︁ at Andorra, I've just come back from there and was very impressed. It's obviously a︂ very wealthy country, bit like Monaco but with space, reasonable prices and less Russians... Fibre︃ to every property and lots of inward investment. Might be worth a look...
 
I just checked, UK <-> Mauritius is 11:30h flight time and you︅ did that every other week? Crazy..

Yes I looked into Mauritius but have the feeling︆ that it would be too small, not enough going on and too 3rd world for︇ me. But I might be wrong.
 
it's usually much shorter because of EU⁤ customer protection and penalties for delayed flights 🙂
also the vast majority of flights is over⁣ night (it's about crossing the equator, not an Atlantic ocean...) so you sleep through most⁢ of it and land relatively rested
 
it's a big advantage practically speaking‍ - I rather take 11h overnight flight than 6 hours during the day...
it's sad⁠ that there's not much south from Europe - Reunion, Mauritius, ... Madagascar for the fearless...⁤
 
Yes, I did the Mauritius commute nearly⁤ every week and it wasn't too bad as long as you can afford the cost⁣ of business class. I would regularly spend Sunday on the beach, driver picks you up⁢ at 7pm, jump on the 9pm to LGW, couple of drinks and go to sleep,︀ wake up in LGW at 0600 and go to work. Only kicker is BA is︁ running poverty business class (otherwise known as the dormitory) not the new suites. I would︂ then work until Thursday, then bounce into Europe to start my overnight trip back to︃ Mauritius (exiting Europe massively reduced the cost of the trip) landing in the morning in︄ Mauritius. All very doable, only downside was running a UK business day from Mauritius and︅ having a family there. Wake up at 0630 but don't start work until lunchtime and︆ finish around 10pm, this was the hardest bit and ended up being the deal breaker....︇
 
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