Keeping your shirt on as an expat
Sunday, July 22, 2012
By Ben Harper
Part of the reason costs for expats are so much less expensive than it is for individuals residing back in the U.S. is the fact that they are using regional marketplaces to their benefits. While individuals relegated to purchasing in the supermarkets are compelled to pay for bar-coded and monitored general and food-related items, the smart expat who selects to use the regional market to buy their meals can settle costs straight with the suppliers who are promoting their items. This can get you 50% or more reductions that allow you to walk away with five times or more the amount of meals you would get had you searched at the regional grocery store.
It's not just the amount of food you can get a discount with, but also the quality of the food that you can purchase when you shop at the local markets. Whereas the produce in major supermarkets is marketed with organic labels, and thus ten times more expensive, the benefit of shopping at a local market is that they don't need the organic labeling gimmick. Instead, it is produced by local farmers in the local area, without the use of Western pesticides and is thus organic by its nature.
Early retirement in another country as an expat sounds like a fantasy to many people, especially those who have been raised believing the only way to go through life is spend 40 years working your way up the corporate ladder and "earning" your eventual retirement. But for expats looking abroad for their opportunities, countries like Mexico or Colombia or Bulgaria offer the chance to do something that is impossible back in the U.S. or U.K.
Medical tourism is the reason so many expats every year are choosing to live abroad in other countries every year. It's simple mathematics any child can understand. If are an expat who is suffering from diabetes and you have an insurance policy that costs $250 a month and gives you access to a 20% co-pay on your prescriptions, you still have to pay around $3,000 a year in co-pays for your prescription co-pays, above and beyond what you are already paying for access.
Just keep in mind that it doesn't matter where you are from and it doesn't matter where you are visiting as an expat overseas, there are always going to be some way of limitations in place. That's just the characteristics of governments and authorities and state policies. Like it or not it's up to you to do the necessary analysis in advance so you don't get found with your jeans down when you least anticipate it.
It's not just the amount of food you can get a discount with, but also the quality of the food that you can purchase when you shop at the local markets. Whereas the produce in major supermarkets is marketed with organic labels, and thus ten times more expensive, the benefit of shopping at a local market is that they don't need the organic labeling gimmick. Instead, it is produced by local farmers in the local area, without the use of Western pesticides and is thus organic by its nature.
Early retirement in another country as an expat sounds like a fantasy to many people, especially those who have been raised believing the only way to go through life is spend 40 years working your way up the corporate ladder and "earning" your eventual retirement. But for expats looking abroad for their opportunities, countries like Mexico or Colombia or Bulgaria offer the chance to do something that is impossible back in the U.S. or U.K.
Medical tourism is the reason so many expats every year are choosing to live abroad in other countries every year. It's simple mathematics any child can understand. If are an expat who is suffering from diabetes and you have an insurance policy that costs $250 a month and gives you access to a 20% co-pay on your prescriptions, you still have to pay around $3,000 a year in co-pays for your prescription co-pays, above and beyond what you are already paying for access.
Just keep in mind that it doesn't matter where you are from and it doesn't matter where you are visiting as an expat overseas, there are always going to be some way of limitations in place. That's just the characteristics of governments and authorities and state policies. Like it or not it's up to you to do the necessary analysis in advance so you don't get found with your jeans down when you least anticipate it.
About the Author:
A retirement through international investments is yours when you start living the nomadic expat lifestyle in cities and countries such as Bulgaria or Mexico where your money is worth four to five times what it is at home.
Posted byBertie at 4:02 AM
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