About this episode

The episode explores the concept of geoarbitrage and its implications for financial independence, particularly in relation to living costs in different countries.

After the recent tax proposals, plenty of people were half joking about packing up and taking their money overseas. Enough of them were half serious that Dave and Hayden decided to make an episode out of it. This one is the broad overview of geoarbitrage (or "geo-FIRE"): why people do it, who it actually suits, where they tend to go, and what it does to your FI number. The technical side, tax residency, visas, and how to structure it properly, is coming in the next episode with a guest who does this for a living. In this episode we'll discuss: 💸 The $800 a month apartment in Chiang Mai, modern build, lagoon pool, walking distance to shops, that would cost roughly $800 a week in Australia (one of Dave's readers is testing it right now) 💸 Purchasing power vs exchange rates: why "the exchange rate is great over there" means nothing, and what the Big Mac index actually tells you 💸 The real numbers: singles living well on $15k to $25k a year in Southeast Asia, a recently retired couple budgeting $100 a day, and what that does when you multiply it by 25 💸 What a decade off looks like: a 15 year FI journey turning into 7, or half a million to a million dollars less in the portfolio…

People in this episode

Hosts: Hayden Smith, Dave Gow

Topics covered

• geoarbitrage
• financial independence
• cost of living
• tax residency
• expat life

Keywords

• geo-FIRE
• tax proposals
• purchasing power
• Big Mac index
• consumer guarantees

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Australia, Chiang Mai, Southeast Asia, Japan

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