I didn’t want to continue to derail the mindchip conspiracy thread, so I’m hoping this is ok in the Lounge…
Before all the covid craziness… We’ve been looking to move out of the US for a long while. We travel a lot as it is. But, there are so many considerations when looking at anything for the long term!
I have three kids, one 20 (living at home), one 16 (with high functioning autism), and a 9 yr old.
I’m self employed, with a small publishing company. I’m really semi-retired, and would rather start doing some part-time stuff on the side more for enjoyment, purpose, and to stretch funds and forget the publishing… royalties will still come in anyway.
I own way too much freakin’ stuff…
We thought about keeping a residence in Texas, and just returning every 6 months or so. But that seems stupid on so many different fronts.
So, anyone else make the leap? Leave the US for good? Ideally with a family of their own? Advice?
I get the sense there are others here… I still don’t know if I want to leave the US or not… but it’s probably going to happen just so I can establish residency and work on an “alternative” citizenship … open up options for the fam.
This was brought up on another thread a long time ago, but when will things get so bad we pitch in together to buy a ton of acreage somewhere and set up a transhumanist tech commune?
I’m ready to pitch in - but you guys may have to get used to some… let’s go with, distracting… kids. And I say that as their dad. lol
I just can’t bring myself to stay in Texas any longer - it’s like being surrounded by a bunch of Yosemite Sams. I’m a NYer, but Long Island is out, there’s no going home again (especially with their cola.)
I just don’t know how people do it with kids. Especially if their situation isn’t ideal and their kids exceptionally adaptable (or at least agreeable.)
I feel I should make a few things clear, since apparently I’m in the title of this thread :
I emigrated in the mid 90s because I realized I was a local guy who had never left his little shithole town, with very strong opinions on things and people elsewhere that I knew nothing about apart from what I read in the news. I realized I was an insufferable clod when I met a foreigner one day, from one of those countries I was told I should hate, and he was nothing like I expected. So I decided to go and see for myself what other bits of the world were like. I did NOT emigrate out of spite for the US. I emigrated because I was ashamed of being an ignorant fool.
The US is a great country - geographically I mean: it’s beautiful and awe-inspiring. The US ideals and promises are great. Unfortunately the US as a state is hopelessly broken, does not implement those ideals, and does not allow 99.99% of the people to fulfil those promises. Never has, never will: It’s systemic. That’s one of the things I learned when I emigrated: for most people, the American dream is just that - a dream.
Americans are good people for the most part. They only suffer from what I was suffering from - misinformation and misconceptions about others. I don’t hate them. I pity them, rather.
All the countries I’ve visited and the people I’ve met have their own problems and their own prejudices. And they’re all equally great, awe-inspiring, welcoming, and the local uninformed clods equally worthy of pity. I don’t hold consider any of them better or worse than the US. But the crucial difference in those countries is, they don’t promise you anything or give you a dream you can’t achieve.
Just wanted to make it clear that I don’t hate or admire anything or anybody, and that I encourage Americans who feel that dull, unrelenting feeling of pressure, stress, fear for the future and frustration, to go live elsewhere for a while and find out why, and that it doesn’t have to be that way. Not because I hate the US, but because I wish Americans had the better and easier life they deserve.
Finally, those who have lived abroad and return later are in a much better position to make their country better. I reckon it should be compulsory for all students to go live in another country for a year or two, with their expenses abroad partially or fully covered by the state. Emigration is a good thing: it opens people’s eyes and enriches society.
May I just suggest you come to germany?
People are mostly nice here, the total idiots are less vocal, we neeeeed more open-minded people over here nevertheless, and putting things inside your body is still relatively easy (or at least allowed).
Religion is mostly ignored here (or at least not present in political discussions and usually not forced upon anyone) and transhumanism and the like is, at least as far as I can see, more accepted than in many other regions of the world. Okay, scandinavia will beat us on most of these points… but still! I’d just love to visit a “transhumanist tech commune”
I’ve definitely found in my own experience that most people who have lived in a foreign country for more than a few months were more well-rounded, open-minded individuals. Experiencing a foreign culture expands your perspective and understanding of the one you live with.
I doubt what makes those people more well-rounded or open-minded is having lived in a foreign country, I would argue that it takes a more well-rounded and open-minded person to even consider living in a foreign country and then actually go do that.
That’s fair. It very well might be that the reason those people were well-rounded open-minded is because they were that way to begin with. I suppose I’ve just noticed the trend and assumed it was a result rather than a cause.
Currently looking into moving to the Netherlands permanently on a student visa program. I’m gonna keep my US citizenship so I can profit off of the beauty of the stock market. Wish I could give some advise on leaving the US especially with a family and all that but I’m only 20. Roughest part will likely be taxes and figuring out your physical belongings.
Here’s the advice of the century if you move a lot (and even if you don’t, actually): hire a competent tax consultant. He’ll take care of everything: tax returns in the right countries at the right time, and declaration of bank accounts and personal wealth in the right countries.
It’s really worth it, because it’s all very complicated: what you declare and what you can deduce in each country depends on the countries’ mutual tax agreements with one another. If you want to pay exactly what you should and not a cent more, you really need an international tax specialist who keeps on top of things.
Also, taxation is done different differently in different countries, and it can be a bit of a challenge to learn what you have to do to avoid problems. The tax advisor knows.
Other benefit: if they fuck up, they pay. When your tax return is done by a specialized company, the taxman tends to think twice before auditing you. And I can always sue them if I supplied the right paperwork and they failed to declare my taxes properly. That hasn’t happened to me yet though.
And finally, it’s incredibly boring and pointless work to do your tax return - even if you only file in one country and you’re anything more complicated than a simple employee with a single source of income. Personally, I decided a long time ago that I only had one life with a finite number of hours to spend on this beautiful planet, and I ain’t got no time for that sort of shenanigans.
I pay my accountant 400 euros a year and he files my tax returns in the 7 countries I’ve lived in. He just sends me a mail every once in a while asking me “Don’t forget to send me this or that paper from your employer before this or that date” or “Can you ask this or that bank to send you a statement, and then send it to me before this or that date”. That’s all I have to do. It’s money EXTREMELY well spent for the purpose of never have to deal with that shit.
Here’s a little secret: I’ve never filled a tax return form in my entire life. I only know what they look like because the accountant sends me a copy for my archive
I would give serious thought about renouncing your US citizenship,
Worked at many gun stores and something I was always surprised with, is a standard background check question is: “have you ever renounced your United States citizenship?”
It’s a serious black mark against you,
I know many in this community probably don’t care about guns quite as “passionately” lol but if the gov scorns you that badly in that area, I’m sure there are other effects as well
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