How about a forum for expat retirement?

[ItDontMeanAThing]

In the Life After Fire forum, every thread about expat retirement is hijacked by discussions of one or more of the following: taxes, visas, residency, citizenship, costs, exchange rates, health insurance, relationships, etc. Those are all important issues, but not for someone seeking general information about being an expat. I propose a forum where separate threads on everything from broad topics to the the nitty gritty of specific tax issues could peacefully coexist.

[nun]

Interesting idea. I assume you know of the various expat specific forums out there. If you are British there's

British Expatriate Community | Serving the expatriate community

but the information is good for any nationality

and for the US citizens in the UK there's

UK Yankee | Expat Americans in the UK

[HF63]

You might want to check this site!
North America - Expat Forum For People Moving Overseas And Living Abroad

[ItDontMeanAThing]

The intention of my proposal was to make expat discussions on this web site easier to use.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ItDontMeanAThing In the Life After Fire forum, every thread about expat retirement is hijacked by discussions of one or more of the following: taxes, visas, residency, citizenship, costs, exchange rates, health insurance, relationships, etc.

I don't see how having a separate expat forum will reduce, much less stop, thread hijacking. It doesn't stop it on any of the other E-R.org forums.

[nun]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ItDontMeanAThing In the Life After Fire forum, every thread about expat retirement is hijacked by discussions of one or more of the following: taxes, visas, residency, citizenship, costs, exchange rates, health insurance, relationships, etc. Those are all important issues, but not for someone seeking general information about being an expat. I propose a forum where separate threads on everything from broad topics to the the nitty gritty of specific tax issues could peacefully coexist.

Topic drift is an interesting phenomenon, but nothing you do is going to stop it. As long as people express themselves there is going to be some drift. I actually think it's a good thing because you end up with a more dimensional discussion.

IMHO all the topics you list are "general information about being an expat."

[Bestwifeever]

I will never ever be an ex-pat but I enjoy reading all the posts about the idea when the threads pop up on the portal page. Right now my interest in traveling to Ireland (for a week or two, not to relocate) has been piqued as a result of a recent thread, and perhaps some of the economic information about the country will be applicable to an upcoming trivia competition we have been roped into, a la Slum Dog Millionaire. Always some hijacks on every active thread, but the main thoughts always meander through the hijacks (although has anyone mentioned bacon in Ireland yet?).

I think the threads would be too isolated in their own forum.

[rodi]

Interesting idea - but as the others said - a new board wouldn't prevent detailed discussion in a thread you hoped to stay general.

As someone who has considered moving abroad (at least part of the year) it is useful to learn the details that would involve. Too general a discussion might paint a rosier picture, with respect to taxes and bureaucracy than the reality. You can always do a "virtual ignore" over the discussion bits that don't interest you.

[NYEXPAT]

I have been a retired expat for over 10 years and think you can find all the necessary info one could want in your local expat forums and the people who live there, can give you unbiased info and you rarely see Facta,form 8938,taxes or England discussed. Discussions are more about the best Restaurants, deals at the market,finding reasonable rents etc. There is always competition between best districts,Cities to live and the never-ending rural vs urban discussions.

[Alan]

I also don't think an expat forum would be worth doing here. I think it is too specialized a subject and if one is really serious then they should find an expat site for countries they might be interested in. Visas, taxes healthcare are very complicated and vary country by country.

The expat sites I frequent have forums dedicated to taxes, healthcare, visas, as well as forums on the other aspects of living in a particular country as reported by actual expats living there.

[papadad111]

I agree. An expat retirement section would be helpful. I'm on a plane wrapping up 8 years in china as I type this. Back to USA for now but then.... Who knows ! Good stuff.

[bmcgonig]

I agree too. I like reading about expat experiences, even though I'm not one..yet.


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[F4mandolin]

There seem to be plenty of forums for specific countries. I use UK/Yankee a lot and have gotten plenty of specific help on that site from people on this thread as well as on that site.....I have some more tax questions I will be posting on there soon since I am back in the UK permanently and the tax issues are diabolical.....and mine are fairly simple.

[redduck]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ItDontMeanAThing The intention of my proposal was to make expat discussions on this web site easier to use.

It seems if there are enough of you ex-pats, having your own forum might make this website more efficient for you to use. However, hijacking threads is the national-past time on this site. OK, so you don't live here--then maybe it's not your national past-time.

But, if this ex-pat forum comes about, I would hope the next specific forum would be for:

Texans and ex-pat Texans (Do people ever leave Texas? I hope not).
And maybe a sub-forum for those who live in The Woodlands.

[ERD50]

I'd bet most people rarely pay any attention to which forum something is posted in. I doubt having a separate one would make any difference. Why not post and make the title and OP clear that it relates to ex-pats?

I use the 'portal' as the kick-off point. The only time I look at the sub-forum is if the post title is ambiguous, and I think it might help before I click, or I can just click and see what it is about.

We could have a pet sub-forum, music sub-forum, gardening sub-forum, food sub-forum, book/movie sub forum, ad infinitum.

Just post, is my advice.

-ERD50

[Alan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERD50 I'd bet most people rarely pay any attention to which forum something is posted in. I doubt having a separate one would make any difference. Why not post and make the title and OP clear that it relates to ex-pats? I use the 'portal' as the kick-off point. The only time I look at the sub-forum is if the post title is ambiguous, and I think it might help before I click, or I can just click and see what it is about. We could have a pet sub-forum, music sub-forum, gardening sub-forum, food sub-forum, book/movie sub forum, ad infinitum. Just post, is my advice. -ERD50

+1

We'll be moving back to the UK next year and I'll be happy to start a thread in the Life After ER Forum to pass on our experiences.

We did a test run in 2011 to see if going back would suit us and wrote about it here, including how much it cost. We plan on going back to the same town, where my sister and family have since moved to, inspired by their visits to us in 2011.

http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...and-55351.html

[unclemick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan +1 We'll be moving back to the UK next year and I'll be happy to start a thread in the Life After ER Forum to pass on our experiences. We did a test run in 2011 to see if going back would suit us and wrote about it here, including how much it cost. We plan on going back to the same town, where my sister and family have since moved to, inspired by their visits to us in 2011. http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...and-55351.html

Right! What the heck - I vaguely remember a lot of er 'boat people' related posts interspersed with ER posts back in Dory36 days.

heh heh heh - give it a shot and see if each thread develops.

[scrinch]

I thought this thread was going to relate to my situation, as I'm an expat and I will be retiring next year. But as a retiring expat, I will be heading back to the US. The thread is intended to be about expatriation in retirement, not retiring expats. Oh well, I'm sure there are a lot more potential retiree expats than retiring expats.

[kramer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scrinch I thought this thread was going to relate to my situation, as I'm an expat and I will be retiring next year. But as a retiring expat, I will be heading back to the US. The thread is intended to be about expatriation in retirement, not retiring expats. Oh well, I'm sure there are a lot more potential retiree expats than retiring expats.

I am currently in the USA for about 5 weeks seeing family and friends. My neighbor from abroad wrote me an email this week with the statement: "I hope you are enjoying your vacation from your retirement" ;-)

[papadad111]

I have just recently FIREd and am returning to the USA after a 25 year stint all over the world (including a posting in Texas which was a foreign country to me !!). Am I an expat ? Certainly we feel like foreigners in our own country ....

Lots of us out here.

Also This work trade off and global lifestyle, in fact, is one of the reasons I was able to get to FIRE at 45.

Kramer - welcome to USA !! .

My comment to my son yesterday in ORD airport is that apparently yoga pants and flip flops are the new chic fashion and u don't need a license to stuff anything in yoga pants.

Ah... 'Merica...The land of the free. The home of the brave...and now the home of a lot of obese yoga pants and flip flop wearing travelers !

Anyway I do think an expat forum would be insightful as it applies to early retirement - much of what we discuss Including alternative cost structures, access to insurance and healthcare, retirement lifestyle, global travel. Not to mention important stuff like food and wine...

It's all very fitting for this forum.