where is this board based?

[kally]

I mean is it international or US based or Canadian or ??

I want to get a feelling for the issues people are facing along with myself.

[REWahoo]

USA, but we have many Canadian participants and discussions.

[Martha]

And we also have some former US residents that are now living in other countries or are living a perpetual traveler lifestyle.

[OAG]

Since the clock is on CT (Central US Time) I believe that is a hint.

[BigMoneyJim]

The board is US-based and intrinsically US-centric, but there have been discussions revolving around US citizens living, working and/or investing in other countries and non-US citizens living, working and/or investing in the US.

There may have even been a discussion or two about UK residents investing in the UK, and IIRC a Japanese or Chinese or Vietnamese (?) citizen in Canada. But usually (so far) the investor or venue is US-based.

Personally I find the expatriate issues fascinating even though I don't expect to be an expatriate myself.

Generally speaking, though, if somebody refers to a law, custom or investment vehicle I would assume it to be completely US-centric unless explicitly stated otherwise.

[wabmester]

What does it mean for a software construct to be "US-based?" This board is internet-based. If you have an internet connection, welcome! Although there does seem to be an English-language bias to the software.

[dory36]

I started the project that resulted in this forum while living in Saudi Arabia, but didn't get the board running until I had ER'ed from there and was living on a boat, cruising along the US east coast with no fixed address.

The bias is whatever the participants reflect. Personally, I am somewhat familiar with US retirement, US taxes, expat tax situations, etc., and almost completely uninformed about the details of those issues elsewhere.

Below is a summary of where the last 60,000+ visitors connected from:

Country/Region/City Visits Pages/Visit
United States 55,317 14.54
Canada 2,525 14.01
Japan 544 10.8
United Kingdom 304 11.4
Australia 205 6.9
Israel 166 25.78
Mexico 143 14.52
Taiwan 101 10.97
Panama 91 16.23
France 76 14.04
Italy 73 20.18
Thailand 61 6.18
Germany 58 16.76
(not set) 58 10.16
Malaysia 55 8.11
Egypt 54 15.11
Greece 52 13.44
Korea, Republic of 51 4.16
Singapore 43 12.88
China 38 4.08
Switzerland 37 9.62
Cayman Islands 37 7.14
India 31 4.81
Hong Kong 30 12.2
Satellite Provider 28 7.86
Saudi Arabia 26 11.27
United Arab Emirates 26 13.92
Finland 24 6.63
Brazil 17 7.76
Spain 17 5.18
Belgium 16 3.25
Philippines 15 16
Indonesia 13 18.54
Norway 12 8.42
Sweden 11 12.09
Ukraine 11 7.18
Turkey 10 11
New Zealand 10 6.8
Netherlands 9 2.11
Romania 8 17.63
Colombia 7 3.43
Poland 6 4.83
South Africa 6 1.5
Austria 6 11.17
Venezuela 5 4.2
Denmark 4 3
Ireland 4 5
Bulgaria 3 2.67
Europe 3 10.33
Croatia 3 3.67
Russian Federation 3 4
Argentina 3 1
Czech Republic 2 1.5
Lithuania 2 1
Peru 2 1
Morocco 2 1
Hungary 2 1
Costa Rica 2 9
Latvia 1 1
Portugal 1 1
Honduras 1 9
Anonymous Proxy 1 33
Monaco 1 1
Tajikistan 1 1
Mauritius 1 11
Pakistan 1 1
Puerto Rico 1 1
Bosnia and Herzegovina 1 1
Cote D'Ivoire 1 1
Bermuda 1 1
Macedonia 1 1
Vietnam 1 2
Oman 1 1
Iran, Islamic Republic of 1 1
Nigeria 1 1
Namibia 1 1
Totals: 60,486 14.39

[dory36]

Further ... interesting where the people are connecting from, when sorted by how many pages they visit, on average, per visit. Not sure we can make a whole lot of this info, since frequent visitors will naturally view fewer pages per visit, but nevertheless, here are the top 10 countries, # of visits out of the last 60,000 total visits, and average pages viewed per visit:

Israel 166 25.78
Italy 73 20.18
Indonesia 13 18.54
Romania 8 17.63
Germany 58 16.76
Panama 91 16.23
Philippines 15 16
Egypt 54 15.11
United States 55,317 14.54
Mexico 143 14.52
France 76 14.04
Canada 2,525 14.01
United Arab Emirates 26 13.92
Greece 52 13.44
Singapore 43 12.88

[Cool Dood]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dory36 I started the project that resulted in this forum while living in Saudi Arabia

So maybe we should have forum rules that are compliant with Sharia?

Quote:

Iran, Islamic Republic of 1 1

OK, buddy, time to start posting! Do you mentally translate your Firecalc results to show safe withdrawal rates of 4 camels per year plus inflation? I can imagine some things get complicated when you're dealing with 4 DWs...

[dory36]

Quote:

Anonymous Proxy 1 33

Kim Jong-Il?

[MooreBonds]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dory36 Kim Jong-Il?

Forget Kim John-Il, Dory...

Quote:

Originally Posted by dory36 Cote D'Ivoire 1 1 Nigeria 1 1

...that Nigerian dude that's looking for a way to funnel his (sic) "25 $ US Millions dollars" safely to the US from a plane crash/oil well/dead rich aunt/government program has been looking for some gullible and ignorant as a dodo bird kind, benevolent, looking-to-make-some-extra-cash Early Retirees to help him out! And perhaps his cousin in Cote D'Ivoire is also looking for someone to help them out!

[kcowan]

The variety of locations is much higher than I thought. 55k out of 60k does reaffirm the US interest level.

# visits x # pages/visit would indicate the amount of interaction

Is a visit a logon? What about those of us who stay logged on for days?

[dory36]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcowan Is a visit a logon? What about those of us who stay logged on for days?

They are unique visits -- visiting hourly for a week till counts just once. If you connected once during the period, you aren't counted again unless you connect from a different computer (or IP address).