I am in an industry where the skills are applicable internationally (tech, and one of the sectors that is presently over-hyped); I naturally spend very little money, so I'm currently saving a lot and pondering early retirement.
However, I don't really like the USA as the retirement destination. In my opinion (I don't really want to argue about this, so just treat this as an immutable part of the question ) the cities here excepting parts of New York are too poorly organized (car-dependent and spread out), small or remote (or all three), compared to those in other developed countries like Germany, Netherlands, Japan, Korea, or even the UK. That's just based on my preferences. Most of these other countries also have socialized medicine, which is a bonus. As a tradeoff, the pay in tech (and other industries to a lesser extent) is much lower than in the USA, but that shouldn't matter in retirement.
The problem is, the path to any sort of permanent status in these countries is difficult or very expensive (via investment visas).
So, I came up with a tentative cunning plan where (provided that there isn't another dotcom bust), when I'm almost ready to ER, and prepared to take the pay cut, I first get a job in one of these countries... Hopefully all the tech people I meet in CA/WA who have moved from there to here for the higher pay that they can spend on multiple luxury cars and other such important things will make this part a little easier
In most places, the work visa provides a path to permanent resident status; so, I keep working for 3-5-.. years until I get it, maybe a few years more if I feel like it, and ER.
What do you think?
Also, is there a good overview somewhere of ER in OECD countries, both in general and with regard to legal status, visas, and such?
However, I don't really like the USA as the retirement destination. In my opinion (I don't really want to argue about this, so just treat this as an immutable part of the question ) the cities here excepting parts of New York are too poorly organized (car-dependent and spread out), small or remote (or all three), compared to those in other developed countries like Germany, Netherlands, Japan, Korea, or even the UK. That's just based on my preferences. Most of these other countries also have socialized medicine, which is a bonus. As a tradeoff, the pay in tech (and other industries to a lesser extent) is much lower than in the USA, but that shouldn't matter in retirement.
The problem is, the path to any sort of permanent status in these countries is difficult or very expensive (via investment visas).
So, I came up with a tentative cunning plan where (provided that there isn't another dotcom bust), when I'm almost ready to ER, and prepared to take the pay cut, I first get a job in one of these countries... Hopefully all the tech people I meet in CA/WA who have moved from there to here for the higher pay that they can spend on multiple luxury cars and other such important things will make this part a little easier
In most places, the work visa provides a path to permanent resident status; so, I keep working for 3-5-.. years until I get it, maybe a few years more if I feel like it, and ER.
What do you think?
Also, is there a good overview somewhere of ER in OECD countries, both in general and with regard to legal status, visas, and such?
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