• @viking
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    125 months ago

    Move abroad, halve my taxes, triple my income, reduce my cost of living by nearly 80%, effectively increased my savings rate by ~1100%, from 500 EUR/month to now >5k EUR/month. That’s 5k in fixed savings (investment plan), plus whatever else I don’t spend accumulates in my savings account.

      • @viking
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        15 months ago

        All over the world. Germany -> Luxembourg -> Norway -> Liberia -> Tanzania -> Kenya -> Nigeria -> Madagascar -> China; and next month to Malaysia.

        Luxembourg was great for starting to build some wealth thanks to the super low taxes, Norway was to improve my career opportunities, and in Africa I really started to make bank since those contracts included living & “hardship” allowances that are untaxed, I invested most of that and also used it to fund an executive MBA.

        To China I already came with 15+ years work experience and entered on c-level with a great salary package; and there are no taxes on foreign income here, including foreign capital gains.

        Malaysia is a stopover for a few years also for tax purposes, they have no capital gains either and the company I work for is registered in Hong Kong, which in China would be considered onshore and thereby taxable. So in Malaysia I can sell my share package for free after 2 years of residency.

        Also much nicer climate and friendlier people than in China.

        • @speaker_hat@lemmy.one
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          fedilink
          -15 months ago

          Thanks for the detailed reply! Definitely an interesting journey, and I glad to hear it’s financially good. Good luck.

    • @ULS@lemmy.ml
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      5 months ago

      I wish I was smart enough to be accepted by another country. I was looking up that French legion army the other day haha.

      • @viking
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        35 months ago

        I guess European citizenship really helped initially. But for most lesser developed countries it’s often sufficient to have special skills that are in demand there. And I’m not talking about academia; there’s also demand for construction skills, meat processing and other stuff out there.

        Two of the most successful people I’ve met during my years on the roll were a German butcher who is now running a sausage empire in Asia, and a Swedish carpenter who is now working as general manager for an NGO in Kenya, building schools all over Africa. Neither of them are university graduates.

        In fact most graduates I meet are middle to upper level manager who’ve been sent by their respective companies to work abroad, which absolutely means they have a decent income, but they all run into a glass ceiling at some point. And many struggled hard to readjust when they were eventually called home; whereas the more entrepreneurial types just carved a niche for themselves.