After indefinitely relocating abroad in late 2017 in order to become a dividend expat and live out my early retirement dreams, I’ve discussed my experience with geographic arbitrage quite a few times.
The plane ticket out of the US was easily the best financial investment I’ve ever made. It’s not even close.
And so it’s no surprise that geographic arbitrage is offered up as an answer to the early retirement dream.
In fact, my most recent best-selling book on how to retire early, 5 Steps To Retire In 5 Years, advocates using geographic arbitrage to retire decades earlier than most people.
However, much of the content that exists on geographic arbitrage – including my own content here – discusses the concept from a very limited point of view.
That is, geographic arbitrage is usually discussed as a permanent lifestyle change, where one moves to a cheaper and more dynamic locale for the rest of their life.
Or perhaps they travel around full time. Or whatever, really. It’s a lifestyle shift that’s accepted as a lifelong decision.
Thinking about this a bit, I wanted to take some time today to discuss the concept of geographic arbitrage from a different point of view.
It’s possible to take advantage of geographic arbitrage over a temporary period of time and still use it to achieve FIRE much earlier than you otherwise might be able to. In addition, you could end up a much happier, complete, and more experienced human being as a result.
My Perspective On Geographic Arbitrage
Before we get into this idea, I want to make sure that my perspective on geographic arbitrage is clearly laid out.
First, I don’t think geographic arbitrage is solely, or even mostly, about the cost savings.
The lower COL is wonderful, because it sets you up for a cascade of positive changes in your life. The more options and flexibility you have, the more authentically you can live your life. And the more time you have (which requires money to buy), the more free you are to holistically improve your life and “buy back” the things that otherwise cannot be purchased.
However, I would say living in Thailand, for me, has become far more about the non-financial aspects.
There’s the relationship I’ve built with a great woman, the amazing food, the wonderful Thai people, the opportunities to meet interesting people from all over the world, the improved health, etc.
With that in mind, I do see this relocation abroad as a permanent move. At the very least, it’s a long-term lifestyle choice for me.
That’s not because I cannot afford to live in the US. It’s simply a lifestyle call. My quality of life is higher over here. If I thought I’d be happier in the US, I’d live there. But I know I wouldn’t be happier over there, so I don’t live there. One should live where it’s most advantageous for them to carry out their preferred lifestyle, not necessarily where they were born or grew up.
A New Perspective
That all said, I do think there’s room for a very different approach to the idea of geographic arbitrage. This is for someone who would prefer to live in the US but still wants to take advantage of geo arb in order to achieve FIRE more quickly.
That approach would be to relocate abroad temporarily so that they can quit their job earlier, allow compounding to take over, experience new cultures, and later come back to the US refreshed, richer, and more worldly.
Now, I’m not necessarily advocating this. It’s just an idea that I’m throwing out there.
I’ll break this concept down with some old-fashioned math.
Let’s say you’re 5-10 years out from FIRE and worn out. You want to quit your job, but you can’t do so out of financial concerns. Based on the communications from thousands of people over the years, this is a pretty common situation to find oneself in.
Well, temporary geographic arbitrage could allow you to significantly, or even completely, bridge that gap and move that job-free timeline from 5-10 years to 0 years.
I’m just going to shoot some numbers out there to show you how this might work. These numbers could scale up or down, or otherwise change, to suit your needs. So could the amount of time you live abroad. This is just an example.
Let’s assume you’re generating dividend income of $10,000 per year from your dividend growth stock portfolio. And let’s say you have a relatively frugal lifestyle that runs $20,000 per year.
Not a bad situation to be in at all. 50% of the way there is fantastic.
This is a very solid base of passive income; however, it’s probably not enough to live off of in the US.
Basic expenses like rent and food are just too high in most quality places to make that reasonably feasible. One could get super creative and squeeze the numbers enough to maybe make things fit. Whether or not that would be an acceptable lifestyle for a lengthy period of time is another question altogether.
Furthermore, since up and quitting the job might not be possible for this person, they have less time to develop their life and persona outside of the grind, meaning their ability to build a side hustle is limited.
So let’s say this person acknowledges the difficulty of living in the US on $10,000 per year, but still can’t take the idea of having a boss any longer.
Well, you can live a comfortable (but not luxurious) lifestyle on $10,000 per year in quite a few places throughout the world.
I’ve already shared how that would work in Thailand when I discussed the idea of retiring in Thailand on $200,000.
If this person decides to pack their bags and move abroad, they instantly cut their 50% expense coverage deficit to 0%.
They’re FIRE.
But they’re only FIRE insofar that they’re an expat. If they move back to the US, particularly on an apples-to-apples lifestyle comparison, the deficit reemerges.
Temporary Geographic Arbitrage
If they don’t want to permanently move abroad (which they might change their minds on once they see how great life outside the US actually is), they could still use that deficit elimination to their advantage for as long as it exists in order to let their passive income grow and allow themselves time to build out their new life.
Let’s roll that snowball for just five years and see where this person comes out at.
I’m going to assume this dividend growth stock portfolio is constructed in a similar manner to my own FIRE Fund, which should demonstrate annual organic dividend growth of at least 7%. If this person is now using their dividend income to fund their lifestyle, there’s no dividend reinvestment. So it’s straight organic dividend growth they’re relying on for the increasing of their passive dividend income.
Their $10,000 grows to $10,700 after year one of living abroad. Then it becomes $11,449. Then it turns into $12,250. That grows to $13,107. The fifth year of living abroad sees the annual dividend income grow to $14,024.
Meanwhile, this person has five years to live their life without a job. This time frame certainly presents a long runway and plenty of opportunities to find their passion(s) and build out a side hustle, which is, in my view, instrumental to the long-term feasibility and enjoyment of FIRE (and not just solely, or even mostly, for financial purposes).
Over that five years, they’re probably going to get a firsthand view of a totally different culture, meet all kinds of unique people (which leads to its own serendipity), learn new skills, adapt, sharpen their edge, and become more optimistic and educated about themselves and the world around them.
This means they may have left the states with $10,000/year in dividend income, no side hustle, no known life outside of the rat race grind, and a limited worldview.
But they could come back with $14,000/year in dividend income, a side hustle generating at least a few hundred dollars per month, a robust life outside of the rat race grind, and an ample worldview.
These are two totally different people – and not just in terms of their financial capabilities.
New Person, New Possibilities
Now, inflation means their $14,000+ per year isn’t as much five years on as it would have been when they left.
But low US inflation means their purchasing power should have increased markedly.
And that’s before factoring in any side hustle income, which should surely be at least a few hundred dollars per month.
Plus, they have the experience and adaptability (which is honestly priceless) they didn’t have before.
This is a more complete and less fragile person.
Again, I think this person will find themselves uninterested in returning to the US after they leave. It’s not even a financial question.
But just in case they are determined to come back, they’re setting themselves up to have far more options when they come back – all while not even having a job in the interim.
Sure, $18,000 to $20,000 per year isn’t live a grand life of luxury in the US, but there are some possibilities there that weren’t available for this person before they left. Based on the frugal lifestyle they were living before they left, they’re almost certainly FIRE (or very close to it) in the US.
And they accomplished this all while taking a far more enjoyable and interesting path (compared to sticking it out at the job over the same five years).
That’s a win-win, in my opinion. Because the money is just a means to an end anyway. If you can start living something closer to your dream life right away, that’s an opportunity worth taking. Time is quickly slipping away from all of us. There’s no point in being the richest guy in the cemetery.
This is something I actually keep in mind for myself. I know that just in case I were to ever change my mind and decide to move back to the US, I would be bringing back a Jason who’s in far better shape (financially, mentally, and physically) than the one who would have otherwise existed had he stayed in the States over that same period of time.
By the way, temporary geographic arbitrage is also a lever one could pull if they were pretty close to receiving certain benefits (like, say, Medicare) but didn’t want to continue working any longer. That wouldn’t be FIRE, per se, since this would be a person in their late 50s or early 60s, but this idea doesn’t have any kind of age requirement.
Lastly, the different dating dynamics should be considered.
If you move abroad as a single male, you’re almost certainly going to have the opportunity to meet a lot of women. So you could very well return to your home country with a significant other on top of the financial, physical, and mental gains. Coming back much less alone and much less poor than you left would be a win-win.
Conclusion
I personally think geographic arbitrage is an extremely powerful lever for someone to pull and take advantage of.
And it’s such a phenomenal and enjoyable concept – not just for financial reasons – that I find it bewildering as to why or how anyone would or could see it as anything less than a permanent shift in one’s mentality and lifestyle.
However, I also admit that my viewpoint is limited by my own perspective and experiences.
As such, geographic arbitrage could still be a very powerful lever to pull, even if you only plan on pulling it for a temporary period of time before returning to the US (or wherever you originally came from).
That’s because that temporary period of time abroad could allow you to significantly improve the financial and non-financial aspects of your life, meaning you would come back to your homeland as a wealthier and more complete person who has far more options.
What do you think? Could temporary geographic arbitrage work?
Thanks for reading.
Image courtesy of: bplanet at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
P.S. If you’re interested in taking advantage of geographic arbitrage, even temporarily, check out some great resources that I personally used to become financially free at 33 and permanently relocate abroad!
Jason,
I have been considering doing exactly that. When I first started down this path I set a goal of sixty months, but not sure I will make it that long due to the increasing amount of stress at work.
I have been thinking it would be easier to just go ahead and make the jump within the next year, after my bonus. But even waiting that long is excruciating.
The options I am looking at are Spain, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Colombia.
I run into a bit of a problem with my girlfriend not being on the FIRE path, so testing the waters in a LCL/HQL location for a year or so could be a great option to test it out.
Thanks,
Sixty Months
SM,
Sounds like you might be in the perfect position to try this idea out. 🙂
Hope you enjoy wherever you end up picking. My guess is that you’ll prefer it, but you can always go back if you don’t. Moving abroad isn’t an irrevocable decision.
Cheers!
That’s a very interesting way to look at it Jason. I am still many.many years away from early retirement but always looking at ways to increase passive income.
Thanks for sharing and hoping that this continues to work out well for you.
BHL,
Yeah, I’ve received a lot of correspondence over the years that seems to indicate people are under the impression that moving abroad is some kind of permanent choice. It’s not at all. It could be temporary by design, which would still provide some really cool benefits.
If you don’t like your locale, you can then you can go somewhere else or return back to where you came from. Nothing in this life is permanent, least of which is where you decide to hang your hat.
Best regards.
I think it’s too optimistic. The last few years have been very good years on the stock market. I don’t think it’ll be like this forever. It’s still a good idea if you’re really burned out at work. It doesn’t have to be 5 years. Someone can just try it for a year and see how it goes. That’s probably long enough to see if they can live on $10,000 and adapt to the new culture. Yeah, it sounds like a good way to learn more about the world and yourself.
Joe,
I don’t think it’s too optimistic. A 7% dividend growth rate isn’t anything obscene for a lot of high-quality dividend growth stocks, particularly those that aren’t high-yield stocks. It’s just an illustration, though, to show what’s possible. And as I noted, I think the non-financial benefits outweigh the financial benefits to the point where a person looking to hop over for a few years would never want to come back to the United States. 🙂
Thanks for dropping by!
Best wishes.
I’ve also considered doing FIRE temporarily. Using the 4% rule, I can already take out about $20,000 a year from my portfolio. That’s not enough in high cost California, where I live, and because of health care costs, I don’t think it would be enough for me even in a cheaper area. However, I’m sure it would be enough if I lived in Mexico or elsewhere. It’s something I”m considering.
I have the opposite problem of stress at my job. I’m actually bored. I have a government job that I”ve been doing forever and the job is becoming obsolete due to technology. I’m approaching 50, so retraining for something else is not something I really want to do–and not something that I can do quickly or easily, even if I want to. I can collect a pension in 6 more years, and at that point, my portfolio should be significantly larger, too. But 6 more years at my boring job means I’m going to turn into a zombie if I don’t do something.
Thanks for a great article!
Mystical,
Hey, sorry to hear of the boredom. I’ve written about this before, but one of the epiphanies I had back at my old job involved seeing technicians walk around the service floor like zombies. They’d just grab parts from the counter and walk back to their station totally zoned out. It was just another part, another car, another service. Day in and day out like this. They were totally checked out of life. That observation woke me up. I swore I’d never end up like that.
There’s something to be said for living authentically and being fully alive. I personally couldn’t imagine not living like this. Life is too short to do it any other way. No matter when I die, I’ll feel good on my deathbed knowing I lived life to the fullest and did it my way. 🙂
Good luck figuring out the path that works best for you.
Cheers!
Thanks for those encouraging words!
I’m always friendly to our clientele at my job. I’m known for giving good customer service. But I still feel like a zombie, like I’m acting out a role in a play or something! My sister is in a high stress job and she told me “Don’t feel bad, I have a high stress job and I also feel like a zombie”, lol. So I know it could be worse. But ultimately, I don’t want to be a zombie at all!
it sounds like you have about 500k. Have you considered putting 6 years worth of living expenses in savings accounts or some other ultrasafe investment, quitting your job now and spending that money as a “bridge” to your pension, and then fully retiring on your pension + the rest of your portfolio?
HeadedWest….Yes, I’m considering something exactly like that. The pension payout if I quit tomorrow would be just over 29k in 6 years. That’s an amazing benefit most people don’t get–especially in their mid 50s. But it’s not a bloody fortune, either. When added to my existing portfolio, it should be ok if I live in a lower cost area of the U.S. (20K + 29K is 49K–not bad. I spend less than that now in high cost CA). I could put say 180k out of 500k in a stable value or bond fund. So that’s about 36% of the portfolio in fixed income (I’m already about 20% fixed income, but it’s in an aggressive global bond fund), which is a pretty standard asset allocation anyway.
Jason, that’s a strategy I have thought about as well. Adding onto that strategy, at some point while saving up for fire, it makes more sense to start accumulating cash instead of continuing to purchase stocks. That is if your goal is to retire asap.
Say your target is $1,500 a month, at which point you could indefinitely retire as an expat in most places in the world. Let’s say when you start out your portfolio is only generating $1,000 a month and it is growing 7% per year. Based on this data it would take six years for your dividend income to go from $12k to $18k per year. So, in order to retire asap the fastest method is to save the difference between dividend income and $18k, for each of those six years. Once you hit that number in cash you can then take off to South America, South East Asia, Eastern Europe, etc. and enjoy a life of slow travel instead of continuing to grind away at some job in the US. The amount of cash needed in this example is a little less than $16k.
Anyway, you can also use a variation on this. Let’s say you want to expat slow travel for five years, at which point you want to move back to the US. You can use a similar process and figure out how much cash you need to save up to offset whatever the cash flow gap is per year while dividend growth works its magic.
This makes me wonder. What is the optimal point at which one should switch from building up cash versus continuing to build dividend growth assets. Obviously, the answer would be which ever one requires the least amount of time. So, I guess when someone feels like they are getting close to having enough money (say 10 years or less) then it would make sense to start running the numbers and see what the data looks like.
jh,
Yeah, you could certainly save up cash on the side to make up the difference between now and when the dividend growth gets you to where you need to be. I actually wrote about this idea way back in 2015. It was the last article I ever put together for Dividend Mantra:
https://www.dividendmantra.com/2015/10/quit-your-9-5-faster-the-auxiliary-fund/
As for “optimal”, there’s no right answer because everything depends on each unique individual. Personal finance is personal because everyone has different objectives and ways to go about those objectives. I’ve never met a coaching client who was just the same as another. Everyone is different, meaning there’s no one “optimal” way to do anything. Only optimal ways to accomplish individualized goals.
Best regards.
I have for some time been thinking that FI is the route i will take instead of FIRE. I kinda like my flexible job(s) but would love to be able to take 4 month of every winter and go somewhere warm. Even partial FI will give me that option. That is why i work hard now so i have options later when i hit my 40’s for instance. If i sold everything i own today i could theoretically be able to lean fire in thailand, but i crave options and some comfort so i will keep grinding until i hit FI and then i very well may have changed my mind and go all the way with the RE also.
But your idea seems good for someone not as fortunate in their job as me. Keep up the good work 🙂
Norwegian guy,
Sounds great. It’s all about options. The more you have, the better off you are. 🙂
Cheers!
Hi Jason,
I was too strict and saved as long as I had 100%. Mission accomplished. But when I look today on it, it wasn´t necessary to do that. OK, 50% in USA or in Central Europe could work in Thailand and a lot of other countries in the world. Otherwise it is a bit risky, because you can have several negative impacts and may be you don´t like it in the foreign country. You have several possibilities, can change from SE Asia to South America or any other cheaper country, but you must find a place you really like and has the cost of living you can afford. On the other side, like in your situation: If you like it there and you also can earn some side money it should work easily out.
I see it from my situation. Because of the strictness I started with 100%, decreased from my full time projects to part time projects. In the average I work about 3 days/week in IT projects and sometimes I simple work nothing and do different things. I don´t need the active money, it´s just that I like all this stuff. The interesting is, that after my quit I had even more possibilities with more money. But when I look at my numbers now with dividend increase and new investments with active money I don´t need, I´m now at 115 – 120% of my expenses after around 18 months. In combination active/passive money I have much more I need. So I think, if you are at 75% covering your expenses and reduce your work from a full-time-job to something smaller or as a freelancer, this should work without any problem. You don´t have the pressure like you have with 50%, but I think this is an individual call and your ability, to find something where you can earn a bit money besides.
You are right, with geo arbitrage you can skip a lot of costs. So if you like living abroad in such a country, 50% coverage in USA/CER is a 100% coverage in for example Thailand. When I look at your overall costs I would like to have around 1.500 $ passive income per month if I have no good abilities to get some side income. So you can have a bit standard doing what you want there. On the other side, if you are easily able to earn 1.000 $ active money, you can settle with 500 $ passive income to Thailand as well. There are many possibilities and everyone has to decide what he favours for himself. But I think, it is worth to calculate everything if you have a nice portfolio where you always get some money no matters what happens.
Thanks for the article
Oliver
Oliver,
Yeah, I totally agree with you. I don’t think the 100% mark is at all necessary, especially if we’re talking about FIRE here (i.e., someone quitting their job decades earlier than most people). In fact, I don’t even really recommend it. This is something I’ve discussed ad nauseum through the content over the last few years:
https://www.mrfreeat33.com/why-much-of-the-math-on-early-retirement-is-moot/
https://www.mrfreeat33.com/is-fire-a-paradox/
https://www.mrfreeat33.com/the-three-ps-of-enjoying-fire/
https://www.mrfreeat33.com/how-to-find-your-passion-by-answering-one-simple-question/
So on and so forth…
Indeed, I eat my own cooking. I quit my job at 32, back when passive income was only at about 50% of my expenses. And this was when my expenses were artificially low because I was absolutely hammering the budget, which wasn’t really sustainable over the long run.
There are so many possibilities. Temporary geo arb is one of many, many different exciting options. It’s up to each person to seek out the appropriate ideas and then execute on what makes the most sense for them. I simply aim to provide some food for thought and inspiration. 🙂
Best regards.
Hello Jason, it’s been a while since we met in Chiang Mai! Love this post and feel like it comes in just in time.
For me, I am actually going to use the geographic arbitrage to start my FIRE journey. Unlike many of your readers, I haven’t started to invest but I have built a side hustle (freelancing) that now comparable to my job income. It allows me to live a basic life in Singapore but like what you said, it will be a stretch if I want to enjoy more. I also haven’t grown my business to a financially comfortable and stable level, that means I am under the risk of using my saving when losing a client, which can lead to shorten my financial runway further.
By relocating myself to Penang, Malaysia, I can cut my expenses to 1/3. Not only I have more mental peace knowing that my financial runway is now extended immediately and automatically, I may even afford to set aside some money to start investing. (I only did a rough calculation but it’s highly possible, and certainly more possible than if I continue to stay in Singapore.)
All these are going to happen without changing my life quality much. In fact, I think I am actually improving it by a lot. Leaving a toxic working environment and a job I hate already set me on the right foot to regain my mental health. I will have more capacity to grow my freelance income and create more sources of income by doing what I enjoy (never short of business ideas!). And of course, a large part of the income will go to my FIRE fund.
Oh I haven’t even mentioned how wonderful Penang is! It’s actually where I want to retire in Malaysia so why not start having a taste first?
I have already booked my one-way ticket and leaving on 31st July. Wish me luck!
Hazel,
That’s awesome! Definitely wish you luck with it. 🙂
Geographic arbitrage is an extremely powerful lever to pull. Many ways to look at it. Post-FIRE, pre-FIRE, extra business runway, stress reduction, lifestyle change, etc.
I personally have found the non-financial benefits to far exceed the financial benefits. You might experience something similar, which is a total win-win.
Enjoy that next phase of life.
Cheers!
Hi!
Thanks for the post. Have you made long-term plans about where you want to live? You seem to be having a good time the in Thailand, but do you see yourself there in the next 5-10 years? Or do you think that you will maybe find some other similar place if you get bored there in CM?
Of course it’s very hard to say now, and it depends on your relationships etc. I get that.
Aron,
Well, I’ve actually written and talked about this extensively. I considered everywhere else in the world before coming here. I could live just about anywhere, within reason. I chose Thailand because I thought it offered the highest QOL at the lowest COL. And I have no regrets.
That said, I do see my future life being a bit more mobile. That’s something else I’ve written about. So Thailand will be my home base. But Oh and I will probably travel here and there when we feel like it. I hate flying. But it might be interesting to spend a month or two a year in, say, Eastern Europe.
Best regards.
Hi Jason, great post!
You might also consider another kind of geoarbitrage – we could call “reverse geoarbitrage”.
Since I am living in an moderatly expensive country with low wages (Italy), my FIRE plan involves moving to a richer country (I am considering Belgium or the Netherlands, since the US is out of reach for visa’s reasons) within the same company I currently work for and start saving/investing much more money (in absolut terms).
Since the COL in those two countries is pretty much comparable to Italy but wages are 2-3 times higher, it should be quite easy to reach a FIRE-level where I could move back to Italy and live on a modest budget (say 1000€ a month). This would speed up the process of at least five years. Even more if I join you in Chiang Mai instead of Rome 🙂
Best
Luca
Luca,
Sounds good. I hope it works out for you!
I’ve personally found the non-financial benefits of geo arb to far outweigh the financial benefits. But both could certainly be taken advantage of in a short-term scenario. One doesn’t have to live somewhere else forever, if they don’t wish to. 🙂
Cheers.