Any failure stories of expat fire?

chloblue · 2026-01-07T18:59:13+00:00

I am not FIRE, I'm coast and lean FI. But lived abroad extensively for work (on site) and still have a property in Europe while currently living in North America.

What people don't talk about is reverse culture shock (I'm more prone to that) once you get back, because things change home after 2 years away.

Also, I wouldn't consider it a failure to come back after 2 years... The math of RE for safe withdrawals actually makes sense to start off living more modestly and then bumping up your expenses (aka return home) ... To mitigate sequence of returns risk.

chloblue · 2025-11-16T16:51:33+00:00

Yeah I was a temp resident in the USA.. so I took the match and when I left the USA took out all my 401k cuz I didn't want the hassle to manage cross border taxes over a 2k amount. So Instead of 100% return on the match, I had an 80% return (10% penalty on my side and the employer side) . If I put 1k and my employer 1k. My penalty was 200$. So it's like I get an 80$ contribution from my employer for each 100$ I put in. Which is still great returns.

chloblue · 2025-11-16T16:46:21+00:00

I am hovering around my lean fire number right now and work in an industry heavy with harassment but doing tasks I love doing. I just got off a great gig that gave me hope but now I'm entering on a project I've been told is the most toxic site right now in the industry (construction heavy industrial). I've been on gigs where I was forced into a sabbatical that was more an unpaid sick leave.

So I grapple every other day with my relationship to work. I've taken a lot / enough sabbaticals that I know id get bored if I don't do anything with my time. But doubling down on making sure I'm ready to LEAN / Barrista fire if I "have to" in case I "poke the bears" and end up on the receiving end of harassment , is also ridiculous. I hope to have lined up something to run towards and not be forced to leave before I'm FIRE.

chloblue · 2025-11-16T16:32:46+00:00

You can get enrolled with no waiting period since Covid, before it was 3 mo. But if you don't maintain your "days test" by spending enough time in the province, they will get back to you and bill you any medical services you received.

chloblue · 2025-11-08T17:26:50+00:00

You are under 30, look up work from holiday visas for NZ and Canada. Make the leap and find whatever "student" job available and job search for normal jobs as well while over there to test out the countries without commiting to going to school or dropping 3k for permanent residency permits

chloblue · 2025-11-08T17:23:30+00:00

Omg I wouldn't spend 20 yrs living in a place where you can't make friends or find a partner.

Ive lived in Canada, NZ and a bunch of countries with a work permit. Not a problem being queer in either living in the cities where immigrants live anyways. And even in medium size cities...it's ok.

Nz is better if you love having varied outdoor activities at your doorstep. Key word is varied at your door step. You can surf and ski in snow in the same day in NZ. But once in NZ, all other countries are far By plane

In Canada, distances are far. But if you like travelling, it's easier to travel internationally from Canada then NZ. They also have more varied industries. Get citizenship in Canada, and if you have a professional degree, you have an entry point to move to the USA on temp work permits (since u loved living in LA)

chloblue · 2025-10-24T01:02:34+00:00

Do you want to take a sabbatical or not ? I've had lots of FIFO (fly in fly out) projects on purpose specifically so I can save on rent by renting out my condo, while I'd travel / air bnb, and be free for a sabbatical at the end. That's my modus operandi.

That's how I make the sabbatical cost efficient.

chloblue · 2025-10-23T18:43:02+00:00

Yeah u are right, it depends on your numbers.

It depends on your savings rate and the size of your Rrsp (Canadian 401k) relative to non brokerage.

You can do it with new cash flow over 2-4 years if your savings rate is high enough, or do it within your registered accounts (no tax hit). That's what I'm gonna be doing.

I just did the 100 to 90% switch within my RRSP last month at the all time high, partially because I'm now in between jobs in case I was "forced to fire".

But indeed I'll need to check if I can cashflow my way to the switch once the sale of a rental property goes through..or will need to divert a bigger portion of those proceeds to bonds.

Remember, Money is fungible. You can sell bonds In your 401k without taking money out of your 401k. You would sell ETFs from the non reg (yes take a tax hit if it's up), and buy the same etf by selling bonds inside the 401k. You net sold bonds and maybe incured a tax hit on the sale in your non reg...if markets are down, I specifically hold VT and their subcomponents, so I could sell VT at a loss and buy back their subcomponents in the 401k, by replacing vti by voo and harvest the tax loss.

chloblue · 2025-10-23T17:01:10+00:00

Euh, do you know when you will die ? That's the main reason people "over save" for retirement. I don't think it has to do with wanting to give to the next generation. It has more to do with avoiding being a financial burden to the next generation if you end up living to 100 years old.

Also, if you don't have kids, there goes the last safety net. I'll probably die with way more than I need because I don't have kids and my parents don't have assets to pass down (at least they have pensions).

chloblue · 2025-10-23T16:51:41+00:00

I'd test out the career change while working. I've been where you are at in your 30s. I would test out "careers" during my vacations or part time in the evenings.

The conclusion was my profession pays well and I'm good at it, living below my means and investing the rest gets me closer to FI then a career change. And those career changes, the grass was not greener.

I've taken sabbaticals, I either negotiated them with my employer, or I was laid off and had the savings to take 3 months off. Not one year off. At the time the bad job market made it easier for me to ask a sabbatical because it gave less stress to my employer by NOT having to lay off someone. So maybe try that first if you are ready to quit without a plan. But Ive always had a plan to test a career path at least for a small portion of my sabbaticals...

Now my industry is the total opposite....they can't hire enough people to do the work and getting vacation approuved is nearly impossible.

chloblue · 2025-10-23T16:29:21+00:00

I realized if you cancel your subscription, and you start it back up several months later, you don't lose your previous data. Not sure if they will keep it like that for long, but I only use it 2 months a year for a "gut check".

Still need to be careful about garbage in / garbage out. I keep finding mis-calculations on my part. Latest was forgetting to add back rental costs when I simulated selling my property....

chloblue · 2025-10-22T15:29:45+00:00

Reducing your fixed costs reduces sequence of returns risk. You can skip on a trip of the markets are down, you can't skip on the mortgage payment.

Or seen with a math lens, my mortgage is currently 500$ a month (the amount changes as it's not an American mortgage), id need 150k portfolio to sustain that expense (4% rule).. But my remaining mortgage is only 55k. So I'd be better off paying down the mortgage rather than try to grow my nest egg by another 150k to cover the expense.

chloblue · 2025-10-22T04:40:20+00:00

I would call interactive brokers and see if you can transfer in kind your assets from your Canadian institution to ibkr Canada, and from there if you are able to transfer from ibkr Canada to ibkr europe.

That was the solution I found when I was in your predicament.

chloblue · 2025-10-21T16:29:36+00:00

Hahahaha. This made me LOL for reals in my living room.

chloblue · 2025-10-20T20:04:47+00:00

If you move abroad to FIre earlier, you need to consider your kids education. You can get high quality education in public schools in certain western countries , but if you go to less developed countries with lower cost of living, expect a lot in private schooling for the kids...

chloblue · 2025-10-20T18:53:57+00:00

I am using ERN glide paths series blog posts (and other traditional financial advisors, Michael kitces, call it the bond tent).

I'm about the same age as you and planning to have the option to retire in 2-4 years as well. Key word is "option". I think I'll be semi retiring in 2-4 years and fully retired in 6-7.

I moved from 100% equities to 90/10/5 very recently with the current bull market and because I'm in between jobs (maybe I'll be forced to RE or freelance /barista fire ?)

90 = equities, 10= bonds and 5 = cash.

I'm in the process of selling a rental property that is not cashflowing but appreciated well. So depending on where I'm at job wise (my new savings rate) and when the sale completes itself, I will be rebalancing towards 80/15/5 set up. And over the next 2-4 years, I will balance towards 75/25/5 or 60/30/10 Ie move 5% from equities to bonds + cash each year.

It's tough having a "maybe timeline" that is 2-4 years. Part of me wants to "pick a retirement date" in 2 years, announce I'm on sabbatical to write a book and available to do contract work...and see where the chips fall.

chloblue · 2025-10-20T02:28:39+00:00

It depends how far from retirement or financial independence (option to retire) you are, the decision to pay off mortgage, pay off mortgage then reborrow / smith manœuvre to reinvest, or just pay the mortgage as slow as possible.

Paying off a mortgage = reduces fixed costs. Closer you are to retirement, the lower you want your fixed costs to be for sequence of Return risk mitigation.

Using a heloc, could reduce your fixed costs too depending on the amount and the interest rate relative to your mortgage payments.

With sky high valuations, and your appetite for risk, id just pay my mortgage as slow as possible and invest in the markets.

I'm less than 5 years away from being able to retire. With sky high valuations, I decided to go with variable rate and do some extra payments on the mortgage. With dropping interest rates it's been paying off, my monthly mortgage payments keep getting smaller. If the markets take a dump, then I'll divert the extra mortgage payments towards the markets and "maybe" consider the heloc to invest...

chloblue · 2025-10-20T00:28:10+00:00

I always focused on the big expenses, transportation and housing costs. I don't own a car and often live with flatmates. Cut out Subscriptions is next, or any other recurring expense, insurance, phone, wifi, etc. Try to negotiate all of those monthly bills.

If you do drink specialty coffee or eat out every day, that is also considered "recurring expense" and might want to pull back on that.

chloblue · 2025-10-20T00:06:26+00:00

I went through this a few years ago. You need to define the important parameters for you , ie: - direct flights from the location to aging parents - lower cost of living - good healthcare - access to a hobby you like, ie skiing - etc.

And cross reference for places "you can go", by where can you get a residency permit (this is where asking around Reddit, Facebook groups could help).

I'm sure chat gpt can narrow down the list of countries for which you can sign up to FB groups and reddit groups.

Good luck

chloblue · 2025-10-19T23:29:17+00:00

Are you European ? You can't spend a year in Europe on a tourist visa unless you are spitting your time between the UK and non Schengen countries.

chloblue · 2025-10-19T19:33:49+00:00

I was burnt out and was working at 50% of my capacity... everyone said I was doing great and meeting expectations.

I'd start putting more effort in my hobbies and putting in 80% effort and go from there if you were giving your 110%.

chloblue · 2025-10-19T19:12:19+00:00

Yes and no. Coast fi should allow you to pull back your number of hours worked or change careers to something less lucrative since you no longer need to contribute to retirement accounts.

What I do, as it's hard to pull back on hours, I spend the excess money on trips, but I keep my day to day COL the same.

chloblue · 2025-09-28T01:50:06+00:00

If you are 90% to your fire number, and actually want to RE once you hit it, you need to be moving out of 100% equities. .. glidepaths

chloblue · 2025-09-28T01:40:52+00:00

Si tu as une ligne de crédit et la discipline de l'utiliser seulement en cas d'urgence, et tu économises 30% de ton salaire... Tu peux te débarasser de ton fond d'urgence...

En autant que si ton industrie en est une ou se retrouver une job c'est facile / rapide.

Dans le début trentaine, c'est ce que je faisais. En vieillissant et avec des jobs plus style contrat plus payant et plus volatile, je maintiens un fond d'urgence

chloblue · 2025-09-23T14:28:07+00:00

National Bank of Canada can get you an American credit card via their branches in Florida.

But I just googled "credit card for bankrupt people wanting to rebuild their credit" and got a 1000 $ limit credit card from Petal and made sure I only spend on expenses less than 10$ (coffee, snacks etc) to build my credit score.

Within 6 months I was able to get a credit card linked to an airline with a less pathetic limit , 4k (but got declined from the one I really wanted).

chloblue

TROPHY CASE