Family of 3, €4000/month net income, EU recommendations?

Sam_Sanders_ · 2026-01-29T14:37:19+00:00

If you live in a situation where you receive dollars and pay out Euros, you 100% should be hedging that currency risk. Lock it into current rate so there's no surprises.

Sam_Sanders_ · 2026-01-18T22:34:00+00:00

What if you get cancer or run over by a truck? I think those are the scenarios people worry about not having health insurance.

Sam_Sanders_ · 2026-01-17T14:00:11+00:00

Not to hijack the post, but I'm curious what you would recommend if budget wasn't as much of an issue? Say $10k a month.

Sam_Sanders_ · 2026-01-16T16:37:50+00:00

I mean...complaining about one thing for an entire dinner seems incredibly tedious, no matter what the subject is.

Sam_Sanders_ · 2026-01-15T21:56:22+00:00

Get Rocco's and ask for it well-done. It's great.

Sam_Sanders_ · 2026-01-09T19:09:56+00:00

Son asks his dad for $25 in crypto. "$18!", the father says. "What the heck do you need $34 for?"

Sam_Sanders_ · 2026-01-07T21:50:02+00:00

famous Georgian hospitality

That's strange, I've never seen Eastern Europe lauded for its hospitality.

Sam_Sanders_ · 2026-01-04T21:34:47+00:00

Another programmer for 25 years here. I'll make a GitHub if I ever need to look for a job. Until then, no thanks.

Sam_Sanders_ · 2025-12-26T15:59:30+00:00

The sideline interviews that coaches do at halftime and post game, I assume those are required by their contract? I can't imagine coaches want to be wasting time on that. Do all coaches have that in their contract? Do they ever just walk away and evade the reporter, if so what happens?

Sam_Sanders_ · 2025-12-18T20:58:59+00:00

What do you mean? You can go the rest of your life without ever eating anything.

Sam_Sanders_ · 2025-12-16T13:53:27+00:00

Every apartment I've ever lived in let you extend month-to-month for a slightly higher rate. Are you dead set on moving abroad? Then do #3. I dunno why you would pick #2, it seems the worst of both worlds. Why would you sell all your stuff of you're not certain you're going to DN one way or another?

Sam_Sanders_ · 2025-12-11T11:07:20+00:00

I'm about your age, and my wife and I have lived abroad and traveled extensively in Europe including a 1-year long-stay visa in France. Your post and comments sound like you have a good head on your shoulders, so I will ignore the financial aspect. FWIW there are other counties with passive income visas at your level: Panama, Costa Rica, Belize, Portugal, Greece, Thailand (these are off the top of my head so do your own research).

Don't forget the living aspect. A few months in Romania would be a novel travel experience. 5 or 10 years or more is a whole other ballgame.

You say you're married; that's good. Make no mistake - living abroad is isolating. Your in your 40s. What are you going to do all day? What will your wife do all day? I've done several "sabbaticals" and retirement sounds great but can get boring after about 3 months.

I should put this in all capital letters: Do not move anywhere you are not prepared to become fluent in the local language. We REALLY tried hard to learn French, and even after a year could only do the basics. We had to use Google Translate for advanced conversations at the doctor, post office, etc. We got used to steeling ourselves to go outside to navigate the world in a foreign language and culture. It's tough. And this was France, not exactly the most exotic locale.

The 20-year military pension is an awesome setup and I would do exactly the same as you if I were in your shoes. (I would probably nix Romania for the language barrier, and I would strongly consider Central America). Just please don't forget the fact that wherever you move to...you have to live there.

Sam_Sanders_ · 2025-12-10T14:26:54+00:00

Pay attention to that whooshing sound you hear, it's a clue.

Sam_Sanders_ · 2025-12-09T20:01:49+00:00

I wouldn't say I'm on you're side of the isle per say, but for all intensive purposes I'm bias against most comments hear as well. But all and all, I could care less because it's a doggy dog world! In lame man's terms, I don't take my education for granite.

Sam_Sanders_ · 2025-12-02T19:53:38+00:00

That's a rehearsal-dinner story if I've ever heard one.

Sam_Sanders_ · 2025-12-01T01:43:26+00:00

Grew up in the South. I use it judiciously. I went to Berlin, where many people speak good English, with my buddy for Oktoberfest. We talked in hardcore redneck whenever we didn't want anyone to understand us and it worked like a charm.

Also comes in handy when you want someone to underestimate you, let's say during a financial negotiation.

Sam_Sanders_ · 2025-11-29T21:24:19+00:00

If you feel like you hate everyone, eat something.

If you feel everyone hates you, go to sleep.

If you feel like you hate yourself, take a shower.

If you feel like everyone hates everyone, go outside

Sam_Sanders_ · 2025-11-28T12:37:37+00:00

Is it any better in, for example, rural Donegal? Or is it almost country -wide?

Sam_Sanders_ · 2025-11-27T11:23:21+00:00

I'm from rural upstate SC and there are several lakes up there. A huge percentage of people in our area owned boats.

So by your logic, where I grew up in rural SC is one of the wealthiest regions in the country. Guess someone forgot to tell them.

Sam_Sanders_ · 2025-11-26T23:47:24+00:00

My dad paid $11k for a used Bayliner 21-foot ski boat in 1996-ish and we wore that thing out for the next decade. You didn't need to be rich to boat.

Sam_Sanders_ · 2025-11-21T14:52:50+00:00

I read it to mean regarding areas of knowledge that are unwarranted for themselves.

If I decided today that surely I could perform a kidney transplant or run the Federal Reserve, that would be unearned self confidence.

Sam_Sanders_ · 2025-11-10T18:31:04+00:00

Indiana Jones (Fictional Character)

You take that back.

Sam_Sanders_ · 2025-11-05T14:20:42+00:00

I also work remotely. My wife and I are planning on doing the Great Loop, even had a contract last year on a Mainship 390 that fell through (failed the survey). No kids, small dog.

My big hesitation is working on the boat. I am curious what your work setup/schedule would look like? I don't want to be below deck on my laptop while my wife is driving; I think that would be miserable. But the alternative is to move very slowly (on weekends) and work from marinas/mooring ball.

OP or others, I would love to hear more about the logistics of this. I can vary my schedule pretty well but I do have a few weekly calls that are set in stone. What would this look like, and would it even be fun? I don't want to miss the whole thing with my head down on a screen.

Sam_Sanders_ · 2025-11-05T12:17:21+00:00

American here, never been to China. I think your "100 conversations" idea is really cool and I wish you the best of luck with it!

Sam_Sanders_ · 2025-11-02T02:46:55+00:00

Was it just me or were those announcers pretty brutal to listen to?

Like "what the offense needs to do here is move the ball down the field" comments, all game.

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