The Quickest Path to ERE...

Where are you and where are you going?
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dpmorel
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Post by dpmorel »

Go work in a dangerous country. I once worked and lived in Kingston, Jamaica for a company called Digicel (they are the Verizon of the Caribbean). I also spent several stints in Haiti when they launched there.
My ex-pat contract was:

-zero tax

-house paid for

-car paid for

-gas/insurance paid for

-cell phone paid for

-several flights a year home
Also the salaries are typically around $80-$90k (remember though, no tax on that... so more like $120k).
So the only expenses I had were utilities.
If you have a penchant for handling loneliness and you are ok with seeing and being around a lot of violent crime... then go for it. You can save say $70k per year since you have no cost. In most "dangerous" countries there is huge demand for smart people in teleco. I have friends in haiti and papau new guinea for instance making more money than they will ever know what to do with....


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Chris
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Post by Chris »

Any tips on how to find jobs such as this?


Mo
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Post by Mo »

If you are a US resident or citizen, aren't you still required to pay federal income taxes on the earnings, regardless of where the money is earned?
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/int ... 24,00.html


photoguy
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Post by photoguy »

I have traveled to a fair number of countries and I can say that Jamaica is the only one that I have no desire to return again.
Another option to quickly ERE is to work in a high cost of living area but be frugal on living expenses. For example, salaries in silicon valley are much higher than many other areas in the U.S. in order to compensate for higher living expenses. However, the high cost is largely a function of housing (and maybe tuition costs for kids) and if you don't buy a house but live cheaply (e.g., share a room) you can pocket the difference.
I'm not exactly sure what the difference in salary is for jobs in silicon valley vs say the midwest, but i'm guessing it would be unusual to see a 2x difference.


Concojones
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Post by Concojones »

@dpmorel: I suppose you need specific telecom experience for that? (I realize there may be possibilities in other sectors too though).
@Mo: the first $90k or so are not subject to tax. And after that only federal (no state) taxes apply, IIRC.
@photoguy: you'll earn an extra 10-20k, from which you have to subtract taxes. The rest of your income will likely be taxed higher, too. My hunch is that if you come out ahead, it won't be by a lot. Anyone can make this calculation for him/herself though.


photoguy
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Post by photoguy »

@Conco -- Agree that everybody has to look at the salaries for their own skillset. I've looked online at average salary figures, but often it's difficult to make a good comparison because you have to make sure that the job responsibilities are similar. Generic titles like engineer or programmer can hide a world of difference. Also you just can't get many specialized jobs outside of pricey urban areas so there's no A/B comparison that can be made.
However, some government salaries are public and from those you can often see huge salary differences. E.g., firefighters/police in san jose,ca can easily make 100K+ base whereas the national average is around 50K.


dpmorel
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Post by dpmorel »

I think any finance/accounting background would work as well... also oil & gas related engineering jobs is another good one.
For jobs, check for linkedin groups around "international jobs", "expats", etc. Most the more well known headhunters run linkedin groups.


dpmorel
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Post by dpmorel »

re: tax - I'm Canadian and get taxed based on residency (paying taxes when you don't live in the country always seemed crazy to me).
Having said that, I think most Americans I worked with did not report their income in the US. It is non-trivial for the IRS to find out your income from a foreign company that does not operate in the US. If you are a transplant (e.g. a Microsoft Seattle employee working in El Salvador... probably not a good idea).
@photoguy - to add on to your idea here... work for a Silicon Valley company and arrange to work remotely! So you make Silicon Valley dollars but live in the midwest. You could get more geoarbitragey than this and work in say China or Argentina. You could also get really crafty on international taxes here...e.g. start a Chinese corp.


Mo
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Post by Mo »

There are some restrictions to the $91,400 foreign income exclusion, thus you can't go elsewhere for a few months and exclude your income (to a rough approximation you have to be in the foreign country for 330days in the year).
I haven't ever tried not reporting foreign income, so I don't really know how hard or easy it is to get away with it. There are limits on how much cash you can bring back to the US though, so you may eventually want to transfer your money back to the US. That might be a bit uncomfortable if you haven't paid taxes on the earnings. I don't know how well this stuff is monitored, but I don't want to find out the hard way. The penalties for not reporting a huge portion of your income are not trivial.
Certainly, it seems there are ways to make good money overseas, and to leverage some tax advantages from doing so, provided you are willing to make a real commitment to living out of the country for a while.


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