Seppia's journal

[jennypenny]

I like Miami. It has its own personality and is unapologetic about it. And if you stay long enough, you'll get to see some World Cup games in 2026.

I'm glad you got to spend time in HK. DD is glad for her time in China since it might be a long time before westerners are allowed back to live. It's sad. Reminds me of when I was younger and friends of the family talked about their time/vacations in Cuba before the borders closed.

Good luck with the new job!

[Frugalchicos]

Hey, I always loved the panda and twingo. Great tiny cars

I had the same feeling about COL in south Europe. It is impressive the quality of live you can have with very little money.

Miami is one of my favorite destinations. All the best in your next adventure.

[Seppia]

Thanks to all for the kind comments

I like Miami. It has its own personality and is unapologetic about it. And if you stay long enough, you'll get to see some World Cup games in 2026.
I'm glad you got to spend time in HK. DD is glad for her time in China since it might be a long time before westerners are allowed back to live. It's sad. Reminds me of when I was younger and friends of the family talked about their time/vacations in Cuba before the borders closed.

We're happy to be back in the USA, many places would have worked fine, but Miami was among the top of the list.
I especially like for my son the idea of living literally in front of the beach and so close to the Caribbean, plus the fact that he can grow up trilingual.
Should also be a fine spot for my wife's job opportunities.
Yes I'm aware rents skyrocketed recently but the company is helping in a material way.

Gotta love a Panda, right? Best European ERE car ever.
We call ours the "silver arrow"
Is your region affected by the drought?

at the silver arrow!
I joke that my Panda can do 100km/h downhill. But yes, there's a reason why it's been the #1 selling car in Italy since the 70s when it came out.
It's certainly not the best built, but incredibly cheap to buy, cheap to operate and can fit a lot of stuff relative to its diminutive size.

No drought yet in the Lake Como area, but we are always among the luckiest in that regard. Lake Como is a phenomenal reservoir (it's the deepest lake in Europe!) and in my life I cannot recall any type of serious water rationing (worst was a request from the local municipality to avoid excessive watering of gardens).

[Seppia]

And just like that… We’re almost there.
We got our US visas significantly earlier than expected, a couple weeks ago (VS a forecast of “end of November at the earliest”), so early that we are unprepared to leave.
I’ll head to FL by myself alone in early November, with DW and DS joining a couple weeks later.
I want to be able to “set up” for them.
We have already locked in a temporary apartment for 1 month, more or less sight unseen, so that DW will have the time to look for an apartment she likes.
We prefer that she choses not because of a macho-culture “happy wife/happy life” kind thing (well, maybe a bit) but because she’s significantly better than me at looking for details such as double exposure, air circulation, closet space etc. Plus, she’s infinitely more patient and always seems to find a better alternative. I would just pick whatever option I like best between the first 5-6 apartments I visit.
We’ll also need to (GASP!) buy a car, and I have been very pleased to see that used car prices are dropping like stones recently.
Most probably we will look for a second hand vehicle with low mileage from 2018-2019 or so, because 1/ I like reliable stuff and I’m a terrible mechanic and 2/ it would raise eyebrows if I were to show up at the office with a beaten-down car.
Our priority is to find a place that’s walking/biking distance to the office, so that would allow us to buy a lower end car, but don’t want my wife to feel constrained.

We are now serial expats and became pretty good at it, but it is still incredible how cumbersome it is to move across the ocean in 2022.
Need a bank account? Ok, show me proof of residence.
Need to rent a place? Ok, show me your bank account (???).
Need to buy a car? Ok, show me your driving license. Oh, so you have a NYC expired driving license and want to get a FL one? Please show me a proof of residence.

We are lucky we can bypass most of these issues (already have a US account, already have SS number, have enough cash to throw money at any minor issue, etc) but one needs a minimum of a couple weeks to settle down.

DS is growing fast and is a typical Italian: he goes to bed late (930ish), wakes up late (7ish) and is ultra attached to his mum. We signed him on for elementary school the day before we received the email from the US Embassy saying we could book the Visa appointment. He will be going 5 times/week from 9 to 130pm which is as much as I could convince DW to stay separated from him (she is also VERY Italian in this sense).
It’s ok and I love both to death - I am the luckiest man alive and I am thankful every single day for what God/fate/nature/luck has given me.

Money wise, our investments are obviously down, but much less so if compared with the S&P or a 60/40 portfolio (BTW: been hearing much less about the convexity of long term bonds lately) because 1/ we have been significantly overweight energy and inflation-resistant stuff for a while and 2/ we measure our NW in euro and having a chunk of investments in USD has helped.
The outlook is pretty positive, as I’ll be earning in USD a salary that I have negotiated back when the EUR/USD was 1.08 or so, and we will keep thinking in Euro* as the EU is where we plan to end one day.

*unless there’s clear signs that Europe will detonate - which I’m not ready to rule out at this point, especially given the suicidal energy policies we are doubling down on.

[Mister Imperceptible]

Your timing is excellent.

[Ego]

The outlook is pretty positive, as I’ll be earning in USD a salary that I have negotiated back when the EUR/USD was 1.08 or so, and we will keep thinking in Euro* as the EU is where we plan to end one day.

*unless there’s clear signs that Europe will detonate - which I’m not ready to rule out at this point, especially given the suicidal energy policies we are doubling down on.

Man, you are killing it. Congratulations. I look forward to reading about the transition.

We often rent to people in your situation. The offer letter is proof enough for us. I wonder if it is different in Miami.

[Seppia]

Your timing is excellent.

"it's better to be lucky than good"
Jokes aside, looks like after the rather unlucky timing of our move to Hong Kong, Karma gave us back a little something.

We often rent to people in your situation. The offer letter is proof enough for us. I wonder if it is different in Miami.

We have no issues, for a variety of reasons (mostly thanks to the fact that we already lived in the US, so bank account, social security #, etc all are setup already), I was mostly thinking about the issues that someone who 1/ is completely new and 2/ doesn't have experience in moving overseas would face

[Humanofearth]

Congratulations on your new move and recent defensive investment success. I hear FL is the nicest part of the empire. Enjoy your time.

[Seppia]

So we're finally all in South Florida.
So many changes - as usual - so fast.
For the moment, we have rented a small one bedroom on the beach (1 month) so that DW and DS can enjoy the beautiful season while I work.
We are fairly confident we will settle somewhere in Aventura: close to the office, safe, good public schools.

I had to buy a car, and unfortunately due to my job I "had" to buy a much more expensive one than I would have otherwise (need to keep up appearances).
Still, by buying cash, second hand, and a non fancy brand (Hyundai) I managed to spend about 1/3 of what the equivalent "average guy" would have spent in my position.
Getting around 3x the value for money seems to be a fairly constant attribute of ERE.
DW is still disgusted as she would have bought a used Chevy Cruze/Kia Rio or similar for half what I spent.

This morning I went out grocery shopping and it took me a very long time, as every time we move we need to "recalibrate" what is best bought for maximum efficiency.
Example: in italy you buy excellent pasta for $1.3 per lb, excellent canned tomatoes for $1.5/lb and great pecorino for $6/lb
The quasi equivalent in the US cost respectively $3.1 per lb, $ 4.5 per lb and $20/lb.
In italy if you want to make flour tortillas (tortillas + avocado + egg + cheese) it's twice as expensive as in the USA with lower quality

So we need to readjust our staples (ie less dinners with pasta and more with tortillas or arepas).

It's fun and it keep my cooking six sense up

[mooretrees]

So, instead of cooking seasonally, it’s more cooking culturally?

Good luck in the new digs. Nice time to be living in Florida. I do love a good day at the beach with a kid!

[Seppia]

Cooking seasonally has been internalized and it is something I don’t really need to think about any more, plus in the USA it feels less important than in Italy.
Outside of obviously stupid things, the US (+ Central America) has such a wide array of climates that seasons are “longer”.

For someone who’s pretty nomad as we are (we changed continent 4 times in the last 15 years) adjusting to what’s commonly eaten locally is more important.
Trying to carry your native diet in your luggage is inefficient financially, environmentally and in a million different ways.
A clear example is beef in Hong Kong.
Beef in Asia isn’t really part of the culture (exceptions being Korea and Japan, and even there it’s a niche luxury food), so it is usually shipped from Australia, Argentina and the US. It comes frozen on maritime containers but at times it is even FLOWN IN.
Imagine you’re American and want to eat your 10oz ribeye steak twice a week or so.

Plus, retail will take the lowest margins on products that are more commonly consumed.
This happens
1/ because they move faster: retailers need to make a certain amount of margin per ft of shelf space. So this can happen anywhere on the spectrum of selling a ton of product at low margin or a little product at high margin.
2/ because these are the products that whoever shops in the household uses as a gauge to determine whether the retailer is “cheap” or “expensive”, thus deriving their decision on where to shop daily.
Every Italian nonna knows the price of Barilla pasta to the penny in every supermarket, but when she’s there she occasionally buys the Tabasco sauce his grandson likes so much. So retailers take 10% on Barilla and 60%+ on Tabasco.

[Frugalchicos]

Hi there, glad you are settled in the US.

I totally felt you when you said it took you a while to "recalibrate" when doing groceries. It even happens to me when I go groceries to a different supermarket. You need to locate the aisles, identify what is the best deal of every product you want to buy, etc... My go to is Walmart. I don't own a car and don't feel like making an excursion every time I go groceries. Walmart's variety is not huge, but they have all the basics we need. Also, being skillful at cooking helps when the selection of products is low.

[Mister Imperceptible]

I filled an entire cupboard with Barilla when it was on sale and she did not understand why. But even not on sale Barilla is $1.59/lb up here (used to be $1.39/lb just a year ago).

What do you consider great pecorino? Either those are NYC/Miami prices, or I am missing something.

[Seppia]

Barilla is good - not excellent
I was looking at De Cecco prices. For pecorino, something like this: https://www.almagourmet.com/store/itali ... p-314.html

To be 100% clear - in my post above I was talking great stuff, not “good enough”. Precisely because “great” in foreign country X is usually “pretty good” in the home country.
If you want the Italian equivalent of a choice ribeye steak in Italy you need to spend 2x the regular price of beef in Italy

[Seppia]

I have done something I’d never thought I’d do.
I had purchased a 2020, 30k miles Korean car 5 months ago.
Was able to trade it in today for the (improved) 2023 equivalent at an exact 33% markup.
25% haircut is basically what you used to shave once you drove a car off the lot, so I’m essentially getting a new 2023 car for the price of a 2020 one with 35k miles.
The new car has the added benefit of incredible warranty (Hyundai)

There is now an inefficiency where if may be worth(even for ere people) to trade up to a new car.

[theanimal]

DW is still disgusted as she would have bought a used Chevy Cruze/Kia Rio or similar for half what I spent.

Your DW must be even more thrilled with the new purchase.

There have been some weird car market inefficiencies for a couple years in Alaska now. A summer ago, a friend of mine bought a brand new Toyota Tacoma, rented it out for the summer on Turo and then sold it for the same price he bought it for, for a tidy $11k profit in rental money. You probably got in just in time, as used car prices seem to continue to be dropping since last fall.

Hope you all are enjoying Miami!

[Seppia]

Miami is great, moving in at the beginning of winter certainly helps.
The cost of living compared to my small town in northern Italy is insane, but salaries are higher by approximately the same gap so in the end that’s a positive (same savings %, but higher absolute value).

Found a school for the kid, being 3 the only option is private but still makes sense as it will allow Dw to start working again (something she’d like to do).
I’m hoping she gets a part time, semi remote job as that would probably be the best for work/life balance.

In unrelated news I managed to purchase what was once used as a storage room from an older lady, on the same floor of my Italian small apartment.
We renovated it and we are tuning it into half storage and half “extra room”, as it has one window.
While remodeling we found behind the ceiling a beautiful old wooden structure that I decided to keep and bring back to life with a minor expense.
This basically completes my “SHTF” home, having added 350sqf of space to the existing 550sqf small apartment.

I’m maybe already suffering from one more year syndrome but I can see myself changing lifestyle in 4 years.
A lot will depend on how my current job evolves, specifically on the ceo whom I admire and respect.
His first 3y contract is up at the end of this year, if he renews for another 3 our timing could align (normally, people in his position don’t renew past two terms).
If he is not renewed, then my plans may have to change. I’m in charge of the largest subsidiary and I would imagine the next CEO could/would possibly pick “his guy”, hence reducing my horizon to 2ish years from now.

Been talking a lot about “after” with DW.
Whatever happens, work will still be present in some form I think but will take a backseat to all other aspects of our family life.
We could most probably get by easily in Italy just living off of current dividend income + 1 “easy” job for me to cover the luxuries (travel mostly, which I don’t see myself ever giving up).
We’ll see.

used car prices seem to continue to be dropping since last fall.

I considered the change because the dealership actively called me and offered to repurchase the car they sold me (bought in November) at 10% MORE than what I paid.
Plus they gave me a discount on the new one.

Looking at carvana, a low trim* Hyundai from 2021 with 35k miles costs 92% of the price of new.
I don’t understand who would ever buy used at these prices but here we are.

*never understood how people can pay 30% more for the same car plus some bells and whistles. The lowest or second lowest trims are consistently the only ones that make sense when I look at car pricing.

[Ego]

Whoa, that ceiling is incredible. How old is the building?

[Seppia]

Whoa, that ceiling is incredible. How old is the building?

The structure of the house is adjacent to the church of the town, which was originally built sometime around 800 years ago, so probably the first walls were erected around that time.
I would guess the current structure, together with the wood, is from at least 1700 or so, but would not surprise me if it were much older.
In the city of Como, the oldest buildings have to this day wooden structures originating in the year 1230 or so.

[Ego]

Amazing they covered it up. Nice work on the restoration.