So choosing where to live overseas once you have decided to trade and travel is important. There are a certain amount of countries that are extremely friendly to US citizens on taxes. Depending on how much you want to travel, how often you want to go visit family in the US, to how you want to manage your taxable income. Although factors to consider once you have identified these countries , I have included a list, is what do you seek in a country. Do you want lower cost of living but with great 1st world amenities. Do you seek beaches? More English Friendly areas. Do you have access to a large airport that would make traveling overseas easy, and is the distance close enough to the US that it makes it a short direct flight to go home?
All of these are great to consider before making a final decision. Obviously , you need to go visit the country a few times before making a decision . For me it was pretty easy and I will break down the reasons why I picked Panama.
So when it comes to taxes, Panama has a great shelter program. You can essentially make up to 150k trading without having to pay a single dollar in taxes to the US government. This is pretty similar to other countries on the list, however; in order to get this break you have to become a resident. And when it comes to residency, Panama has one of the easiest residencies to get. All you essentially require is to put 5k into a local bank account, create a business corporation and provide proof of renting and pay a residency tax. Essentially, your all in cost (exluding 5k in your bank account) is close to ~2k . Rent here is also only going to cost you 400 a month. So essentially for that you get lifetime residency as long as you spend at least one day a year on Panama. You are not going to see a better deal than this.
Outside of the great tax break, you also get the benefit of lower cost of rent. You can range anywhere from $400 for a decent apartment or go up to $1.4k in some of the best buildings here. But you dollar here goes a long way and how much you want to pay in rent is truly up to you. But essentially the lower cost of living here is amazing.
Now you may be saying that isn't as cheap as some of the other countries when it comes to cost of living , but here is why Panama is the steal. You have amazing first world amentities. You have the Panama Canal here, which thus created an amazing water system(you can drink the water here from the tap), an electrical grid on par with the US, and internet that goes all the way up to fiber optic speed, so you rarely get disconnected while trading. I can literally trade on wifi here while running lots of algos chilling at the pool.
Lastly, Panama is a short trip from the US. It is a direct flight from Houston at about 4 hours, which makes it an easy jump to head back to the US and on to your final destination. It's airport is also a giant hub for Central and South America. So you can get direct flights from here to Argentina, Chile and such. You also can get flights across to Europe as well.
For me this made it an easy choice. I can get big city life and first world amenities, amazing beaches an hour away, and I still get the local prices and culture all built in.
Visit tax-free.org for a list of countries and tax breaks.
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