Bocas Del Toro, Panama is fun, safe (crime but it's only property/opportunity), and cheap island to setup at. Lots of expats, rent starts at $250 , I might even see you there
Any experience working remote there. I imagine if you can earn a six-figure salary as a digital nomad but keep your monthly expenses to less than $1,500 you'd be able to retire within a decade.
I've seen the rat race to the top, but aside from taking some shallow pride in making a lot of money I don't really see the point.
Yes I did work remote there, the maximum internet speed you'll get is 5mpbs/1mps , and it's flaky.
It goes down once a day , you'll want to be setup to work through the down times ( offline documentation, be able to fake connections etc ).
You wont be able to Zoom, but you can get a google number and use a local telephone if that works.
But yeah I'm with you on working less and enjoying life more, that you can definitely do there. There is actually a lot of similarly minded people ( expat Americans and Canadians ), doing the same thing. I love it there, as soon as the Pandemic flushes out I'm going back, though I'm trying to get out of software work.
There are many countries in Asia that fit the "decent internet" requirement if you are able to put up with the timezone difference: SKorea, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia (and I'm sure many more). Quite a few of them are also pretty cheap (SKorea would be on the expensive end of the spectrum)
I've been living in Taiwan for ~5 years now and have 1GB/down 40MB/up internet to my apartment that costs around $40USD/month. Total living expenses for a family of 3 are around $2kUSD a month.
>The absolute dream would be to live off 2 or 3k a month , but still pull down 10k or so from a remote job. I want to retire early.
I've done that for a few years with an even bigger difference between income and expenses :) I'm set to quit working for money this year (see post history for more on that).
>Do you contract Corp To Corp?
I have a foreign corporation and invoice my US clients through that.
It sounds like you're a US citizen so a foreign corporation might not make sense in your case. The IRS is after your worldwide income and a foreign corporation isn't necessarily going to help avoid US taxation given that you'll have to disclose the ultimate beneficiary (you) to your US clients with the W8-BEN-E form.
A US LLC might be a better fit for you. Also look into the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion[0], which allows you to earn ~$100k free from US federal taxes if you spend the majority of the year outside of the US. You'll of course have to pay taxes wherever you reside as well, but it's a bit of a grey area if you don't spend >= 6mo anywhere. In that case, you could likely get away with only paying US federal taxes on the amount above the FEIE limit and pocketing the rest. But do consult professionals, don't trust me!
I'm in the process of establishing a US based LLC.
I figure clients would pay the LLC and then the LLC pays me.
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I've done that for a few years with an even bigger difference between income and expenses :) I'm set to quit working for money this year (see post history for more on that).
Awesome ! I don't have to really work for the rest of the year , but I want to save as much as I can so I can take a good long vacation. If working from overseas doesn't work out I could still live without work for a solid year or so.
