Hi everyone
As the subject title suggests, I am (most likely) moving to the Cayman Islands.
I wanted to reach out to the infinite wisdom of the MMM forum to hear people’s thoughts, ideas, recommendations (?), criticisms (?), and tax issues of making the move.
A little about me:
- married no kids
- age 29 (me) 27 (wife)
- currently live in Australia
- assets (all jointly owned):
-—home ($800K)
-—VTS ($65K)
-—superannuation ($70K))
—-cash ($10K)
Liabilities:
—-home loan (~$500K)
—-HECS ($30K)
Income:
We both work fairly high paying jobs which bring in a total of $240K per year.
We save about $9300 per month (this includes compulsory superannuation contributions).
WHY THE CAYMANS?
That’s easy:
- live on a tropical paradise island
- work less
- earn (a lot) more
I’ve done the sums and, provided I successfully migrate our tax residences to the Caymans, we should (at a minimum) be saving an extra $4000 per month (AUD).
The above number is based on a couple of assumptions:
- our living expenses increase DRAMATICALLY to about $9000(AUD) per month. This includes a mortgage in Aus, rent in Caymans and everything else in Caymans.
- my wife doesn’t earn a cent. Although this is not realistic, the nature of our income over there will have me as the primary earner. There are job prospects for her over in the Caymans, but (at least right now) they’re less certain so I’m discounting them. The good thing about discounting her salary now is that anything she does earn will be complete and utter gravy - straight to the bank.
Based on our current stash and our projected incomes, a move to the Caymans fasttracks our FIRE date by 3 (or so) years. If all goes to plan, we could be retired in 3 (maybe 4) years from when we move.
I HAVE QUESTIONS!!
- has any one here done the same? Help me out!
- tips for ensuring my residency is migrated over from naughty taxing Australia to nice non-taxing Caymans?
- I plan on renting out my home. What should I think about? I’ve assumed I can’t still treat it as my “home” for CGT purposes (I know there are rules for doing so even though you don’t live there and rent it out for 6 years....but I’m fairly sure that wouldn’t play nicely with the whole “residency” thing.
- once I’m there - WHERE should I invest? I currently use SelfWealth to invest. I’m assuming the best bet for me would be to invest in something local?
- IF I do come back to Australia after hitting FIRE, what happens with my offshore investments? This sounds like a tricky question that I’ll get professional advice on, but still - if anyone has experience doin it I’d love to hear!
Thanks for your time!