What should my goal be?

[GodHimself]

Hey forum,

I have a conundrum and maybe you can help with it.

I live in Michigan right now and I've traveled a lot. I've been to 35 countries and have spent around 4 years of my 30 years of life abroad. I'd love to live in Europe.

With that in mind, what should I do?

Right now I have:

• Two income properties that are 25% paid off. There's another 15 years left in the mortgages. The rents pay the mortgage. I lose about $100 a month to the property management company
• About $30,000 in cash
• About $10,000 in ETFs

I make $90,000/year + bonus. Last year, according to my taxes, I made $120,000.

I spend $2,000/month in rent, food, etc.

What financial goals should I have? Right now, the goals I made are:

• 3 savings account for $1,700 each, because I like to travel and I want to make 3 vacations/year
• Pay off the remaining $300,000 in the rental properties. If they're paid off, I'll profit about $3,600/month from it, which will cover my cost of living
• Save for retirement? I've read a lot about retirement but haven't really taken action on it. To me, it seems so far away and I can always work more. I also never learned how to save as a child, either. Also, I'm single right now and, tbh, retiring would seem so boring. Maybe if I was married, I'd plan for retirement but not now :-/
• Save $24,000 for an emergency fund. I have the money for that now, I just need to put it in that saving account

I rent a place for $825/month and paid off my Prius. I buy gas about once every 6 weeks ^^

If you don't know, if you live outside of the US for 330 or more days a year, you're exempt from federal income tax up to $120,000 if you're single. Double that if you're married. That's a reason for living abroad.

To do so, I'll need at least 300,000 EUR to buy a property in a gold visa country such as Portugal or Latvia or start a business in another country, like Lithuania where they have a 20% tax rate.

What should I do you guys? It seems like my Financial Independence goals are aligned with yours but I don't think people here are dreaming about living overseas.

It seems like I have to do so much more and save up so much more for the lifestyle and I just feel lonely, tired, and depressed :-(

I hate going on this financial journey by myself.

Thanks for reading.

[terran]

If you don't know, if you live outside of the US for 330 or more days a year, you're exempt from federal income tax up to $120,000 if you're single. Double that if you're married. That's a reason for living abroad.

It sounds like you're talking about the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion? Note that this only applies to earned income, so you'll still be taxed at appropriate rates for rental, investment and retirement account withdrawal income.

[ROF Expat]

There are several Americans who post here who live and work or have retired outside of the US, as well as citizens of other countries.  If you search, you'll find a number of threads on the topic.  I've spent about 24 of the last 34 years of my life living and working around the world.

There are ways to live in Europe, if that is what you want, but any intelligent discussion has to be based on a lot more detail than you've provided here.  Since you haven't saved anything for retirement, it appears that you will have to work in Europe.  That can be more difficult to arrange.  What do you do in the US that earns you $120K per year?  Will someone pay you that kind of salary to do similar work?  Will you be competitive in the local job markets, will your credentials be recognized, and do you speak the local language? 

Your best be might be to look for an American or international company that will hire you with your current skills and send you to work abroad.  They will handle immigration issues and generally pay a competitive salary.  If you don't do that, you will have to make your own immigration arrangements, finance your move, and then compete with locals for jobs.  Most countries aren't very excited about having foreigners enter their job markets unless they have in-demand skills. 

If it is really your dream to live and work overseas, you can pursue that.  But do it because you really want to live overseas.  In terms of reaching FIRE (this is a FIRE forum, after all) living and working abroad is often not a more efficient path than being in the US.  As Terran pointed out, the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion is some kind of magic gift.  It sounds like you have a good job right now and that you've already begun to invest for the future through your rental properties.  You seem to be in a good position, and you might well be in a position to retire early and travel the world sooner than you think.  If you provide more detail about your current situation and your goals, there are a lot of people here who will have helpful suggestions. 

And speaking of FIRE, even if you don't plan to retire early, you should have a plan now.  Investing reasonable amounts now (especially now that PE ratios are reasonable again) will pay off far better than saving large amounts in the future. 

[GodHimself]

There are several Americans who post here who live and work or have retired outside of the US, as well as citizens of other countries.  If you search, you'll find a number of threads on the topic.  I've spent about 24 of the last 34 years of my life living and working around the world.

There are ways to live in Europe, if that is what you want, but any intelligent discussion has to be based on a lot more detail than you've provided here.  Since you haven't saved anything for retirement, it appears that you will have to work in Europe.  That can be more difficult to arrange.  What do you do in the US that earns you $120K per year?  Will someone pay you that kind of salary to do similar work?  Will you be competitive in the local job markets, will your credentials be recognized, and do you speak the local language? 

Your best be might be to look for an American or international company that will hire you with your current skills and send you to work abroad.  They will handle immigration issues and generally pay a competitive salary.  If you don't do that, you will have to make your own immigration arrangements, finance your move, and then compete with locals for jobs.  Most countries aren't very excited about having foreigners enter their job markets unless they have in-demand skills. 

If it is really your dream to live and work overseas, you can pursue that.  But do it because you really want to live overseas.  In terms of reaching FIRE (this is a FIRE forum, after all) living and working abroad is often not a more efficient path than being in the US.  As Terran pointed out, the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion is some kind of magic gift.  It sounds like you have a good job right now and that you've already begun to invest for the future through your rental properties.  You seem to be in a good position, and you might well be in a position to retire early and travel the world sooner than you think.  If you provide more detail about your current situation and your goals, there are a lot of people here who will have helpful suggestions. 

And speaking of FIRE, even if you don't plan to retire early, you should have a plan now.  Investing reasonable amounts now (especially now that PE ratios are reasonable again) will pay off far better than saving large amounts in the future. 

Yeah, I'll get on the savings train. I think it sucks because it's not fun like dancing, parties, drugs, and sex... but having no income while having no wealth is even worse! :O

Thank you!

If you don't know, if you live outside of the US for 330 or more days a year, you're exempt from federal income tax up to $120,000 if you're single. Double that if you're married. That's a reason for living abroad.

It sounds like you're talking about the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion? Note that this only applies to earned income, so you'll still be taxed at appropriate rates for rental, investment and retirement account withdrawal income.

Good point :) I was planning on retiring in 5 years, once I finished my master but, now, given that FEIE is for earned income only, I can delay my retirement plans. So, instead, I'll focus on building my wealth without the goal of retirement so that I can buy property in Europe in order to obtain a gold visa. Thank you!