Great info in this thread. I have a few points to add:
Keep in mind that if you intend to move around a lot, you'll be living out of a suitcase and that will become very inconvenient and restrictive. When I was living nomadically, I found doing it by car massively improved my quality of life. You can only really concentrate on one continent by car, but it allows you to see a lot of cities comfortably.
Some examples:
- If you spend a lot of time behind a screen, working on a laptop sucks. if you go by car you can take a whole rig as well as a hifi or TV if those are important to you.
- you can take home gym stuff by car... power tower, weights, etc.. whatever you save on gym membership can be put to some other use, like a better apartment
- having your own pillows and bedding makes adjusting to a new place easier
- sporting equipment - bikes, surfboards, etc. are out of the question if you travel by plane
You'd be surprised how much stuff fits in an SUV or a big wagon like a Merc. E-Class or BMW 5-Series, and they can be bought relatively inexpensively. If you go that route, check into registration in Estonia or Lithuania (no annual registration taxes in either country, but you might need to establish a letterbox company). If not, Georgia doesn't require an address or residence permit for car registration, and as it's outside of the EU, you could buy an ex-corporate car with a 20% VAT (sales tax) discount... but Georgia is somewhat out of the way. Also, it can be done in Germany, I believe.. you'll just need someone who agrees to revceive mail for you - a lawyer or friend.
Clements offers international car insurance for nomads not driving in their home countries.
As you've identified, if you don't have a residence permit in the Schengen area, you'll need to manage your time carefully. Some others on the forum do so by staying in the Schengen area during opposing seasons (eg. winter/summer) and out of it during the other seasons. Something like the following:
Winter: Schengen - given your preferences, probably somewhere warm, eg. Spain, Southern Italy or Greece
Spring: non-Schengen - Croatia/Serbia/Bulgaria/Romania or Russia/Ukraine or UK/Ireland or further abroad - US/Canada/Asia
Summer: Schengen - Prague, Stockholm, Amsterdam, maybe the Baltics
Fall: non-Schengen - see above
Citizenship is hard to plan for and usually requires knowledge of the language as well as a very long stay or marriage to a local. There are a lot of citizenship-by-investment schemes, but they're more useful for:
- Americans, who have a reason to renounce their US citizenship for tax reasons
- politically exposed people who may have their passports cancelled by their home countries
- people from countries which don't have a lot of visa-free access (Russians, Chinese)
Basically, what you need to look into is residence in whichever zone you'd like to spend a lot of time. Unfortunately holding a residence permit in any of the Schengen countries usually makes one tax resident. So if you wish to spend more than 90/180 days in the Schengen zone as a non-tax-resident, citizenship of an EU member state would proove useful.
As far as taxes are concerned, there are a couple of options:
1. establish yourself in a tax-friendly country and make sure you spend enough time and have enough connections to be considered tax resident every year, therefore providing access to the protection of that country's double-tax treaties.
2. be a nomad and try to avoid tax residency in any country. Be careful if doing this, because a lot of Western countries have 'domicile' rules - if you're not tax resident by way of spending a lot of time in a country, you can still be deemed resident if you have strong ties to that country. Canada is particularly aggressive in this area. One strategy is to establish strong ties (real estate, licence, etc.) to a country which doesn't have the domicile concept, then spend less than 183 days per year in country (or whatever the rules are) to avoid tax residency.
Tax residency rules vary widely between countries , so you'd be wise to familiarise yourself with them. No need to go into the fine details, but having a general idea of what may make you resident in a particular country is important. Deloitte produces very good fact sheets - search for eg. "Deloitte - Poland Highlights"; it's usually the first result. Then find the section on "personal taxation" and try to get an understanding of the paragraph on tax residency and income rates.
I've heard that HK banks have become quite difficult for offshore clients recently. You might have to look around. Singapore is popular, and Cyprus works well for those who spend a lot of time in the EU.
All of the large international health insurers like Bupa, Allianz, AXA, etc. offer worldwide/expatriate plans. I usually get mine through this broker: http://www.medibroker.com/
Keep in mind that if you intend to move around a lot, you'll be living out of a suitcase and that will become very inconvenient and restrictive. When I was living nomadically, I found doing it by car massively improved my quality of life. You can only really concentrate on one continent by car, but it allows you to see a lot of cities comfortably.
Some examples:
- If you spend a lot of time behind a screen, working on a laptop sucks. if you go by car you can take a whole rig as well as a hifi or TV if those are important to you.
- you can take home gym stuff by car... power tower, weights, etc.. whatever you save on gym membership can be put to some other use, like a better apartment
- having your own pillows and bedding makes adjusting to a new place easier
- sporting equipment - bikes, surfboards, etc. are out of the question if you travel by plane
You'd be surprised how much stuff fits in an SUV or a big wagon like a Merc. E-Class or BMW 5-Series, and they can be bought relatively inexpensively. If you go that route, check into registration in Estonia or Lithuania (no annual registration taxes in either country, but you might need to establish a letterbox company). If not, Georgia doesn't require an address or residence permit for car registration, and as it's outside of the EU, you could buy an ex-corporate car with a 20% VAT (sales tax) discount... but Georgia is somewhat out of the way. Also, it can be done in Germany, I believe.. you'll just need someone who agrees to revceive mail for you - a lawyer or friend.
Clements offers international car insurance for nomads not driving in their home countries.
As you've identified, if you don't have a residence permit in the Schengen area, you'll need to manage your time carefully. Some others on the forum do so by staying in the Schengen area during opposing seasons (eg. winter/summer) and out of it during the other seasons. Something like the following:
Winter: Schengen - given your preferences, probably somewhere warm, eg. Spain, Southern Italy or Greece
Spring: non-Schengen - Croatia/Serbia/Bulgaria/Romania or Russia/Ukraine or UK/Ireland or further abroad - US/Canada/Asia
Summer: Schengen - Prague, Stockholm, Amsterdam, maybe the Baltics
Fall: non-Schengen - see above
Citizenship is hard to plan for and usually requires knowledge of the language as well as a very long stay or marriage to a local. There are a lot of citizenship-by-investment schemes, but they're more useful for:
- Americans, who have a reason to renounce their US citizenship for tax reasons
- politically exposed people who may have their passports cancelled by their home countries
- people from countries which don't have a lot of visa-free access (Russians, Chinese)
Basically, what you need to look into is residence in whichever zone you'd like to spend a lot of time. Unfortunately holding a residence permit in any of the Schengen countries usually makes one tax resident. So if you wish to spend more than 90/180 days in the Schengen zone as a non-tax-resident, citizenship of an EU member state would proove useful.
As far as taxes are concerned, there are a couple of options:
1. establish yourself in a tax-friendly country and make sure you spend enough time and have enough connections to be considered tax resident every year, therefore providing access to the protection of that country's double-tax treaties.
2. be a nomad and try to avoid tax residency in any country. Be careful if doing this, because a lot of Western countries have 'domicile' rules - if you're not tax resident by way of spending a lot of time in a country, you can still be deemed resident if you have strong ties to that country. Canada is particularly aggressive in this area. One strategy is to establish strong ties (real estate, licence, etc.) to a country which doesn't have the domicile concept, then spend less than 183 days per year in country (or whatever the rules are) to avoid tax residency.
Tax residency rules vary widely between countries , so you'd be wise to familiarise yourself with them. No need to go into the fine details, but having a general idea of what may make you resident in a particular country is important. Deloitte produces very good fact sheets - search for eg. "Deloitte - Poland Highlights"; it's usually the first result. Then find the section on "personal taxation" and try to get an understanding of the paragraph on tax residency and income rates.
I've heard that HK banks have become quite difficult for offshore clients recently. You might have to look around. Singapore is popular, and Cyprus works well for those who spend a lot of time in the EU.
Quote: (07-24-2018 05:39 PM)TheFinalEpic Wrote:If you're financially stable, you're better off paying for routine medical expenses yourself (except maybe in the US). Insurance is useful for chronic diseases and emergencies, both to protect against financial shocks, and also because it takes the stress out of the paperwork and paying bills if you're unable to.
I suppose a concern would be healthcare if living abroad away from Canada, and also severing residential ties. Do you have any personal experience with this Tiger Man (or anyone else)? Do you just bite the bullet and pay healthcare bills in whatever country you are living in? I realize that there is world class healthcare for far less than you would pay in the States in places like Mexico, and in some South American countries.
All of the large international health insurers like Bupa, Allianz, AXA, etc. offer worldwide/expatriate plans. I usually get mine through this broker: http://www.medibroker.com/