If you’re considering moving overseas, you probably have been doing a lot of research on it. I know that I spent years reading everything I could, in an attempt to be well prepared for living abroad.
However, for everything you read, make sure you take the source of the information into account. That includes anything you read here too. No matter how neutral someone tries to be, everyone has his or her own biases. And there are many people out there who are very biased by their attempts to make money from people interested in moving overseas.
I heard a while back that one of the websites I used to visit and get their daily e-mails (it’s probably one that you’ve been to also) is part of a huge company. They sell books, put on conferences, have lifetime memberships, and have expensive investment services you can pay for. From what I’ve heard, the parent company for all their enterprises makes several hundred million dollars per year.
That’s not to say that a large company can’t provide you with good advice, but you need to be aware of what, and how, they are selling. Is their ultimate goal to help you move overseas, or to move you along their sales funnel to the next more expensive service?
Personally, I start to get concerned when I repeatedly receive e-mails using scare tactics. Whenever you get an e-mail from someone telling you about something horrible that’s going to happen, but they have a solution you can pay them for, take some time to analyze the what they say is going to happen. Are their claims realistic? Do you really think it’s going to happen? What are other people saying? If it does happen, will it affect you? Does the cost of their service make sense for you (if you have ten thousand dollars to invest, it probably doesn’t make much sense to pay five thousand dollars for investment advice).
You also need to watch out for real estate agents and residency lawyers. They have a stake in getting you to move some place (and use their services).
An immigration lawyer I used always presented things in the most positive way possible. The reality was that things rarely fell into the “best-case”, and that was very frustrating.
I’ve seen the same with a real estate agent. On a post on someone else’s blog, one recently said that any critical comments about the country where she manages real estate were all wrong, and that everything was great in that country. Of course, she failed to mention that the criticisms were voiced by many expats living there, or that she has a real estate business there (although she was sure to get links back to her website).
When I moved to Uruguay, I met several expats who had lived in Panama, decided they didn’t like it there, and then moved to Uruguay. Speaking with them gave me a negative view of Panama. Of course, all the people who love living in Panama are still there, so I never met them and I didn’t get to hear the positive reasons for living in Panama.
It’s the same for my opinion. I’m looking for a particular sort of country, and life. So I may like or dislike a certain country depending on if it provides what I’m looking for. However, a country that I don’t like may be the perfect place for you, because you’re looking for something else.
Whenever you read information about moving overseas, don’t just believe it as an eternal truth. Ask yourself if the advice makes sense and if it fits your needs, or if it’s just a hidden sales pitch. After you get all this information, look for yourself. Visit the country you like, don’t spend a lot of money right away (like buying a house, or signing a long-term rental agreement), then see if the country is the right one for you. After all, that’s all that matters, if you’ll be happy there, not if someone else is.
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Moving to Belize was the best move i made in 2008. Don’t let people throw you off from your plane. Although it was hard at first not working i found other ways to earn money while building and redoing my home in Sandhill ,Belize .
P.S my arms are open to ANY PROFESSIONAL PERSON WILLING TO CHANGE HIS /HER LIFE and would like a hand -up not a hand-out while in Belize .
Feel free to contact me .We ,in Belize ,make the best of what we have and we enjoy a very wonderful life . you do the math .
Thank you ,
atonka