Quote from fatrat:
Man, I live in Los Angeles. Almost anywhere in the world is cheaper. 
Save for NYC, Tokyo, and San Francisco.
A 1 bedroom apartment in a reasonable area is $1200-$1500 a month. Where I live, there are 4-5 young people sharing 2 bedroom apartments just to save on rent. The alternative is to live in seedy and inconveniently arranged neighborhoods.
Funny you mention TX -- I'm looking at Austin, TX currently. Seems like they have condominiums under $90,000. If I eat a loss during a downswing in real estate on $90,000, I won't care. If I eat a downswing on $500,000 in California, I will definitely care. California real estate forces people to be very highly leveraged, and that makes me uneasy given all the talk about housing bubbles and what not. Hence, the desire to leave.
As far as developing countries, ... I'm more intrigued by what it's like to live on a tropical island. If I made $50,000 a year on the markets but got to live in a tropical paradise as a common bozo, ... I'd consider myself a big winner.
Why are you leaving the US?
I am leaving the U.S. for health, family, and personal reasons...
Not too long ago, I too pondered about moving to Austin, TX
⦠I visited Austin recently, and it is a very nice place full of diverse and very friendly people. IMO, Austin is a great âhome baseâ: C.O.L. is relatively low, and the climate is quite nice unless itâs summer. So if you plan or can afford to travel quite a bit, it seems like a practical location.
Plus, IMO unless you are required to be physically present in the D.C. area for a job or something else, this place is not all that great (too many bureaucrats, lobbyists, and lawyers, thriving of off $$$ obtained through coercing honest and hard-working people
)... Not too mention that the C.O.L. is quite high here, comparable to most BIG cities...
I am also looking into Bahamas, but will have to get in touch with a good accountant who can sort out the taxes issue⦠There is no income tax in Bahamas, but as long as you are a U.S. citizen you are still responsible to Uncle Sam at least for the federal tax. As one friend pointed out once, âdid you ever notice that taxes and theft both start with a letter âTâ ? â
However, I did come across a piece of info that mentions that up to $80K of earned income abroad can be excluded from taxes⦠The question is: if you trade abroad U.S. markets, is that considered earned income from abroad or from U.S.???
Fellow ETs my apologies for going off the original topic, just so many relevant question pop up when we start talking about trading from abroadâ¦
$500K + Tropical island, then move