Escaping The US

Your great-grandparents made the perilous voyage across the Atlantic to get to America, and now you’re thinking of ways to leave. You’re not alone.

If you’re looking to “escape” the U.S., you’ve come to the right place. Read about my personal journey embarking on a move to Panama (with four young kids no less!) and learn all the tips and information I’ve culled from the best sources along the way. Here you’ll find everything you thought you’d never need to know about leaving the U.S., from choosing a new country, retiring abroad, the down-and-dirty logistics of moving, and assimilating into a new culture, to opening a foreign bank account, investment and tax issues, and immigration visas.

Got some useful advice to share? Or do you have questions and need direction? Check out our message board and let’s connect!

Your editor,

Mels

There are many opinions out there as to whether the U.S. is headed for deflation or inflation… or even hyper-inflation. I’m not married to any theory, but am actively dating them all. I do wonder how the Fed can possibly inflate us out of this recession again. The old tricks don’t seem to be working. But I’m a wait and see kind of gal. On that note, consider reading this smart article by John Herring, Would You Rather Be Right… Or Rich? It’s not too late to divorce your old economic theories and shop the market a bit more before tying the knot. The markets these days beg for flexibility and quick thinking. With that said, here are some of my favorite stops online to fill my brain with economic chatter.

Global Economic Analysis – I read Mish’s commentary everyday. He’s a prolific writer and has been dead-on with his deflation/strong USD/tanking commodities this year. If you want global and grim economic news straight-up, no candy-coating, you’ll be “in the know” here. Mish doesn’t miss an unemployment report from Britain or the skyrocketing vacancy rates of shopping malls in Germany.

Itulip.com – The philosophy here centers around bubble cycles separated by shorter dis-inflationary recessions. I-tulipers are expecting one last great bubble after this short deflationary period is over. With Obama’s big plans to put every American on his payroll, one has to wonder if they might be right. Frankly, I read this site to balance out the very pro-deflation theory over at Mish’s site.

Minyanville – I believe this is called “infotainment.” Keven Depew is a favorite.

Free articles at Kitco.com - I tend to read anything by Chris Laird of Prudent Squirrel. I like Jon Nadler’s sage take on metals. Everbank’s president, Chuck Butler, writes daily about currencies, interest rates, etc. Yes, everyone has a product to sell, but there are some gems in there.

We are still stateside working on our permanent residency in Panama in preparation for a move in the future. We have three children who are included on that visa and have their own temporary residency cards complete with pictures of cute chubby faces smiling through the sweaty heat.

Well, what happens when you get pregnant with your fourth child after you’ve started the immigration process?

Option 1: Have the baby in the U.S. and simply add her to your visa when you move to Panama. Just go through everything you went through during the past year again. The endless waiting at immigration. The endless paperwork. Anxiously awaiting approval of the application. And risk any obstacles that could develop with the new Panama immigration laws which will only be fully known during your eighth month of pregnancy.

Option 2: Do the opposite of what some illegals do here in the U.S. Fly to Panama City and have the baby there giving her full citizenship and therefore legal residency for life.

Call us crazy (some did), but we chose Option 2.

During our June trip to Panama, and after consulting with our lawyer, we made the decision to make our baby a little Panamanian, and within a few days we had found an English-speaking doctor, a condo to rent for our late September birth, and gotten cooperation from our state-side midwife who faxed over all my medical records to our new doctor.

Our Clarita was born in Punta Pacifica Hospital in Panama City. It couldn’t have gone any better. The hospital was built in 2006, brand-spanking new, and is John Hopkins affiliated. I had my doctor’s email and personal cell phone number the whole time. During the birth, we stayed in a two-room suite with flatscreen TVs, and made-to-order meals for the entire family.

The prices were so cheap, my husband and I wondered how much they were charging at the even-cheaper public hospitals. We both guessed at $50 per birth and then chuckled at how that would be impossible, even here in Panama.

During my last post-birth check-up with my doctor, I actually asked him the price. “Fifty dollars," he said, "but most woman pay what they can, usually $3 or $5."

With all the craziness happening in the world markets and governments, some of us are making shopping lists that are starting to look like this:

• Bread
• Milk
• Lettuce
• Gold bullion
• Guns
• Survival manual

Since gold bullion is the only item you can’t get at the local Super Wal-Mart, I decided to throw out a few practical tips I’ve culled for the “Average Joe” who wants to begin his own collection of the eternal economic hedge and superb safety net but hasn’t a clue how to start.

First, determine how much you want to buy and how you’re going to store it. Silver is much bulkier than gold and not easily transported, so keep that in mind if you’re planning to make a late-night run to Uruguay or Mexico. Also, gold is viewed more as “money” whereas silver still has the taint of being an industrial metal. On the other hand, silver could be more undervalued than gold with a larger profit-potential. There are practicalities to weigh depending on your personal values and goals. Fleeing the country with 1500 pounds of metal is definitely prohibitive.

As for storage options, some use safety deposit boxes, others use home safes, and others use a shovel at 3 a.m. Don’t buy without a plan to keep your gold or silver safe. If you’re going to use a safety deposit box, consider using one with a very sound bank, ideally in another country. Ideally that country would be Switzerland. Keep in mind that there’s always the risk of losing your deposit box, either to crooked governments or crooked banks who can loosely declare your box “abandoned” and then auction off the contents.

Speaking of Switzerland and gold, there is a gold-storage company that I have not personally used, but I’ve heard a great deal about from some reputable sources. It’s called BullionVault and with their services, you can buy and store your own gold (held in your own name) in vaults located in New York, London, or Zurich (your choice). You pay a .12% per year storage fee and insurance is included. You can set it up online very easily at their website and you get a free gram of gold when you do that. (If you want to send that gram of gold to me as a thank-you for recommending the service, I wouldn’t complain at all.)

But if you want to run your fingers through your own cold metal hunched over your pile every night after dinner, and not simply dream about what it might look like all alone in some distant vault, you need to buy from a dealer.

Here are three larger internet dealers that I can recommend:

Kitco is a big fish with higher prices and shipping and insurance are extra. There are no minimums on purchases, so that’s good. Their main site is great for watching markets as well as some decent commentary. My favorite articles are always by Chris Laird and Kitco’s own Jon Nadler.

Tulving is a family run operation. They’re efficient, honest and have the best prices on their metals. Don’t be afraid of the cheesy website with extra large and multi-colored fonts. Also, don’t be afraid or offended of the owner, Hannes, and his to-the-point and gruff personality. The best part is that shipping and insurance are free. The catch (other than putting up with Hannes) is the purchase minimum of 20 ounces of gold or 500 ounces of silver per order.

The Moneychanger is a good ol’ boy who lives and breathes precious metals and writing about precious metals from his farm in Tennessee. You can sign up for his free email updates where he occasionally announces sales or special deals on metals … and usually includes some updates about his pigs or crops, too. He’s got a great true story on his website you should read some time. It’s filled with tales of gold and silver, money, banks, the Constitution, jail-time, and ends with a dramatic court battle with the IRS… which you can assume he won since he’s not selling bullion from prison.

A note about buying from online dealers: Since the prices of metals fluctuate daily, usually when you place your order, it’s for the price that is quoted to you via phone or email that day even if it drops 50% the next day, or better yet, runs up 50%. This is the way dealers work. You will have a certain timeframe to pay, usually via wire transfer, or the order is cancelled.

Of course, there’s always eBay, too. If you can only buy in small amounts, you might peruse eBay. It will take some work and late nights to get the best deals, but it’s better than buying from late-night infomercials where 1-ounce silver rounds are being sold for $125 to unsuspecting baby-boomers desperate from watching their plummeting 401k accounts.

Please, whatever you do, don’t buy precious metals from infomercials. I don’t care how shiny and pretty it looks in that nice that leather-bound protective box with the gold lettering!

One thing that you can find on eBay is sterling silver items that might not get bid up past spot price. You need to know your stuff, though, to get good deals.

Lastly, get to know your local coin dealers with the walk-in shops. If you buy from them regularly, you could get some good deals. One day they might get a large supply of coins because someone’s great-aunt died and her ignorant relatives want to unload all these weird coins hidden under her mattress. If a dealer knows you and likes you, he might call you up and offer a small percentage over what he paid if he can easily pass the coins off to you for a quick buck. Another advantage to buying from a local dealer is that you can buy small and pay in cash.

When To Buy

Since gold and silver markets are so volatile, you might be wondering how you can time the markets. Should you wait until a big drop? Should you buy now because maybe I’ll never see these prices again? I would advise you to buy on dips and average in. That way you’re not catching the high or the low of the market, but the nice warm, happy and hopefully lower-middle.

I would wish you good luck, but with some research and hard work, you won’t need it. Feel free to add suggestions or ask a question. I’ll help if I can.

For years, my husband and I talked about moving to Panama. We drooled over photos of lush tropical hideaways, deserted beaches and dreamy, cool mountaintops covered in flowers. Countless articles and guides — online and in print — told us about cheap real estate and very-easy immigration visas. It seemed so simple to us, so we eventually visited and decided to take the next step.

We made the big decision to become Panama residents.

Unfortunately, this decision required that we temporarily step out of the dream-world of Latin fantasies and into the immigration office of nightmares. But we survived it and thankfully haven’t lost the romance of our first love. It just required some careful planning and research, realistic expectations, and lots of patience.

Moving to a new country is exciting, challenging and a bit romantic. But the logistics of getting there can be quite the opposite. Let’s face it; it’s not as easy as some of the articles online try to portray. In this article, I want to cover a few of the more challenging aspects of immigration, and give you some helpful tips, resources and advice for navigating through some potential “romance” killers.

Hiring a lawyer

Yes, there’s a ton of free immigration information online. Some of it is good, but much of it is outdated. Laws change all the time. For example, in Panama, the immigration laws changed in February of 2008. So what you’re reading about a country’s immigration laws and visa programs may not be accurate. Before you make any decisions about moving, you absolutely need to find a reputable immigration lawyer in your country of choice with whom to discuss your own particular options. You may even learn that moving to a new country isn’t as appealing or as do-able as you thought.

When I first sought out a lawyer in Panama, I had handful of leads and some sparse recommendations. There’s always plenty of advertising online, but that doesn’t mean anything. There’s risk in getting a popular, well-known lawyer or law firm. The risk is that they may not have the time or willingness to help you in the timeframe you need. I experienced this with one very highly recommended lawyer from a well-respected international travel/relocation company. Yeah, it was great to have a good lawyer to contact that I could trust, but, frankly, she didn’t have time for me.

Some of the bigger, well-known firms can turn out to be the same way. If you’re a “little guy” to them, you may not get the service you want.

Conversely, going with a “hungry” and cheaper small-time lawyer is a huge risk, too. Immigration is a big step and the last thing you need is inexperience. Dozens will actively try and win you over with cheap prices and big promises, and some of them will deliver on their promises. And many will not. It’s a huge risk you shouldn’t take with such an important process.

Instead, try to find a well-respected lawyer who is happy to have your business and has the time to help you, but has already established themselves in the area. And always double-check references and credentials. (You may not believe this, but some people who claim they are lawyers really are not!) Many countries have some form of online registry where you can check to see if a lawyer is registered to practice law in that country. Find out where you can do that if it’s not online. In Panama, I had the fortune of easily checking to not only see my lawyer was registered to practice, but also how many applications she had processed and how many were approved or denied.

Another important consideration is communication. It’s absolutely imperative that you and your lawyer’s staff communicate well. Don’t assume you can just “get by” on some phrases here and there. You will need to communicate with each other beyond “hello” and “how much?”

Lastly, try and get a written service agreement upfront which will outline payment and your expectations of the services and timeframe your lawyer will provide.

Immigration Paperwork

Now that you have a lawyer, it’s time to think about paperwork. You will be handling tons of it and it needs to be perfect and timely. Go over with your lawyer exactly what you will need and when you will need it. Make a master list with all the details and systematically start your work. Some countries will want documents that have been issued within a certain time-frame only, so your dusty 20-year-old marriage certificate won’t cut it.

Once you have your list of needed documents, have your lawyer double-check it. Then research your time-requirements on each item, and how long it will take you to order them and have them certified, which are two different processes. Be careful: some U.S. state agencies are painfully slow and backed-up. I made the mistake of ordering my birth certificate from California through the state Vital Records office. It arrived four months later. Luckily, I suspected this would happen and ordered one expedited through the county as well, and I got it in a week’s time.

Be wary of online companies offering to get your documents to you fast for a fee. Some of them may produce documents that do not qualify for further certification if they are not notarized properly. Usually you can work with the local state and county offices to have it done fast, so look to them first.

The other matter to consider is authenticating all your documents. If the country of your destination belongs to the Hague Convention, then you will need an Apostille. If it doesn’t, then you will most likely need a Certification, which is given by the same government agencies. I had the most trouble with this step because we had a stack of documents coming from several different states. There are many apostille services which can do this for you, but you risk dealing with a lazy or fraudulent company and you’ll be charged a pretty hefty price for it. Since getting an apostille can be an intimidating and mysterious process, con-artists have popped up all over the world taking fees from unsuspecting customers and then either disappearing with their important documents or providing them with fake apostilles. Of course if you have a fake apostille, you’ll eventually find out when the immigration office checks it. And that’s not a good first impression to make to a new country.

Since I had a background in state legislation and agencies, I did my own research and found some great tips and information so that the “average Joe” can feel confident about handling their own paperwork. One great source for getting your paperwork authenticated is the Apostille & Certification Guide. You can check it out at: www.apostilleguide.com

Opening A Bank Account

Well, if you’re going to move to a new place, you’re probably going to need money. And more than that, some immigration visas will require that you have a certain amount in an account or CD. This means you will have to find a bank you can trust and one that will give you an account. Your lawyer will be able to help explain the local banking laws, and even recommend reputable banks. Keep in mind that you will likely not find the same kind banking insurance we have in the U.S. (FDIC) So that’s a risk in itself – not that the FDIC doesn’t have it’s own inherent risks. You will absolutely want to research each bank’s solvency and balance sheet.

Also consider using a major international bank, like HSBC, which has branches in your country. Now, I’m not endorsing HSBC’s balance sheet, per se, but in my mind it’s one of the banks in the “too big to fail” category. Additionally, you may be able to open your overseas account via a local branch. I was able to open a Panama account from a Canadian branch (where I had an account) for a fee of around $130 USD. This saved me so much time and energy, and I was able to transfer money very easily and without any outrageous fees from one branch to the other. HSBC also offers foreign currency accounts so you may be able to save some conversion fees as well.

Patience Is A Virtue

But don’t be too virtuous. Stay on top of things. You may have temporary visas that need to be renewed before your application is approved. Don’t simply rely on your lawyer to anticipate everything for you – although they should. Keep track yourself of each step and stay in contact with your lawyer’s staff. On the other hand, keep in mind that you are dealing with a different country and a different way of doing things. Missing a deadline may not be that important to some cultures, so don’t hyperventilate if things take longer than you thought. (That is unless you’re moving to Germany where everything runs on time!)

Remember that you can control some things, but you can’t control everything. Immigrating to a new country requires a great deal of diligence, but it also requires a good attitude. With some smart planning and realistic expectations, you can keep the romance alive with your new home even throughout the immigration process.

Best,

Mels

We’ve been working on residency in Panama in preparation for our permanent move in about a year. My lawyer just contacted me yesterday with news that we need to return for the second to last stage of our application process.

On the road again!

Of course, since we last traveled, airfare has almost doubled, and I’m seriously pregnant. Not to mention we have three children ages three-years-old to seven and Panama is deep into its rainy season. I have three weeks to get there.

This.

Will.

Be.

Fun.

But the good news is that we all fly well. My children are disciplined and love to travel. And this is not a vacation (could you imagine if this were? What are we, crazy?); it’s an investment in our futures.

We are all told to diversify when investing. Of course, to most that means put all your money in a 401K and let someone else “diversify” it for you among lots of different losing stocks. Oh yeah, and buy a house. That’s always a winner.

We think a little differently. When it comes to investing with money, we diversify with regards to currencies, commodities, foreign stocks and foreign banks. When it comes to where you live, why not diversify your options there, too? That’s our attitude with moving to another country. We seek true diversification, and we believe it will pay off with more opportunities, adventure, education and, frankly, another place to be if this country should ever become a place most of us would not want to reside.

Expand your definition of diversification to extend beyond this country, whether it be money, investments, retirement, or residency. There are options for all us, no matter your income, education, age, or even if you have a few younger rugruts to contend with.

I’ll be bringing those options to the table in future posts.

Until then, look for my upcoming reports from Panama City, Panama.

Adiós amigos,

Mels

I was taking a walk with my elderly neighbor, Mary, the other day. She has had her house on the market for over a year now and is puzzled why it’s not selling. We happened to walk by the home of another neighbor who has had her house on the market for several months as well. She was gardening outside and stopped us to say hello. To my amusement, the conversation went something like this:

“Mary, how’s the house-selling going?”

“Oh, hi Fran, it’s not going. What about you?”

“Nobody’s comin’ around. I can’t get anyone to look at the house.”

“Same here. I wonder why that is.”

“Mary, I just found out that it’s not us, it’s the buyers! The buyers just aren’t buying right now!”

The humorous part of this exchange was Fran’s revelation-like statement about buyers not buying, like all of sudden, buyers were afflicted with some mysterious virus preventing them from contacting a realtor to see a house.

Since watching Mary’s house languish on the market forever has bugged me, as we walked away from Fran’s house, I used this opportunity to ask her about why she thinks herhouse is not selling. She’s a widow and is getting too old to care for a house. She really needs to sell it, and I’m feeling anxious for her. Yet, everytime I broach the subject of the real estate market, she makes it obvious she doesn’t want to talk about it. The last time we talked, she was hoppin’ mad about someone’s low-ball offer and later that day I overheard her say on the phone to her son in a tone rivaling Donald Trump or Joan Collins from Dynasty, “I won’t take a penny less than my asking price!”

Yet, despite her stubborness, I’m curious about what’s going on insider her head. She’s a pure study in irrational and ignorant home-selling during the worst correction in history. I honestly want to know what’s making this woman tick.

She paid $275,000 for her home three years ago and is listing it for sale at $375,000. I asked her how she chose that price. Her answer?

The house down the street which is “not as nice or as big” sold for $385,000 two years ago.

She revealed that the “lowball” offer she had received was for $275,000 – the same price she paid for the house a few years earlier. Frankly, given there haven’t been any improvements (the same 1960’s carpet, cabinets, and out-dated hardware are still there), that was probably a fair offer. But because she’s been brainwashed by 20-30% year-over-year price increases, Mary cannot or will not see it.

Finally I see this morning that her For Sale sign is sporting the tell-tale “New Price!” language that stinks of desperation. Excitedly, I looked up her house on MLS hoping to see something significant. My hopes were dashed when I saw that she had only conceded to a crumb-like $10,000 discount.

At this point, she’s not even walking the market down. She’s miles behind it, riding the back of a snail, and so far away no one will even notice her crummy price change.

The good news is that she’s a great neighbor and my kids love going over to her house to bake cookies and raid her candy jar. And by the looks of things, they have a lot more oatmeal-chocolate chip and butterscotch encounters in their future.

Best,

Mels

I can remember fondly the days when the word “bubble” was rarely used in reference to anything but chewing gum and soap. My husband and I had a sizeable chunk of money in tech stocks and we were raking it in without lifting a finger. It was the “new economy” where tech stocks were going to moon – no matter that the underlying businesses weren’t even making profits in some cases.

(Anyone recall Pets.com by chance?) 

But in early 2000, I started to feel a bit uneasy about the stock market, though the “talking heads” on television couldn’t have been more positive. Just a little research convinced me that we were in some kind of an investing bubble and it looked liked it was close to popping.

We had already lost a few hundred dollars as the pendulum started to swing in the other direction for our investments when we took a deep breath and made the hard decision to liquidate all our stocks in the summer of 2000. We took out every single penny despite the curious looks from family and friends. My husband’s co-workers shook off their comparatively small losses and laughed at our “paranoia” chanting mindlessly, “it will bounce back,” as their investments dropped down, down, down… well, you know the rest of the sad story.

Though we managed to escape the dot.com bubble in the nick of time, many were not so lucky and our economy was hit hard. Fast forward to today and it seems we’re in the same mess we were before, except now with real estate. Hadn’t we learned our lessons about bubbles already? Why didn’t the government do something to stop this? Why didn’t anyone warn us?

You may have missed this particular warning from The Economist Magazine in a 2005 article:

“Never before have real house prices risen so fast, for so long, in so many countries. Property markets have been frothing from America, Britain and Australia to France, Spain and China. Rising property prices helped to prop up the world economy after the stock market bubble burst in 2000. What if the housing boom now turns to bust?

“According to estimates by The Economist, the total value of residential property in developed economies rose by more than $30 trillion over the past five years, to over $70 trillion, an increase equivalent to 100% of those countries’ combined GDPs. Not only does this dwarf any previous house-price boom, it is larger than the global stockmarket bubble in the late 1990s (an increase over five years of 80% of GDP) or America’s stockmarket bubble in the late 1920s (55% of GDP). In other words, it looks like the biggest bubble in history.

“The global boom in house prices has been driven by two common factors: historically low interest rates have encouraged home buyers to borrow more money; and households have lost faith in equities after stockmarkets plunged, making property look attractive. Will prices now fall, or simply flatten off? And in either case, what will be the consequences for economies around the globe? The likely answers to all these questions are not comforting.

“The increasing importance of house prices in the world economy prompted The Economist to start publishing a set of global house-price indices in 2002. These now cover 20 countries, using data from lending institutions, estate agents and national statistics. Our latest quarterly update shows that home prices continue to rise by 10% or more in half of the countries (see table). America has seen one of the biggest increases in house-price inflation over the past year, with the average price of homes jumping by 12.5% in the year to the first quarter. In California, Florida, Nevada. Hawaii, Maryland and Washington, DC, they soared by more than 20%.”

As The Economist points out, the government actually created the perfect environment for a real estate bubble. Their response to a slowing economy, hit hard by the dot.com bubble, was to loosen lending as much as possible and this, my friends, created yet another asset bubble as a result. Except our houses became the new dot.coms, the new “fail-safe” make-oodles-of-money-hand-over-fist-guaranteed scheme. And it worked for a lot of people who got in and got out. But many of you got in too late and too deep.  And some of you who bought prior to the explosion are now wondering – just like my husband and I did back in 2000 – should I take the money and run before – poof! – it’s gone as quickly as it came?

Last year, the PBS television news show, NOW, interviewed UCLA Senior Economist Christopher Thornberg, who described in simple terms just how an investing bubble occurs by using the .dom crash as an example:

“A real estate bubble, or any asset bubble is not a situation where you hear a pop. Everyone always associates bubble with a pop. They think, gee, if there’s a bubble, there must be a pop! coming at the end. That’s not what a bubble is. A bubble is when the price of an asset becomes misaligned with the fundamentals that truly determine the price of that asset.

“Let me give you an example of what I’m talking about here. Amazon dot-com — let’s go back to the NASDAQ days. At one point in time, Amazon was worth $180, $190 a share. The big question is: was that stock worth $180, $190 a share? Well, what determines the price of a stock? It’s the net present value of the profits that accrue to that stock in the future. That’s what we teach our MBA students. When they buy that stock, you’re buying a share of the profit stream that comes from that company today and in the future. Some bright economist at one point in time, sat down and said, “Well, gee. What if Amazon dot-com captured 100 percent of the DVD, book and CD market in the U.S.? Would they ever make enough profits today or in the future to justify a share price or the market capitalization implied by the share price of $180, $190 a share?” And the answer was no way. 

We’ve all witnessed the housing buying frenzy during the past several years. During that time, an unprecedented number of Americans became homeowners and second homeowners. Almost a third of all loans were variable interest rate loans and a sizable chunk required no money down. Hundreds of thousands of Americans jumped in thinking the housing boom was going to last forever. But what we’re learning, the hard way, is that it can’t last forever because it was a boom built on loose lending, easy credit, and a psychological fervor that is unsupported by the true fundamentals, as Mr. Thornberg reiterates.

Homes typically don’t make you rich; they usually just keep up with inflation over time while putting roof over your head and nice place to relax after work or have dinner or display your Star Trek memorabilia, or whatever suits your fancy.  

Remember the tech crash; you’ve seen the psychology of a popping investment bubble play out before. As more and more people catch on, more cash out, until momentum grows and everything crashes almost all at once.

I’m just glad that I’m watching the crash as a renter.

Best,

Mels

The actress, Susan Sarandon, is talking about leaving the U.S. permanently if John McCain should win the presidency in November.

She told the Telegraph in an interview:

“I’ve got a lot of flak from feminists who feel that I should be supporting Hillary Clinton, but I thought the whole point of feminism is that you’re not supposed to be defined by gender,” she says…

“If McCain gets in, it’s going to be very, very dangerous,” she says.

“It’s a critical time, but I have faith in the American people. If they prove me wrong, I’ll be checking out a move to Italy. Maybe Canada, I don’t know. We’re at an abyss.”

I know other celebrities have made similar “threats” to leave such as Alec Baldwin, Robert Redford, Janeane Garofalo and Michael Moore, before Bush was elected to his second term in office. Yet, they seem to still be here.

I guess we’ll see who does what.

Best,

Mels

So there we were, wanting to change our lives in some extreme way, yet still relying on a 9-5 job, paying on a mortgage, having babies and feeling quite trapped settled.

And then the greatest thing happened: My husband lost his job.

All of sudden, we were free to think outside of the box. We had a reason to uproot and get rid of the mortgage and obligations. We flirted around with the idea that we should “just move to Spain” and wrestle up some work over there, but chickened out and settled on opening our horizons beyond the dusty borders of Texas at the very least. We needed to feel like we were moving in some kind of new direction, and this felt “new” enough for us.

So a job offer came and we packed up for a move to the serene Pacific Northwest. Ironically, moving from Texas to Washington State is almost like moving to a different country.

Goodbye neighbors we never knew.

Goodbye bar-b-que, two-steppin’ and hot-as-hell summers.

Greetings cool summer breezes, majestic mountains, and wild-caught salmon!

With the looming real estate crash before us (which no one knew about except some geeky economists everyone ignored), we smartened up and sold off our properties and decided to become renters instead of homeowners. Doing so saved us about $2000 per month to live in a house with lovely view of the Puget Sound, an outdoor fireplace and indoor sauna. The money we save by renting is invested, and we’re free to leave whenever we want.

Of course, we still have the 9-5 job. Rats.

Can I just say this out loud?  I love being a renter. Especially as housing values slide of a cliff all around us.

Once we settled in the top left corner of the map, we both started to really pay attention to what was happening to our country politically and economically. I think this gave us an even bigger incentive to consider leaving the country and start a new life elsewhere. (If you’re interested in this blog, you no doubt have some inkling about the direction our country is headed.)

Economically, we’re on a sinking ship. I know I’ll never get to dip into my Social Security when I retire. Corporations are rading our 401ks. Health care is a disaster. Inflation is out of control and our currency is making the Mexican Peso look pretty good. (Gosh, I remember when the Canadian loonie was $.60 to our dollar. Now Canadians are coming over here to shop.)

Our manufacturing base is long gone, and there’s just no real opportunity left for our generation.

On the political front, I’m in a constant state of shock every time some new law is passed that strips away our rights and privacy. I’m more in shock that not many others seem to notice. I sometimes envy those Americans who never delve into the realities of what is happening here. How nice it would be to settle into a warm fog of ignorance and pay attention to American Idol or the latest scandal on the news.

It’s funny to think that my husband and I both have close relatives who were in eerily similar situations in Germany and Cuba. My grandmother left Germany when she was a young girl and World War II was looming overhead. In addition to the dark political changes taking place, my great-grandmother was adamant that her four sons would not fight in Hitler’s army, so they sold their businesses and started a new life in California (where they were promptly drafted into the United States military ironically enough). They were fortunate because they left early enough to take their money and lives with them. The fate of many relatives who stayed in Germany was not so auspicious.

My husband’s parents fled Cuba in the early 1960s. My father-in-law was a student and openly protesting Castro’s regime. He knew early on that Communism was coming, but it took an arrest for protesting and an imminent court date to “inspire” his move to America. He had a Cuban-American friend buy him a plane ticket and he came to the U.S. with nothing; but at least he made it without resorting to an ocean raft and big dose of luck. Those who chose to ride out the political turbulence watched as the window of freedom clamped shut for good.

So they escaped their countries to come here to the U.S. and now we’re thinking of fleeing away from this country.  The times are changing. They always do. Those of us who want a better life for ourselves, our children, our retirement, our quality of life should take heed and start making plans.

Best,
Mels

Coming up: Why We’re Escaping: Part III