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My husband and I have about 1 million dollars saved, and it's currently getting a safe 5% interest rate...BUT..we both fear the future devastation of out nest egg due to inflation, and the US Govt. either taxing or just TAKING away our hard earned money without our having any say about it...we have thought about leaving the country for 'greener pastures'....looking for the lowest taxed states to move to, and wondering how badly we will be taxed once we start taking these funds our of our IRAs and 401ks....he is 63 and I'm 59. We have no debts and both own homes. Any suggestions? We would not hesitate to leave the country if things keep going downhill as they have in recent years, and frankly have little trust in our government to protect us or our money from the greedy special interest groups that run congress...etc. Open to any and all suggestions!
i think we have a hard enough time understanding the taxes in this country , to understand other countries systems especially if you have some dough is going to be pretty tough to understand id imagine..... you really need people who live there
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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You can move (or establish domicile) in any of the no-income-tax states, but beware of how else the state collects revenue.
(as in my case I get hammered for property tax, but there are areas in the state (and even the county) that aren't so bad). TX is known for high property taxes too. To mitigate this, you have a small cheap residence in your domicile, or have an income property with a spare apartment for you there. SD has very minimal Domicile requirements (One night / yr!) State income tax - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I've chosen to live in an income tax free state during income producing yrs, but not too concerned about STATE income tax in the near future, as I don't expect much income (Long-term federal is another story) I have never had a serious issue with federal tax, and even with huge windfalls from LTCG in property investments in the last few yrs, I seldom have over a 10% TOTAL effective income tax rate. (8.16% this year). but the future... ??
Overall, I would guess... AK is the best bet for a no-income tax state that will not burn you in retirement. WY would be my second choice (there are nice and affordable areas there, w/o AK rain / cold and LONG winter nights)
For oversea locations, consider US protectorates, I have several friends that do high dollar on-line businesses that moved to any one of several protectorates and get by income tax-free. (shop for location carefully, and remember rising sea levels!)
or for another country check here. I may do that for healthcare if nothing else. I've lived in Asia, Europe, and Canada. Malaysia and Philippines are potential destinations and I have friends there now. It is no paradise... (for the most part) and you need to really be adaptive to culture hassles and being the Minority, they really don't give a rip about you, but like your $$. I do like the Chinese culture and find them very fun, but don't plan to move there ! Living Overseas - International Real Estate, Overseas Jobs - Asset Protection - Expatriate Resources - Overseas Retirement
For inflation hedge, I plan on buying more investment properties of various configurations (likely no single family, and preferably no residential rentals.). These (Commercial prop investments) have been my best sources of capital appreciation and revenue (much better than having a JOB!).
You can roll 401k into IRA (or several IRA's) and buy (INVESTMENT / not personal) Real Estate in that IRA (Rules are tricky, make sure it is adequately funded, as you can't 'co-mingle' funds, or you get taxed BIG TIME)
Last edited by StealthRabbit; 04-23-2009 at 03:30 PM..
problems i see in doing real estate in an ira is noooooooooo depreciation allowance, no 15% capital gains rate, and big risk that major repair will exceed the funds in your ira... i believe you cant introduce any outside money for anything ,,,, not something id do in any of my ira's
My gransparent did well investing in rental housing. One set of grandparents did single family dwellings scattered over a neighborhood. The other set of grandparents did one-room tenaments built leaning up next to each other alongside their house.
My parents have done well investing in rental housing. Mostly single family dwellings scattered over a neighborhood.
We are doing okay investing in rental housing. We have been collecting multi-family buildings, like 3-unit, 5-unit, 8-unit buildings.
i still feel very strongly that an ira is not the place to buy real estate .... reits and un-traded reits no problem but not investment properties....
major points like taking a depreciation allowance, refinancing and not having enough capital to do repairs and renovations in your ira money can either be big problems or big disadvanyages....
I think you doing well is you start this 2-3 years ago, many billionares wish they could have done as well as you do. What ever your next move it will be ok.
Leave the country should not be a reason for safe investment, no matter how bad things happen in this country, the alternative would be worth, If the US snezzing the whole world will catch cold.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Different Drummer
My husband and I have about 1 million dollars saved, and it's currently getting a safe 5% interest rate...BUT..we both fear the future devastation of out nest egg due to inflation, and the US Govt. either taxing or just TAKING away our hard earned money without our having any say about it...we have thought about leaving the country for 'greener pastures'....looking for the lowest taxed states to move to, and wondering how badly we will be taxed once we start taking these funds our of our IRAs and 401ks....he is 63 and I'm 59. We have no debts and both own homes. Any suggestions? We would not hesitate to leave the country if things keep going downhill as they have in recent years, and frankly have little trust in our government to protect us or our money from the greedy special interest groups that run congress...etc. Open to any and all suggestions!
You might want to check out Costa Rica. We rent a cottage for several months each year from a delightful expat couple who seem quite happy there. There is a huge expat community there and we've met many folks who are quite happy to have left the states. A useful website is: Costa Rica condos, real estate, investing, mortgages, Realtors, living and retirement information DM me if you would like their direct contact info to explore it further.
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