Best combination of high quality of life, entrepreneurial freedom and low taxes

[MiddleEuroAsia]

I mean, it seems like you already made up your mind. Move to Miami if that's what you want, and see for yourself. sometime the grass is always greener on the other side, and you have to see it for yourself to see if it fits what you've imagined, and I'm here talking about living long-term not the tourist experience.

If you really want to live in the US, then one other option is Puerto Rico and it has 4% corporate tax/fixed income tax rate, and 2 hour flight from san juan to Miami for $200 - not a bad deal.

the city of dorado is where would I live if I moved to Puerto Rico, it's only 25 miles san juan, has lot's of luxurious properties, lot's of beaches, lots of expats (mainly Americans), very walkable and it's pretty affordable.

back to florida, I just would like to remind you that while you can live relatively safe in Miami, that doesn't mean you won't face any sort of crime/violent encounter, that could be said for any country really, but in the US, specially florida, it's extra, anything can happen and that includes violent encounters. it's an interesting place, there is a reason why there is a "Florida man" meme lol.

Even gated communities there, have this HOA rules and guidelines that you have to follow and you get that karen boss that tells you what you can do and can't do, it's a fun experience.

Overall, what you want doesn't really exist, So you have to compromise a little bit. I live part of my time in KL, and yeah it's no New York (I'm talking about the good things of NY not the shitty things), but life is awesome, I have ALL the things that I want here, direct flights to major hubs in Asia, Europe, the middle east, and the Americas, pretty fast internet, safe big luxurious apartment with 1/7 of the price of it's neighbor Singapore, plenty of nature, great beaches, all the western amenities that I'm used to, MMA classes, malls, everything. and it has a territorial tax system with no CFC rules and it is cheap. and the best thing is they leave you the f**k a lone, but yeah it's Islamic (somewhat ) the only minus is the weather, but you get used to it.

For me, although I bank and invest in the US But I would never live there, but that's my opinion, and as I always say, one man's hell, is another man's paradise. what might suit you, might not suit me and vice versa.

Good luck!

 

[Konstanz]

Minimum net worth requirement for moving to monaco is $10 million. Otherwise you are wasting your time here. Monaco authority are very strict on 183 days presence in monaco.
Also they denied so many people visa.
You can check video here

They are strict, but it's not that strictly counted, because Monaco is in Shengen you cannot really 'count days'.
It's just important you don't spend 180 days in your home country or some other country
You cannot really order the billionaire to sit in some place 180 days. People have properties around the world and yachts. So, they move/travel a lot. Monaco is just base/main home.

 

[Allisgood]

They are strict, but it's not that strictly counted, because Monaco is in Shengen you cannot really 'count days'.
It's just important you don't spend 180 days in your home country or some other country
You cannot really order the billionaire to sit in some place 180 days. People have properties around the world and yachts. So, they move/travel a lot. Monaco is just base/main home.

Yea I mean many tennis players and F1 drivers “live” in Monaco and I really doubt they are able to be in Monaco 180 days…

 

[Konstanz]

Yea I mean many tennis players and F1 drivers “live” in Monaco and I really doubt they are able to be in Monaco 180 days…

It's 180 days or social/economic ties or "main home"

 

[FixieHartmann]

I mean, it seems like you already made up your mind. Move to Miami if that's what you want, and see for yourself. sometime the grass is always greener on the other side, and you have to see it for yourself to see if it fits what you've imagined, and I'm here talking about living long-term not the tourist experience.

If you really want to live in the US, then one other option is Puerto Rico and it has 4% corporate tax/fixed income tax rate, and 2 hour flight from san juan to Miami for $200 - not a bad deal.

the city of dorado is where would I live if I moved to Puerto Rico, it's only 25 miles san juan, has lot's of luxurious properties, lot's of beaches, lots of expats (mainly Americans), very walkable and it's pretty affordable.

back to florida, I just would like to remind you that while you can live relatively safe in Miami, that doesn't mean you won't face any sort of crime/violent encounter, that could be said for any country really, but in the US, specially florida, it's extra, anything can happen and that includes violent encounters. it's an interesting place, there is a reason why there is a "Florida man" meme lol.

Even gated communities there, have this HOA rules and guidelines that you have to follow and you get that karen boss that tells you what you can do and can't do, it's a fun experience.

Overall, what you want doesn't really exist, So you have to compromise a little bit. I live part of my time in KL, and yeah it's no New York (I'm talking about the good things of NY not the shitty things), but life is awesome, I have ALL the things that I want here, direct flights to major hubs in Asia, Europe, the middle east, and the Americas, pretty fast internet, safe big luxurious apartment with 1/7 of the price of it's neighbor Singapore, plenty of nature, great beaches, all the western amenities that I'm used to, MMA classes, malls, everything. and it has a territorial tax system with no CFC rules and it is cheap. and the best thing is they leave you the f**k a lone, but yeah it's Islamic (somewhat ) the only minus is the weather, but you get used to it.

For me, although I bank and invest in the US But I would never live there, but that's my opinion, and as I always say, one man's hell, is another man's paradise. what might suit you, might not suit me and vice versa.

Good luck!

Thanks so much for the input, very helpful!
So you have multiple home bases? Where else do you spend your time besides KL?

As said earlier, I think KL could be a good option for me as well. I haven't spend much time there so it's very hard to tell. Why would you say that the weather is a downside? Too hot and humid most of the year? And how does it feel Islamic if you live there for longer stretches of time?

 

[JackAlabama]

Very interesting discussion! Let me add my 2 cents:

I know you “rejected” Greece already but let me make a case for Athens anyways: I (northern European) have spend a few months each year here for the last 10+ years:

PROS

+ Weather - One of the best in Europe.

+ English Language - I find that lot of people speak English in Athens and on popular islands

+ Athens is 1m+ size (so you find everything you need) and you can also drive to many surrounding countries. Or take the ferry overnight to southern Italy.
Or take a 1-2h ferry to amazing islands close by

+ Airport is well connected to Europe and Middle East

+ Mediterranean life, food, people

+ rents and property prices are still quite affordable compared to the rest of Europe (especially to similar countries like Portugal)

+ I feel very safe and find the development level sufficient. Sure streets and other things aren’t as new as in the north of Europe but you get used to it

CONS
- taxes high
- Government and government services often difficult to deal with (but with local lawyer it’s not too bad)
- government not considered entrepreneur-friendly , but I think they are trying to improve that

Overall I prefer Greece/Athens over all the other Mediterranean countries but that’s my personal opinion.

Yep, living in Greece as an eternal tourist is awesome.
Having to do any business or anything related to administration is frustrating.

I mean, it seems like you already made up your mind. Move to Miami if that's what you want, and see for yourself. sometime the grass is always greener on the other side, and you have to see it for yourself to see if it fits what you've imagined, and I'm here talking about living long-term not the tourist experience.

If you really want to live in the US, then one other option is Puerto Rico and it has 4% corporate tax/fixed income tax rate, and 2 hour flight from san juan to Miami for $200 - not a bad deal.

the city of dorado is where would I live if I moved to Puerto Rico, it's only 25 miles san juan, has lot's of luxurious properties, lot's of beaches, lots of expats (mainly Americans), very walkable and it's pretty affordable.

back to florida, I just would like to remind you that while you can live relatively safe in Miami, that doesn't mean you won't face any sort of crime/violent encounter, that could be said for any country really, but in the US, specially florida, it's extra, anything can happen and that includes violent encounters. it's an interesting place, there is a reason why there is a "Florida man" meme lol.

Even gated communities there, have this HOA rules and guidelines that you have to follow and you get that karen boss that tells you what you can do and can't do, it's a fun experience.

Overall, what you want doesn't really exist, So you have to compromise a little bit. I live part of my time in KL, and yeah it's no New York (I'm talking about the good things of NY not the shitty things), but life is awesome, I have ALL the things that I want here, direct flights to major hubs in Asia, Europe, the middle east, and the Americas, pretty fast internet, safe big luxurious apartment with 1/7 of the price of it's neighbor Singapore, plenty of nature, great beaches, all the western amenities that I'm used to, MMA classes, malls, everything. and it has a territorial tax system with no CFC rules and it is cheap. and the best thing is they leave you the f**k a lone, but yeah it's Islamic (somewhat ) the only minus is the weather, but you get used to it.

For me, although I bank and invest in the US But I would never live there, but that's my opinion, and as I always say, one man's hell, is another man's paradise. what might suit you, might not suit me and vice versa.

Good luck!

How you get into Malaysia these days? I was once looking at the MM2H before the covid thing came and last year they suspended it.
Did you use MM2H or just as tourist?

 

[JackAlabama]

Thanks so much for the input, very helpful!
So you have multiple home bases? Where else do you spend your time besides KL?

As said earlier, I think KL could be a good option for me as well. I haven't spend much time there so it's very hard to tell. Why would you say that the weather is a downside? Too hot and humid most of the year? And how does it feel Islamic if you live there for longer stretches of time?

KL is rather chill. Just be aware of pick pocketing and things should run smoothly. The weather is also considerably cooler than Singapore so it becomes more bearable.

 

[MiddleEuroAsia]

Thanks so much for the input, very helpful!
So you have multiple home bases? Where else do you spend your time besides KL?

Some of my time is in KL, some in Dubai (base for my middle eastern work/adventures), others are in Europe and Latin America, I'm not gonna mention where exactly for my privacy .

As said earlier, I think KL could be a good option for me as well. I haven't spend much time there so it's very hard to tell. Why would you say that the weather is a downside? Too hot and humid most of the year?

the weather is funny and confusing. Malaysia has a tropical climate but it's not your typical tropical weather, it's humid most of the year, you see the sky filled with clouds and yet you feel the heat like you are standing in front of an oven, sometimes you see the clear sky and the sun is shining so it's even hotter and after 10 minutes of clear sun, you see it raining LOL. there is a Malaysian saying that says "prepare an umbrella before the rain", it has another meaning too but that's for another topic.

my Malaysians friends say that they don't feel the hotness, but they are Malaysians so it makes sense. but yeah as @JackAlabama said, it's no Singapore, and it's bearable, you get used to it.

And how does it feel Islamic if you live there for longer stretches of time?

Malaysians are 60% Muslims, 20% Buddhists, 10 Christians, 6% hindus and the rest are other religions (the percentages are semantics), so you'll find plenty of restaurants and activities that cater to non Muslims.

Alcohol is prohibited for Muslims (although Muslim drinkers get around this easily), but for non Muslims it's ok. it's also expensive because it's heavily taxed, alcohol tax rate in Malaysia is the third highest in the world. but still, a pack of 6 bottle of Heineken beer will cost you about 17 dollars, that's like 3 dollar for a bottle of beer - so it's not that bad.

public affection is moderate. Hugging, cheek kissing every now and then, holding hands is ok, maaaaaybe a quick kiss on the lips will be fine. Being intimate in public though is a no-no, deep kissing and stuff like that is better left at home.

if you love pork, you'll find plenty of supermarkets/restaurants that sell/serve pork.

Sex between unmarried couples is also common (as long it's in private and not on a beach ) and you will have no problem in this area.

Overall, Malaysia has this kinda of hyprid laws, where sharia laws are for muslims, and common law is for non muslims and foreigners (whether muslim or not). in reality though common laws applies to everyone.
but yeah, if you are a non Malaysian, rest assured that common law would apply to you, and you can pretty much do whatever you like, you just have to keep the private stuff private and have common sense.

I hope that can help!

 

[void]

....

nice summary

what I'm personally interested in is whether these status is going to change (to worse... more Muslim) or what are the general tendencies of the society

how does the environment look like at the moment? I mean things like trash in the streets and in the sea, stray dogs, ...

thanks

 

[MiddleEuroAsia]

How you get into Malaysia these days? I was once looking at the MM2H before the covid thing came and last year they suspended it.
Did you use MM2H or just as tourist?

I got there under MM2H, loooooong before it was suspended, it's a shame what really happened, and it's all because of politics, they don't like that the majority of the people who uses this program are Chinese, so they made an overhaul of the whole program, I hear from some people though that the new program would be more competitive and better than the previous one, I hope that's the case, since this program is great, but for people who have the visa and have to renew it in the near future, they could renew it with no problem, one friend of mine already renewed his mm2h visa, but yeah, I hope that they could approve it soon.

 

[JackAlabama]

I got there under MM2H, loooooong before it was suspended, it's a shame what really happened, and it's all because of politics, they don't like that the majority of the people who uses this program are Chinese, so they made an overhaul of the whole program, I hear from some people though that the new program would be more competitive and better than the previous one, I hope that's the case, since this program is great, but for people who have the visa and have to renew it in the near future, they could renew it with no problem, one friend of mine already renewed his mm2h visa, but yeah, I hope that they could approve it soon.

Interesting. Philippines cancelled their 20k$ deposit SRRV residency as well with the same argument last year as well
So you got grandfathered into it, thats pretty good.

 

[MiddleEuroAsia]

nice summary

what I'm personally interested in is whether these status is going to change (to worse... more Muslim) or what are the general tendencies of the society

how does the environment look like at the moment? I mean things like trash in the streets and in the sea, stray dogs, ...

thanks

Heh. I don't follow Malaysian politics that closely, believe me it's a headache, but what can I say is that after the s**t show that happened last year and is still going, me as a foreigner (and my friends) weren't affected by any of this and life went on, it's just business as usual.

Kuala lumpur is very clean so you don't have to worry about that, but he air quality is not the best.

 

[MiddleEuroAsia]

Interesting. Philippines cancelled their 20k$ deposit SRRV residency as well with the same argument last year as well

Yeah I heard about that too, it seems like Asian countries want to limit the Chinese influence in their country, and I heard from people in these industries that the main target of these retirement program was wealthy or old Europeans/Americans who want to retire in Asia, but of course the reality was something else.

So you got grandfathered into it, thats pretty good.

Yeah, for now at least.

 

[FixieHartmann]

Minimum net worth requirement for moving to monaco is $10 million. Otherwise you are wasting your time here. Monaco authority are very strict on 183 days presence in monaco.
Also they denied so many people visa.
You can check video here

I've seen this video before. Great documentary, but underlines that Monaco definitely is outside of my budget

 

[FixieHartmann]

Some of my time is in KL, some in Dubai (base for my middle eastern work/adventures), others are in Europe and Latin America, I'm not gonna mention where exactly for my privacy .

the weather is funny and confusing. Malaysia has a tropical climate but it's not your typical tropical weather, it's humid most of the year, you see the sky filled with clouds and yet you feel the heat like you are standing in front of an oven, sometimes you see the clear sky and the sun is shining so it's even hotter and after 10 minutes of clear sun, you see it raining LOL. there is a Malaysian saying that says "prepare an umbrella before the rain", it has another meaning too but that's for another topic.

my Malaysians friends say that they don't feel the hotness, but they are Malaysians so it makes sense. but yeah as @JackAlabama said, it's no Singapore, and it's bearable, you get used to it.

Malaysians are 60% Muslims, 20% Buddhists, 10 Christians, 6% hindus and the rest are other religions (the percentages are semantics), so you'll find plenty of restaurants and activities that cater to non Muslims.

Alcohol is prohibited for Muslims (although Muslim drinkers get around this easily), but for non Muslims it's ok. it's also expensive because it's heavily taxed, alcohol tax rate in Malaysia is the third highest in the world. but still, a pack of 6 bottle of Heineken beer will cost you about 17 dollars, that's like 3 dollar for a bottle of beer - so it's not that bad.

public affection is moderate. Hugging, cheek kissing every now and then, holding hands is ok, maaaaaybe a quick kiss on the lips will be fine. Being intimate in public though is a no-no, deep kissing and stuff like that is better left at home.

if you love pork, you'll find plenty of supermarkets/restaurants that sell/serve pork.

Sex between unmarried couples is also common (as long it's in private and not on a beach ) and you will have no problem in this area.

Overall, Malaysia has this kinda of hyprid laws, where sharia laws are for muslims, and common law is for non muslims and foreigners (whether muslim or not). in reality though common laws applies to everyone.
but yeah, if you are a non Malaysian, rest assured that common law would apply to you, and you can pretty much do whatever you like, you just have to keep the private stuff private and have common sense.

I hope that can help!

That helps a LOT! Thanks so much for the summary. It indeed sounds like I should spend some more time there to get a feeling for the place.

Just out of curiosity, are there any beach nearby that look like the Caribbean ones? (e.g. http://www.thravel.net/wp-content/u...d-Dominican-Republic-camera-Nikon-D100-08.jpg) Or do you have to fly to Thailand / Philippines for that?

 

[FixieHartmann]

I got there under MM2H, loooooong before it was suspended, it's a shame what really happened, and it's all because of politics, they don't like that the majority of the people who uses this program are Chinese, so they made an overhaul of the whole program, I hear from some people though that the new program would be more competitive and better than the previous one, I hope that's the case, since this program is great, but for people who have the visa and have to renew it in the near future, they could renew it with no problem, one friend of mine already renewed his mm2h visa, but yeah, I hope that they could approve it soon.

That sounds great, any more information about the new program or when it would be announced? With the MM2H program being ended, otherwise there wouldn't really be a possibility for me to stay long-term in KL I guess.

 

[JustAnotherNomad]

Just out of curiosity, are there any beach nearby that look like the Caribbean ones? (e.g. http://www.thravel.net/wp-content/u...d-Dominican-Republic-camera-Nikon-D100-08.jpg) Or do you have to fly to Thailand / Philippines for that?

Check out Langkawi.
Or potentially Redang. I've heard it's even nicer there, but less developed.

 

[MiddleEuroAsia]

That helps a LOT! Thanks so much for the summary. It indeed sounds like I should spend some more time there to get a feeling for the place.

Just out of curiosity, are there any beach nearby that look like the Caribbean ones? (e.g. http://www.thravel.net/wp-content/u...d-Dominican-Republic-camera-Nikon-D100-08.jpg) Or do you have to fly to Thailand / Philippines for that?

Malaysia has LOTS of beautiful beaches and islands, like Sipadan, langkawi, Perhentian Islands...etc. Some of them are even more beautiful than the Caribbean ones.

That sounds great, any more information about the new program or when it would be announced?

No idea about when it will be announced yet

With the MM2H program being ended, otherwise there wouldn't really be a possibility for me to stay long-term in KL I guess.

No. You still can go to Malaysia by forming a company in labuan and getting the 2 year professional visa as a "director" of your company (I believe the visa is called DP10) and you can extend it, plus you will benefit from the very low taxes that labuan offer and you will find offices of international banks in labuan so this will make things a little bit easier for you and your business when it comes to banking..etc.

So, give it ago and see if it fits your lifestyle, and I'm sure that you will find plenty of things that you can do there.

 

[FixieHartmann]

Malaysia has LOTS of beautiful beaches and islands, like Sipadan, langkawi, Perhentian Islands...etc. Some of them are even more beautiful than the Caribbean ones.

No idea about when it will be announced yet

No. You still can go to Malaysia by forming a company in labuan and getting the 2 year professional visa as a "director" of your company (I believe the visa is called DP10) and you can extend it, plus you will benefit from the very low taxes that labuan offer and you will find offices of international banks in labuan so this will make things a little bit easier for you and your business when it comes to banking..etc.

So, give it ago and see if it fits your lifestyle, and I'm sure that you will find plenty of things that you can do there.

That sounds great, but I am not sure about how happy my European clients are if they get an invoice from a company in a jurisdiction that they’ve never heard of and which is even hard to find on a map

 

[JustAnotherNomad]

So then set up a company somewhere else and invoice it from your Labuan company.
Or you could even simply use a pass-through entity like a single-member US LLC, just check how such income would be treated in Malaysia.
Lots of options.