The Current Conundrum

If you have found you way to this page, you may be able to relate. You live in a western country. You see political, economic and global change that makes you challenge whether the environment in which you live(d), that you spent many years building and perfecting, will still be there for you in retirement and for your children, in 10-20 years.

If you have a business, you may see impacts also. Softening of consumer demand, fewer IPO transactions, supply chain constraints, tightening of financing channels.

The options are to stay or to leave. If you stay some adjustments will be necessary, and you hope will be adequate. You may start with creating optionality like and overseas plan B location you are familiar with and perhaps move a few assets offshore. If you decide to move your life out of your home country, the size and scope of this is a lot to think through, and can be overwhelming.

I think we all are seeing changes. In the economy, politics and role of government, uncontrolled migration, global conflicts, from Ukraine, to Middle East, to Korea, to Taiwan, to India/Pakistan, to Cambodia/Thailand, to Venezuela. I think we were all impacted by the recent pandemic and global controls implemented around that. Many of us see global banking tighten, and monitoring of activities of the population increase, which on its own seems possibly benign however having recently experienced lockdowns, to some of us it feels like there has been a political shift. When is it appropriate for governments to make medical decisions for individuals and force their populations to comply. Perhaps you are also concerned about food quality, chemical spills getting into our food supply, pesticides approved, nanoparticles in processed food, mRNA vaccinated meat and milk, lab grown meat etc.

How do you evaluate these items, and your response to protect your future. Will these items change with a 4-year change in government or are they more lasting. How do you evaluate the specific threats you see against the large time and monetary challenge of relocating, and what are the choices in between. How do you evaluate this as head of an extended family where people have different views and preferences, and potential impacts.

At what point do you change from monitoring to action. The deer in headlights analogy is an unfair one, because the price and effort of moving from the road is not small.

The reality is the issue is big, and therefore unfortunately thinking this through fully is also large, as is implementation of the final strategy you may decide to employ. There is no way around it, dealing with this complex situation in an intentional manner is going to be difficult and take time. The only way around it is to just go with the flow, comply with the status quo, and make small changes and see what happens. The only way to make this smaller is to map out your thoughts and to leverage the experience of others as a sounding board for your own thoughts and to short-cut the most difficult pieces.

Moving a business can be challenging, but can also be rewarding if you can take it global. It takes a full analysis to explore your options and opportunities.

I personally think the best way to approach it is to put all the "conspiracy theories" in one box (don't lose that box, because it is not all junk), and then start with the actual facts in front of us in a business like manner to create a structure. Then re-review the conspiracy box one more time before you evaluate the judgmental decisions among the various options

For those in difficult situations or with family considerations, there are soft ways of moving towards safety that are lower cost and lower impact and will position you better and with more optionality, than doing little or nothing.

For singles and small family groups, the opportunities for full or regular part time relocation are extensive, and there is no one right answer for everybody - it will depend on the issues you feel are most important to solve, and your personal situation and lifestyle preferences.

We can all see and evaluate trends we think will be adverse "threats". And yet none of us know the future. Similar to a business plan, a company with one will be better prepared to survive and thrive than one without one. All companies that have been around a substantial amount of time go through a annual planning process.

The actions we will chose to take will be personal and reactive to our own view of the world and evaluation of what we see in the future.

Some will choose to form a plan, but act on it slowly in phases as they see the situations they are concerned about develop. For example, phase 1 - perhaps visiting a country they consider to be safe and convenient, for a week long vacation, just to get familiar and know how to rent an apartment should they ever need to move quickly. Make a few local contacts. Perhaps move a small amount of funds into an offshore account and get some crypto with a physical credit card attached, should the situation arise where you need to move quickly.

Some will choose an approach of moving offshore but renting an apartment and obtaining a foreign residency and continuing to work their old job on a remote basis (where possible), with their savings diversified among assets in the western home country but a small amount in offshore gold custodians and crypto. This gets out of the political target zones, and maintains portability with a low cost of living. The food and independence issue is addressed through mobility rather than self reliance.

Others will go for a sustainable farm lifestyle and grow their own food and try to be fully sustainable, food water, energy, transport. It is not difficult with solar and electric cars and a farm caretaker. A rural environment can be very pleasant and rewarding. Size will depend on how much you want to maintain and resources available. Some in this group also maintain a city apartment to give variety. I am in this group. My goal is to get the farm to net zero cost to live.

All are valid responses and will depend on your personal situation, issue priority and your worldview for the future. The risk of moving early is the expense and the possibility the adverse conditions will resolve themselves. The issue of moving too late is some assets may get caught in capital controls or transport back and forth may get restricted in certain future scenarios, or sale of homeland assets may become more difficult if markets have already turned.

In my discussions with others who have made the full relocation move like myself, we constantly discuss monitoring the events, recognizing the threats, but not viewing this as running away, but rather recognize that over time our environment will change around us - that is just a fact of nature, and we view this as our measured response and next big adventure and the opportunity to take our lives global.

The decision of "where" is as exciting as it is complex. And doesn't have to be a single place, it can be a global structure. This is a chance to expand and explore as much as it is a move away from threats. My advice would be to dream big but also to leave buffers everywhere you can resource wise, as things will take time, and time away from income earning work can burn through savings. There will be costs with liquidating and repurchasing homes and cars and other assets. The possibilities are huge, but if you filter by your concerns, it will narrow the pathways. This is where getting a bit of help can pay for itself, by reducing the time you spend away from your own income earning activities.

Good luck, and safe travels.