re: Ever contemplated becoming an expat and moving to another country?

Wife was offered a position with Caltex in Sydney years ago, and turned it down. Single handedly the biggest mistake we ever made.

Tanzania. Beautiful country with a large number of American expats.

I will probably never actually leave since I like college football and apple pie too much.

Nicaragua was my stomping grounds.

Costa Rica is expensive with too many tourists.

Honduras is not safe.

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Ever contemplated becoming an expat and moving to another country?

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You mean like Texas?

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I believe you have to still pay U.S. taxes if you live abroad unless you renounce your U.S. citizenship.

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Yes, but it's different. There are all kinds of rules where you might not have to pay the full amount of tax that you'd pay if you earned the same amount inside U.S. borders. My uncle did 10 years in Afghanistan and basically sold or transferred title to everything he owned in the U.S. before he left so he had nothing left here and only was able to leave Afghanistan for a certain number of days every year so that the IRS wouldn't gig him for the full tax burden. He basically had to forget about life in the U.S. and live like an Afghan while remaining a citizen of the U.S. The difference in taxation if he didn't follow all the IRS rules was on the order of tens of thousands of dollars a year. The whole point was to never work again when he came home, so he stuck to the rules and made sure he came home with every penny he could keep in his pockets for his time in that hellhole.

Cool, what part of Thailand?

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My buddy worked there for a few years. The luster wears off especially if you are raising kids.

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Yea I wouldn't want to raise a child there, but would consider if I go the child-free route.

I keep in touch with a guy who was born and raised on St. Thomas. He moved to the U.S. for a job and was back in the islands within two years because he missed paradise. His social media inspires envy most days

Yes - Cuenca Ecuador. In 2015, I spent 30 days here. Loved the weather, Ecuador uses the US dollar & flights ( COPA ) are cheap through New Orleans.
Residency requirements are easy to obtain & cost of living is cheap.

I came close to moving to B.C. out of college.

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Nothing will make you appreciate America more, than living abroad.

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This. Sure I could live overseas for 6-12 months at a time, but I have kids now and a life and friends and everything else. A lot of things are great overseas when you are there for a short period of time.

But to actually become a citizen of somewhere else over the USA? That's laughable to me.

Now I certainly wish to retire young and travel all over for long lengths of time. But always coming back to home in the USA.

No. Ill go down with the ship.