Today, in 10 minutes or less, you’ll learn:

• 🏡 How to Arbitrage Cost of Living Internationally, Regionally, and Locally

• 👩‍💻 How to Navigate Tech Jobs and the Three Tiers of Tech Salaries

• 💼 Offshoring Your Business, Hiring Remote Talent, and Establishing Residency

• 👜 How to Arbitrage Price and Currency Differences

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🌏️ 7 Geoarbitrage Strategies to Save or Make Money

I’ve lived abroad for the past 5 years.

During this time, I discovered a secret. And once I observed it in my life, I couldn’t unsee it. In fact, I started noticing it everywhere. It’s transformed how I think about my life, work, and business.

In this newsletter, I’m going to uncover 7 geoarbitrage strategies to save and make money—along with real examples and anecdotes.

Let me begin with a quick personal and professional history:

Timeline of My Work and Life Abroad 📍

• Pre-2019 - Lived in San Francisco, California for 7 years, working as a product manager for Dropbox and growth-stage startups.

• 2019 - Traveled the world. Experimented with being a digital nomad and remote product coach in Asia, Europe, Latin America.

• 2020-2023 - Moved to Singapore to work for a regional fintech startup. Weathered out Covid in the Red Dot.

• 2023 - Left my full-time job. Started building my consulting and media businesses. Got married. Lease expired in Singapore. Rent increased by 60%, so we decided to move to Saigon for 6 months, then Mexico City for the winter.

• February 2024 - Signed a 1-year lease in Mexico City to pursue goals like gaining Spanish fluency, exploring Latin America, and gorging on delicious tacos.

As you can tell, I’ve spent a lot of time navigating geographies.

What is Geoarbitrage? 💵

Geoarbirtrage is exploiting differences in price, cost of living, salary, taxes, and currency in different markets or locations to save or make money.

Whether your ultimate goal is financial independence, location flexibility, or building a business, geoarbritrage can help you accelerate towards your goal.

Strategy #1: Moving From a High Cost of Living to Low Cost of Living Country ✈️

This strategy is most suited for remote workers, freelancers, or business owners. By relocating from a HCOL to a LCOL country, you can cut your monthly expenses dramatically.

Notion is one of my most-used products. It’s little known that its founders, in the early days, moved from SF to Kyoto to cut costs and code in peace.

When I moved from the US to Singapore, I made a lower salary in Singapore than if I worked in a comparable role in the US. But I ended up (significantly) net positive after taxes due to lower cost-of-living and taxes.

Then, when we stayed in Vietnam for 6 months, our housing costs shrunk by 60%:

• $4,800 SGD (~$3,570 USD) for a 1-Bedroom 1-Bath Condo in Singapore’s Robertson Quay

• $1,400 USD for half of a 3-Bedroom 3-Bath Luxury Serviced Apartment in Saigon’s District 2 (shared with another couple)

Granted, these aren’t perfect apples-to-apples comparison. But enough to see the savings potential.

Strategy #2: Moving From a High Cost of Living to Low Cost of Living City/State 🚗

This strategy is similar to strategy #1, but applied through a local lens. It’s good for most people, especially families with kids, who would find a global move to be disruptive.

Start really local—i.e. within your city itself. Sam Dogen, former investment banker and founder of Financial Samurai, writes:

Imagine saving another $50k a year. How much stress that’d alleviate!

Moving to a different states or region has a similar effect. For example, as an Australian, moving from Sydney to Melbourne means accessing a real estate market with 25%+ lower median rent. While time zones are still the same.

Strategy #3: Getting a Job With a Global Employer 👩‍💻