“Don’t expect to see a change if you don’t make one.”
Toby Mac
I just completed my next book researching a future life of an expat! “The Expatriate’s Roadmap to Successfully Moving Overseas” by Cynthia Caughey was a fantastic resource and should be at the top of everyone’s list to read prior to making the jump!
Cynthia is a two-time expat and an expat coach. That stopped me right in my tracks. What is an expat coach?
That led to a quick internet search on the topic. I mentioned that to Jason and he had run across a Youtube video about the topic. He sent me the link of a guy that does this work for folks dreaming of living in Costa Rica. The link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jthmfTk0dI&t=131s
The first thing Cynthia did was go through several great questions to ask yourself if you are a good candidate to be an expat. “Do you get upset if your food is late at a restaurant?” “How do you handle lost luggage?” “How are you with being someplace where nobody speaks your language?”
She did a great job pushing those hard questions to the surface before you get too deep into the book. The point being that being an expat comes with unexpected challenges and it is important to think through how you will react when you are in a situation that might prove challenging.
This is definitely something for us to talk about ahead of time.
She went over health care, taxes, renting/buying property, investments, and even working. Then she walked the reader through a hypothetical move to France, the country she is most familiar.
She explained everything in plain English and didn’t sugar coat anything. No romance of the expatriate lifestyle here. I am much better with straight answers. Her book led me to make a list of investment and tax questions I still need to research.
Overall, this book is a solid 4.5 rating on my Goodreads and I highly recommend it as a resource for others looking to take the leap into expat living!