It was only supposed to be a one-year adventure for Liza, Bradford and their three kids, who moved from Canada to Colombia after Bradford lost his job. Within six weeks, they sold their home and set off for South America.
Seven years later, though, they’re still there, telling host Ramit Sethi during a recent episode of his I Will Teach You To Be Rich podcast that they feel “trapped abroad” and doubt that they could afford to move back home and maintain their lifestyle (1).
“I feel like everything in North America has gotten more expensive,” Liza explained. “We’re used to paying this much, and now we have to pay $2,000 more a month for rent, or we have to pay whatever extra for food. I don’t even know how to make that work.”
The family lives in the mountain city of Medellín, where Bradford works as a teacher along with up to three other jobs. Liza does virtual freelance work, but struggles to find clients, so her income fluctuates.
They earn about $120,000 combined annually, but only have $1,500 in savings due to debt repayments, telling Sethi that they feel “priced out of life” to the point that, if they moved back home, they “don’t know if we’d survive a month without the food bank.”
Beyond adventure, part of the allure of moving abroad is the lower cost of living. Liza noted stories of foreigners in Colombia working remotely but being paid in U.S. dollars, making them able to “live really well.”
But the reality for the couple is that with Bradford working locally, most of their income is in Colombian pesos. As such, Liza says the cost of living is “about the same” as in Canada, which makes saving for a return home difficult.
Some Americans abroad — which the Association of Americans Resident Overseas (AARO) estimates at about 5.5 million — find themselves in similar situations as costs back home rise (2).
The Consumer Price Index jumped 3.3% over the last year (3), with almost 40% of Americans struggling to afford the basics. The median home price rose for the 33rd consecutive month to $408,800 in March, according to the National Association of Realtors (4), and RedFin notes that a typical home in the U.S. requires a $111,000 salary (5). Major cities, meanwhile, experienced rent increases of up to 40% in the last five years (6).
Nino Trentinella, an American from Baltimore living in Tbilisi, Georgia, told the New York Times that while her teaching job pays less than $40,000 USD annually, she was able to employ a housekeeper and even a cook while on maternity leave — “unattainable” luxuries in the U.S. on that salary (7).
Many retirees, meanwhile, leave the U.S. to enjoy their golden years abroad. And while some tout the thousands of dollars they save on health care needs, the prohibitive cost of similar services in the U.S. could prevent a return in the future (8).
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Proper planning is key to avoiding some of the financial pitfalls that trap American emigrants abroad.
To start, don’t rush the move. Tom Zachystal, the president and chief investment officer at International Asset Management, which advises Americans who live internationally, suggests consulting with a professional to “design a budget that anticipates exchange-rate shocks, uneven income, and shifting tax obligations,” along with investment strategies (9).
He also suggested tracking your spending to ensure you stay on budget, and keeping up to six months worth of savings in local currency to protect against possible cashflow interruptions.
That’s what American Alex Trias and his wife are doing in order to be able to retire in Portugal. He said that they draw from investments for cash, adding that they “live below our means, reinvest the difference and let compounding do the work.”
Other expert tips include keeping one or more U.S. credit cards open to prevent a poor credit score that could impact your ability to get on your feet if you want to return home, as well as buying health insurance for added protection abroad.
And for those looking to return home, moving to smaller cities where housing is less expensive than major hubs can help you transition back without breaking the bank.
For example, Zillow reports that the typical home value in Buffalo, N.Y., is just under $273,000 — about $435,000 less than the typical home value just up the road in New York City (10).
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Article Sources
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I Will Teach You To Be Rich (1); Association of Americans Resident Overseas (2); U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (3); National Association of Realtors (4); Redfin (5); Reuters (6); The New York Times (7); International Living (8); International Asset Management (9); Zillow (10)
This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com under the title: This family of 5 relocated to Colombia — and now with $1,500 in savings, they’re ‘trapped’ and can’t afford to move home
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