Choosing where to go
Start With the Country, Not the City
A city sits inside a country, and the country sets the rules, the language, the weather and the cost. Here is a way to build your list in the right order.
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Choosing where to go
Choosing where to go
Write Down What You Do Not Want
A list of wants fits half the world, and a list of dislikes shrinks it fast. Anita’s six lines show how.
Choosing where to go
What Happens When Someone Dies Abroad
Walter wanted to be buried at home, and getting him there took eleven days of paperwork. Here are the questions a family can ask long before they are needed.
Choosing where to go
Decide Your Number Before You Walk In
Corinne and Eli write three numbers on an envelope before they visit a house they love. Deciding the numbers first lets the visit be about the house.
Choosing where to go
Why Day Ten Matters More Than Day Two
Priscilla and Dean rent three towns for two weeks each and rate how they feel. The town that won on day two lost by day ten.
Choosing where to go
A Year of Seasons
Wanda moves in October to a town she visited in June and keeps a notebook for twelve months. A table of rent, utilities and mood shows what a visit could not.
Choosing where to go
Living in Three Places Instead of One
Lorna and Vic do not want to pick one country. They spread a year over Paris, Buenos Aires and a Caribbean island and add each place’s monthly spending by its share of the year.
What staying costs
What staying costs
The Property Tax Bill: Same House Price, Two Countries
Gina and Tom add up every local charge on a $600,000 house and find that the same price can mean a very different yearly bill. Here is how to add up your own.
What staying costs
The Insurance Bill You Never See
Priya pays $6,000 a year for health cover, and her employer pays $18,000 more in her name. Add it all up and her household spends about $33,000 a year on insurance.
What staying costs
The Same Premiums, Invested Instead
What would $33,000 a year become over thirty years if it went into an index fund instead of premiums? The numbers, and what insurers pay back.
What staying costs
The Foreign Earned Income Exclusion in Plain Words
Two remote workers hear about a rule that lets them earn without American tax on it. One qualifies and one does not, and the 330-day count is why.
What staying costs
Five Tax Bills in One Household
The Okafor family adds up five separate tax bills and finds they come to almost a third of their income. Most of us argue about only one of them.
What staying costs
The Fees You Never See on a Statement
Nadia and Joe find three places where money leaves their account without a bill: a card fee, cash machine fees and a question at the card reader. Together they cost $1,634 a year.
What staying costs
Do You Need a Bank Account Where You Live?
Ingrid and Carl pay $65 each month to send their rent from home. A local account takes a morning to open and changes that.
What staying costs
Two Cards, a Little Cash and a Phone Number
Odette’s card is declined at a pharmacy counter, and a second card from another bank saves the afternoon. A short list of what to carry for the day something goes wrong.
What staying costs
The Same Glasses, a Different Price
Yasmin prices five yearly health costs at home and abroad and finds $965 against $232. How to ask for a quote, and why some prices do not fall.
What staying costs
Finding a Doctor You Trust Abroad
Samir meets his first doctor abroad while he is healthy, with a one-page health summary and three questions that matter later. How to find a doctor by asking the baker.
What staying costs
The First Month’s Paperwork
Greta and Will find that their paperwork forms a circle: the landlord wants a bank account, the bank wants an address, and the address needs a lease. A local helper tells them the order.
What staying costs
Who Pays Your Lawyer?
Dina and Reuben are offered a lawyer by the agent selling them an apartment, and ask one question: who pays you? A second lawyer finds a $4,200 lien before closing.
What staying costs
Gracias, and Other Ways to Say No
Wherever I go, people come to me for money or to sell me something. I explain the cara, the polite gracias, and what happens when you bargain in the wrong place.
What staying costs
How Much Cash Should You Carry?
Isaac withdraws $2,000 to save a $9 fee and loses it in a market. A simple rule for how much cash to carry and where to keep the rest.
What staying costs
What a Lease Can Hide in Translation
Selma and Jon are handed a friendly English translation of a lease. A bilingual friend and a one-hour lawyer find five clauses the translation had softened.
Money moves
Money moves
The Same Money in Three Different Accounts
A couple needs a different amount of money on retirement day depending on whether it sits in a regular account, a Roth or a traditional account. The biggest differences come from taking money out early and taking it out all at once.
Money moves
Same Job, Different Country: The Savings Math
Naomi and Dev draw two columns for the same $180,000 income and find a very different amount left to save. Here is the table and what it leaves out.
Money moves
Five Steps, From Easy to Complete
Living abroad can be five small decisions instead of one big one. Louise stops at each step as long as she likes.
Money moves
Hold Some Savings in the Currency You Will Spend
When Elise’s pound fell against the euro, her savings lost about 10 percent of their buying power without a cent being spent. Here is how holding some of the currency you will spend changes that.
Money moves
What You Notice When You Come Back
Hugo spends three months in a city where he knows nobody, and the surprise comes on the way home. Two lists in a notebook show him what to keep.
Money moves
The Points You Earn Abroad, and What They Cost
Mira compares three cards by what they earn minus what they charge abroad, and the card with the best headline loses money. A short way to compare your own.
Money moves
Plan for the age you might reach, not the average
Suppose a couple, both 65, look up the average. A man their age has about 18 more years and a woman about 21. They plan for 20 years. That plan ends at 85.
Money moves
How long should the money last? The 20 to 40 year choice
Suppose you must pick one number from a list: 20, 25, 30, 35 or 40 years. The money has to last that long. Which would you choose?
Money moves
Longer life means more care: leaving room in the plan
Suppose a couple has planned their money to age 95. Both reach 85. One of them needs help every day. The plan did not count what that costs. How large might that cost be?
Money moves
Buying a lifestyle business for retirement: why it so often goes wrong
Imagine you are staying at a small bed and breakfast. The owner brings out breakfast. The garden is quiet. A thought comes: I could do this someday. I have had that thought many times.
Fear and security
Fear and security
What to Do After a Terrible First Day in a New Place
A storm, a power cut and a lost reservation can ruin a first day, but one bad day is a thin sample of a city. Here are three things to try before you decide.
Fear and security
Checking a Fear, Step by Step
Joel was told for years that a country was dangerous. He checked it with numbers, a plan on paper and conversations with people who live there.
Fear and security
Which Country Were You Taught to Fear?
Mei traced her fear of a country back to a news segment and a movie. Write down yours and where it came from, and tell us in the comments.
Fear and security
A Resort Is Not the Country
A resort is a small place built for visitors, and a week there tells you about the resort. Dana and Phil take one local bus and see a town that does not match the warning.
Fear and security
The Watch That Is Five Years of Someone’s Pay
Calvin wears a $9,000 watch to dinner in a safe neighborhood, and it equals five years of a kitchen worker’s pay. What you carry can change the odds anywhere.
Fear and security
A Week in Bed in a New Country
Cora wakes with a fever in her third month abroad and finds out what her sick-day card is for. A short list of what to have ready before the day you need it.
Rich, poor and the system
Rich, poor and the system
Two Questions About Money
Arlo and Beth each get a $5,000 bonus and ask different questions about it. Twenty years later, one has twenty weekends by the sea and the other has about $690 a month.
Rich, poor and the system
Is Your House an Asset? A Plain Test
A paid-off house can send a bill every month and no money. Rosa and Kent sort what they own into two columns and see what changes if they rent it out.
Rich, poor and the system
Nobody Is the Villain
A kind sales manager sells a package a month early, and so does the person who replaces him. The cause is in how the pay is set, and that explains a lot of bills.
Rich, poor and the system
There Is No Competition
Victor spent thirty-one years near the top of a ranking, and on his first evening abroad he lists what he wants from tomorrow morning. Some wants are races and some are not, and it helps to know which is which.
Rich, poor and the system
What Counts as Wealth: A Talk at the Kitchen Table
Mariana and Tom disagree about whether a family plot of land counts as wealth. Naming the difference between income and a store of value settles it.
Leaving, and the defaults we carry
Leaving, and the defaults we carry
Does This Rule Still Work for You?
Hilda and Jack write down five money rules they inherited and test each one. Two stay, two are rewritten, and one goes on a list to try.
Leaving, and the defaults we carry
The First Empty Day
Gordon wakes in a new city with nothing on his calendar and a rising feeling that he made a mistake. Three small anchors changed his week.
Leaving, and the defaults we carry
Your Habits Have a Price Tag
Pat and Lou price five habits at home and after a move, and the difference is $31,500 a year. The list helps them tell what they love from what they merely kept.
Leaving, and the defaults we carry
Taking Your Dog Abroad, or Finding Him the Right Home
Colleen takes her retriever abroad, and Rita finds her old dog a home with her niece. The questions are the same, and so is the love.
Leaving, and the defaults we carry
The Storage Unit That Cost More Than Its Contents
Ines and Paul add up four years of storage fees and find they paid almost four times the value of what was inside. A list of monthly charges helps them decide what to end and what to keep.
Leaving, and the defaults we carry
Being a Good Guest in Someone Else’s Neighborhood
Beatriz has watched her street change since newcomers arrived, and two of them handle it very differently. One asks what to know, and the other expects the street to know what he needs.
Leaving, and the defaults we carry
The First Hundred Words
Marcus lands knowing forty words and builds a habit small enough to keep. A year later he is not fluent, but he is a neighbor people can talk to.
Leaving, and the defaults we carry
When the Family Comes to Visit
Fatima and Oscar have eleven visits in their first year, and the nicest part of it is also the most tiring. Saying the plan out loud made the second year easier.
Leaving, and the defaults we carry
The Birthday Party and the Open Door
My wife had a birthday party with a DJ until ten, and two neighbors from home asked me to turn the music down. What I wanted to say, what I said, and what the noise ordinance had to do with it.
Leaving, and the defaults we carry
The Day You Stop Being a Tourist
Anders gives a tourist directions and realizes he used to be the one with the map. The wonder fades and something calmer replaces it.
Leaving, and the defaults we carry
The Logo Nobody Is Impressed By
Why the same famous logos are on a market table in every country, and why a symbol of status at home may say something else abroad.
Leaving, and the defaults we carry
The Electrician Who Tended Bar
An electrician says he has tended bar for seven years, and a lawyer-bartender ends up trimming my beard. What it means to live among generalists.
Leaving, and the defaults we carry
Keeping Your People Close From Far Away
Maribel leaves four friends, a sister and two grandchildren behind and gives each a rhythm: a Sunday call, a first-Friday call, a monthly letter. A fixed day on the calendar keeps each one going.
Leaving, and the defaults we carry
Finding Your Tribe Without a Shared Language
Oskar knows a hundred words and eats most dinners alone. He stops looking for people to talk with and starts looking for things to do with people.
The choice
The choice
Small Tries, Not One Big Bet
Rina tries four places for a month each and spends about $10,000 on the way to the one that becomes home. A little arithmetic shows why small tries work.
The choice
Say Yes First, Then Prepare
Felix says yes to a three-day mountain trail before he understands it, then asks what could go wrong. A yes can come first if the plan follows.
The choice
One Small Step Before Dinner
Imani says one sentence to her sister over soup, and the direction of her year changes. A step can be small, private and reversible.
The choice
Would You Choose It Again?
At month eleven, Nora and Pete write three columns and ask one question: if we arrived here today, would we choose it? They sign for twelve months and change one thing.
How long we live
How long we live
If you reach 90, how many years are left?
Suppose you are 90 years old. Or your mother is, or the woman next door. Someone asks how many years are left. You could guess one or two. The published tables give a longer answer.
How long we live
Why life expectancy at birth says little about a 60-year-old
Suppose you are 60 and you read that life expectancy in your country is 78.7 years. The country may be the United States, or Mexico, or Japan. The sum seems simple. Subtract 60 and 18.7 years remain.
How long we live
The chance of reaching 90, for one person and for a couple
Suppose two people, both 65, sit down to plan how long their money should last. One says thirty years, which ends at 95. How likely is it that either of them is alive then?
How long we live
Five habits and up to 14 more years
Suppose you counted how many of five habits you have today. The five are never smoking, a healthy weight, at least 30 minutes a day of moderate or vigorous activity, moderate drinking, and a healthy diet.
How long we live
Thirty minutes a day: what the research says about how much movement counts
Suppose you walk briskly for 30 minutes on five days a week. That adds up to 150 minutes, which is the minimum for moderate activity in US guidelines. What does that buy?
How long we live
Long life or a life well lived: what about the glass of wine?
My mother died young, of an autoimmune disease. She died at the age I am now. That weighs on me, and it has shaped how I read everything in this series.
How long we live
Why life expectancy at 60 differs between countries
Imagine two people turn 60 on the same day. One lives in Japan and one lives in Mexico. How many more years does each expect?
How long we live
Do wealthy Americans live as long as wealthy Europeans?
Suppose two people are 65. Both have savings, a home and a doctor. One lives in the United States and the other in Germany or Spain. Would you expect their chances of living the next twelve years to match?
How long we live
Do people who move take on their new country's life expectancy?
Suppose a person moves at 60 to a country where people who reach 60 live two years longer on average. Does the person gain the two years? The question has two parts.
How long we live
Living long and living well are different goals
Suppose someone offers you two more years at 60. Before you answer, you might ask what shape those years would be in. Researchers ask that question with healthy life expectancy.
Blue zones and healthy years
Blue zones and healthy years
What blue zones are, and what the dispute is about
Suppose someone asks you to prove that a man in a mountain village is 102 years old. The man has no papers in his pocket. He says he was born in the village, in a year he remembers because of a flood.
Blue zones and healthy years
The ten places called blue zones, and which have good records
Suppose you are asked to name the places where people live the longest. A list of five comes to mind for many people. A 2025 review looked at what the research says.
Blue zones and healthy years
What blue zone habits have in common, and which could go with you
Suppose you could ask a 100-year-old in each of four places how a day goes. What would you expect to hear? Dan Buettner and his team did something like this.
Blue zones and healthy years
Healthy years at 60: why Japan, Korea and Spain lead
Suppose two people are 60. Each is told to expect about 23 more years. One may spend most of them in full health. The other may not. Life expectancy says how long.
Health, care and place
Health, care and place
Who looks after you at 85, and where is that easier?
Suppose you are 85 and need help getting dressed in the morning. Or someone you love is 85. Who would come, and what would it cost? How likely is it to happen?
Health, care and place
Walkable cities, and why people there move more
Suppose you could count one person's steps before and after a move across the country. Would the number change? A research team led by Tim Althoff and Jure Leskovec did this for many people.
Health, care and place
How far is the nearest hospital, and when does it matter?
Imagine you are at home and a heart attack begins. How many minutes would it take to reach a hospital? A study in Tayside, Scotland followed 10,541 people who had a first heart attack between 1994 and 2003.
Health, care and place
Clean air: what a country average shows and hides
Imagine two cities. In one, the yearly average of fine particles in the air is 7 units. In the other it is 18. Does that difference matter for how long people live?
Health, care and place
What changes first when you move
Imagine you have just moved to a new country. What changes first, and what takes years? No study measures the full order. Pieces of the answer come from different studies, and they point in the same direction.
Health, care and place
Friends and company: what the research says about long life
Suppose you could pick one habit from the five in the Harvard study, or add company to your week. Which would help you live longer? Researchers have measured the second one.
Health, care and place
Your medical records when you live abroad
Imagine you are in a clinic in a new country. The doctor asks about your last heart test and your medicines. What do you have in your hand?