https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/Stories and plain-language guides for anyone thinking about living somewhere else.Mon, 05 Oct 2026 14:45:42 +0000https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/the-same-money-in-three-different-accounts/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/start-with-the-country-not-the-city/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/write-down-what-you-do-not-want/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/what-happens-when-someone-dies-abroad/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/the-property-tax-bill-same-house-price-two-countries/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/the-insurance-bill-you-never-see/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/the-same-premiums-invested-instead/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/what-to-do-after-a-terrible-first-day-in-a-new-place/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/checking-a-fear-step-by-step/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/which-country-were-you-taught-to-fear/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/same-job-different-country-the-savings-math/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/five-steps-from-easy-to-complete/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/hold-some-savings-in-the-currency-you-will-spend/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/two-questions-about-money/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/is-your-house-an-asset-a-plain-test/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/nobody-is-the-villain/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/does-this-rule-still-work-for-you/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/the-first-empty-day/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/your-habits-have-a-price-tag/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/small-tries-not-one-big-bet/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/say-yes-first-then-prepare/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/one-small-step-before-dinner/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/decide-your-number-before-you-walk-in/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/the-foreign-earned-income-exclusion-in-plain-words/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/taking-your-dog-abroad-or-finding-him-the-right-home/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/a-resort-is-not-the-country/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/what-you-notice-when-you-come-back/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/the-storage-unit-that-cost-more-than-its-contents/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/there-is-no-competition/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/five-tax-bills-in-one-household/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/what-counts-as-wealth-a-talk-at-the-kitchen-table/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/the-fees-you-never-see-on-a-statement/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/the-points-you-earn-abroad-and-what-they-cost/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/do-you-need-a-bank-account-where-you-live/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/being-a-good-guest-in-someone-elses-neighborhood/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/being-a-good-guest-in-someone-elses-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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/why-day-ten-matters-more-than-day-two/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/two-cards-a-little-cash-and-a-phone-number/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/the-first-hundred-words/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/the-same-glasses-a-different-price/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/when-the-family-comes-to-visit/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/the-birthday-party-and-the-open-door/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/finding-a-doctor-you-trust-abroad/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/the-first-months-paperwork/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/the-first-months-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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/a-year-of-seasons/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/who-pays-your-lawyer/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/the-day-you-stop-being-a-tourist/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/the-logo-nobody-is-impressed-by/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/the-watch-that-is-five-years-of-someones-pay/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/the-watch-that-is-five-years-of-someones-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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/gracias-and-other-ways-to-say-no/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/the-electrician-who-tended-bar/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/keeping-your-people-close-from-far-away/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/how-much-cash-should-you-carry/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/would-you-choose-it-again/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/living-in-three-places-instead-of-one/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/finding-your-tribe-without-a-shared-language/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/what-a-lease-can-hide-in-translation/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/a-week-in-bed-in-a-new-country/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/if-you-reach-90-how-many-years-are-left/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/why-life-expectancy-at-birth-says-little-about-a-60-year-old/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/the-chance-of-reaching-90-for-one-person-and-for-a-couple/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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?https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/five-habits-and-up-to-14-more-years/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/thirty-minutes-a-day-what-the-research-says-about-how-much-movement-counts/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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?https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/long-life-or-a-life-well-lived-what-about-the-glass-of-wine/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/why-life-expectancy-at-60-differs-between-countries/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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?https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/do-wealthy-americans-live-as-long-as-wealthy-europeans/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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?https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/do-people-who-move-take-on-their-new-country-s-life-expectancy/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/what-blue-zones-are-and-what-the-dispute-is-about/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/the-ten-places-called-blue-zones-and-which-have-good-records/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/what-blue-zone-habits-have-in-common-and-which-could-go-with-you/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/healthy-years-at-60-why-japan-korea-and-spain-lead/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/living-long-and-living-well-are-different-goals/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/who-looks-after-you-at-85-and-where-is-that-easier/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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?https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/walkable-cities-and-why-people-there-move-more/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/how-far-is-the-nearest-hospital-and-when-does-it-matter/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/clean-air-what-a-country-average-shows-and-hides/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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?https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/what-changes-first-when-you-move/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/friends-and-company-what-the-research-says-about-long-life/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/your-medical-records-when-you-live-abroad/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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?https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/plan-for-the-age-you-might-reach-not-the-average/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/how-long-should-the-money-last-the-20-to-40-year-choice/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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?https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/longer-life-means-more-care-leaving-room-in-the-plan/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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?https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/buying-a-lifestyle-business-for-retirement-why-it-so-often-goes-wrong/https://fromhereanywhere.com/blog/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.