Your Address is Part of Your Portfolio of Assets.
When we think about moving someplace, for the majority of people, they get these starry eyes and they think:
“I can finally sit on the beach, work on my laptop, be a digital nomad, live the dream.”
But you’ve got to think of the address, your location, as one part of your portfolio of assets.
It always comes down to risk and investment. Because that’s what we’re doing. We’re investing here.
A very fundamental question to ask is: how does the new address and location compare against your old one?
Because where you live confers status, legitimacy, and certain assets and rights, just based on where you’re located, where you run your business, and where you operate.
Certain addresses confer more legitimacy. More prestige.
When I buy something and people look at my address, their behavior changes. People who live in a certain area have a certain stature. There’s a cost to doing business if you put yourself in a location considered less prestigious.
The cost of capital. The cost of insurance. The cost of borrowing. The cost of customers seeing your location and deciding they don’t know it well, don’t trust it, and don’t want the transaction to go through.
What are you giving up when you change locations?
Because from the eyes of the consumer, they’re going to know you were in one place, and now you’re in another. And they are going to judge you, whether or not they want to do business with an entity in that new region.
There are jurisdictions that confer more certainty, more safety.
And some that don’t.
There are places in the world that are not set up for appeals. Not set up for civil disagreements.
We call this the destination tax.
It’s a term we use when advising companies moving headquarters, manufacturing, or even just relocating senior leadership.
If someone knew a Porsche was made in a different part of the world, and wouldn’t buy it, that’s a destination tax.
It’s real. And it applies to you too.
If you’re willing to leave California to avoid 13.3% in personal income tax, then clearly you’re willing to make a trade. But what if the trade ends up being much more than you expected?
What are you giving up in terms of capital cost, legitimacy, consumer trust, or ability to operate?
Are you funding a lifestyle… or giving up the structure that funds your life?
And that’s just the first layer.
Let’s say something goes wrong.
What would happen if you had a disagreement with a powerful government or corporate entity like a bank or immigration?
What would happen if a check bounced?
If you passed a debt threshold?
If you went into bankruptcy?
Some countries hit your credit score. Some hit you.
Some let you file for bankruptcy. Some don’t.
Some protect you in a civil dispute. Some don’t care.
There are a lot of things we take for granted where we are.
The right to appeal. The right to recourse. The right to just live life normally, even if something goes wrong.
But will those rights be there where you’re going?
And then there’s ownership.
Corporate finance is not just valuation and return on investment.
It’s governance. Asset control. Your ability to allocate and repatriate.
Do you really own your business, your property, your copyrights, your capital?
Because you can own something and have no ability to do anything with it.
You may not be able to move it.
You may not be able to exit it.
You may not even be able to prove it’s yours.
And that’s a problem when your life and assets are tied to systems that operate under different rules.
Every country is different.
Some let you liquidate. Some don’t.
Some let you move money. Others require permission.
Some let you keep assets as a non-resident. Others don’t.
So the question is not just where you want to go.
The question is: do you know how that country treats people like you when something goes wrong?
That’s what we cover in Episodes 6–8 of The Existential Mistake Made When Immigrating.
They’re available now for Legacy members.
And if you haven’t gone through this program, I would seriously recommend you do. Before you’re forced to.
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Watch the trailer for “The Existential Mistake Made When Immigrating”: http://www.strategytraining.com/programs/the-existential-mistake-made-when-immigrating-trailer