The why, where, what, and how of "The Move"

Elayne and I plan to move in May of 2023, which has prompted several questions from friends and family that I thought I would answer here.

Why are you moving?

I retire at the end of January 2023 and am looking for a dramatic change in lifestyle. Specifically I want to live in a more urban setting with a warmer climate and easier access to sailing, scuba diving, and travel to interesting places. I also want to live in a more socially progressive community. For Elayne we need to be able to have access to horses and riding.

I am allergic to practically everything in central Oregon, and finding a place where I do not need to be on constant doses of antihistamines and squirting drops of steroids into my eyes will greatly increase my quality of life.

We want to move somewhere reasonably safe with affordable healthcare and health insurance, a society that embraces diversity and environmental protections, and is a place that meets the criteria I listed above.

Why leave the US?

Politically one of our two major parties has embraced authoritarianism, engages in rhetoric without any basis in facts, actively practices voter suppression, is anti-science and anti-education, and has stripped away rights from citizens and has indicated it will continue to do so.

The cost of healthcare and health insurance in the US is insanely high, and even with insurance patients can find themselves bankrupt and even homeless if they become critically ill.

Crime, especially gun violence, is on the rise in the US and many countries are significantly safer.

Could we continue to live in the US if we found "just the right place?" Sure. We loved our short time in Key West last year and it meets a number of our (well, my) criteria. But it is pricey (in addition to the cost of US healthcare) and horses would be a challenge.

Where are you moving to?

We have been focusing on Portugal because it meets most of our requirements and it offers a visa that allows foreign nationals to easily and affordably gain residency. It is ideally located to make travel to the rest of Europe, Africa and the Middle East relatively quick, inexpensive and easy. Portugal is consistently rated as one of the safest countries in the world, has one of the highest rated health care systems (which is also affordable), has an amazing variety of geographic and climatic regions, and is overall fairly affordable. The people are friendly and accepting of everyone.

We visited different regions in Portugal back in late 2017 and now we are focusing on the northern region in or around the cities of Porto or Braga.

Our final "go/no go" decision for Portugal will be made shortly after we return from our final scouting trip in October 2022.

We have investigated other destinations, but they either have no affordable path to residency (New Zealand, Australia, Ireland), or have worsening crime rates (Costa Rica, Mexico), or have an undesirable geography and climate (Malta). The logical choice for us continues to be Portugal.

How long will you be gone?

The intent is not to return. We plan to invest two years time in our new home after which we will evaluate how well we are enjoying life there and decide whether to make it our permanent home or not.

If our new home turns out to not be our kind of place after two years then we will find another place to live based upon our experiences and move there.

We can visit family, friends and favorite places back in the US as part of our travels.

What about the horses?

In April Whitney will go back to our friend from whom we got her.

We will find a new home for Kwest sometime between now and May 2023.

We plan to bring Taylor and Topaz with us. This requires transporting them to a quarantine facility in Los Angeles where they will stay for 30 days before flying over to Europe. The intent is for us to board them at a stable while we live in a nearby city. Finding a suitable boarding facility in northern Portugal is proving to be a challenge.

The pair will be boarded here in central Oregon until we work out the details of where they (and we) will live long term in Portugal.

What else?

We will put our central Oregon house on the market in April 2023 with the hope that it sells within a month or two. The money from the sale will fund purchasing a new home a year or so after we've been living there or will just pad our retirement savings if we decide to keep renting.

Assuming we proceed with our move to Portugal...

We will need to learn Portuguese although English is common in the larger cities.

We will continue to be US citizens and have no plans at this time to apply for Portuguese citizenship (you can hold both). After five years of residency we can decide if we want to apply.

As US Citizens we must continue to file taxes for the US as well as Portugal -- the US is one of only three countries in the world that tax based on citizenship. However the US and Portugal have a tax treaty, and so we will first pay taxes to Portugal which will count as a tax credit towards our US taxes and thus we will not be double taxed. For the first ten years in Portugal most of our income will be taxed at 10%. After that we will be taxed at the usual Portuguese tax rates (which are progressive, as with the US).

We will need to purchase a horse trailer and tow vehicle to take our horses to ride on trails. This will require a special class of Portuguese drivers license for which there is a test.

Our healthcare and insurance costs in Portugal will be about a tenth that for equivalent care in the US. Even less if we have any major health issues.

When we visited Portugal back in 2017 I forgot to take my allergy medications after our flight over. I did not realize this until nearly a week into the trip, and I did not need to take them while we were there. As soon as we returned home I was back on a double dosage.

What if we decide not to move to Portugal?

We currently do not have a back up plan, which bothers me a lot. The one unchangeable thing about our plans is that we are going to leave central Oregon in 2023. If we reject Portugal we will need to find another place to live that meets our highest priority requirements (safety, socially progressive, nice climate and an affordable path to residency).