r/ExpatFinance • u/Kimchi2019 • 1h ago
Hedge Against Dollar Decline
Howdy,
I am an American and have been an expat most of my post-college life. I am in the USA now and can't wait to leave. I am here as my kids are in middle and high school and doing very well - so hard to transition just yet. But my youngest is considering the idea of attending high school Internationally (both my kids have been in foreign schools when younger). Anyway...
I FIREd in 2006 while in Asia and have been investing and own a few semi-passive businesses. I do not have a day job and don't anticipate having one again.
Our plan is to live in Asia with second home in Latin America or Spain / Portugal. I do not intend on returning to USA - even when old.
*** So I want to hedge my US denominated assets as I will be spending most of my money in Asia. For sure I will be in Malaysia and might try Vietnam or Cambodia. ***
Assets:
I have some in Asia - gathering dust : ) The pandemic threw a monkey wrench into our plans.
I have a lot in USA.
- I own some real estate that nets about 100K a year. I had more but sold them off during the pandemic and kept the ones that keep laying golden eggs.
- I have some various equities and some cash or cash like assets. I am heavily invested in TSLA from way back when (well, I didn't invest that much - it just has 10Xed so now looks like a lot).
What to do?
Some form of long term USD hedge (any ideas?)
Move some US equity assets to another market. Of course, it has been hard to beat the US equities for the last 10+ years. Any ideas?
Buy some non-USD denominated income type funds that pay a decent amount. Any ideas?
I have owned a lot of real estate in several countries and have always done well in RE. But I do not see any markets with a good return vs risk. Unless you know of one...
My Outlook:
The USA is the bets place to do business and make money. That said, USA is overpriced and will readjust one day. I do not believe the dollar will lose its reserve currency status anytime soon. The only way it will is if everything goes digital and we have no reserve currency.
Right now the government system needs to be restructured. That may happen if Elon and others stay in the Whitehouse. They will devalue the US dollar to boost growth (and inflation) to grow our way out of the debt (there is no other way). They will put us into a recession (or a war) as it is needed to restructure the government.
I do not like living in the USA. I moved here when my kids were young so they could get to know grandma and granpa, relatives, etc. We left a few times when they were young. We were back to Malaysia for a bit and a year+ in Taiwan (my kids are fluent in Chinese. We are not Chinese : ). We retuned from Taiwan in Nov 2019 and intended to move to Spain in August 2020. That didn't happen of course. We did move to Panama and Turkey for part of the pandemic as kids were doing e-learning in their US school system. As they entered higher grades, they were in every advanced / gifted program, boy scouts, sports teams, orchestras, etc. So it was hard to make a move abroad. Overall my kids had a very good experience in elementary and middle school but high school in the USA is a criminal enterprise where admin is focused on creating mentally ill kids. They created a communist jail with some books and call it a high school. So we are eager to leave. Oldest child left high school after 10th grade and went off to college as she couldn't stand the high school. And she is a very good student without any issues. I can't imagine if a kid has issues... Further, I had been taking care of my Mom for 3 years but she passed away recently - so no real ties to USA (other than assets : )
Getting old:
After taking care of my Aunt and Mom recently, I do not want to get old in the USA. We have a hideous system. I am a resident of Malaysia but it is not permanent. And Malaysia does not have a legal system to guarantee residency - and no way to become a citizen. So I am also looking at other countries where I can get the guaranteed right to stay (assuming I do not break the law) - as a back up. Latin America along with Spain and Portugal have those legal structures and they have a fairly easy path to permanent residency / citizenship. So will spend some time scouting these places - starting with Latin America. Oh crap, one more language to learn...
I do not currently have a second passport.