I definitely think this should be posted as a new thread. I really want to reduce my cost of living in the US so I can spend more time perfecting trading without worrying about having to get side software contracts to cover the month's bills.
Oh what the heck, it's still mostly anonymous. Wisconsin. Trading roughly 10 years, from stocks to options, and now daytrading mini contracts. My stock trading was in the days of buy high, sell higher, so I don't take much credit for those years. I would actually like to learn more about equity trading like is done at the prop houses and have thought of heading out to a Bright boot camp, but family demands make that difficult. If anyone is in Southeast Wisconsin or I guess I could head to Bear country I'd love to find a mentor for equity trading. I had thought about trying to expand my futures trading by getting into Futurestrader71 good graces and learn how he trades as he seems to be very knowledgable and honest, but he went and moved out to D.C. I noted along the way.
39, New Jersey. Stockbrocker 1987-1996 (traded options on a side). Full time stock trader since 1999.
Fatrat, the cost of living in the DR or the Carribean is not all that much lower than the U.S., if you expect the same kind of life style that you are used to over here... Although, hired help is quite cheap, i.e. you can have a maid for a couple of hundred dollars per month. Of course I have no idea what your C.O.L. is like here in the U.S... Also, taxes are always an issue... There are plenty of places in the U.S. that are relatively inexpensive to live at, so bofere you decide to head oversees I would look into your options here... E.g. Texas... <---as far as I know there is no State tax on income... same in FL...
Man, I live in Los Angeles. Almost anywhere in the world is cheaper. Save for NYC, Tokyo, and San Francisco. A 1 bedroom apartment in a reasonable area is $1200-$1500 a month. Where I live, there are 4-5 young people sharing 2 bedroom apartments just to save on rent. The alternative is to live in seedy and inconveniently arranged neighborhoods. Funny you mention TX -- I'm looking at Austin, TX currently. Seems like they have condominiums under $90,000. If I eat a loss during a downswing in real estate on $90,000, I won't care. If I eat a downswing on $500,000 in California, I will definitely care. California real estate forces people to be very highly leveraged, and that makes me uneasy given all the talk about housing bubbles and what not. Hence, the desire to leave. As far as developing countries, ... I'm more intrigued by what it's like to live on a tropical island. If I made $50,000 a year on the markets but got to live in a tropical paradise as a common bozo, ... I'd consider myself a big winner. Why are you leaving the US?
Me 27 NYC Trading In and out swing trading retail day trading Hopefull joining a prop firm 1 wek of Jan
Austin is a nice place to live, well at least the suburbs of it. My inlaws live in Roundrock NE of Austin and it is a pretty nice place. You also might want to check out Hutto which is NE of Austin. Housing right now is running about $100 a sq ft.