The Massive Financial Benefits Of Leaving The United States

How I made a comprehensive assessment that led to the decision to move to Spain

I have spent the last few months writing a series of articles defending my decision to move to Spain, as soon as next year, with my partner.

Over the course of these stories, I developed a couple key points:

• I go to Spain with zero sense of general or cultural entitlement. In fact, I’m moving there because I want to be part of Spanish society. I don’t expect it to bend to American norms, customs and ways of life. Many of which I’m not particularly fond of to begin with.
• I could move to any number of global locations for less expensive or flat out cheap housing. We’re choosing Spain because … see bullet point #1.

As an urban planning student from 2002 to 2008, I got the bug real bad for pedestrian-oriented built environments — and the public space and public life they facilitate — long before I first set foot in Europe.

I knew that once I experienced what it feels like to be in a place like Spain (or Italy), I’d want to live there. Because we simply don’t have the types of urban settings they have —ones that prioritize people over cars — in the United States. Not even in the places we put forward as some of the world’s greatest cities.

It was a long time coming, but the second I arrived in Europe in 2022, I knew I wanted to live there. The experience blew away my expectations. You can’t say that about most things in life. Especially things you spend years imagining and, subsequently, hyping.

So I’m done defending my choice. You’re not going to see me flaunting my move on House Hunters International. But you will see me doing my best to assimilate — to be a good dinner guest — before and after our visa (knock on wood!) gets approved.

In today’s article, I focus squarely on the financial dynamics around the decision to leave the United States for Valencia, Spain. The money-related aspects of everyday life that I expect will make me and partner’s lives better generally and financially from the day we make the move and into and beyond relative old age.

Call them the big four expenses. Housing, transportation, healthcare, and eating/drinking out.

On every single count, I asked —

• What do I need as I enter the second act of my life?
• What do I prefer in the day-to-day business — and enjoyment — of doing life?

On every single count, I came to the conclusion that I’d be a fool — when you consider the money meets lifestyle equation — to stay in the United States much longer.

Keeping in mind that you can’t separate money from lifestyle. And you can’t separate lifestyle from the seemingly mundane day to day. Everything from having a walkable built environment out your front door to the prevailing ways you’ll dine and drink out or shop for groceries. All the minuscule things you see and do daily have a cumulative effect and impact. Wedged in the spaces between the big, glaring things, these micro-events shape and form your life.

Turning shape and form into nouns to get a better sense of what I mean.

Shape being affect. How you present and feel on the outside.

Form being how you internalize your day-to-day. How it makes you feel on the inside.

Too often people say I’ll move from the city to the suburbs to buy a house. Because it costs less. And for a whole host of other reasons. They get there and — oftentimes — they’re miserable. Because they just assumed they’d get used to the “peace and quiet,” driving to the grocery store and not being able to walk to grab a bite to eat. They underestimated the importance of how place dictates lifestyle and lifestyle influences, if not determines contentment.

The next question I asked myself was —

• Where can I get the shape and form I’m looking for out of life at a price I can more than afford?

Each one of these points deserves its own article. And, as the move gets closer, they’ll get one. For now, the key points.

On housing. Even with below market rate rent in Los Angeles, my partner and I will pay less in Spain. Much less. We’ll pay less to rent initially and, eventually, buy a place. We’re talking around 40% less.

But, more importantly, we’re talking about a light at the end of the tunnel. The ability to do at least two of the following three things:

• Put closer to 15% of our income towards a mortgage rather than the accepted personal financial standard of 30% in the U.S. On a 230,000 euro property, we’re realistically looking at an 850 euro or so mortgage payment. You don’t want to know what a mortgage costs in America these days.
• If we’re really lucky — and persistently aggressive on savings — we might be able to pay cash or close to it for an apartment.
• Either way, at 48 years old, I anticipate entering my sixties with no monthly house payment other than expenses for taxes, insurance and maintenance.

None of this is even remotely possible in the United States unless you already own a home and became a homeowner prior to record housing prices and 7% interest rates.

On transportation. Pretty simple. Outside of the occasional ride share or public transportation fare, we’re talking zero. $0. Zero euros. Zero anything. Compared to the roughly $450 more than zero I pay monthly — as we speak — in the United States. (Though, I expect to pay off my car before the end of the year). So, in Spain, I eliminate the expense.

On healthcare. It’s a crime that I pay $400 a month for healthcare in the United States. Plus I pay into Social Security.

In Spain, as an autónomo (self-employed person), I will initially—

… pay a flat fee of 80 euros per month (reimbursed by the government if you are in Madrid, Andalusia or Murcia) and then in 2024, between 225 and 530 euros per month, depending on how much you earn.

On eating/drinking out and groceries. I recently wrote a series of articles lamenting the high cost and deteriorating value of eating and drinking out in America.

Going through the motions of going out to restaurants and bars only to be charged an amount of money that absolutely is commensurate with the costs restaurants and bars incur to do business, but absolutely is not commensurate with the quality, value and overall experience they provide.

… My days of eating and drinking out frequently in Los Angeles — and most of America — are finished. I’m saving up for Spain, where I will be more than happy to tip more than 20% (yes, they do appreciate and accept tips in Europe) to make up for the luxury of being able to go out to eat and drink most days of the week at classic, unique places and not even come close to breaking the bank.

And that’s the thing. If you want to randomly stop for a couple of beers, a vermouth (or two) and a snack (or two) in the United States, you’re on the hook for — minimum — $50. But probably closer to $100. At least in big cities.

In Spain —

Bottom line — it has become a fad for people to say they’re moving to Europe. It’s something slightly more than a fad for a handful of those who actually do it.

I don’t have a lot of money. I want to live a good life.

This is serious business. It ain’t no fad or fancy fucking Instagram story.

I’ve been thinking, writing about — and borderline obsessed with this shit — since I landed in San Francisco over Labor Day weekend, 1999. So I have lived in California for 24 years. Half of my life! And, for as good as California has been to me, it can’t give me and my partner what we need and want, financially or from a quality of life standpoint. This is not changing any time soon. In fact, it feels like things are only getting worse.

I don’t want to have to force a good life out of a substandard physical environment I merely settle for, absent the everyday amenities and experiences I crave.

I have a choice. Adopt the futile strategy of trying to make it work — the traditional way — in America. Or make a comprehensive assessment of my realistic possibilities. Pair them with my most necessary aspirations and biggest dreams and desires. Then, find the setting where these things have the best chance — a fighting chance — of coming to be.

If you’d like to know more about the journey I’m on, follow me on Medium.

You can also subscribe to my Never Retire: Living The Semi-Retired Life newsletter where I chronicle my big decisions on lifestyle, housing and cost of living, which includes moving to Spain sooner rather than later.

This article is for informational purposes only. It should not be considered Financial or Legal Advice. Not all information will be accurate. Consult a financial professional before making any major financial decisions.