Not too hot, not too expensive, not too on fire, plenty of water.
Do you happen to be in this All Gas No Brakes video?
I strongly recommend moving to a different country, if you can. It's a big, interesting world out there.
Income taxes are high though, and I'm not sure about health service, schools etc.
The application process was straightforward, if tedious; mainly obtaining a bunch of documents that proved that we were not wanted criminals in the U.S., that we have our own health insurance, and that we had sufficient financial resources that we would not become dependent on the Portuguese social system. It took us about four months to get everything together, and cost in total ~ $200USD (fees for various agencies, both U.S. and Portuguese). You have to submit your documents to the Portuguese consulate that is "attached" to your part of the U.S.; in my case, that was in San Francisco. It was a hassle (made worse because of COVID), but just bureaucracy, nothing worse that that.
We spent about three months in Airbnbs around Portugal to decide where to live, so that cost some. We just signed a two-year lease on a nice 3 bedroom apartment. We were able to do that prior to opening a Portuguese bank account (we used Wise to transfer the money from our U.S. account), but we are working on getting a local account; it'll make paying rent, utility bills and random purchases much easier. (Example: I managed to find a local store that has a Raspberry Pi 4 2GB, but I couldn't buy it online, because their website could not accept a U.S. billing address for my credit card. Grr.)
And yes, we still have financial ties with the U.S., primarily our retirement accounts, and we still pay U.S. taxes. Fortunately, Portugal and the U.S. have a "no double taxation" agreement, so we do not also pay Portuguese taxes on our retirement funds.
The cost of living is significantly lower here than it was in the Seattle area. Our money goes much further. The people are wonderful, the country is beautiful (by and large), and it is much safer than the U.S.--and feels that way! And, all of Europe is a short plane or train ride away.
If you are truly interested in trying this, I strongly recommend the "Portugalist" website: https://www.portugalist.com . James, the man who maintains the site, has a wealth of information on visiting and moving to Portugal. So far, all his advice and suggestions that we've used have been excellent.
Here's a short list of why I'm personally planning on leaving:
* Winters here suck, a lot (4~ months of the year is <40 degrees f, much of it in the 0-9 degrees f range)
* Summers here are hot and muggy (3-4 months of the year >75 degrees f + 73% humidity daily avg.)
* Mosquitoes are very bad here (and I'm allergic to them)
* I'm allergic to most of the flora around here, thanks dad
* Better job market, not a fan of fully remote work
* Walkable communities, better public transit
* More people for niche hobbies
* Better diversity, nearly everyone here is white or a college student
* Far from major airports, air travel is either expensive + inconvenient or a 3 hour drive away
* Outdoor activities are rather limited here relative to other parts of the country, it's very flat and the lakes are small
* Surrounding area is all yee-haw people (lol)
* Restaurant selection is good, relative to only having a McDonald's and Little Ceasars (so not good, but better than most other parts of the state)
* Hope you like driving! You'll do a lot of it to do anything at all
* Housing market here sucks too, maybe not as bad, but still out of range for most
There's no easy answer there. I'd feel guilty leaving; I feel guilty or at least complicit (or worse victimized) staying.
I don’t recommend Seattle. Skyrocketing cost of living, increasing homelessness, and progressive politics that are real communism with local politicians saying we should nationalize Boeing and Amazon.
Did I mention crime? It used to be petty crime, break ins in vehicles, property damage, that kind of stuff.
Downtown Seattle is not safe for a woman to be alone, and especially not an Asian woman. There are several recent cases of Asian woman getting sucker punched or beaten with a bat at rail stations or public transit stops.
The city looks the other ways. Criminals get locked up overnight if at all and get let go the next day. When you add on to this the insane real estate costs and rising rents, it makes zero sense to live in Seattle.
If you’re trying to do this in the US, you need a bigger pile as you need private health insurance as well. Figure 2-5k/month for this, especially if there’s more than 1 person involved. This added expense might push retirees out of the us if there’s no family ties. Watch out for tax treaties with foreign countries and be careful re residency and citizenship to make sure you can get the govt pension you paid for for decades.
1 and 3 both seemed depressing, though for different reasons, so we picked 2. It's also a tough move, but seemed the best option available.
Instead we're closing next week on a beautiful cape cod in a nice neighborhood that we could pay cash for if we wanted (we're still taking a mortgage for other reasons but strictly wouldn't need to). Our children can walk to school, we have friends and family nearby, and generally we can just live without constant worry about the housing market because the majority of our wealth is not tied up in a pile of sticks and drywall that we bought for the equivalent of ten years' wages.
Back then it wasn't much worse than areas in Ohio I'm familiar with (Columbus, Cincinnati).
Constant rent/tax hikes/passed on costs has made it worse.
It's not quite as bad as say San Fran/LA, but it's not what I'd call affordable either
IMHO the telework revolution just destroys the value of high cost of living cities. There used to be a cool culture factor in places like SF but I feel like a lot of that has now been priced out, so you're just paying out the nose to live in a glorified office park.
I'm nearing the age where if I don't commit to owning where I live soon, I'll be renting until I can't afford it anymore.
Inflated metro pricing isn't worth it IMO. Give me quality internet and I'm set.
Political differences may exist between small cities and large cities, but most aspects of culture (language, holidays, daily-schedules, norms, etc.) remain largely the same.
Plus plenty of parts of Colorado are similar to plenty of parts of Texas, politically.
It sounds like you friend just didn’t like living in a swamp - understandably so!
I'm not saying this is on the same level as moving to Mongolia like some people I know, but it really does add up and I wouldn't call it insigifnicant, especially if you like where you are currently (not gonna speak for above on that front).
Everyone goes out, I met my tech company boss and his wife queuing outside a nightclub one time, and both of them dressed in leathers and dog collars.
I'm out of here as soon as the kids are out of the nest, though.