How Did I get Here?
May 21st 2011 15:36
:
Expat and Retirement Websites
Recently a friend from my college days, whom I haven't seen in many, many years found me on Facebook. The first question she asked me was how did I find out all the information I needed to move here. I wrote her a lengthy private message explaining the process which brought me here. I realized that in one of my earlier blogs I had explained that I did my research on Malaysia before moving here. I feel I should add that my research involved learning about Malaysian culture and life. I did not explain how I got the information on the logistics of moving here.
Probably my biggest concern in moving to Malysia was financial. This included banking arrangements and paying my US federal and state taxes. I searched all of the websites regarding retiring abroad, expats and international living. I basically found these sites to be useless. Most of the sites concerned selling real estate, primarily in Central or South America or getting a job overseas. There was little or no information on how to actually prepare to move. When there was information it was extremely vague or very basic. Nothing was said about how to set up banking, transfering money easily or fullfilling income tax requirements, other than saying you still had to pay taxes.
I think I have already explained that the major banks were useless in addressing my needs while living overseas. Regarding paying my taxes I thought the natural place to go was the US Internal Revenue Service. They had absolutley no information for anyone who was retired and living abroad on only pension and social security income. All the information was in regards to those living overseas who were employed.
The next avenue I tried was looking for sites that were related to Americans living abroad, more precisley, Malaysia. I did find a couple of sites for Americans living in Malysia. I won't mention the names. These sites were of no help. In my opinion they were nothing more than social clubs where the wives of Americans working for American companies here could get together for tea. I found nothing useful on the sites, so I contacted then by email, but never got an answer. The next idea I had was to find a blog on expat sites where I could post a comment asking for information for those Americans already living here. The questions were mainly about banking issues. I posted these comments on sites where I could see there were American members. I never got a response.
I finally realized that I would have to do everything myself, by trial and error. When I finally moved here I was actually winging it, in regards to banking, taxes and healthcare. Just before I moved here I found two websites which I found to be useful. The first was American Citizens Abroad (ACA), www.aca.ch
This site has no advertizing and offered concrete information regarding issues important to Americans living abroad. The other website I found is a site for those people who are involved with the MM2H program, those who are interested in the program or for people who live in Malaysia. Most of the people on this site's forum are from the UK and the issues they raise concerns UK citizens, but I have gotten a lot of useful information here. If you need some information, just post your question and someone will try to answer it. This website is called MM2H Malaysia My Second Home Forum, www.my2home.info
Because of these experiences I decided to write this blog, so I could be of some assistance to those people who are moving here or are thinking about the possibility of moving here. It was a lot of work, but now that I am here I realize it was well worth it.
Probably my biggest concern in moving to Malysia was financial. This included banking arrangements and paying my US federal and state taxes. I searched all of the websites regarding retiring abroad, expats and international living. I basically found these sites to be useless. Most of the sites concerned selling real estate, primarily in Central or South America or getting a job overseas. There was little or no information on how to actually prepare to move. When there was information it was extremely vague or very basic. Nothing was said about how to set up banking, transfering money easily or fullfilling income tax requirements, other than saying you still had to pay taxes.
I think I have already explained that the major banks were useless in addressing my needs while living overseas. Regarding paying my taxes I thought the natural place to go was the US Internal Revenue Service. They had absolutley no information for anyone who was retired and living abroad on only pension and social security income. All the information was in regards to those living overseas who were employed.
The next avenue I tried was looking for sites that were related to Americans living abroad, more precisley, Malaysia. I did find a couple of sites for Americans living in Malysia. I won't mention the names. These sites were of no help. In my opinion they were nothing more than social clubs where the wives of Americans working for American companies here could get together for tea. I found nothing useful on the sites, so I contacted then by email, but never got an answer. The next idea I had was to find a blog on expat sites where I could post a comment asking for information for those Americans already living here. The questions were mainly about banking issues. I posted these comments on sites where I could see there were American members. I never got a response.
I finally realized that I would have to do everything myself, by trial and error. When I finally moved here I was actually winging it, in regards to banking, taxes and healthcare. Just before I moved here I found two websites which I found to be useful. The first was American Citizens Abroad (ACA), www.aca.ch
This site has no advertizing and offered concrete information regarding issues important to Americans living abroad. The other website I found is a site for those people who are involved with the MM2H program, those who are interested in the program or for people who live in Malaysia. Most of the people on this site's forum are from the UK and the issues they raise concerns UK citizens, but I have gotten a lot of useful information here. If you need some information, just post your question and someone will try to answer it. This website is called MM2H Malaysia My Second Home Forum, www.my2home.info
Because of these experiences I decided to write this blog, so I could be of some assistance to those people who are moving here or are thinking about the possibility of moving here. It was a lot of work, but now that I am here I realize it was well worth it.
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