What would I need to earn abroad, and does a remote move speed up my FI date?
Pick a country and see what your spending would be at its household price level, how much after-tax pay keeps your saving the same, and how much sooner financial independence arrives.
MOVING MAKES FI SOONER BY
5.9years
Portugal’s households pay 60% of what U.S. households do, so with 75% of your spending priced locally and the same lifestyle, $60,000 a year becomes $42,216 and your FI number falls from $1,500,000 to $1,055,400. At 100% of your current after-tax pay you save $69,384 a year, against $51,600 a year now, and financial independence comes in 6.6 years instead of 12.5: 5.9 years sooner. To keep saving $51,600 a year there, you would need $93,816 of after-tax pay, 84% of today’s $111,600. This is a country average, not a city.
Spending abroad
$42,216
FI number abroad
$1.06M
FI staying
12 yr 6 mo
FI moving
6 yr 7 mo
UNDERSTAND YOUR RESULT
LIBRARY CHAPTERSavings Rate: The Lever That Sets Your DateLIBRARY CHAPTERState and Federal Taxes: How the Two Layers Fit
Terms:Geographic arbitrage
Staying against moving to Portugal
StayingMoving to Portugal
Yearly spending
$60k
$42k
Saved each year
$52k
$69k
FI number
$1.50M
$1.06M
Spending falls from $60,000 to $42,216 a year, so the FI number (spending ÷ 4%) falls from $1,500,000 to $1,055,400 while you save $69,384 a year instead of $51,600.
Years to financial independence in each country, at your other settings
India
2.2 yrs
Vietnam
2.8 yrs
Thailand
2.9 yrs
Philippines
3.6 yrs
Brazil
4.8 yrs
China
5.2 yrs
Mexico
6.4 yrs
Portugal
6.6 yrs
South Korea
7.1 yrs
Japan
7.3 yrs
Germany
8.8 yrs
United Kingdom
10.5 yrs
Canada
11.0 yrs
Staying put it takes 12.5 years. At your share of local prices, lifestyle and pay, India would take 2.17 years and Canada 11; Portugal is highlighted.
Every listed country
| Country | Price level | Spending | FI number | Time to FI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Staying in the U.S. | 100% | $60,000 | $1,500,000 | 12 yr 6 mo |
| India | 24% | $25,701 | $642,525 | 2 yr 2 mo |
| Vietnam | 30% | $28,334 | $708,338 | 2 yr 10 mo |
| Thailand | 31% | $28,905 | $722,625 | 2 yr 11 mo |
| Philippines | 36% | $31,295 | $782,363 | 3 yr 7 mo |
| Brazil | 47% | $36,083 | $902,063 | 4 yr 10 mo |
| China | 49% | $37,199 | $929,963 | 5 yr 2 mo |
| Mexico | 59% | $41,555 | $1,038,863 | 6 yr 5 mo |
| Portugal | 60% | $42,216 | $1,055,400 | 6 yr 7 mo |
| South Korea | 64% | $43,796 | $1,094,888 | 7 yr 1 mo |
| Japan | 66% | $44,547 | $1,113,675 | 7 yr 4 mo |
| Germany | 76% | $49,169 | $1,229,213 | 8 yr 9 mo |
| United Kingdom | 87% | $54,267 | $1,356,675 | 10 yr 6 mo |
| Canada | 91% | $55,779 | $1,394,475 | 11 yr 0 mo |
The price level is the World Bank 2024 figure for household consumption, US = 100%. Every row uses your 75% local share, 100% lifestyle and 100% of today’s after-tax pay.
What moves the needle
Each row re-runs the calculation with one change. Click to apply.How it's computed
FORMULA
Price level = the World Bank’s PPP conversion factor for household consumption ÷ the official exchange rate, per country, 2024 (US = 1.00)
Spending abroad = today’s spending × lifestyle × (share priced locally × price level + the rest at U.S. prices)
After-tax pay abroad = today’s after-tax pay × the share you keep; saved = pay − spending
FI number = spending abroad ÷ 4%; time to FI = months until the balance, growing at the real return, reaches it
After-tax pay needed to keep saving the same = spending abroad + what you save today
- The price level is a national average of what households pay in 2024, from World Bank data, not the price of any city or of a Western expat lifestyle. Big cities and tourist areas cost more; small towns cost less. Test a higher share or a higher lifestyle if you would live somewhere pricier.
- 75% of your spending is priced locally and the rest stays at U.S. prices. That split is an example: healthcare, flights home and insurance often do not get cheaper.
- Everything is in today’s dollars at the site’s planning assumptions: 7% return, 3% inflation, a 4% withdrawal rate. Exchange rates move, and a local currency that strengthens against the dollar raises your costs.
- Taxes, visas and residency rules are not modelled. A U.S. citizen or resident is taxed on world income; a foreign earned income exclusion, a foreign tax credit or a local tax can change what you keep. The pay share you enter is after tax.
- The page shows the arithmetic of a move, not whether a move is a good idea. Healthcare, language, family and risk are not in it.
WORKED EXAMPLE · SAMPLE NUMBERS
Portugal: price level 60.5% of the U.S. Spending abroad = $60,000 × 100% × (75% × 0.6048 + 25%) = $42,216. FI number $42,216 ÷ 4% = $1,055,400. After-tax pay $111,600 × 100% = $111,600, less spending leaves $69,384 a year to save. Staying: $60,000 spent, $51,600 saved, FI number $1,500,000.
SOURCES
[1]PPP conversion factor, private consumption (LCU per international $), PA.NUS.PRVT.PPWorld Bank, International Comparison Program[2]Official exchange rate (LCU per US$, period average), PA.NUS.FCRFWorld Bank[3]Determining Withdrawal Rates Using Historical DataBengen, Journal of Financial Planning, 1994
[4]Foreign earned income exclusionInternal Revenue ServiceHSBuilt by Hussain Sehorewala · checked against worked examples · Sep 29, 2026
Keep this number honest as your life changes.
Put it on your Money Map and it re-runs as you change the seven numbers. It stays in this browser, and the calculator stays free.
Questions about this result
Earning in a high-cost place and living in a lower-cost one, usually on remote income. This page prices it with the World Bank’s household price level for each country: how much a household pays for the same basket compared with the U.S. It is a country average, so it is a starting point, not a quote for a city.
It depends on the country and on how much of your spending stays at U.S. prices. On the example on this page, moving to Portugal on the same remote pay with three-quarters of spending priced locally cuts spending from $60,000 to $42,216, the FI number from $1,500,000 to $1,055,400, and FI from 12.5 years to 6.6 years.
Because it averages the whole country and the whole household basket, including things an expat rarely buys and excluding things an expat often does, such as housing in a popular area. If you would live in a capital city or an expat neighbourhood, raise the lifestyle or the share of U.S.-priced spending until the spending looks like a real budget.
They can. A U.S. citizen or resident is taxed on world income wherever they live; the foreign earned income exclusion and foreign tax credit can lower it, and a country may tax you too. The pay share on this page is after tax, so enter the share you expect to keep.
Visas and residency rules, healthcare and insurance, exchange-rate moves, the cost of the move itself, and whether you would want to live there. It shows the arithmetic of the price difference only.
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