Leaving Your Home Country- How To Choose Your Optimal Geographical Location

Practical guidance | Issue 12 / January 2026

Let’s face it, if you are reading this from a Western country your country has most likely turned into a communo-fascist hell-hole or is already on the slippery slope towards it.

Harsh words that I wish weren’t true. Western civilisation has been great and has created much prosperity for many, so it is incredibly sad to witness what has happened.

The increase in coercion, violence and extortion coming the from the state has been steadily increasing.

If you don’t think this is true, consider that in one legacy Western country 12,000+ individuals are arrested annually and many imprisoned because of a post they made on a social media platform. This has happened in a country where the king goes by the name of Charles.

Let that that sink in for a couple of minutes.

This publication has its own bias towards valuing personal freedom and if you enjoy these letters I can assume you likely have similar values.

Which means you have a problem where that living in your Western country has become untenable and imminently dangerous to your wellbeing.

I advocate for going where you are treated best.

As your environment directly determines your quality of life.

Humans are goal striving beings.

Setting goals gives an individual focus and purpose.

Without goals entropy wreaks havoc.

If you can increase the rate of progress towards your goals away from your home country then it makes logical sense to explore a path that enables you to do so. It will only get harder to do this in the West.

But what country is the best country for you to re-locate to? It is a very big decision that requires careful consideration of multiple factors.

As someone who has managed to remove myself from one of these Western countries and have improved my life in the process, I will attempt to pass on what I have learned.

There are several important elements that you need to consider in making your decision which I will cover in this letter.

This prescription is targeted to the person who wants to establish a base or multiple bases internationally, as opposed to someone who wants to be a fully fledged digital nomad— to travel the world on short-term tourist visas.

You Need To Create Cash Flow

The most important thing that you need is location independent cash flow that will cover basic living expenses and allow you to re-locate.

I won’t go over business models or how to generate income through investments and trading in this letter, but I want to emphasise its importance. $2000 USD per month will currently afford you a high quality of life in South-East Asia.

You can get by on $1000 USD and you will still live pretty well. You will eat healthy good food and you will be able to rent a secure and comfortable abode, but luxuries will be limited.

These numbers will change in time due to consumer price fluctuation.

You need to do the math and currency conversions for your destination of choice.

Being able to generate enough income to live on through investment returns should be the goal in my opinion.

Entrepreneurship should be prioritised as opposed to being an employee.

You should ideally not be reliant on any state pension scheme that pays you in constantly devaluing fiat currency— paid to you by broke governments that rely on increased extortion to ensure future payments.

There is real risk that these payments could stop getting paid to you at any moment, or that you find that what they pay you will buy you less and less in time.

This is the concept of real versus nominal returns, where if the rate of consumer price increases are larger than the increase in your pension payments— you will lose purchasing power.

You need to take radical personal responsibility when it comes to entrepreneurship, investing and self-actualisation— you need to develop confidence in your ability to build your wealth and become self-sufficient.

Your self-education on these topics and the implementation of action steps is vital.

Check out the book ‘The Preparation’ if you are a beginner on this journey.

Visa, Residency or Citizenship Acquisition

Before you choose a country you need to make sure that you are able to live there long-term before proceeding and doing further research.

Each country has their own options for long-term stays that you need to be able to meet the qualifications for to apply.

You need either a long-term visa, permanent residency or citizenship.

Any visa that gives you a path to citizenship is great.

Some visas will require you deposit money in a local bank account or buy local real estate so you need to consider the cost involved.

You can also be more nomadic and stay in three different countries within a year to avoid triggering tax obligations, which seem to generally be triggered when you stay in one country for more than 180 days per year.

Optimise For Personal Freedom

You want to choose a country where religion and political structure ideally have zero to minimal effect on how you desire to live your life.

For me, there are only two real guidelines or natural laws that need to exist within a society to create harmony and prosperity. This philosophy I learned and adopted from Doug Casey.

1. Do all that you say you are going to do (fulfil contracts and obligations).

2. Do not aggress against other people or their property.

If you can live in a country where its laws are minimised towards maintaining these two ethical principles you will have more personal freedom.

Although in this world you will have to compromise— you will have to choose from countries that have varying political structures— monarchism, totalitarian communism, communo-fascism, democratic republics, crony-capitalism/socialism and so forth.

Individuals within these types of structures will attempt to control and manage the capitalist exchange of goods and services in a fashion that suits their agenda to varying degrees.

More free-market capitalism is optimal.

Zero to minimal taxation is optimal.

I would personally choose to live under a benevolent monarchy over a corrupt democracy. As royals do not not need to promise ‘free’ stuff to the populace as they don’t need your vote.

This can go horribly wrong of course as benevolence may turn into malevolence.

You will need to choose wisely which type of political structure you live within.

This is my recommendation, although in the spirit of Total System Freedom it is completely up to the individual when considering the level of personal freedom that you desire.

Optimise For A Respectful Culture

I personally value respect very highly.

My tolerance for disrespect is very low and I will always attempt to remove myself from environments that I deem to be disrespectful.

Having experienced life in Thailand for a while now I have experienced the hugely positive effect of living within an ancient culture that prioritises respect.

The energy that it creates fuels all aspects of life here. Including making it very safe and high trust.

I feel welcome in Thailand as a foreigner and I do not feel welcome in my home country as a citizen.

If you live within a respectful culture, it feeds everything in your day to day life and it improves it.

Choosing Your Country

This is mostly a subjective decision of personal preference but there are universal factors that make some countries more optimal for every individual. Such as being somewhere where the chances of being forcefully conscripted to fight in a war is low.

If you hold your wealth in precious metals or in a relatively strong fiat currency, I recommend going to a country where the purchasing power of your currency increases relative to the cost of living when exchanged for the local currency.

This is called ‘geo-arbitrage’ and it will increase your quality of life and reduce stress more than anything else.

Geo-arbitrage is ideal for someone still building their wealth but if you have already built your wealth then you can simply choose a location based on access to visas, personal freedom, culture, access to goods and services, climate and lifestyle.

If you want to live off-grid in the countryside, choose a country where you can own land, grow food and keep animals.

If you want to live by the beach, river, lake or mountains consider access to amenities, infrastructure and the climate.

If you like cities, consider choosing a city with the following attributes.

• High quality transportation infrastructure

• Vibrant energy and vibrant nightlife, ‘has a buzz’.

• You find potential local romantic partners attractive, friendly and respectful

• You have access to a large variety of high quality goods and services

• Low relative pollution

• Preferential weather

• You feel free and safe when you are there

I have lived off-grid, by the beach and in the heart of major cities. I currently choose to live in a major city because of the increased access to goods and services.

The following countries are countries that I think represent good opportunities in the future.

Countries that could possibly withstand a global economic shitstorm, hyperinflation, world wars and prolonged recession and will probably come out of it ok.

Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, U.A.E, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Panama and Cayman Islands.

I am not an expert in this space but these are countries that I personally think could be good options and that give me a good energy. I have only visited four of these countries at this point.

Choosing a country with a relatively young population which can fuel GDP growth is a major factor that you may want to consider.

Cambodia is an example of a country that has had recent consistent increases in GDP per capita.

It is worth noting that economic and debt problems are a global problem, this means that there are not many good options generally and you will have to compromise in some way.

Europe is the continent that I would avoid at all costs. Problems including large debt, constraints on access to energy, decreasing safety and increasing animosity between citizens and politicians seem to be problems that will only get worse in the near future.

This is not personal advice but it could be a good starting point for you to research options if you don’t have much of an idea of where you want to go.

Obtaining multiple residencies and citizenships in order to diversify geographical and political risk, is preferential and essential if you have the capital available to obtain them.

Financial Structures & Protection

When you leave your country it is good to prepare yourself to become a non-tax resident if you do not plan to return.

This involves things like selling properties and eventually closing bank accounts and brokerage accounts.

Consider the process of renouncing your citizenship of your home country if it helps you. You need to hold an alternative citizenship if you decide to do so.

It is common for Americans to renounce citizenship as you are taxed as a citizen regardless of anywhere you live in the world.

Open multiple bank accounts and brokerage accounts in multiple countries to reduce banking risk and increase access to different markets for investment.

If you have a business or hold assets, consider zero or low tax countries that will allow you to register a business or set up a holding company or a trust. Registering a company may also give you the ability to obtain a visa to stay in the country long term.

Consider storing precious metals in international vaults and open multi-currency accounts that provide debit cards and good exchange rates such as Wise.

Consider obtaining travel health insurance in the case of medical issues arising. Medical care may be affordable enough in some countries where you can just pay out of pocket when you need to.

Some Western countries have already entered into ‘tax scavenge mode’, in where they are so broke that their only option is to come after more and more of your hard earned capital.

They will not hesitate to increase and invent new taxes to extract more from you, so you need to position accordingly.

If you need help, there are many companies that can help you with obtaining residencies, citizenships and setting up companies and financial structures in your country of choice.

Take Action

If you have been thinking about escaping your Western country agency is required more than anything.

Set required goals and complete tasks that will move you towards your goal.

Design your days so you can move with speed, flow and efficiency.

Analyse everything that you do during your day.

Determine that if you were to keep doing a particular thing, is it going to move you towards your goal of leaving or keep you where you already are?

Do you want to remain in an indebted Western country and deal with a probable global debt based collapse of fiat currencies, assets and living standards?

Or do you want to go where you are treated best?

Choose wisely my friends.

I hope this letter has been of some help.

-Shernon

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*Not to be construed as financial advice. This newsletter is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Please perform your own research when making financial decisions.

Cover photograph by Shernon Hague | Tokyo, Japan 2016 | 35mm film