As usual you describe with precision the emotions I am feeling in this moment. And I love the comparison to senior spring. It feels just like it but with less parties. 😉
I recently subscribed to Borderless Living because I want to understand what options I have as the US deteriorates into authoritarianism. I'm 65, just retired and have a very comfortable amount to draw from in retirement. I'm not ready to move from the US. But I've been thinking very seriously about some of the advice you've given and preparing for an exit, working on the options.
To start with, I'm leaning towards moving a lot of our money out of the US. One can invest in the same funds overseas. Your post about moving money was very helpful. I appreciate that you aren't advising this as a tax-dodge. I can probably make the IRA move you describe.
The second step would be to buy property in another country, probably Ireland. I look at it as a combination of an investment and a possible refuge.
My wife and I are not at all ready to relocate outside of the US though. We have kids, large extended family etc. Perhaps we'd spend the majority of the year outside of the US and return frequently.
If things get really bad, we have at laid the groundwork to permanently move. And perhaps for our younger adult kids to join us. I see this as a last resort, like a life insurance policy.
No one knows the future. I still believe Trump and the Republicans will ultimately fail but I'm keenly aware of how hard this all is to process; the unimaginable is now happening every day. And that the opposition has been so feeble. Who is going to stop them? Elections can now be suspended and results manipulated (they may have been in the last few elections . . . https://thiswillhold.substack.com/?r=78xf&utm_campaign=pub&utm_medium=web).
Does this make sense or are these just half measures?
I think what sums it up for myself, my family and my friends also considering leaving is captured PERFECTLY in the title of a book my spouse owned before he divorced (prior marriage): "Too Good to Leave, Too Bad to Stay". I contemplate this phrasing daily, and all the emotions and vacillations it entails. Though, I can see how 'Senior Spring' captures the Level 2 considerations of 'what comes next'. Thanks for the article! The more discussion we have on what we are sensing, the clearer and more acceptable the ambiguity becomes. We are not alone in these messy thoughts and feelings. It's okay for us to feel this way.
Don't depart based on fear. This country may flower a hateful fascist, but he will lose. His haphazard assembly of sycophants will fall and the disease of hate with it. America fights itself in choosing to ignore the systemic problems nutured for at least the fifty years it took to produce Donald Trump; but he will lose.
The concept of 'senior spring' is an interesting one, but it suggests a recent coming to consciousness of the uncertainty ahead. My own feeling is that the trajectory that has brought us here has been discernible for some time.
I emigrated to Ireland for work in 2009, exactly when the economy crashed; more people left Ireland than immigrated from 2009-2014 as the country went through a period of extreme austerity governed by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. It was a tough time, though my job was protected by a public-sector CID (with salary reductions and increased levies and social charges). I've scheduled my essay on the experience for Friday morning, CET:
As usual you describe with precision the emotions I am feeling in this moment. And I love the comparison to senior spring. It feels just like it but with less parties. 😉
Less parties? Ha ha, what parties? Ha ha h… 😢
I recently subscribed to Borderless Living because I want to understand what options I have as the US deteriorates into authoritarianism. I'm 65, just retired and have a very comfortable amount to draw from in retirement. I'm not ready to move from the US. But I've been thinking very seriously about some of the advice you've given and preparing for an exit, working on the options.
To start with, I'm leaning towards moving a lot of our money out of the US. One can invest in the same funds overseas. Your post about moving money was very helpful. I appreciate that you aren't advising this as a tax-dodge. I can probably make the IRA move you describe.
The second step would be to buy property in another country, probably Ireland. I look at it as a combination of an investment and a possible refuge.
My wife and I are not at all ready to relocate outside of the US though. We have kids, large extended family etc. Perhaps we'd spend the majority of the year outside of the US and return frequently.
If things get really bad, we have at laid the groundwork to permanently move. And perhaps for our younger adult kids to join us. I see this as a last resort, like a life insurance policy.
No one knows the future. I still believe Trump and the Republicans will ultimately fail but I'm keenly aware of how hard this all is to process; the unimaginable is now happening every day. And that the opposition has been so feeble. Who is going to stop them? Elections can now be suspended and results manipulated (they may have been in the last few elections . . . https://thiswillhold.substack.com/?r=78xf&utm_campaign=pub&utm_medium=web).
Does this make sense or are these just half measures?
Even though I'm well beyond the Senior Spring phase, I feel this one so much.
Wonderfully informative!! Could you recommend contact information (consulate, embassy, lawyers???) to pursue residency in Canada ? Thank you.
I think what sums it up for myself, my family and my friends also considering leaving is captured PERFECTLY in the title of a book my spouse owned before he divorced (prior marriage): "Too Good to Leave, Too Bad to Stay". I contemplate this phrasing daily, and all the emotions and vacillations it entails. Though, I can see how 'Senior Spring' captures the Level 2 considerations of 'what comes next'. Thanks for the article! The more discussion we have on what we are sensing, the clearer and more acceptable the ambiguity becomes. We are not alone in these messy thoughts and feelings. It's okay for us to feel this way.
Senior spring for some people, others are like Coyote before he notices that he’s run off the cliff.
Don't depart based on fear. This country may flower a hateful fascist, but he will lose. His haphazard assembly of sycophants will fall and the disease of hate with it. America fights itself in choosing to ignore the systemic problems nutured for at least the fifty years it took to produce Donald Trump; but he will lose.
Sadly, I think you are wrong. Learn what we’re up against. There may never be another fair election. https://substack.com/inbox/post/165658733
Anxiety surrounding the growing chaos and disregard for rule of law is felt more here every day in the US. Thank you for summing it up so succinctly.
The concept of 'senior spring' is an interesting one, but it suggests a recent coming to consciousness of the uncertainty ahead. My own feeling is that the trajectory that has brought us here has been discernible for some time.
I emigrated to Ireland for work in 2009, exactly when the economy crashed; more people left Ireland than immigrated from 2009-2014 as the country went through a period of extreme austerity governed by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. It was a tough time, though my job was protected by a public-sector CID (with salary reductions and increased levies and social charges). I've scheduled my essay on the experience for Friday morning, CET:
https://open.substack.com/pub/leavingamerica/p/thoughts-about-inequality-identity?r=1u1uw5&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true