Expat Matters
Learn the ins and outs of expat life from our experts.
Buy What You Like
Date: 09/08/2007A friend wrote recently to exclaim disappointment, almost shock, after having learned that a piece of land she bought a few years ago on the east coast of Canada is probably unsellable right now.
Read OnOur Coconut Telegraph
Date: 08/25/2007Looking for the best undiscovered bargain hideaway in Mexico...a restaurant recommendation in Venice...an insider tip for the best place to spend winter...the best place to snorkel...or a romantic and inexpensive island getaway?
Read OnMega, Colossal, Huge…Ultimate II
Date: 08/11/2007It has taken us more than 27 years to pull this together, and, at the risk of sounding immodest, I’ve got to say: Nothing compares, and no one competes.
Read OnIL Slashes Prices--For Just 5 More Days
Date: 07/26/2007Come Aug. 1 all prices in the IL Bookstore go back to retail. You have but a few more days to save up to 27% off everything from courses to publications to exclusive titles.
Read OnPack the Shock Absorbers
Date: 09/29/2007Old-timers in the American retirement community in Ajijic, Mexico, talk about life there in the 1960s.
Read OnShould American Retirees Put Up With All These "Rules"?
Date: 09/22/2007In the 1990s Vicki and I moved to Lake Chapala, Mexico. For the first time we lived near large numbers of other retired Americans. After a while we began to notice that some of them smoked.
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The merits of a second passport
Date: 10/02/2007
The English political philosopher Edmund Burke (1729-97) observed: "Early and provident fear is the mother of safety."
That's still good advice for world travelers. Safety means travel using a national passport that keeps the bearer as far away as possible from controversy and danger. Americans who travel in the Middle East, parts of the Balkans, Russia, or Asia, using their U.S. passport may risk becoming a target for terrorists.
But there are other good reasons to obtain a second passport. Holding a passport from any one of the European Union nations gives you the valuable right to live, work, and do business in all of the 28 E.U. nations. It could also allow you to establish a tax-free residence in a tax haven country-that means free of local taxes only. Americans are liable for U.S. income taxes no matter where in the world they live, or wherever they may earn their income.
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Talk for free, wherever you are
Date: 10/02/2007
When living overseas, one of the most costly items can be your long-distance telephone bill as you talk to friends and family back home. This month we'll look at one low-cost solution, Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, using a PC dialer. Next month, we'll cover broadband phones.
Simply put, VoIP technology allows a computer user to talk over the Internet, using a microphone and a headset, by dialing a virtual phone that appears on the PC monitor. There are two modes of operation: PC-to-PC, that is, speaking to someone who is also on a computer; and PC-to-Phone, where you're using your computer to dial up a phone.
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