3 Simple Ways to Plan Your Budget for Living Abroad

Posted by on Nov 28th, 2018 in Travel | 0 comments

Living abroad is a big decision that needs a lot of time and planning. When you do it right, it may just be the biggest experience that could happen in your lifetime, which is why it’s something that’s worth building towards, and that includes budgeting.

When you’re planning to move to live abroad as an expat, here are five simple tips and tricks you should remember to have the budget to move to your country of choice:

1. Keep your burn rate in mind
What is “burn rate”? The answer is that it’s the amount that you will be spending each month in needed expenditures, such as your housing, groceries, rent, transportation, etc.

Food expenses is one that you should especially consider – your budget plan should include enough room to allow you a solid meal plan instead of relying on take-out or eating outside.

Convert your current expenditure amount to the currency of the country you will be moving to and compare the cost of living in the country. This will give you an estimate as to your monthly budget, as well as your initial spending.

Once you have a burn rate in mind, you can easily formulate a budget that will cover your expenses.

2. Spend according to your savings plan
Calculate a target number for how much you need to save after everything else has been deducted from your net income after taxes. This is quite similar to what you would otherwise do in planning an ordinary budget, but with two added factors.

The first factor is, of course, the currency rate. By knowing how much currency A is in terms of currency B, you not only have an initial budget that you can spend, but you can also know how much you can or want to convert, and how much you want to keep.

The second factor is the cost of living. If the cost of living in the country you’re moving to is lower, you will have more to spend, and you can adjust your savings accordingly.

3. Open international accounts
One advantage an international bank account, or an offshore bank account, can offer you is that it offers you added privacy, and is great for participating in investing opportunities all over the world.

It also gives you a greater amount of financial freedom – since you’re dealing with two currencies, you can utilize different exchange rates and international funds, and get better returns for each in the international market.

Be sure to talk to your bank when opening an offshore account, and what advantages this can offer you in different jurisdictions around the globe.