Optionality Report

Increíble. Yo estuve en uno de estos de adolescente en Polonia con Juan Pablo II.

Ale zadziałało 🤯

To the doomers claiming Poland has fallen and this was a Muslim terrorist attack: it’s already been confirmed the attacker was local Polish. My heart goes out to the people in one of my favourite cities in the world. Kraków 🖤

That was the US Capitol 5 years ago. Nobody remembers the weirdos storming the Capitol of the most powerful country in the world. Things like this happen. I’m also a resident and don’t think there will be any drastic changes to the residency program just because there will be a new president.

Just a perfect Tuesday in the Mediterranean. The more places I spend autumn in, the more convinced I am that nothing comes close. Warm days. Cool evenings. The sea is still warm. The summer crowds are gone. Locals have the place back. This is exactly the kind of weather I want. Not summer. Not winter.

Map of countries where the government staged a coup against itself 🇵🇱 🤣

This is such naive thinking. No matter who the PM is, Russia would always support the opposition.

I agree. @realtek12345 ?

I’d rather go deep in a few places than stay shallow across many. Squid fishing with local guys in Croatia :) Being known at the same spots. Actually accepted instead of just passing through. That’s different from collecting countries.

Nothing beats the Mediterranean in autumn. Still warm, mostly locals chilling. Croatia is ridiculously safe too. We left a beach bag with a wallet on a chair, came back 5 hours later and it was still sitting there. Staff just laughed and said they knew we’d be back.

Croatia has something tax spreadsheets don't capture very well. Your children growing up around the sea. Mediterranean culture. Family life. Safe towns. Long months outside. Sometimes the return on lifestyle is worth paying tax on. And yes, a 12% tax on dividends doesn't exactly hurt the case :)

Macro versus daily life. Buenos Aires looks bad on a spreadsheet and good on foot.

A complete map of countries whose president has boxed with eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao.

I’d rather pay 12% tax on my dividend income here than 0% somewhere I need to look over my shoulder walking home at night. Or somewhere my family feels culturally completely out of place. Tax matters. But it’s not the whole spreadsheet. Croatia gives me something much harder to optimize: The Adriatic. Beautiful old towns. European culture. Family life. Great food. EU, Schengen and the euro. The rest of Europe a short flight away. And you don’t even need to live here full time. For me, the sweet spot is May-June and September-October. Warm enough to enjoy the coast. Cool enough to actually live. Far fewer crowds. Far better rhythm. Then go somewhere warmer in winter. That’s the whole point of optionality. You don’t need one perfect country. You need enough freedom to choose the best place for each season.

I sometimes wonder if the UK and parts of Europe are already in the Titanic phase. Not sinking yet. Just after the iceberg, while most people still think everything is probably fine. Titanic hit the iceberg at 11:40pm. The first lifeboat wasn't lowered until around 12:45am. It left less than half full. The ship was still lit. Most passengers couldn't see serious damage. Getting into a tiny lifeboat in the freezing Atlantic probably felt more irrational than staying aboard. Then reality caught up. By 2:20am, Titanic was gone. Maybe Europe fixes immigration. Maybe regulation eases. Maybe competitiveness returns. Maybe social cohesion improves. I genuinely hope it does. But I'm not going to bet my family's future on it. I already have other residencies. Other places to live. Property abroad. People I trust in other countries. Options. I'm not leaving Europe forever. I'm just refusing to make it my only option. You don't need to know the ship will sink to want a seat in the lifeboat.

Citizenship by descent is an overlooked way to get a second passport, often for next to nothing. In many countries there is no residency or language test if you already qualify by blood. Take Poland 🇵🇱 Hundreds of thousands of Americans (possibly around a million) may have a claim through ancestry and not know it. An EU passport, the right to live and work across the EU, and a document tied for 6th on the Henley index. A useful Plan B, backed by one of the EU’s faster-growing economies.

Mikulov, Slovakia 😂

Croatia makes increasingly more sense once you've stopped optimizing your life around spreadsheets. Sea. Mountains. Good food. Proper seasons. Actual towns. Europe on your doorstep. Sometimes lifestyle is the investment.