Controversial Newsletter for Expats & Nomads
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Strategic guides for expats & digital nomads. Retired Army Officer and former Tech Exec sharing actionable intelligence on geo-arbitrage, residency, tax…
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Travel & Expat
Languages, geoarbitrage, second passports and living abroad. 5 publications, newest posts first.
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Argentina & Geoarbitrage
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Updates on Argentina's economy, history and politics. Paving the mobility asset highway for the Sovereign Individual.
Second Language Strategies
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Learn Conversational Spanish or French in 3 Months. Personalized Lessons from a Polyglot Educator. Not ready for classes yet? Check out my Second Language…
Become a Sovereign Individual
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Take advantage of the global opportunities using international strategies. Learn how to lower your taxes, protect your wealth, get second citizenships and live…
BowTiedBrazil
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Offshore, taxation, asset protection, and cross-border transactions
Latest in Travel & Expat
August and September’s International Tax Updates
Resuming the regular round-up of worldwide important tax/business updates. Feel free to scroll through and just pay attention to the countries that are relevant for you. This one I did a bit differently where I tried to explain…
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Argentina Macro Pulse No.7: September 2026
Welcome Avatar! August was a bit of a strange month. Inflation hit its lowest level of the year, reserves reached a record high, the peso remained stagnant, and yet the real economy plummeted. Then, the government shifted the…
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Childlike Wonder
Welcome, aspiring polyglot! As we age, it is very easy to slow down or even stop learning altogether. After all, if you spent the first twenty or thirty years of your life learning, surely by your forties it is time to use the…
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The Non-Alcoholic First Date Playbook
The Death of the Nightlife Era I recently stopped doing alcohol dates. This was a combination of me focusing more on my health, going to the gym more, along with a gradual decrease in drinking and “nightlife” over the years. In…
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Anarchy in the BA
Welcome Avatar! At five o’clock in the morning on February 1, 1931, a man dressed in a brand-new, spotless blue mechanic’s jumpsuit entered the courtyard of the Palermo National Penitentiary. Today, that site is known as Las…
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That's a Little too Convenient
Welcome, aspiring polyglot! Recently I was talking to my wife about the biggest changes in our life since having a baby and what it really boiled down to is that a lot of things are less convenient than before. Rather, many of…
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August 2026 BA Real Estate update
Welcome Avatar! Time for our monthly check-in on the real estate market in Buenos Aires, and the overall sentiment is: stagnation. Prices have not really moved in months, mortgages are down by about a third YoY and deed volume is…
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The Most Generous Interpretation
Welcome, aspiring polyglot! When I was a kid, I don’t remember exactly how old, I remember having a conversation with my parents. It’s pretty easy to take things personally when you are hormonal and, man, those teenage years are…
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Patagonian Qatar
Welcome Avatar! Argentina’s oil and gas region of Vaca Muerta is booming and global banks are lining up over $17 billion to build out the country’s LNG export capacity. As we are watching the conversion of Argentina as an energy…
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Guide: How to Apply for a Permanent Driver’s License in Mexico City
Mexico City brought back the permanent driver’s license. For once, the bureaucracy actually did us a favor: pay 1,500 pesos once, and you’ll never have to renew your license again. This isn’t exactly a gift out of kindness. CDMX…
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Mexican Dating Culture: Smaller Mexican Cities
Continuing our series, Mexican Dating Culture , we are moving on to the final installment: Smaller Mexican Cities . In this series, I’ll dissect the variations in dating culture across different Mexican cities. Here are the six…
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Mexican Dating Culture: Riviera Maya / Beach Towns and Tourist Hubs
Continuing our series Mexican Dating Culture , we are moving on to the coastal party hubs of the Yucatan Peninsula: the Riviera Maya . In this series, I’ll dissect the variations in dating culture across different Mexican cities.…
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Hallucinations
Welcome, aspiring polyglot! An interesting quirk of teaching foreign languages in the age of AI is that you start to realize humans often hallucinate as often as AI does. Which makes sense. After all, humans did create AI. What…
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Argentina Macro Pulse No.6: August 2026
Welcome Avatar! The Macro Pulse report for August is full of streaks and setbacks, and goes over the reserve and inflation wins, with a deep dive on the morosidad issue of “defaulting families”, to see if the narrative that is…
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Mexican Dating Culture: Monterrey / Northern Mexico
Continuing our series Mexican Dating Culture , we are moving on to the industrial heart of Northern Mexico: Monterrey . In this series, I’ll dissect the variations in dating culture across different Mexican cities. Here are the…
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1000 Hours to Understand
Welcome, aspiring polyglot! It was recently brought to my attention that, while I do talk about it, I don’t talk about it enough. That is, how do you actually get to the point where you are able to understand a new language…
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Debunking the “Expat Invasion”
There is a persistent, tired myth floating around social media, foreign coverage, and local discourse that millions of white Americans are invading Mexico…living legally or illegally, driving up the cost of living, gentrifying…
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High Voltage Family
Welcome Avatar! In April 2026, a consortium tied to the Neuss family picked up a stake in the Argentine company that transports close to 85% of Argentina’s electricity across across the country. Most of you will probably have…
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Finding Your Voice
Welcome, aspiring polyglot! In class the other day, one of my students told me that he enjoys reading my articles because he can hear my voice in them. At first I wasn’t entirely sure what he meant, but then I realized I do tend…
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Mexican Dating Culture: Guadalajara / Central Mexico
Continuing our series Mexican Dating Culture , we are moving on to the cultural heart of Central Mexico: Guadalajara . In this series, I’ll dissect the variations in dating culture across different Mexican cities. Here are the…
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Mexican Dating Culture: Mexico City - The Capital
Continuing our series Mexican Dating Culture , we are moving on to the capital: Mexico City . In this series, I’ll dissect the variations in dating culture across different Mexican cities. Here are the six parts of the country we…
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Mexican Dating Culture: Western vs. Mexican Women
The problem is, there’s no straightforward answer to what dating in Mexico is like; it’s much more nuanced than most people think. Mexico is not a single, uniform entity. It’s a massive country comprising sprawling metropolises,…
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July 2026 BA Real Estate update
Welcome Avatar! While I was counting the June deed data for Buenos Aires a couple of things happened, and they all ended up in the same place: somebody else deciding what you may do with property you paid for. Yesterday the…
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The Green Handbrake
Welcome Avatar! While the chainsaw keeps roaring in Buenos Aires, a different battle over Argentina’s development was fought last week in a conference room in Busan, South Korea. The UNESCO World Heritage Committee circulated a…
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Essential Tools and Resources for Every Language Learner
Welcome, aspiring polyglot! For this post I thought I would outline all of the tools and resources that my students use throughout and beyond our time together. Questions are completely normal and one of the problems many…
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Keeping the Faith (TMAP)
Welcome Avatar! After changing the Argentine Central Bank charter and buying international reserves like there is no tomorrow, Argentina’s medium to long term outlook is starting to look more rosier from a macro perspective.…
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Blueprint to Securing First-Night Lays
This blueprint isn’t for newbies. It’s for guys who already get dates, don’t fumble basic conversation, and generally have their lives in order, but keep hitting the same wall when it’s time to go back to the pad for a…
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Living in the Moment
Welcome, aspiring polyglot! The other day we were at an event and it was impossible not to notice how many people were glued to their devices. I’m old. Not, like, knee replacement old. But definitely *sneeze and my shoulder…
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Habit Building
Welcome, aspiring polyglot! Over the past few years I have realized that the vast majority of people truly do want to learn and improve. The results of language acquisition within the public education system may suggest…
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Argentina Macro Pulse No.5: July 2026
Welcome Avatar! Macro Pulse No. 5 has landed, the monthly institutional report straight from the team advising the Milei administration on macro policy, exclusive to Founding Members. The July issue, in three words: reforms beat…
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The Empire Files Back
Welcome Avatar! Two weeks ago I told you the story of the shopkeeper who broke Argentina’s Golden Passport : Liping Yang, a Chinese supermarket owner from Entre Ríos whose citizenship request gave the Cámara Nacional Electoral…
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Efficiency
Welcome, aspiring polyglot! I recently reached out to my high school English teacher. With any luck she is reading this now! She was hands down the most influential educator I ever interacted with throughout high school (in 3…
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High ROI English Concepts
Hello! If you are receiving this email, it is because you are supporting me and my language acquisition project directly. Thank you for choosing to do so. With how many resources exist out there, I am truly grateful that you…
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Mexican World Cup Economic Mirage
The public data claims a multi-billion-peso windfall for Mexico City. But the structural reality may tell a different story for the average resident’s wallet… The final matches of the Mexico portion of the 2026 FIFA World Cup…
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That's not Noise, it's a Signal
Welcome, aspiring polyglot! The other day I gave someone some advice based on how I run my classes and how my students do things. Understandably, it seem implausible. So, to answer that comment, I wanted to talk about the…
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June 2026 BA Real Estate update
Welcome Avatar! Time for the monthly check-in on the Buenos Aires real estate market. The cash side of the market keeps chugging along, while the mortgage side just printed one of its ugliest year-on-year numbers since the…
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The Death of "Passive" Arbitrage
The Mirage You are sitting at an outdoor terrace in Polanco, sipping a 110-peso oat milk latte in a clean linen shirt. The morning sun hits the jacaranda trees perfectly, and for a second, the spreadsheet on your MacBook Pro…
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Time Sensitive: Extend or File by April 15th
If you are an American taxpayer (green-card holder or citizen), are a non-American with American sourced income and tax, or a non-American with an American entity even if no tax owed, April 15th is the deadline to file and pay…
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NEW: Monthly International Tax Summary
Hi everyone. Beginning this month with this first newsletter, I will send out once a month, in addition to normally scheduled Substack articles, a summary of major tax news from across the world, along with important…
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Malta Pension Plans: The “Tax Shelter” That's Blowing Up in People's Faces
Disclaimer 1: none of this is legal or tax advice, but merely for educational and illustrative purposes. Please consult with a competently licensed professional in your jurisdiction before taking any action Disclaimer 2: this…
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OBBB and International Tax Changes for US Citizens
Who is this for: US taxpayers If you own a piece of a foreign company, the rules just changed on January 1st. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Public Law 119-21) rewrote significant portions of the international tax provisions…
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Five Things Foreign Business Owners With US Entities Should Do Before December 31
If you live outside the United States as a non-resident alien but operate a US company (or use a US LLC for payments, banking, or clients etc), the end of the year is not just a time to close the p&l but rather one of the few…
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When offshore trusts actually do save taxes
I’ve spent two articles now explaining why offshore trusts don’t save Americans taxes. Time to talk about when they actually do. This article is for both Americans and Western Europeans. Subscribe now I’m not saying offshore…
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When offshore trusts actually protect you (and when they don’t)
Last article I explained why offshore trusts don’t save Americans any taxes. Today I want to go deeper on the asset protection side, specifically, when these structures actually work and when they fall apart in court. A lot of…
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Offshore trusts won’t save you taxes as an American
To start: this post is for Americans. This is the first in a series of posts looking at trusts and foundations for Americans and Europeans. Next post will be about when offshore trusts actually protect you and when they don’t…
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Fact or fiction: benefits of offshore trusts
If you spend some time on X or Youtube (or even Instagram/tik-tok), you’ve almost certainly heard an ad or “info” post about the myriad of benefits of offshore trusts or foundations Unfortunately, most of the people selling them…
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Who actually can benefit tax-wise from offshore structures?
This post is going to be a bit different than other ones. It’s going to be short, sweet, and to the point. I get a ton of questions and prospective clients seeing what can and cannot be done in their situation with offshore…
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Increase your valuation & anticipate due diligence issues when selling your biz
After we get brought into optimize or fix a tax or corporate structure problem, we often have biz owners ask us for help in prepping their company for a sale/M&A. Here is a generic checklist we give. Obviously, the details will…
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