Dabbler Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 Hi all. I have a couple of questions for long-term US expats. How do you maintain residence in your US state? I won't keep a house or apt, so I'm thinking non-USPS postal box with a street address and forwarding service of my mail to Thailand. I'm in a non-tax income state so there is no local tax downside, and for IRS purposes I'll of course file from Thailand. Advice? Am I overlooking anything? My US income depends heavily on a moderately fast (preferably >3MBs/sec) but rock-solid, wired (ie not WIFI) Internet connection 24/7, preferably DSL. So it's on top of my list. It may take a few weeks before I settled in a place, but any advice on avg. monthly cost and providers of internet would be much appreciated. Can you choose the DSL provider by simply picking up a certain land-line provider as we do in the US, or is it some other kind of arrangement? Thanks in advance for the info, D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azza33 Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 Not sure if this helps. I'm from Australia and used to use http://www.myus.com/ to forward my US mail to Florida and them forward onto Australia. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dabbler Posted December 29, 2011 Author Share Posted December 29, 2011 Not sure if this helps. I'm from Australia and used to use http://www.myus.com/ to forward my US mail to Florida and them forward onto Australia. Hi. Thanks for the tip. For a non-US citizen I guess that'd be a good option, but I live here and have a driver's license etc and there are stores (like UPS outlets) that will forward mail. I'm taking note of the link though, you never know ;) D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownLoLarry Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 I have a UPS Store forward mail to a friend in the States who looks it over and throws out the junk and reads what I need to know. I try as much as possible to use online billing instead of paper billing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beijo Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 I have done like Larry for many years, Using a mailbox service to forward the incomimg mail to a friend stateside who would sort out the garbage and hold the mail until I requested forwarding to me by DHL or Fedex, payments I reduced to the absolute minimum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaiDee Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Same Same I have a box at a UPS store near my old hometown, doesn't cost much and the manager and I have become friends now so she throws out all catalogs and junk mail, etc, and sends me whatever is left every 3 or 4 months. And it's not much; by now all my banking, bill-paying, credit cards, college loans, etc, are all done on-line. Same as Dabbler I come from a tax-free state so no need to worry about personal tax there, I *do* still have to pay federal tax but it's quite minimal and in fact I have received large refunds these past 3 years which helps with summer travels :) 2.5 years now living out of a suitcase.....it gets a little old at times but the freedom of not having to pay for a home base, ANYWHERE, is quite liberating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beijo Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Dont feel bad about 2.5 years, i did it for about 28 years. 2 to 3 year stretches at a time with 3 or 4 month in between. Anywhere from central Africa to Ipanema Beach in Rio, from the rough civil wars and revolutions to cushy safe assignments. It did not kill me and the pay was good and assured a comfortable early retirement. When I look back and at the people who stayed home I have to say that given the choice i would do it all over again, sure I bitched at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dabbler Posted December 31, 2011 Author Share Posted December 31, 2011 Hi. Thanks to all who replied. I plan to go paperless on the bills (those which aren't already) but I hadn't thought about getting the junk mail sorted out and thrown away: it's a good point since I get pounds of it every week :) I found a mailbox service that looks OK but I'll call the guy back to enquire about filtering the junk. Beijo, like you I wandered a lot, but it brought me neither fortune nor early retirement :D D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hefe Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 Just out of idle curiosity, what is the advantage to keeping a US address if one is living overseas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiamSam Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 So your mother can find you without embarrassment. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dabbler Posted December 31, 2011 Author Share Posted December 31, 2011 Just out of idle curiosity, what is the advantage to keeping a US address if one is living overseas? Well, first of all there are no clear disadvantages that I can see except if you live in a state that levies income tax: it can become dicey with potential liabilities then. For advantages, if you want to keep your US bank (and debit card) or brokerage accounts, you're better off with a local address; for professional licensing issues too, etc... My thinking is that you should advise various outfits on a need-to-know basis only. D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dabbler Posted January 3, 2012 Author Share Posted January 3, 2012 RE: internet. A friend tells me that he uses "True" and that it's reliable. I checked prices on their web site, seems cheaper than in the States too :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rxpharm Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 If you are wishing to set up a Paypal account there are some countries that they will not accept. So keeping a US address if you want to use Paypal is a useful option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dabbler Posted January 7, 2012 Author Share Posted January 7, 2012 If you are wishing to set up a Paypal account there are some countries that they will not accept. So keeping a US address if you want to use Paypal is a useful option. Yes, good point. I have PayPal. The question of Thai bank accounts etc is also an issue but I'll figure it out once I'm there. D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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