Hey,
Last issue I said the only path to staying abroad long term is becoming a founder.
But founder means something different depending on who you are.
A real estate agent closing $550K deals between trips to Medellín is a founder. A developer running a SaaS from Cebu is a founder. A YouTuber earning $3K/month from Southeast Asia is a founder. Someone managing a construction company remotely from Portugal is a founder.
The stack, the tools , the country, the burn rate see it looks different for each of them.
Here is how to find yours.
◆ // THE PLAY
The Three Founder Types
TYPE 1 — THE REMOTE OPERATOR
You already have a business generating income in the states. Real estate, construction, franchise, rental cars like Turo. The business runs without you, or you run the business thru managers. Your move abroad is not about building income, it is about reducing what it costs you to live on the income you already have. You might also be a remote worker with a cool boss letting you work from anywhere.
Best base: Colombia if you have quarterly US meetings ($800 roundtrip to Miami). Philippines if you can operate fully remote ($1,200 roundtrip, lowest daily burn rate).
TYPE 2 — THE DIGITAL FOUNDER
SaaS Dev, Newsletter, YouTuber, affiliate income. Already location-independent. You are not changing how you earn, you are changing what the same income actually buys you.
A YouTuber earning $3,000/month in San Diego is surviving. The same $3,000/month in Cebu is a 73% savings rate. The income did not change. The outcome did.
Best base: Philippines for the highest savings rate. Colombia if you need US timezone overlap.
TYPE 3 — THE SKILL-BASED FOUNDER
High-value skill. Irregular income in large chunks. Real estate agents, consultants, developers, designers. You do not need to be in the US every day, just for closings, meetings, and deliverables.
The math: one $550K deal at 6% = $33,000. Round trip from Medellín to close: $800. Monthly savings living abroad vs a US city: $2,500-3,400. The business did not change. The burn rate did. Happy Real Estate Agent.
Between deals you build Layer 3. The gaps that used to be expensive waiting become the time you build the machine.
THE PRE-EXPAT MOVE
You do not have to leave to start. A studio instead of a two-bedroom in San Diego or Scottsdale saves $1,200-1,500/month. That is 6 extra months of runway per year before you book a single flight.
Runway extension starts now. Not when you land.
◆ // THE NUMBER
$40,800
Annual runway a skill-based founder gains in Medellín vs the same income in a mid-tier US city.
$3,400/month in saved living expenses × 12.
That is not income. That is time, the most valuable thing a founder has.
─────────────────────────────
The Expat Founder Stack checklist is free.
Which tools belong in your stack depends on which founder type you are. The checklist breaks it down, and links to the free Philippines playbook.
→ Get the free checklist → HERE
─────────────────────────────
◆ // THE TOOL
Every founder type needs four infrastructure layers:
Money — how you receive and convert income without losing it to bank fees
Protection — health coverage and security for operating remotely
Operations — the tools that keep the business running day to day
Scouting — how you research and test a new base before you commit
The complete stack, every tool, every link, broken down by founder type — is at:
◆ // THE MOVE
This week identify which founder type you are.
Not which one sounds best. Which one actually describes how your income works right now.
Then tell me: what is the single biggest expense in your current life that disappears when you move abroad?
Tag me on X with your founder type and that expense.
◆ // FROM THE COMMUNITY
Last issue I asked for your floor number.
The range came back wide $650/month in Chiang Mai to $2,100/month in Lisbon.
But the pattern was the same everywhere. The people who knew their exact number felt in control. The ones who did not had a number in their head that was 30-40% higher than reality.
Run the actual math. It is almost always smaller than you think.
Issue 6 — currency arbitrage. The dollar is doing something right now that most expats are not taking advantage of. The gap between what you earn and what everything costs is wider than it has been in years.
Next issue is the math on how to actively work that gap instead of just passively benefiting from it.
Do not miss it.
— Galaxy (Tony Long II) 🌏
Building from Cebu. Earning in USD. Sharing the math.
P.S. Galaxy Arbitrage Weekly is free. Always will be. If someone forwarded this → newsletter.galaxyarbitrage.com/subscribe
P.P.S. The Expat Founder Stack checklist is free. Already a subscriber? → Get the free checklist → HERE or Visit our Shop → Galaxy Arbitrage Shop