313: El Salvador: Is This Emerging Latin American Country Worth The Hype?

The Expat Money Show - With Mikkel Thorup

It seems like every day, a Private Client or subscriber to our newsletter asks me about El Salvador. I can’t say I necessarily blame them; with everything Bukele has done, from turning around the violent crime situation to legalizing Bitcoin, there are plenty of reasons for expats to take an interest in the direction of this emerging Latin American country. But having not been to El Salvador myself for twenty-some-odd years, I decided to take a long weekend trip down there to meet up with a few business contacts and check out how things had progressed since I had last hitchhiked through it as a much younger man. This episode is my full report from the trip and my thoughts on El Salvador’s potential for expats.

TODAY’S EL SALVADOR TRIP REPORT:

• Hear about the good (I’m still thinking about the pupusas!), the bat (that’s not a typo…), and the ugly of my hotel and Airbnb stays in El Salvador.
• Listen in for the inside scoop on some of the quite frankly terrible things I learned about El Salvador for expats, which mostly centers around the unfavourable tax situation.
• What about the visas? Tune in as I discuss all the available options for expats to live legally in El Salvador.
• Is Bukele really going to be giving out 5,000 “free passports,” as he proclaimed in a tweet? Hear what my El Salvadoran insiders had to say.
• How does the proposed $1 million “Freedom Visa” stack up to other regional citizenship-by-investment programs? Hear my thoughts on this pricey offer.
• What about company structures? I dissect whether El Salvador could be a viable option for forming offshore companies.
• How does El Salvador’s banking system stack up to its neighbours? Discover what I learned about finance in the nation.
• Lastly, hear my final analysis of whether El Salvador could serve as a potential Plan-B destination for expats.

DON’T MISS THIS YEAR’S EXPAT MONEY SUMMIT!

Whether you’re brand new to the expat world or fully along the way to crafting your Plan-B, the Expat Money Summit is a can’t-miss event. This event is fully online from Oct. 7-11 and features experts on second passports and residencies, offshore wealth protection, international real estate, insights on geopolitics, and so much more. It features headline speakers like Doug Casey, Dr. Ron Paul, Marc Faber, Tom Woods, Scott Horton, Tom Luongo and more! Grab your complimentary ticket now at expatmoneysummit.com!

SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER

You would have heard some tidbits about my trip already had you been subscribed to our newsletter. Not only will you receive the EMS Pulse newsletter and the weekly Expat Sunday Times, but sign up now, and you’ll also receive my FREE special report, “Plan B Residencies and Instant Citizenships.”

RELATED EPISODES

306: Nayib Bukele's El Salvador: An Oasis of Decentralization - Dr. Jack Kruse 304: Expat News: Bukele's Bitcoin Bank, Portugal Shuns Expats, & Milei's Record Surplus 287: Expat News: Canadian Exodus, Panama's Visa Boom, & El Salvador's Pricey Citizenship

CONCLUSION

While Nayib Bukele has certainly been impressive in many of his actions to improve El Salvador’s safety, economy and reputation in the region, much remains to be desired when it comes to being a Plan-B destination for expats. I certainly understand why the country has garnered so much attention and become such a hot-button topic for expats. Still, the truth is I can’t recommend it for a Plan-B right now for the myriad of reasons mentioned throughout the show today. That said, I certainly see potential for this country down the road, and it's worth keeping an eye on. I don’t help people set up a Plan-B or start a whole new life based on whatever country happens to be trending at the moment; if that were the case, I’d be sending everyone to Argentina and El Salvador right now. There’s a reason my clients are largely migrating to places like right here in Panama; it simply checks so many of the boxes for a vibrant and financially secure offshore life. I hope you’ll come down next year for our in-person conference and my birthday bash to check it out! See you all next Wednesday!