Lifestyle Design - where to live

[MachineGhost]

Hallelujah! I've been looking for a map like the below for years, but just couldn't find it. So what I did was block out all the scorching hot boring Mediterranean/desert hell, the mind-numbing hot flat rolling plains/plateau hell and the hot sticky dripping wet humid tropical forests. Black is Mediterranean/desert or wet subtropic (Everglades), red is rolling plains/plateaus or tropical forest. It definitely aligns with my rough prejudiced mind map I've formed over the years, but there are some surprises. Technically, I could have colored the tropical forest zone yellow, but black is supposed to signify EXTREME while red signifies LESS EXTREME.



So, Desert, you want to focus on the black areas since that is what you like.

[MachineGhost]

MG, so to clarify, which color are you looking at for yourself?

Not black or red and that's not to be inferred as racist.

#5 must be where everything is grown in CA that "steals" our water.

#1 should be DANGER WILL ROBINSON!

#79 is interesting too, its the very northern part of the elevated zone where the Monarch butterflies make their insane journey for the winter.

I think #19 shows where the Mormons are and why they've been relatively insulated for 150+ years and also why they're also in southeast Idaho (which I thought was strange at first).

Nevada is just... WOW!

And #15 is where all the white doom preppers are.

Big #17 is Yellowstone Natural Park. Not sure about the other #17 isolated island.

[MachineGhost]

Did I miss the answer to my question somewhere in your "colorful" commentary?

No, I don't have any specific place in mind yet. Just biases. Not a bias: Not red or black, ever again.

I wonder if moda lives in #49?

I guess its no surprise why #1 in CA is the most expensive area. Could the Really Big One tsunami go that far south? I don't plan to find out.

So for now I will research #3, #4 and #9 along the OR and WA borders to maximize the tax savings. I'm skeptical they have what I'm looking for... AFAIK they're not that developed away from the urban metro hellholes.

[I Shrugged]

If I recall correctly, the way to beat the tax man there is to live in Vancouver WA, and shop in Portland, OR. No income tax and no sales tax, respectively.

[whatchamacallit]

Check out

https://local.niche.com

[Mark Leavy]

So for now I will research #3, #4 and #9 along the OR and WA borders to maximize the tax savings. I'm skeptical they have what I'm looking for... AFAIK they're not that developed away from the urban metro hellholes.

I lived in OR for a long time before going Nomad. About 18 months before leaving, I moved my legal address to a mail forwarding service in South Dakota.

I found those 18 months to be quite interesting.

I put new plates on my jeep. My car and life insurance went down.

Since I was still working in OR, I still filed OR taxes as a non-resident. Now, all of my income is investment income - so even if I still woke up every morning in OR I would pay no state taxes.

When I buy something off of Amazon, I pay sales tax on whichever Amazon Locker the physical items are shipped to. Zero for Oregon or Nevada or Florida... For digital items, I pay the South Dakota sales tax.

I still haven't signed up for Obamacare - just paying the penalties. But... if I were ever to do so, the SD rates seem much better than anywhere else.

In summary, you can pick your legal residence to be any place you want. It doesn't have to be where you sleep. Of course, you still have to pay income taxes on locally earned wages and local sales tax and property taxes based on where you work and buy stuff and own property.

If you decide to buy a home in a place where you don't want your legal residence, just purchase it through an LLC established in a different state.

[I Shrugged]

Actually, Florida is about the only low or no tax state left with health insurance policies that have nationwide coverage. SD "residents" who actually live elsewhere or all over the place are having big troubles due to this.

[Mark Leavy]

Actually, Florida is about the only low or no tax state left with health insurance policies that have nationwide coverage. SD "residents" who actually live elsewhere or all over the place are having big troubles due to this.

Thanks, Shrugged. I didn't know this. I have no use for health insurance so haven't been following the drama.

[Mark Leavy]

What will you do if you have an unforeseen hospitalization while in the US? Paying out of pocket might be prohibitive.

Pay out of pocket for stabilization in the US and then a flight to Bangkok. Great, high quality folks there that understand cash.

(edit - fixed bad quoting)

[MachineGhost]

[Kriegsspiel]

I went on a long road trip a few months ago, and was really impressed with Kansas City. I had never been there before, but it seemed like a really nice place to live.

Joel Kotkin and Richard Florida were in KC and talked about it and cities in general.

http://www.urbanophile.com/2016/11/14/a ... el-kotkin/

[Xan]

I went on a long road trip a few months ago, and was really impressed with Kansas City. I had never been there before, but it seemed like a really nice place to live.

Joel Kotkin and Richard Florida were in KC and talked about it and cities in general.

http://www.urbanophile.com/2016/11/14/a ... el-kotkin/

Everything's up to date in Kansas City. They've gone about as far as they can go!