Ep 17: 7 Signs You’re Financially Ready to Leave the U.S.

Thinking about leaving the United States? Packing up and moving overseas can be one of the most liberating choices you ever make, but booking a one-way ticket without proper financial grounding is a recipe for unnecessary stress. Moving abroad is far more than a lifestyle shift—it is a major financial transaction that requires complete clarity before you step onto the plane.

In this episode of The Bougie Expat Podcast, Sable strips away the romantic guesswork and breaks down the 7 clear indicators that prove you are genuinely financially ready to leave the U.S. She covers the essential financial checkpoints every aspiring expat must evaluate—from structuring reliable post-move income and managing existing debt to building targeted reserves for healthcare, housing, and relocation logistics.

This is not about having an endless bank account; it's about having a solid, stress-tested financial plan.

Sable reveals why having a dedicated backup strategy is non-negotiable and shares practical guidance to help you protect the wealth you’ve built, avoid expensive missteps, and move with ultimate confidence. Whether you are aiming to retire overseas, work remotely as a digital nomad, or simply seeking a higher quality of life for a lower cost, this episode gives you the exact framework to evaluate your readiness.

This episode is for Black women over 40 who are ready to stop operating on hope, get real about their numbers, and build a secure, financially sustainable exit plan to live well abroad.

In This Episode

• Moving beyond excitement: Why financial preparation must come before the one-way ticket
• Establishing and verifying stable, reliable income streams after your move
• Determining your exact emergency savings and cash reserve buffer
• Smart strategies for managing and structuring debt before relocating
• Accurate budgeting for hidden and initial relocation costs
• Navigating healthcare planning and coverage considerations overseas
• Designing a sustainable housing strategy in a new country
• Why every successful expat needs a clear, predefined backup plan
• Avoiding costly financial mistakes during your international transition

Ready to check your numbers? Download the free Freedom Fund Checklist to evaluate your financial readiness before moving abroad.

Where are you on your journey? Take the free Bougie Relocation Readiness Assessment to uncover your main roadblocks and clarify your next steps.

Need personalized guidance? Book an Elevated Exit Call with Sable to map out your custom transition strategy.

Thank you for listening to The Bougie Expat Podcast.

If this episode spoke to you, subscribe to the podcast and share it with another Black woman over 40 who has been thinking about relocating abroad, retiring overseas, or designing a new chapter with more freedom, peace, and intention.

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Transcript

Sable 0:00

You don't want to use every dollar that you have in the bank to relocate. You gotta have something to fall back on. She's done waiting. She's done shrinking. And she's done building empires in rooms that were never designed for her. This is the Bougie Expat, the podcast for black women over 40 who are ready to reinvent their lives, rebuild their income, and relocate with intention. If you're done settling in corporate, tired of environments that no longer feel aligned, or quietly planning your next move, you are in the right place. Hosted by Sable, live from Panama City, Panama. Seven countries, four continents, one move she made in five months flat. Income strategies, exit plans, a life designed to actually fit you without starting over broke. Let's get into it. If I hear another person say, Oh, I'll figure out my money when I get there, or I got twenty thousand dollars in the bank, I'm good. No, you're not good. So today I want to talk to you about how you know if you are financially ready. Financially ready to actually make that move. Because some people are ready, but they're financially ready, but not emotionally ready. And some people are there, they're emotionally ready. But check their bank account, it's not ready yet. So you gotta be both. You can't be one or the other. You gotta have both. You gotta be financially ready and emotionally ready. And so let's talk about it. Let's get into it. And so much so I want you to know that I've dropped in the video description a link for our Freedom from checklist where you can see if you are financially ready. And you know what? I'm even gonna give you something else. I'm gonna give I'm gonna also drop there a link for our relocation profiles so you can identify if you are emotionally ready. So let's get into it. Number one, your income will continue to follow you where you are going, wherever that is. That's because you have a job, and that job says, hey, yeah, you can work anywhere remote in the world, not that you're using a VPN and you really only can work uh remote in the United States, or you um have a pension or retirement, some other kind of mailbox check. You have business investments, you have rental income, that money is gonna go with you no matter where you go. Not I'm gonna start a business when I get there. You don't have income yet. That's income you're hoping to earn. I'm talking about maybe you already have a business, and that business is gonna continue to feed you. That is income that you know you can depend on. It has already proven itself to you on the in the US. So, yes, it's gonna continue to grow with you, and it is solid income. That is one. You want to know for sure that you're gonna have a way to take care of yourself, not just savings. And so you want to ask yourself, whatever this money is, when I move, will it arrive for me on a consistent basis? Will I still be able to have access to it? And also consider that the fact that my employer may be having me remote anywhere today. What happens if my employer says, hey, we don't do remote anywhere anymore? You have to come in an office, you have to come back to the United States. So you want to think about that also as well. And if you have that kind of thing, think about what's my backup plan in my cash reserve. And this is also not um like cash reserve, not your. I'm gonna talk about relocation account, but do I have enough reserves to actually move? Do I have enough reserves that when I move, I have all my relocation expenses actually taken care of? Because now I'm gonna have to pay for my rent, my security deposit, I may have to buy new televisions, I may have to um get a new car. I don't I've told people before that when I moved back to the United States the first month, I spent 20K. One month, $20,000, right? And so there's a lot of things that you have to buy. So do you have the cash reserves to do that? And this is why part of your relocation budget, you also want to put in there cash reserve. And your emergency, I'm not talking about your emergency fund, right? Your emergency fund is something totally different. This is the reserve so you can actually move. Let me think about on this particular move. Um, because my move was really quick and fast, I moved in five months, it wasn't a plan. I moved and came down here in July. I scouted out exactly where I was gonna live. I got my apartment. I knew what my apartment had and what it didn't have. I flew back one airline ticket. Flew back and um bought a bunch of stuff with me. Now I brought a bunch of stuff with me the first time and paid overweight charges. The second time I was a little smarter and I flew business class and so I had a lot more luggage, and that's something I always recommend everybody do. Fly business class when you're bringing all your luggage, so this way you have a larger baggage allowance. So that was ticket number two. That's two, so that was ticket number two in two months, right? Plus, I had my security deposits that I have to um pay, then I had all that going back and forth. So then I had some other, I had a speaking engagement that was already booked before I moved, had to come back again, right? But fortunately for me, the uh conference holder paid for that. So those are airline tickets. That what if I didn't have that in my budget, right? What if I didn't plan for that? So that's when I talk about emergency funds. You want to make sure you have some kind of emergency funds. So this way, as you are moving, you're not dipping into, I'm sorry, cash reserve. You're not dipping into your emergency funds, you're using your cash reserve. So it's even nice. I think I even said in one other video have a relocation account, money just for the move. So before you go anywhere, have you subscribed? If not, click that button, click that notification button, because we have lots more to share with you, and I don't want you to miss it. We're gonna be sharing so much about making sure that your move is not just smooth, but you have cash flow that goes with it. And also, I want to give you the confidence to do this move. It's gonna be the best decision of your life. So let's get into number three consumer debt. I hear a lot of people say I want to pay off all my debt before I move. That's a really great thing. If you can do that, that's great. I also want you to think about as your expenses are reduced, how much more money you can put towards that debt, right? Because if you were paying a mortgage or rent of $2,500, $3,000, and now you move somewhere and it's significantly less, that extra money can help you pay off your debt even faster. Just something to think about. So also, is your debt under control, right? And so what I'm just saying, like, I'm not saying necessarily debt-free, but really, do you have a manageable mortgage student loan, whatever it is your debt, is this something that you know that you're paying is a consistent amount every month? It's not something that you are kind of like hand to mouth that you're paying your bills and you are paying them comfortably, right? But one of the things you want to avoid is kind of bringing over large credit card balances if you can. And if you have those and you can't figure out any way to get on, try to get one of those zero uh credit cards. So this way you can give yourself some breathing room. It's amazing how much money you can spend, save in one year if all you're doing is paying it down without interest. So that's another way you can think about it. Think about what your total outstanding debt is. Think about what the interest rates are on your credit cards, your make minimum payments, what's your payoff, right? Could you negotiate an early payoff, especially like on student loans? Sometimes you can call them a negotiator's payoff amount on your loan. So that's something that you want to think about. Think about what the currency conversion is. Think about how much of this debt are you financing, right? I'm sorry, how much of your relocation are you financing? Are you paying cash for your relocation? Are you financing it with debt? Because that's putting you more in debt, especially if you're using credit cards. So if you have to finance your relocation for whatever reason, make sure you're doing it with a smart interest rate or you're doing it, um, you're using funds that are not costing you more money. The other thing I want you to do is have a separate account. I kind of mentioned a little bit earlier. A separate account just for your relocation funds. So this way it includes your visa application, your attorney fees, your background checks, your um apostle fees, your flights, your temporary, all the things, your rental deposits, your utilities, furniture, storage, pet relocation if you got a pet. I know a lot of you are uh have pets or fur baby parents. So consider that. What maybe you might have to get a new phone. What are the bank transfer fees? What if I have a retiral home? All of these things you want to put into your budget. You want to understand do I have money for that? That will indicate how ready you are. It's not about I can't go, it's about understanding where your financial position is. All right. You don't want to use every dollar that you have in the bank to relocate. You got to have something to fall back on. And then what is your health care strategy? Do you have a healthcare plan? If you are in amazing health, um, if you have pre-existing conditions, what is your health care plan? Whether you qualify, do you qualify for the public health care system of where you're going? Um, is residency required? Do you need to get that first? Is there a waiting period? What about private insurance? Are your prescriptions available? Is emergency care cost? All these things you want to consider. And then you also want to think about in your moving abroad, your income, your health care, your housing, your visa, and your taxes, all of these things. Think about how much that's gonna cost you. What's your housing strategy? Have you thought about how you wanted to live, how much you wanted to spend every month? And so when I was looking, I had a number in my mind. That number came for me kind of uh looking at other places online of how much apartments were costing, what I was willing to pay. And what I was willing to pay, honestly, I did kind of take the number out of the sky. I was like, this is how much I'm willing to pay. I just felt like I do not want to pay anything that looked like any of my mortgages in the United States. I don't want to look like that. I'd wanted to pay something that didn't look like it would touch my income. I wanted to be able to use my rental income to pay for my living here. And so I wanted to be able to say if something stops over here from money coming in, then I had enough money over here to take care of it so I knew I wanted to be super comfortable. I didn't want to be in a place where I had to worry about money. And so that is something that was part of my housing strategy when I was looking for rents. I know when you look out and you see these beautiful apartments and some of these places are so beautiful, these beautiful homes. You're like, what? $3,000 for a mansion? Yes, but do you really have to pay all of that? I don't know. Maybe you do. I don't know. But I'm just saying, you know, there's a rule that we use in the United States of like 33% of your income, not more than 33% of your income, should go towards housing. And maybe you might want to reduce that because this is supposed to be our self-landing life, right? We're supposed to be taking it a lot easier. So I don't know, just kind of think about that, right? So that's another thing that you want to think about, and then ask yourself do you have a backup plan? Do you have a backup plan? This is kind of like if things don't work out, if I run out of money, what's my backup plan? Do I have a backup plan? If my visa is denied, I sold my house, where am I gonna live? How am I gonna live? If my income drops, what would I do now? If some my family member gets ill, what would I do? If the political situation in this country changes, what would I do? Those are backup plans. And it can happen. Um, I met some friends the other day, and they were telling me how they used to live in Ecuador. They love living in Ecuador, but the political situation got so bad that they had to leave. And so that is something that you want to have part of your backup plan. Understanding that sometimes you have to leave the very country that you absolutely live because it's no longer safe or stable for you to be there. And so that's what you want to think about. What if I would have to go home unexpectedly? Could I afford a last-minute flight? Could I return back to the United States? These are the things you want to think about to determine your financial readiness, right? This is a very, very personal decision. This is about, hey, if I hit all of those, I'm good. If I hit three out of five, three, it was seven, three out of seven, are you good? That's your decision. But what I wanted you to at least know, make sure you have stable income, make sure you have an emergency reserve, also make sure that your consumer debt is under control. You have a separate fund for your relocation, you have a detailed healthcare strategy, you have a housing strategy, and you have a backup plan. This makes you financially ready. Now, I'm just sharing you information. I think all of you know by now, I am not your financial advisor. I'm not here to tell you how to spend your money, I'm not telling you how to invest your money. I'm just sharing some information to help you make a solid decision about your relocation. So, this decision is very personal. Do not confuse what I'm giving you with financial advice. It's not. But I also don't want you to be financially unprepared to go. I'm saying with your bougie girlfriend, and I want you to live an elevated life and have an elevated exit. That's a wrap. And if this episode resonated with you, go ahead and follow the podcast and share it with another woman who's ready for her next chapter. And if you're ready to move beyond thinking and start building your exit strategy, I invite you to join me inside my live experience, the elevated exit masterclass. You'll find the link in the show notes. Until next time, make your next move a bougie one.