The Bougie Expats
Welcome to The Bougie Expat Podcast, a show for Black women over 40 who are ready to imagine a different kind of life abroad.
Hosted by Sable, your bougie girlfriend, this podcast speaks to the woman who has spent years showing up for everyone else — family, friends, work, and responsibilities — and is now asking, “What do I want my next season to look like?”
Through honest conversations and lived experience, Sable shares what it really takes to relocate abroad with clarity, confidence, and intention. Having lived and worked in more than seven countries across four continents, she brings real insight into the emotional, financial, and practical side of building a life overseas.
Each episode will cover topics like relocating abroad, planning your money, managing fear, leaving behind familiar routines, building a clear vision, and creating a life where you are thriving instead of simply getting by.
If you have been quietly thinking about moving abroad, starting fresh, or choosing yourself in this next chapter, this podcast is for you.
Subscribe to The Bougie Expat Podcast and join Sable for conversations about freedom, relocation, reinvention, and living abroad with purpose.
The Bougie Expats
Ep 24: Before You Move Abroad, Build These 5 Financial Safety Nets
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Thinking about moving abroad after 40? Before you choose a country, book a flight, or start packing boxes, there is a fundamental truth to confront: your financial foundation must be able to sustain the freedom you are attempting to build. True financial liberation overseas goes far beyond simply having enough cash to cover a plane ticket and first month's rent.
In this episode of The Bougie Expats, Sable breaks down the 5 essential financial safety nets every Black woman over 40 must establish before making an international move. Whether you are preparing for retirement, seeking a career reinvention, or stepping into a completely new season of life, these non-negotiable financial cushions will protect your peace, your lifestyle, and your future.
Sable covers everything from structuring your "Landing Fund" for initial setup costs to calculating ongoing, reliable cash flow that actually allows you to enjoy living abroad. She dives into the realities of maintaining a "Life Back Home Fund" for family obligations and property management, mapping out long-term healthcare and aging plans, and honoring the absolute freedom to change your mind without feeling like you've failed.
Sometimes changing your mind is evidence that you've changed.
At The Bougie Expats, we're not just talking about where to move.
We're helping Black women over 40 build the:
✨ CONFIDENCE - to believe a different life is possible
✨ CLARITY - to decide what that life should look like
✨ CASHFLOW - to create and sustain it
Because the goal isn't simply to move abroad.
The goal is FREEDOM.
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.
Join Sable, your bougie girlfriend:
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572263316409
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/thebougieexpats?igsh=MXc2d2FqdHA3MW42bw==
These are the situations I want you to consider because that's where casual comes. And I wanted you to think about how predictable is it. 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. We talk about all the other logistics, but when I hear women, black women of affordable, talk about moving, it is freedom that we're looking for. But one thing I want us to think about is one unexpected expense, one emergency, one bad month in your business could force you to actually pack up your stuff and move back home. And that is not freedom. That is financial stress. And girlfriend, you do not want financial stress, not in somebody else's country. And so when I think about black women over 40 creating the next chapter in your life, I want you to have three things before you move. I want you to have confidence that this is a great thing for you, clarity, knowing why you're doing it, and cash flow. Because moving to a country, it sounds exciting. I know people go on trips, they get all excited, they get kind of like all the goosebumps, they talk about the vibes. But all of that can change if you don't have the right money. And so I want to make sure that that freedom that you're craving, that you're desire that you deserve actually stays in place. So today I want to give you five financial safety nets that I need you to start thinking about before you even relocate, before you pack your bags, before you get your visa, before you tell everybody you're coming. I want you to check out your finances and see if this is there. Because I don't want your relocation to fumble or stumble unnecessarily. Now, I know relocation is fail-proof, but there's absolutely things that we can do to put in place to kind of help. Safety net number one, I want you to have a landing fund, a freedom fund. Because I know you've already budgeted for your airline tickets. Hopefully you've budgeted for your visas and all the other expenses that come with that, your attorney, your um uh a capital. All of that you probably might have budgeted for, and that's great. Even, but I want you to think about your security deposit. Your maybe it could be your first and last month rent. Your transportation, how are you going to get around? Especially when you're just kind of new, you really don't know like all the nuances. So you may be taking taxis and you it could be a more um affordable if you probably took public transportation. Have you calculated your moving expenses? I know you're probably going to move into a furnished apartment. And if you do, furnish is not always really furnished. I can say for myself, I moved into a partially furnished apartment. My bedrooms had absolutely nothing. And I still bought all my soft furnishings from the United States. That is something I had to budget for. Think about that. You don't want any surprises. Think about what your electric bill would cost. I had quite a few friends that got caught off guard here with electricity. I know a lot of us are used to central air, and you come to a place where they're split, and you decide that you got to want to have all your rooms buzzing with AC, they may come to a bill that you were not expecting. So I want you to think about all the expenses, appliances. Are you bringing your juicer? Are you gonna have to buy a new one? Those things start to add up. And maybe the neighborhood that you really thought was that absolute great place for you to move, won't it? I have a friend who's been here five months. No, she moved five times within the one year that she's been here because each time she found out something about that place that she couldn't find out until she actually moved. That is costly. And if you don't have your freedom fund, you don't have some landing money available to do that, you will find yourself stuck in a place that you don't really want to be. So I don't want you to be in a beautiful apartment. I know you got this great rent, you're saving money on your rent, but you also have to have money to get around and have fun. You are now in the country of your dream. What are you gonna do to really explore that place? And that requires money. If you want to go out with a new friend, see the city, explore the beach, or if you're saying, hey, you know what? Now that I'm on this side of the world, let me start seeing all the countries that are around here. Because now I'm some close. You're gonna need some freedom money to do that. Concerts are coming into your country. Do you have money so you can do that? These are all the things I want you to think about. So you can't have that elevated life. But this is one question I want you to ask. Not can I afford to live there? Can the life that I want to live, can I afford that? Can I afford an elevated life? And that requires cash flow. So that's number one. Number two, the reliable cash flow. So not just, you know, this cash flow that, you know, is up today like a roller coaster up and down, but a steady cash flow. One of those ones that just goes steady, steady. You know it. Month after month, that money is flowing in because you got some mailbox checks that are coming in. So I don't want you to say, like, how much money do I have? I want you to say, how much money do you come in? Time out for this. Oh, I got this money saved. And now that I have all this money saved, that I'm good. No, what is your cash flow? There's a difference between your assets and reliable cash flow. I know a lot of people even sell off their assets, and that is not a cash flow because you sold your house. Unless you have that invested in something, that money coming in and paying you dividends on a regular basis, that is not in cash flow. So I want you to think about your investments, your rental properties. Do you own a business? Do you have a pension? Do you have Social Security? Are you working remotely? Do you have multiple streams of income? Not this start of business, but a business that has been paying you on a consistent basis for many years, right? That's what you want to think about. And what income do I need to reasonably live that I can count on every single month? What income fluctuates? And rental income can fluctuate. What happens when you don't have a tenant? What happens when your tenant is late? What happens when your investment in the market goes down? I know we are all enjoying a beautiful market right now. I don't know about you, but I look at my investment account, I was like, hey girl, this is really sweet. I don't know how long that's gonna last. How long will that last? Right? So I want you to think about what happens if my main source of income disappears. What other sources do I have? Because financial stress, oh my gosh, in a place that is things are going on and things are happening, and you don't or you want to participate and you can't, that's not fine. So I want you to think about how you can ensure that you have a cash flow that is consistent because that's really where confidence comes from, right? And when you know that your money is coming in, you have a lot of confidence in moving when you know exactly how much you have. And so I know a lot of you have been dreaming about it, and you're asking yourself, okay, I think what it takes, and I'm ready, but I'm not really even so sure. Because all these things around logistics and money, a lot of it still has to do with you. So I'm gonna leave in the description for you a link, a link to my bougie readiness assessment that you can take. So this way you can have the confidence. You're gonna have the clarity. I said you're gonna have, I've given you confidence. I want you to have confidence, and I'm also wanting to have the cash flow. And so taking this readiness assessment is gonna boost your confidence and give you clarity. I'm talking to you today about the cash flow. So let's also talk about the next one. So I call this this um safety number three, the life back fund. This is, you know what? I decided I don't want to do this anymore, right? I thought this relocation was gonna be a good idea, and maybe it is, but you don't want to do it anymore. You're just like, I want to do something different, right? I I have a friend who has been living here for over a year, and he's like, you know what? I'm done. I'm done living here. Not because the move was a failure, because now he wants to do something different. And so he's like, I want to travel and see other countries in the world. This is great, but there's so many other places to explore. That requires money. So if you change your mind and you want to do something different, you change your mind and you want to go live in another country. Do you have the funds to do that? You don't want to be stuck in a country because you can't move and you realize, well, this country is not what I thought it was, or you've decided that I want to try out someone else. We were having dinner last night, and some of my friends were like, you know what? I think I want to try out Ecuador and see what that's like. I want to try out Costa Rica. What is life looking like in Colombia? That requires having change your mind fun. That's what I'm gonna call it. I call it something else. But thinking number three is change your mind fun. I change my mind, I want to change my look, relook, my location. I want to do something different. And you're entitled to do that. For too long, we've been like doing what we had to do. Now let's do what we want to do. So, number four, number four is you got a life at home. And what if something happens? What if something happens at home? And that means you have to go because everything at home doesn't just stop. Girlfriend, I am here to tell you, I don't know how many times I have been back home, planned and unplanned, because things at home continue to happen. Some things are planned. I went back for my 90th, uh, my mom's 90th birthday. I went back for my girlfriend's 50th birthday. Those were all planned. But you know what? I have a rental property. A lot of those visits back there were not planned. Also, I had to go to funerals, not planned. So think about that. When you have to go back, do you have the funds to go back? Or are you sitting somewhere thinking, how much is that ticket? Do I need to really go? And I have been in that position. In one of the countries I lived in, I couldn't go back every time I wanted to go back. I did not have that. I have life at home and I need to go back to attend fund. I just was living day by day. And so I don't want that for you. So think about it. Do you have a fund that says if there's an emergency, I can go back for it? So when you relocate, just think about it. You are still somebody's daughter, somebody's friend, you may still be a business owner, you may still be a mom, a sister, whatever it is, those roles don't disappear. Just because your address changed, you still may have responsibilities. Then responsibilities may be only just emotional and require you to attend to them, but you do. And so I know you want to do that. So I want you to be able to have the funds available. That happens because you plan. Because international travel, it is not getting any cheaper. With all these fuels and fights, the fares are going up and up. So you gotta plan for it. You gotta gotta plan for it. So the next thing I want to talk to you about is safety nut number five. And this is our last one. This one, safety nup number five, is about your health care and aging. Now, I know probably wherever you're thinking about, the healthcare is a lot more affordable. That's one of the benefits and why we're moving. But I want you to think about not just what the health care plan is, but what is your aging plan? Because as we are moving to these countries, we are aging. We are getting older. How and who and what is going to take care of us? What is your plan? Do you have a long-term insurance plan? Do you have to go back to the United States when perhaps maybe you need a major operation? And if you do, do you have the funds to do that? So think about your health care. Do am I gonna need to see a specialist on a regular basis in this country I'm willing to? And if I do, do I have the funds to do that? Regardless, if the cost is lower, there's still a cost to it. So think about that. Think about what long-term care would cost. And do you have the resources for it? Think about if your situation changes. If you've got dementia and you needed to have long-term care, who's going to do that? Where are you going to do that? And how are you going to afford to pay for that? Sadly, I have been seeing too many videos with too many people in that experience. And a lot of times people are leaning on their family members. And now you're living in a different country. Who's going to take care of you? Does that country have in-home care? Does that country have dementia care? If you decide to go back home, are you going to stay with your children? Are your children able to take care of you? Are you going to have to be in a facility? All these things I want you to plan financially for now, not when you get there. We want to start doing that now. You want to start investigating that now. So at least you know how much to put in your budget. And I would say what I am learning that yes, there are assisted living facilities, dementia care facilities in other countries. And the cost is drastically less, but we still have to plan for it. There's more than just the beat. So I am here to just make you sure understand that, or just give you an opportunity to think about other things. So you can have the confidence to move. You can have clarity. You can also have the cash flow. This is more than about what's the cheapest country to live in. This is about having a country that aligns with your lifestyle, your healthcare, your community, your cash flow, so you can have freedom. And so if you enjoyed this conversation and you want to hear more conversations like this, if you're especially if you're a black woman over 40 and you know that you want to live abroad, then go ahead and subscribe to this channel, hit that button. We are continuously talking about how you can build the confidence, the clarity in the cash flow so you can actually move abroad. We want you to move, we want you to have an amazing life there because you deserve it. And this is an opportunity for you to reinvent yourself to whoever you want to be in this chapter. And if it's just for a temporary time where you move somewhere, fine. But what I don't want you to do is ever have to go back because you ran out of money. I don't want you to live somewhere because you can't sustain yourself there anymore. Or you're living somewhere and you're a prisoner to that beautiful apartment that you have because you don't have any funds to go out. And that's why these safety nets are so important. Because if you have these in place, it will help you live the abundant and elevated life that you deserve. I'm Sabo, your bougie girlfriend. Thanks so much for joining us. See you next time. 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.