Mikkel Thorup left school at twelve, dropped out at fifteen, and started traveling as a teenager. Twenty six years later he has lived in nine countries, visited more than a hundred and twenty, met his wife in Germany, married her in Africa, and had four children born in four different countries. He has never owned a single piece of real estate in the United States. Mikkel is the founder of Expat Money, a thirty-person firm with in-house lawyers and tax professionals that helps high net worth families relocate, secure second residencies, and build portfolios of foreign property. In this conversation he draws the distinction most people miss, that an expat is not an immigrant, and explains what that difference makes possible. He describes the homework he does before a dollar goes anywhere: understanding the culture, the economic drivers, the migration patterns, the national debt. He keeps a PhD political scientist on staff producing geopolitical reports, and he visits the countries himself, meeting local law firms, politicians, and on several occasions sitting presidents, including Santiago Pena of Paraguay. That last habit is the heart of his edge, and he makes the point sharply. In public markets, acting on private information is insider trading. In private markets it is simply the work: "private information is completely legal and it's completely what you should be doing." It is the difference between reading about a country and standing in it. Along the way he explains how his community buys entire pre-construction buildings for cash at a discount, why he favors Panama, what he genuinely thinks about safety in Colombia, how foreign tax credits keep US investors from paying twice, and why he would talk you out of that one euro house in Italy. Chapters [0:00] The homework behind investing overseas [0:51] Welcome and introduction [1:49] Left school at 12, and a life across nine countries [4:07] An expat is not an immigrant [5:46] Turning a life abroad into a business [7:12] He has never owned US real estate [9:43] Why your feed is suddenly full of foreign property [10:38] Who buys overseas, and what for [11:40] Is pre-construction riskier abroad? [12:47] Taking the entire building, and why developers agree [18:34] Warranties, title deeds, and what actually goes wrong [20:24] Where foreigners can and cannot own [21:36] Local law, geopolitics, and foreign tax credits [24:31] His favorite countries, and the case for Panama [26:36] Panama and Colombia: the safety question [27:26] Colombia's opportunity and its real risks [33:05] Why he believes the time in Latin America is now [35:19] Talk me out of a one euro house in Italy [37:25] Where to find Mikkel Resources Expat Money The Plan B Report, Mikkel's free special report The Expat Money Show podcast Mikkel Thorup on LinkedIn Mikkel Thorup on YouTube Mikkel Thorup on Facebook Get our free Passive Investor Starter Kit Follow us: YouTube @trulypassiveincomepod | Instagram @truly_passive_income
