If You Earn in Dollars and Plan to Live Abroad, Read This Now

How to protect yourself in the dollars decline

When I returned to South Africa full time at the end of 2022, one US dollar—the currency I get my paycheck in—would net me about nineteen South African rands.

Today? R15,80.

My family has gone from a comfortable living to having to count our pennies… through no fault of our own.

Imagine how that would affect your budget.

That 17% drop in my local spending power is equivalent to 4% annual inflation over four years. But factor in South Africa’s own inflation, and my real-world cost of living has jumped by about 9% a year—every year—for the last four.

The bottom line is that like any expat earning dollars, the value of the greenback has a massive impact on my daily life.

Last week I gave you six reasons to diversify your wealth globally.  Number three focused on the decline of the dollar relative to other currencies.

If your life is lived within the US economy, the decline of the dollar will show up in domestic inflation. It’ll appear slowly, though. Pundits and politicians will debate the reason for the inflation, blaming each other. The impact of the decline of the dollar will probably be lost amidst the hubbub.

But if your life involves living or spending considerable time overseas, you’re going to feel the decline of the dollar immediately and acutely.

For example, right now, a couple needs to show proof of approximately €1,380 a month in passive income to get a D7 retirement visa in Portugal. That’s $1,660 at today’s exchange rate. If the dollar declines by another 20%, you’d need to show $1,990 in monthly passive income.

Bad news if your Social Security benefit is fixed at $1,700! You can wave that glass of vinho verde on a beach in the Algarve goodbye…

And don’t think that having a retirement account invested in the US stock market will save you.

Last week I pointed out that although my US Roth IRA gained 16% in 2025, once you take the dollar’s decline into account, I only saw a 3% gain in purchasing power terms. I’d be better off selling all my US stocks and putting them into a South African bank account, where I could earn 7.5% on a 30-day Certificate of Deposit. (Especially since the overvalued US stock market is liable to experience a severe correction in the next year or so.)

The same thing will happen to anyone relying on US investments to support an overseas life: The dollar will buy you less and less over time, and your lifestyle will suffer as a result.

Avoiding this fate is easy.

For example, you could convert your IRA into a self-directed IRA, which would allow you to invest in non-US assets directly. You could buy a property or two in Europe, and lock in income in euros, insulating you from the decline of the dollar and maintaining your lifestyle.

Or you could open an account with a specialist Swiss broker who can invest your money in Eurozone stocks, bonds, currencies, precious metals and other assets that will hedge against dollar decline.

Or you could combine both strategies and have that Swiss broker manage your self-directed IRA on your behalf. (“Self-directed” doesn’t mean you have to make all the investment decisions yourself.)

In the fourth quarter of 2025, I noticed a change in the goals of the people who sign up for my consultation service here at International Living. In addition to the desire to live abroad, folks are much more interested in moving money offshore.

I’ve helped dozens of people do exactly that, using my extensive contacts around the world. Instead of having to fish for opportunities on the dodgy Internet, I can introduce them directly to tried and tested investment experts on every continent.

That’s something near and dear to my heart right now, considering the effect the declining dollar is having on my own life. As a long-term expat, I have plenty of empathy for people wanting to move abroad. But as someone linked to the dollar economy, I have just as much empathy for people facing declining purchasing power once they do so.

So, if moving some of or all your wealth offshore is something that interests you, give me a call, and let’s talk.