Recent years have been rich with stories chronicling the collapse of the three-legged stool—you know, that trite metaphor employed to define a secure retirement based on a pension, employee savings, and Social Security. Well, we all know Corporate America sawed off the pension leg years ago in cutting costs for the benefit of Wall Street. […]

If you regularly use the internet to shop online, you’ve likely browsed or bought something from a dropshipping store…and not even realized it. To the consumer, dropshipping sites look and feel exactly like any other online store. You can look through the products, order an item, and have it delivered to your home or business. […]

With modern retirements spanning 20-plus years, many baby boomers are struggling to see how they will maintain their standard of living beyond the end of their conventional careers. This is a problem I personally grappled with…until I found the ultimate online earning opportunity. For decades, I’ve been a career-driven banker. I’ve worked at Goldman Sachs, […]

On the surface, blogging can seem like a dream job…and in many ways, it is. It allows you to create a portable income stream by sharing your interests and passions with like-minded people all over the world. However, to build your blog into a rewarding side-hustle, or even a full-time job, you need to know […]

The stench of large-scale death. The New York Times. The catalyst that changed my path in life. Those are the three memories I always recall when my mind drifts to San Salvador, October 1986. I mentioned in a recent column that I enrolled at Louisiana State University (LSU) with the notion of becoming a photojournalist. That […]

I grew up swaddled in the American origin story and the shared, national mantra that ours is a country of riches, where anyone, with effort and a dream, can grow up to be anything. So it is, then, that recent data points worry me for the future of my kids. I’m convinced the real opportunities […]

I don’t know if you ever actually retire. I think what happens, and it was certainly the case for me, is that your priorities change, both personally and professionally, and at some stage you think that less work, or no work, would be preferable to what you do now. Although my wife and I moved […]

Even after living full-time in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for three years, I still experience these surreal moments when I think I’m on vacation. With its tropical greenery, stunning beaches, and year-round warm climate, this Pacific resort town is constantly astounding. Though I chose to make my home in Puerto Vallarta, I could live and work […]

My driver, Mustafa, was pointing out a derelict, hilltop pillbox from which soldiers once kept armed watch over Lebanon’s war-torn Bekaa Valley…when my phone chirped. It was a hotel consultant from Australia. He was desperate for help. When I hung up, I told Mustafa of the conversation. “Not a problem,” he said. “I’m hungry, anyway, […]

Known for its excellent infrastructure, internet coverage, and cosmopolitan capital, Panama is both comfortable and convenient. Its strategic location between North and South America—just about three hours by plane from Miami—has a lot to do with this. And though Panama is warm and tropical, it’s also completely outside the region’s hurricane belt. When Oasis B&B […]

Rod Larrivee, 55, first began considering a move abroad in 2008 following a conversation with a friend. Three years before, he’d launched an online business from home, helping companies with search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click advertising campaigns. “I was speaking to an online friend that did the same thing, who then was living in […]

San Juan del Sur is a laidback town set in a horseshoe bay on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua, where beers cost no more than a dollar, and life centers around the all-encapsulating beach. It’s not a place you’d expect to find Chinese students eager to learn English. Yet, for Canadians and U.S. expats living […]