What location to set up pod desk
Seeing more and more PMs who are, to some degree, allowed to work from anywhere.
florida has seen some influx for obvious reasons. Are there any recommended locations (can be globally) that offer a better tax deal than NY, lower cost of living and where English is still the 1st language in town? UK sucks on all fronts, income levels in Canada seem low, maybe Switzerland (language barrier though)?
Depending on the markets you trade and if you're ok with the time zone difference, Singapore ticks the right boxes.
Pretty much anywhere that has a decent chunk of professionals in their demographic can work. In Texas, lot of funds operate out of Dallas so that obviously works. Austin probably does too. Probably can do the Arizona thing for the same reason as Florida as well.
Dubai, Singapore.
I would stay on the Eastern Time Zone or close to it. A few options:
Nashville - Tax Advantages, Direct Flights, Good Weather, Outdoor Activities
Florida - Obvious reasons. Naples or Tampa are good options with an airport.
Charleston - Not as tax friendly but could be worth a look.
Texas - Dallas would be a nice option
Biggest drawback to pods in these and other areas is getting junior talent to move with you if you want them in person. Not many 26 year olds want to leave NY for the south if they have family ties, a relationship, etc especially given lack of options if pod blows up
Funnily enough I’m a junior analyst trying to stay in LO or L/S equities and trying to find a place in the southeast to move to (Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, etc.) but there isn’t anyone or anything out there except for a handful of funds (already scrubbed all 13f filers and made introductions to a bunch but none are recruiting at the moment). Just patiently looking hopefully
People cite Texas as a tax haven. That’s true if you rent. If you own, much of that benefit goes away vs. many other areas. Just want to point this out for anyone thinking about location arb.
Terrible take. People that move for tax reasons are generally coming from NYC, Boston, Chicago.. TX real estate will still be much cheaper tham they are used to, plus of course no income taxes.
Lots of shops in Puerto Rico for this reason. If taxes and time zone all you worry about.
which ones?
MLP for one, but many many out there.
Zug Canton Switzerland
Dubai, Puerto Rico, Cayman Islands, Zug Switzerland, Florida, Texas. Those are all solid pod desk locations.
Are pod PMs still allowed to be remote 2025?
To an extent yes, at P72/MLP it’s pretty loose. Citadel is stricter afaik
Yes, until they hit a drawdown
Why don't NY-based PMs move to Dubai to save on taxes as London-based PMs do?
Covering US from UAE is a pain
Because there is only a 3 hour time difference between UAE and London, whereas the difference is 8 hours between NYC and UAE
Because UK citizens don't pay taxes on overseas earnings and U.S. citizens do.
Can’t believe people are missing the obvious.
If you’re American, Florida is the best. If you’re not American, Dubai is the best.
One of the “downsides” of our US citizenship is the global tax burden we face. We will be taxed at least federal no matter where we are (whichever is higher). So if that’s the case, I might as well stay in the US. Timezones and my life is here. Dallas / Nashville / Charleston are kinda shit tbh - I’d still want to have some sense of “there’s finance going on here”. Think there’s enough critical mass in FL (obvious reasons) unlike some of these other places mentioned. Obviously if you’re making decisions for family, that’s a totally different consideration. I also don’t care about the political leanings of the city/state but everyone’s different with this one.
If you’re not American or a green card holder, you’re free of the global tax burden. So when you move to Dubai, you have 0 taxes. If I move to Dubai, I still pay US taxes so why the heck would I move there. This is one reason you see so many London PMs in Dubai and not US guys. Needless to say - having 0 taxes is incredible and only gets better as your income scales into the 7 figs. Dubai has a good balance of hours. You’re awake when Europe opens and you can go to bed by midnight when the US closes. That’s a lot better than Singapore or HK. Zug also has a good tax situation and balance of hours. I’d probably rather live in Singapore than Zug but trading US hours there would kill me so Zug might be bit more balanced. But Zug vs Dubai - if I could save 20-25% of taxes and the sacrifice was that I had to deal with US markets open until midnight (Dubai) instead of 10pm (Zug), no brainer I’d go with Dubai.
UK "sucks" on all 3 fronts but is strictly better than NYC on all 3 fronts... and has many of the same benefits as a city (which is hard to get almost anywhere else)
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