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)?

26 Comments
 

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

 

Why don't NY-based PMs move to Dubai to save on taxes as London-based PMs do?

 
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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. 

 

 

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