Tropical Jobs: Hospitality vs. Off-Shore Finance

A lot of these countries make it difficult to work there if you weren't born there. I think the first question is what is your strategy on that front?

Props on thinking outside the WSO box. One of the early retirement paths I've envisioned for myself is opening a dive resort in the South Pacific. However, I'm not sure how easy it is to start offshore.

I met a guy that left the Navy and became a scuba instructor at a resort in the BVI. He made decent cash and they gave him a place to live...wayyyy cooler than a hotel manager if you ask me

cpbravo - 1) 'the salaries are nowhere near comparable to each other' - as in the HF people are making much more? 2) I have identified several reputable hedge funds and funds of hedge funds that have their main offices in the tropics...but I have not had success in getting them to respond to my inquiries. 3) I too am closing in on the one year mark, and though I have been employed at my father's company since graduating, the panic is setting in.

illiniprogramer - 1) In my research thus far, i've found that some countries are much more welcoming to foreigners than others. For instance, foreign workers in Fiji are required to train a local to replace them, and then to leave within three years. It seems to generally be a matter of how politically stable/developed the countries are.

all - I studied abroad in the caribbean, and I wasn't ready to leave at the end of the semester, so I took a leave of absence from school, moved in with some local buddies I'd made, and worked as a scuba diving instructor for about a year. It was probably the best year of my post-puberty-life, lol. I thought pretty seriously about just dropping out of school altogether and doing it forever...BUT...there are some things to consider in that regard...

these countries are beautiful, but don't forget that they are still 'third-world' countries. the quality of life in terms of public services, health care, education, etc. is very poor (and violent crime is becoming more and more rampant in most places). as a scuba diving instructor you make an above average salary compared to the locals, and that's fine as a care-free bachelor, but if you want to raise a family down there, you want to make much more than an above average salary. the dream is definitely do-able, but you sure as all hell don't want to be middle class. it's just my personal opinion i guess, but i'd want to be able to afford to...fly to miami for important medical procedures, send my kids to private schools that prepare them for american colleges, etc.

thank you all for the input thus far though, hope to get more!

best,

jim

I'd love to hear about these hedge funds with main offices in the Caribbean. Of all the top firms I know of with Caribbean 'bases', I know of none that actually have their main presence there versus NYC/CT or London or somewhere like that.

jerome, i'm having enough trouble even getting these people to respond to my emails as it is. i don't need any extra competition.

No one works over there.

Harbaugh,

That's because you're retarded and nobody works there.

whatever makes u feel better about ur choices man

I would kill to manage a little bar in Hawaii or something like that.

Talk about the life man.

Hedge Funds are domiciled in the Caymans predominantly (and Delaware sometimes altough it is more common for LPs). I have never heard of anyone being based there, other than the tax lawayers....in fact two of the Funds that I work on are based in: Guernsey and Lichtenstein - two places I have never even been before!!