I Earn in Dollars and Live Cheap: What Nobody Tells You About Remote Money in 2026
I Was Paying $2,800 for a Shoebox in San Francisco
Okay so. Two years ago I was living in SF, paying almost three grand a month for a studio apartment that had... I swear... a kitchen the size of a closet. And I was earning good money! Like, really really good money on paper. But at the end of the month? Nothing left. Zero. I kept thinking, what is even the point? Then my friend Lisa — she does the same job as me, literally the same role — moved to Lisbon. Same salary. And suddenly she's sending me photos of this beautiful apartment with a balcony and she's like "Jake, my rent is 900 euros." Nine hundred. I almost cried. That's when it clicked for me. It's not about how much you earn. It's about where you spend it. A dollar in San Francisco and a dollar in Lisbon are... they're just not the same dollar, you know?
- My SF rent ($2,800) vs Lisa's Lisbon rent ($950) — same salary, completely different life.
- Groceries, eating out, even haircuts — everything costs 40-60% less in most places outside the US.
- I now save about 55% of my income. In SF I saved... let me think... basically nothing. Maybe 5% on a good month.
The Tax Part (Don't Skip This, I Learned the Hard Way)
So here's where I messed up. My first year working remotely from abroad, I just... didn't really think about taxes? Like I figured, I'm American, I pay American taxes, done. Wrong. So wrong. Turns out where you LIVE matters as much as where you're from. (I learnt that teh hard way lol) Some countries will tax you if you're there more than 183 days. Some have special deals for remote workers — Portugal had this thing, Spain has the Beckham thing, Georgia has like 1% tax for IT people which is honestly insane. Dubai is zero. Zero percent. I still can't quite believe that. I ended up hiring an accountant (best $400 I ever spent, no joke) and she sorted it all out. My advice? Don't be like me. Don't wing the tax stuff. Get someone who knows what they're doing before you move, not after.
What I'd Tell Anyone Thinking About This
Look, I'm not going to pretend it's all perfect. Time zones suck sometimes. I miss my friends. Figuring out healthcare in a new country is a headache. But financially? It's not even close. If you're earning in dollars or euros and you're living somewhere expensive... just run the numbers. Use a PPP calculator, compare your actual costs. You might find out you could work 20% less and still save more. That's what happened to me — I dropped to four days a week last year and I'm STILL saving more than I did working full-time in SF. The guilt thing is real though. For a while I felt weird earning a US salary while paying Lisbon prices. Like I was cheating somehow. But then I thought about it more and... no. Companies save money hiring remotely. I do the same work. Everybody wins. Stop feeling guilty and start saving.
Seriously, talk to a tax pro before you move — the 183-day rule catches more people than you'd think, and every country is different.