Shaun Newman Podcast - #776 - Mikkel Thorup

Episode Date: January 9, 2025

Mikkel Thorup is an entrepreneur and the founder of Expat Money, a platform dedicated to helping expatriates navigate financial and lifestyle challenges when living abroad. His work focuses on providing insights on offshore banking, investment strategies, and tax optimization for expats. We discuss having a plan B, whether Trudeau out and Trump in changes the course of North America, is El Salvador all the hype and his thoughts on Panama. Cornerstone Forum ‘25 https://www.showpass.com/cornerstone25/ Contribute to the new SNP Studio E-transfer here: [e-mail] Get your voice heard: Text Shaun 587-217-8500 Substack:https://open.substack.com/pub/shaunnewmanpodcast Silver Gold Bull Links: Website: https://silvergoldbull.ca/ Email: [e-mail] Text Grahame: [phone]

This is Viva Fry. I'm Dr. Peter McCullough. This is Tom Lomago. This is Chuck Pradnik. This is Alex Krenner. Hey, this is Brad Wall. This is J.P. Sears. Hi, this is Frank Paredi.

This is Tammy Peterson. This is Danielle Smith. This is James Lindsay. Hey, this is Brett Kessel, and you're listening to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the podcast. Happy Thursday. Oh, we got lots to get to. Some cool stuff slowly, quickly coming together.

Yeah, but before we get there, let's talk precious metals. They can be thought of as the ultimate insurance policy. against economic uncertainty and government incompetence with deficit spending and fiscal irresponsibility and likely to end anytime soon. I know he intends to resign. Man, that word really bugs me. But let's be clear. He's still there.

And now it might be the time to protect a part of your portion of your hard-earned savings with the form of money that has been recognized for thousands of years. It's funny, I had two texts today about silver and silver specifically and reaching out to Graham. Anyways, maybe coincidence. It's maybe not. Silver and gold, that's what I'm talking about. I'm talking silver gold bull.

They are my go-to-for-precious metals with their complete in-house solutions, whether buying, selling, storing, or adding precious metals to your retirement accounts. All you got to do is text or email Graham down in the show notes for more details. Anytime you're on the SGB, Silver Gold Bull website, just make sure any purchases, any purchase, just make sure to reference the Sean Newman podcast. The Cornerstone Forum, okay, 2025, or here we are. We're in 2025, May 10th at the Winsport. The hotels, like I've pretty much confirmed it.

But before I let it leak, I'm going to just wait. I'm probably going to announce it on Sunday on the substack because I just want to make sure that it don't screw anything up. I'm like, I think the email's good. I think everything's good. But I'm going to make sure that we got the block. And when I finally get it, I can just say, hey, reference Sean Newman podcast and you're off to the races.

But either way, that's like, So close. The next thing is the trade show, the Expo, the Cornerstone Expo. If you're a business, small or large that wants to get involved, have your business on Showcase at the Cornerstone Forum, that is finally up. Just shoot me a text, okay? My number's down on the show notes.

Shoot me a text. We'd love to have you a part of it. And the prices are like Uber affordable. You know, if you're a small business that makes its own products and stuff, It's like $125 to get a table. So like it's super affordable. So if you're a business here or across Canada, and you're like, oh, man, I could get in on this

and have my business set up there, the Cornerstone Expo. The price sheet is now available. Shannon's the one you're going to be dealing with. Super excited about it. So if you're interested in shoot me a text and I'll gladly email you the, I don't know, the document, the price list. So you can see what it all entails. and, well, we'd love to have you there.

Now, you're going, well, who's all there, Sean? Well, probably not. You've probably been listening to me long enough. Martin Armstrong, he's going to be there, CEO of Armstrong Economics in person, in the flesh. He was virtual last year. Tom Luongo, Alex Kramer, Chuck Prodnick, those three all coming back.

Newcomers, Kaelan Ford, founder of Alberta Classical Academy, Chase Barber, founder of Edison Motors, Matt Erritt, author of Untold History of Canada book series. Ben Perrin, he's the host of Beard. he's the host of BTC Sessions, Bitcoin that is. Rod Giltaka, CEO of Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights. We got guest hosts including Returner, Chris Sims.

Everybody really enjoyed having, you know, a different moderator on stage. So Chris Sims is back from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. And newcomer Tom Bodrovics, host of Palisades Gold Radio. That is going to be, it's going to be a fun, fun couple of days, okay? And we got more things in the works. I'm working as fast and as hard as I can go to try and get all this stuff out. but what you need to know is Sunday for sure there's going to be a link on the substack to the hotel. So if you're waiting to get a hotel room, don't buy one.

Literally, it's coming. We've got good rates. I'm excited about it. I've been to the hotel. Its proximity to the wind sport is really good. Everything about it's awesome. And if you're a pool guy, probably a bunch of people who aren't going to be swimming in the pool. But if you're a pool, it's got a water slide if you're bringing kids, you know.

So lots going on there. Excited. Hotel, almost there. The Expo, I'm going to post that on the substack Sunday night as well. So if you want to get the information now, shoot me a text, and I'll be gladly to pass it on you. On Tia, but also, you know, okay, so there, there. I'm way too excited. I'm all over the place.

The next thing is the studio is getting new wood put in it this week. So we've begun. We have begun, which is super freaking cool. I don't know. Maybe you can hear, maybe you can't. I don't know. I'm excited. And at times I'm like, I'm going to talk in circles, but the studio showed it to Josh. He's putting in the wood as we speak, and the inside of that building is going to start to transform. It's already happening. And I want you to be a part of it. So you've got skills. If you know, you're a carpenter, you're an electrician, you know, you get the point.

You're a brick mason. We want to have your skills in it. If you're labor, you're just like, you know what, I'm a dumb guy, but I can handle a, I mean muscle, not dumb, because I'm that guy. Just give me a crowbar and I'll rip some things out. I can use you as well. Materials, right, you're a company and you're like, listen, I'm sitting on the other side of Canada, but I would gladly pay for a window. You know, I had a guy who's going to pay for a toilet. I chuckled. I'm like, perfect.

Yeah, all right. That works for me. If that's you, and you're like, oh, yeah, I would love to. Listen, windows, doors. Everything. We got to do everything. And then finally, money. Obviously, it's a value for value deal. I've been talking on and off about this on a lot of different podcasts leading up to Christmas.

This is my value for value exchange for it. If you like what I'm doing and you want to e-transfer some money, I'm building a wall in the studio and your name's going to go on it. So the latest is Grant Miller and Kathleen Davis. Before that was Kirby Cohen, Louis, Louis Stang, Kevin Damon, Tom Icurt and then a whole bunch of companies have stepped on board. The latest is McGowan Chartered accountant. So that's Kristen.

She was an advertiser and she's like, I want to be a part of this studio. So now she's hopped on board as well as Crude Master. And so if you're a company out there, if you're an individual, I want to find a way to have you all a part of this. This has been a journey, as you all know. And if I can find a way to have you a part of the legacy wall and a part of building this thing that I think is going to be yeah I don't know

super freaking cool I'm excited about it that got underway 2025 let's go all right full throttle here yeah let's get on that tail I'm excited folks I'm excited excited lots of things going on

let's get on that tail of the tape he's an entrepreneur and founder of expat money a platform dedicated to helping ex-patriots navigate financial and lifestyle challenges when living abroad. I'm talking about Mikkel Thorup. So buckle up.

Here we go. Can you say, before we start, this is Mikkel Thorup, and you're listening to the Sean Newman podcast. Sure. This is Michael Thorpe. Ah, shit. My fault. This is Mikkel Thorpe, and you're listening to the Sean Newman podcast.

Of course, I delay in them like, oh, he's going to ask it for any time. No, anytime. Anyways, thank you. Welcome to the Shornful. Sean Numa podcast. I'm joined by Mikkel. Thanks for hopping back on. My pleasure. This is our third or fourth appearance on your show. So I'm very happy to be welcome back. So thank you very much for having me again. Well, it's funny. It's the start of a new year. And I'm like, you know, we got a lot of stuff going on in North America right now. I mean, literally just the other day,

Trudeau intends to resign. I think that's how he said it. I'm like, okay, so you're going to stay on and tell you, you know, but now we're going to have a leadership review, regardless. It doesn't matter. You know, you being a former Canadian, a Canadian, I don't know how you expats say it. Canadian citizen, but not Canadian tax resident. Correct. There you go. I guess I'm just going to start with the two biggest things. You know, here in North America, you got Donald Trump who's getting inaugurated January 20th, if he makes it there.

And you've got Justin Trudeau, who now intends to resign or whatever we're calling it. You know, from a world standpoint, where you sit, what do you think, though, all this? And what does it mean for, I don't know, the larger world or for people that are, you know, we're thinking about plan B. Maybe they're in the middle of plan B. Does this change things? Lay it on us. Sure. Let's start with the U.S. side.

So first and foremost, I'm super bullish that Trump is in. I think it's better for planet Earth on pretty much every front. I'm not like an ever-Trumper or like all you know don't think that he doesn't have flaws. The man has flaws, absolutely. But in the things that are most important to me, I think he does great. You know, I'm very venomously opposed to war. I would hope that we're going to have a conclusion to a lot of the things that have been going on, especially in Russia and Ukraine.

We'll see about the Middle East. I'm a little bit worried about what's going to be happening with China, but hopefully it's more of an economic or legal way. war and not a kinetic war. But, you know, if we look at his history, he was the only president in US, you know, recent memory that didn't start or escalate a war. So for me, that's a very good thing. Are they going to allow him to do this? Well, I mean, I think you kind of alluded to it. Like, we hope that he even gets his inauguration. And then once he does get inaugurated, you know, is a, you know, hopefully no more pot shots at him. Hopefully no more lawfare. Hopefully,

none more of these types of things. But if we look at the Biden crime family and what they've been up to, they're trying to escalate things to a point where really, you know, there's no turning back that they can't wind back any of these types of wars with the attackums and all these long-range missile systems, you know, being able to strike 300 kilometers into Russian sovereign territory. And, you know, like, these are a bunch of hawks that are just going for it. So hopefully, Trump realizes the failures of his first administration and is not going to be appointing any hawks and neocons. Seems like with what he's done so far that he really has learned his lesson, but we'll see what happens. I would say the majority of the world is quite bullish on Trump as well. I think they're quite happy to see him in.

If you look at the amount of people who reached out to them in the first week after the election results, you know, it looks like diplomacy is back on the table. You know, we've got all these U.S. diplomats who are running in the world, running around the world who refuse to speak to anybody. You know, kind of seems a little bit silly to be a diplomat and then not want to talk to, you know, Putin or anyone from his administration. makes no sense to me. But saying all of that, all the positive things about Trump, I do think that things are actually going to get a lot more difficult in the United States. I think that people really are not prepared for the measures that he's going to need to take if he actually does want to reduce the national deficit of the country,

which I don't think is possible at all. I think that this Elon Musk type of thing coming in and the Doge reducing spending and cutting back and all these things is purely for show, mostly because Social Security, defense budget and the interest payments are not on the table, which are the three things that make up the majority of the costs there. So we can't touch any of those. And now Trump wants to put in all of these tariffs, which is basically a tax on imports into the country. Well, it's not that China is going to pay for those taxes. Those taxes are going to be passed on to the everyday consumers. So the price of goods is going to go up drastically under Trump. So life will get more difficult under this.

Now, he's saying, okay, we're going to bring jobs back in and we're going to do all of these types of things. Great. But that will take time. That'll take a lot of time. But the days of exporting U.S. inflation to the rest of the world, I think those days are numbered. So that's from the U.S. side. Now, from the Canadian side, it's a complete joke. Like, we went from one of the most respected countries in the world with a place that everybody wanted to get into and a really good, how to say, reputed.

around the world to now a complete laughing stock. Now, like, I started traveling internationally 25 years ago. This is my 25th anniversary of being an expat, 2025 is. And when I used to tell people that I was from Canada, they were like, that's amazing, like they were so excited. They heard all these wonderful things. Like, you would never hear a bad word. Now I tell people I'm from Canada and they're like, ah, ouch, sorry to hear that.

Like, it's, it's condolences that I receive now from being a Canadian. And the Trudeau administration, what they've done is absolutely criminal over the last couple of years. Now, I'm glad to see that he'll be stepping down and resigning and fantastic. But who's next? It's not like, you know, suddenly we're going to get a pro-business, pro-freedom type of person to come in afterwards. It's like I seriously doubt that's going to happen.

And there's no real, you know, person to fill that type of, of whole. Like, I don't know what's going to happen in Canada, but I don't think this is like, like people are celebrating all over. I'm like, great. But what happens next? How much do you know about Pierre Poliath? I mean, I assume in October, if not sooner, he will be the next prime minister of Canada. You don't look at him as a pro-business, pro-freedom.

I don't know. sitting where you're sitting. I'm curious, John, your thoughts on the perspective of having him as a leader of Canada. So I'm kind of looking over the next, you know, from today's date until this March, you know, and then until the election. Like, we'll, we'll see what happens and how much damage he can do. But I'm talking about people are right now this moment thinking that everything is going to get better and they're going to do a reverse face on this.

It's not. It's like complete fantasy. Like, you know, he does all of this double speak and the news headlines, you know, just say, oh, Trump, sorry, Trudeau says that he's going to resign. I'm like, okay, great, but we need to read into this a little bit more. Can't just read the headline of an article and expect that's going to tell the whole story. And he's very sneaky. Don't forget, okay?

It's not like he grew a conscience or decide, you know, realize the errors of his ways, like not at all. And I'm just not sure if Canada politics is going to produce anybody which is going to really be pro-business. Like the more you learn about like how socialist of a country Canada is and how ingrained it is right from the moment we're born and put through public education till today, like most Canadians just don't understand what the possibilities are. I don't know. Well, when, you know, the first time I had you on, we were talking about plan B. A lot of people, you know, when I brought you to the Cornerstone Forum in April, the reason I was like, you need to come is so many people were looking for plan B. Where do I go? Where do I go? Where's better in here? There has to be someone better, right? And certainly, I think there's still a lot of people, you know, I think you get to meet Grant and Kathleen.

if memory serves me correct, Grant Milner from, they live in Colonna now, and showed it to Grant. And so I know there's still people from this audience who've looked into your services and are looking abroad and everything else. With the news of Trudeau, I can see that dampening a little bit. And I guess my curiosity is, you know, is that a wise dampening? Or is that a wise like, oh, everything in Canada is going the right way. we're going to be totally fine. Or McKellie, do you go, no, people still need to be looking in Plan B. So it's a good question.

And actually, we recorded a podcast episode on the same type of topic as soon as Trump got elected. Because it was like, all right, you know, Trump is in. Now is everything going to get better? And does a Plan B still make sense? And my sentiment for that is the exact same sentiment as we have right now. Okay. We have maybe a little bit of breathing room. But the systemic issues that are facing our two countries are still there.

We're talking about massive amounts of spending. We're talking about debasing of the currency and debts that we can't service. Okay. Now, the only way that people, the countries are going to get this is from the people. They're going to either be inflating all of the money or they're going to increase taxes. We saw this with the inclusion rate last year going up from 50% to 66.6%, which I am sure is not a, A number they just picked out of nowhere. I think that that was paying homage to somewhere.

I think that a plan B is still so important because even if we have a little breathing room, we still need to get all of this stuff done. We still need to protect our downside. And it's kind of this thing where it's like, you know, don't let your hopes and your dreams rest on your country's government. Like you need to take responsibility for yourself. Okay. It's not like they will never have your best interests at heart. Like I don't know how else to put it.

Like these are the, you know, what's the Reagan quote? You know, the government is not the solution to problems. It's the cause of problems. Like we have to remember that. Okay. A plan B is your political insurance is going to protect you from the downside. Yes, you might have a little bit more time to get it done. But it doesn't mean you need to stop doing it or take your foot off the gas.

Like all those systemic problems are still there. You know, farmers would say in the good times you prepare for the bad. And if we're assuming Trump means good, and I'm assuming even, you know, in the, I don't know, Canada as a socialist country and everything you said, I'm like, yeah, it makes sense. But in the near term, we're closing in on Trudeau being gone. and I believe Pierre Poliyev being in, which means in this near term things should, it's going to take time. There's going to be pain.

There's going to be lots of pain. But you look at it and you go, a Poliev Trump, North America will be vastly different than a Biden-Trudeau, North America. Sure, but do you think that he is preparing Canadian citizens for the pain? Like when Miele, when Javier Miele came in, And he was like, there's going to be a lot of pain. Like, this is going to be horrible.

You know, like, you're not used to this. Like, get mentally prepared. I just listened to Peterson and Pullihev's chat. Jordan Peterson had them on. And Jordan asked him, you know, in a roundabout way, not a roundabout way, in the first three months. Because, you know, when it's the American president, it's the first 100 days. What are you going to do in the first 100 days? Like, what's immediate?

And I was expecting Pierre to come in with six or seven. things actually I was a little bit surprised that it was like one or two the number one thing was he's like well I got to axe the tax right so the carbon tax is going to disappear and he had one other and now I'm spacing on it mckell and I thought that's it in the first three months you got maybe two things you're going to do not going to defund the CBC like that you've been talking about like isn't that the number one like aren't you walking in and boom CBC is gone didn't say that I was like interesting it's interesting because when you bring up Malay you know, he walked in and he started ripping things out and doing crazy things. The guy, the guy, the chainsaw to this, a chainsaw to that. And what did he do? He did it. And there was a lot of pain and there was a lot of problems and a lot of protests. And he's like, listen, I told you.

But see, Trump didn't prepare anybody for any of the pain. He's like, we're just going to make America great again. We're going to take back. You know, we're going to make everybody else pay for everything. And, you know, he's not telling the full story. You know, I don't think Americans are prepared for the pain. that will come if he actually wants to do what needs to be done, which means he won't do what needs to be done.

Like, there's just, there's no way that people will stand for it. And I don't think it's the same, I think it's the same in Canada. I don't think any Canadian is prepared. So if you're sitting here, the guy I was going to bring up was Bugelae, right? This El Salvador, and I read your article on it.

Like, the pros and the cons, you know, it was one of your, I liked what you did with the, I think it was the top articles from 2024 from your avenue, you're the expats, right?

I was like, hmm, this expat money in the top, I'm like, oh, I like that. I like the. And so I read the El Salvador thing because the El Salvador place they told me a certain type of politician didn't exist and then I watched Buckelai speak and I'm like, but he's right there. Why does it exist there? When you look at El Salvador, because you're

you know, as you point out, 25th year, you've been going around the world. Is El Salvador what I see or is there more to it than that? So El Salvador is amazing. Let me give credit where credit is due. Okay. What Buckele has done in that country over the last several years is unbelievable. I was actually super shocked. So I first went to El Salvador in 2003. I spent 18 months traveling around Central and South America, 2003, 2004, you know, this time period. And I went to El Salvador.

And it was extraordinarily dangerous. And people had left the country because of war and death squads and all these kinds of things. And El Salvador really was regarded, you know, over the last 20-some-odd years as the most dangerous country in the world. And it topped the charts every single time. And it was gang warfare and citizens who were caught up in these types of things. things. And he went in with an iron fist and the military. And if you had a facial tattoo, you were arrested. This is how the gang members presented themselves with face tattoos. So it's pretty easy to round everybody up. Now, a lot of people will scream from the rooftops,

human rights and everything like that. Okay, I understand human rights. Absolutely very important. Due process. Super duper important. But if you have a face tattoo with tears on it, denoting how many people you've murdered, I think we should just round you up and we'll sort it out afterwards, you know? So these were definitely strong-armed techniques. Now, I've not done a lot of relocation of clients to El Salvador because I'm kind of the wait and see kind of guy. My client base is either, it's kind of 50-50. It's small business owners, traditionally from the brick-and-mortar space, you know, general contractors, roofing companies, asphalt, you know, these types of people who, you know, productive members of society who build things and create things. They own companies,

family businesses. And the other side is lawyers, doctors, financial planners, dentists and stuff like this, all right. You know, year one, Buceli comes in and he is making massive changes with the safety. Am I going to relocate my dentist from, you know, I don't know, Ohio or something like this down to El Salvador. No, I'm not. You know, like I have certain responsibility and my words have weight to them and I, I'm quite conservative. Okay. But it doesn't mean that I discount El Salvador or the important work that he's doing in the country.

Okay. I just want to give him time to do these types of things. Same thing with, same thing with Javier Mille in Argentina. You know, he's been in for a year now. He's done amazing things. I'm super bullish. I'm so proud of what he's doing. And as an outspoken libertarian ANCAP, that's awesome.

But I'm going to give him a little bit of time to work his magic, you know, like let, let everything go. I'd rather move people to like Panama, where I am right now, which had a new administration come in May of last year and is pro-business, pro-foreign direct investment, you know, and it's a safe, stable country where we're not trying to overcome all of these problems. I go for more well-established expac countries right now. But yes, I'm happy about what Pucali is doing, Miele is doing. Even Daniel in Ecuador, what he's trying to do in the country, that country has a ton of problems. He's really trying to fight back about it. But it's not where I'm relocating people to today.

Make sense? Yeah, well, it does. I find it very interesting. You have a very interesting perspective. I sit in Canada and I stare at places like El Salvador. and things that stick out to me are the way he talks, the things he says that supposedly politicians aren't allowed to say and talk. And it's nothing extreme.

It's just actually it's more common sense than anything. It's like that means a complete ton of sense. And yet in Canada, when you talk about, you know, is Pierre setting everybody up for it's going to be hard. And I'm going to go. It's like, no, no, we both know. That isn't the way our politicians talk. They don't.

Here in Alberta, you know, Danielle Rand. on a tax cut and it's never come. And you think about that. And I'm like, I wonder what it would take to ax a few jobs out of the big giant government and everything else. You look at Malay or you look at Buckele and what they've done in their respective countries on how quickly they went. And I think the quick is what surprises me sitting here.

And I think surprises you sitting there too. No, he was amazing. And did you watch him on Tucker Carlson? Yes. Tucker asks him, he's like, he's like, that might. have been exceptionally difficult. Like, what did you do? But Kelly goes, I prayed. I went, I had the whole cabinet there. We all held hands and we prayed and we asked God for strength. And I was like, that's amazing. Like what other politician in the world?

None. Exactly. None. Like, maybe he's just, yeah, none. That's amazing. Like, it's just not something you hear. Like, it's just such a humbling, like, I didn't know what to do. And I, I sought guidance and like I don't know I mean it's what it's like I could see Trudeau doing it but on the opposite side like he held hands prayed to Satan and then asked for guidance and Satan told him what to do like legit I could see that happening but other politicians you know not being honest about it but I'm sure that is in reality what happened you um yes I'm like this is what it fascinates me about El Salvador's when you wrote your article I was in your top I'm like I got to read that because I'm like I want to go there at some point I just want to go see it for

myself I just want to walk around and be like huh this is what I thought or didn't think or whatever anytime you see somebody that unique you know it's just like how is that possible what but you you go from the most dangerous country it's like people can talk human rights all they want were they talk about human rights when they were the dangerous most dangerous country on the planet no right they were like well we'll go somewhere else and talk about human rights okay like safety like societal safety gives you the ability to talk of human rights. Up until that point, don't talk to me about human rights, right? Like you're worried about getting your headshot or dragged off. Yeah, exactly.

It's unbelievable. You know, I went to El Salvador again last year after not visiting the country for a long time and just taking a look around and I had back-to-bat meetings with government officials, with law firms, with, you know, bankers, all of these people there. And just trying to get a feel for everything. And I did a complete episode on my experiences at Expat Money Show, you guys can go back and find that episode. But I think one of the biggest strengths or one of the coolest things about El Salvador and the Bucle family is not the Bitcoin that they made it legal tender, which is awesome. I think it's rad. Absolutely. And it's not the safety, which is extraordinarily important. And I'm very bullish on that. It's actually

the fact that the Buckelly family and El Salvador ask questions, that they're bringing in really knowledgeable people from many different, you know, across the, the aisle from all over the world to come in and consult them. They're not, they don't have this arrogance. Like, we know the best way of everything. We're going to just do what is in our brain. Like, I was there to talk to government officials because they want to understand foreign direct investment and bringing expats into the country. And, you know, we're looking at all the legal system and all the laws and the corporate structuring and the banking and all of these types of things to try to help them. And they're actually asking those questions and they want the feedback.

Like most countries aren't like that. That's insane, though. You think most countries would be like, that would make a lot of sense. We'd like some people to want to come here and we'd want to be open to business and all these things. But you're realizing that's super unique. Yeah. Sean, it just doesn't happen.

Like, it's just, it doesn't happen. No one is looking at best practices from other countries and going, ooh, we can borrow that law. We can do this structuring. We can add this in. You know, let's get rid of this junk. They just, you know, Canada, the U.S., they just pile on law after law after law. So, like, no one really understands, you know, like the U.S. tax code.

Like, no one really understand what's going on. For every, for every aspect, there's 50 things that contradict it. You know, it's like, it's a complete mess. And it's like that with all Western societies. You know, what's that famous book? It's like three felonies a day. On average, a normal, everyday citizen commits three, felonies, like prison worthy sentences a day, and they don't even know it.

Like, we're not talking about things that are based on natural law or God's law or something like that, you know, okay, don't steal, don't lie, don't rape, don't murder, things like that. Like, we're talking about all kinds of ridiculous things that just make no sense and no one could possibly keep up with all of these. So if they want to come after you, they're going to be able to find all these laws that you broke and then use them against you, you know, so they can tie you up in court or, or damage your reputation or your ability to generate income or livelihood. Like, I don't think it's a mistake that they've done these types of things.

I think it's on purpose. You know, man, I could sit and talk Buckelly and El Salvador for a long time because I just, I just got to go there. It's as simple as that. You know, I got my own conference coming. Well, you've been to the Cornerstone Forum. You've been one of the speakers at it. But before we ever get remotely close to that, this year, Panama City, you got your own.

Let's talk about it. What do you have coming up here in March? Yeah, absolutely. So March 14th and 15th, we've got a big event happening in downtown Panama City. Panama City, Panama, it's going to be amazing. You know, we've done lots of small tours and masterminds and smaller events in person. And they've all been fantastic. And we've done large online events with thousands upon thousands of people.

But we've never kind of done an in-person larger event. So, you know, I was quite inspired. I was at your conference. It was such a fun experience. It was so cool to spend time with a larger group of people and discuss really important ideas. And I decided, you know what? I need to do that for my people as well. So what we're going to be doing is people will arrive on the 13th, get checked in, get their

name badges, everything like that. 14th is all day conference. Then we're doing a VIP dinner on the night of the 14th. During the day, we got presentations on taxes, immigration, passports, real estate, tangible assets, all of these kinds of things that really make up the core of what we do. We're bringing in all the lawyers, accountants, developers, precious metal depositories, all the people that I work with on my high net worth clients. And then on the 15th, we're going to be going and seeing some of the real estate projects that I've been talking about on my podcast and the webinars and our work at expatmoney.com. So we're going to take a group out to the beach area. We're going to go and see the city.

We've got an off-grid community that we're going to be visiting about an hour away. And then the night of the 15th, we're going to do my 40-second birthday party. So, you know, we've done my birthday party in Panama for the last couple of years. All my clients fly in, you know, we get hundreds of people who fly in. And it's really just a fun excuse to get everybody together. I don't actually care so much about my birthday. What I care about is the community and networking with really cool people and, you know, making people realize that they're not alone.

You know, if you're looking at the world and going, wow, there's so much crazy stuff going on and I need to protect my downside, but maybe you don't have anyone, you know, your neighbors or people from work that you can discuss this with. It's like, here's hundreds of people who really like get it, you know? So it's just a social event. We've got a live band, open bar, tons of food, everything like that. So that's all included in your ticket.

And you guys can find out more information if you go to expatmoney.com forward slash conference. atmoney.com forward slash conference. Pick up a ticket. Sean, you're very welcome to come join us. You know, we would love to see you at the event and anyone from your audience who wants to come. Let me ask this, Mikhail.

I'm just curious, you know, I've been, you've been to my event. And certainly, um, sitting here, I'm, I'm not an expat. I don't, you know, I've traveled parts of the world. But like, when you, when you rattle off a bunch of that, I'm like, okay. So is this for, like a newbie like me? I come show up to,

McKell's conference, is it going to be over my head? Because I've been to a couple, not this, but just different things, where I'm like, I don't know what the heck. Like it's not for beginners. It's for people who are traveling and are already in this world. Or you're like, oh, no, there's parts like that are like, they're going to, they're going to really give you an introductory lesson into like, this is why you need a plan B. Or this is why you got to start thinking about these things.

When you're looking for people to come to Panama City, is it beginners? Is it all levels? Is it somewhere in between? Okay. So this is a good question. And I want to be real transparent on this. If you are a complete beginner and you have no idea what I'm talking about, this might be a little bit overwhelming. Okay.

What I would suggest is go back and listen to podcast episodes that I've done on my program or join our newsletter at expatmoney.com and just, you know, start getting a little bit of the lexicon, a little bit of the vocabulary, a little bit of how things work. things like that. Okay. Now, I think between today, as you and I are sitting here and March 14th, you can get all of that done. Okay. I think that absolutely, you know, you have the time and it's not so complex to get these, these foundational pieces in play that, that you can't get it done before the event. But the event is really going to be not super advanced stuff like we will have advanced, but you, you know, you, you, you, you, It's to get things done. So you kind of have to have a little bit of an understanding, let's say. But the nice thing also, Sean, is that we're going to have booths there. We're going to have all the lawyers. You're going to be able to sit down and talk to people. You're going to be able to exchange business cards and follow up with them afterwards.

So it's a huge networking event as well. So even if you don't have everything figured out, like you're not expected to come to the event and have a plan ready. You know, you're expected to come to the event and have a basic understanding of what's happening in the world. and then meet cool people who are going to be able to help flesh out, you know, what is most important to you and formulate a plan. Does that make sense? It does. Well, I just think if you're sitting here listening to this conversation, you probably

have a basic understanding of the world or where we're sitting at here in Canada or the United States. I mean, we've got listeners elsewhere, but those are the main, the main two. And so if you're sitting there. I just want to make it really clear. Like if, you know, if you're listening to this today and you're a commie, or you believe in woke stuff or, you know, sexualization of children, you know, and transgender things for, you know, eight-year-olds.

Like, this ain't the event for, you know. Like, this is a freedom-minded event. And, like, we are very upfront about, you know, our value system. And we're here to help good people, not spread bad ideas around the world. Like, I'm not trying to take bad Canadian ideas and move them off. Sure. I'm trying to take the cool people who, understand good families and help them.

The chances, I, you know, that, like, I can't imagine somebody who fits that bill is looking to get out of Canada. They're probably going, this is the place for me. You know, it's the people are like, California, though. Californians leave California, bring all their bad ideas with them. And now we're trying to change places like Florida and Texas. It's bonkers. It makes no sense.

It's like, you guys got exactly what you wanted. It's Kami-Fornia. Like, just stay there. Like, why are you leaving? If you don't like this stuff. That's a good point, though, isn't it? Like, you think some of that's probably nefarious. Like, maybe there's incentive to try and spread bad ideas.

But part of it probably, like, they actually don't like living where their bad ideas are implemented, and so they're going elsewhere. I think they can't help themselves. I think it's like a cancer. These ideologies are a pure cancer. And even though it kills the host, it still needs to go on. and spread. Well, I'm glad you said it. I guess where I'm at is like if you're sitting here and you're listening to this, chances are it's you have the basic understanding because I've been reading your newsletters. There's lots of great information in there, but there's very few now that I get to where I'm like,

I don't fully understand it. Although I did really enjoy. If you're wanting to understand passports, you have a great article on passports. I was like, that's actually really useful information. because it's like, what are they taken when they scan your, your passport? What makes up, you know, jumping between countries? I mean, yourself would have a pretty good insight on that. Sure. I mean, we try to do a whole variety of articles on our website. And, you know, we get, you know, hundreds of thousands of people who read our stuff.

Or, you know, if you include the podcast and YouTube, I mean millions of people. We try to do all levels, like the most basic stuff to really advance technical types of things. A lot of the technical articles come forth because I'll be working with a private client, which is side note what I actually do for a living is I work with high net worth, individuals or families and consult them through this whole process. But sometimes they will ask a question and I'll explain it to them, but it's like, okay, I got to write it out all in an email. I might as well put it in an article format, put it online so that more people can benefit from it.

And then when future clients are asking about it, it's like, here, read this comprehensive article that really outlines everything that's got all the formatting and the structure and the images and the you know first do this second do that like everything is right there you know paint by numbers for you um so you know there are technical ones on there like that but there are really you know foundational like i don't like the word basic you know but like foundational type of things paint by numbers and that's what the type of guy right now i am mckell just lay it to me nice and easy like i'm back in kindergarten or maybe i don't know is that grade four i don't know when you start painting by numbers, but I,

I've enjoyed, it's funny. I like once again, I'll highlight it, you know, your top, I forget, is it 10 articles, is it 12 articles? I can't remember. You had your top articles of 20, of 2024. I found that very interesting. I, I, I find, oh, what stuck out to other people? And it's funny, I read

them like, oh yeah, that is, that is, that is really interesting, right? And some of it is, you know, the, the passport thing is pretty basic, except it's, it's, everybody uses it. Nobody understands it. They walk through, scan it. And everybody goes, I wonder what they took.

You know, what people understand and don't understand. You know, like, people will just be like, okay, they'll try to use the word citizenship and residency interchangeably. It's like that's not the same thing. Like these are legal terms and they have meanings. And, you know, like, I think just in general, people are very flippant with their vocabulary these days. And it's like, no, if, you know, we need to be very precise. Like if we're describing something, this is a legal term, let's make sure we know we exactly what the lexicon is and what rights are, you know, are included in that.

Like you can't just replace words all over the place and think it doesn't matter. So we, we really try to hammer home on these types of things. And I try to give real life examples on, you know, how this is used and why it's important and why we need to be covering these types of things. So, yes, it's some of it might seem basic, like what is a passport? But people just, I mean, there's just gaps in people's knowledge on these types of things. So I try to fill those gaps

so that you have a full understanding and then can make an informed decision about what you're going to do with your life. You know, I brought up El Salvador and then you brought up Malay. Where, you know, like, those are, you're bullish on both of those places for what they're trying to do

and doing, I might add. What is the place you're like, this is where I'm trying to get people to go to right now because, you know, this is the place where it's happening, or this is the place I, know the ins and outs and, you know, people really need to take a closer look at X. All right. I personally live in Panama, okay? I live in Panama for some very well thought out

definitive reasons, okay? It's not just happenstance that I ended up in this country, okay? The things that were really important to me was being in a safe country, being in a country that had good medical facilities, that was food, water, and energy independent, that had zero taxes, that was well connected to the rest of the world, and that had large economic drivers that are going to support the country so that we can keep it at a certain economic level. Okay. I'd say those are the main, you know, core tenants of what I was looking for in a country. And Panama passes all of those with flying colors. There's other countries like Costa Rica, which ticks a lot of the boxes, but not all of the boxes.

For example, Costa Rica doesn't have large economic drivers. It has one. It's tourism industry, which they are killers at. They do an amazing job at marketing, their international tourism, which is really a subset of that, which is like ecotourism, which is kind of a subsector of like yoga tourism. But if you look at what happened during COVID and they close down borders and people are not traveling, Well, Costa Rica was screwed. I mean, they had no foreign currency coming into their country at all during this time. It didn't help that they did mandatory vaccination for children under six years old, which is pretty gross.

But Panama, we have Dukehamen Airport, one of the largest hub airports in Latin America. We've got Caius and Quintas, the banking district, you know, 50, 60 international banks here. We have the Panama Canal. And then we have tourism and all of this other stuff, you know. So I try to look for, you know, I have basically a checklist of things that I'm looking for in a country. I'm yet to find any places, especially in the Americas, that tick as many boxes. Okay, there's some cool places, you know, on the other side of the world, maybe not quite as good, but are decent. But if you expect to go back and visit family members or work with clients on Eastern Standard Time or Central Time or Mountain Time, I mean, you're going to be up at 2 o'clock in the morning in your local time.

That's what happened to me when I lived in Abu Dhabi in Dubai. I got sick of getting up at noon and going to bed at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. or something like that, especially when I started having kids. And my daughter is up at 6.30 in the morning and wants to play with Daddy. And we have to tell her to, shh, daddy's sleeping because he was up with clients all night. I didn't want that. You know? So I think that Panama is probably number one. And then from Panama, there are other cool places.

I'm not going to say there's not. but Panama's number one. If people, you know, are like, okay, you got my interest peculiar, you know, it's like, hmm, something's, something's going there. I assume just send them over to expatmoney.com, yes? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there's two real things that you can do is sign up for the newsletter at expatmoney.com and wherever you're listening to today's podcast, find the expat money show.

You know, if you're listening on, I don't know, Stitcher Radio, I don't even think Stitcher radio exists anymore. Apple Podcasts or what's the, the sad thing is I remember Stitcher. I'm like, I'm just used to it because I was using it for so many years. It's the first one that comes out of my mouth. Uh, rest in feast. Apple, Spotify, people will be watching on X, um, rumble. Even Facebook, actually, Facebook's, uh, weirdly enough started to not, I can see the numbers starting to grow there again, which for a long time, I swear, I, I was shadow banned off the earth. So I don't know.

We'll wait and see if that changes. I'm sure in time I'll say something that'll get me on a list all over again. Well, a lot of people listen to podcasts on Apple Podcasts or one of the derivatives from Apple Podcasts, Spotify for sure, or, you know, the aggregator types of sites like podcast addict or things like that. Like that's where I listen to podcasts now. Go and search expat Money Show and subscribe on there. And then we do a new episode every Wednesday morning, 6 a.m. and there's, you know, 10 years of content, almost 10 years of content on there.

You know, you, um, in, uh, listing off things you look for, one of the, one of the, the things here in Canada that's been growing has been homeschooling, right? Lots of people not happy with the educational system. They've been growing in homeschooling. And I feel like I've read it in one of your articles about homeschooling abroad. Did I read that? Or am I just making that up? Three kids, we homeschool our children. It was another tick in the, tick of the box for Panama where homeschooling is legal. The UAE where I lived, at least at that time, it wasn't legal. And I refuse, absolutely refuse to send my children to a state-run education under any circumstance.

So your kids are going to, are going to go or going. I don't know the ages of all three of your kids, Mikkel, are going to be homeschooled in Panama. What, what, um, I don't know. How does that work? Like, can they do any homes? Do they have a certain homeschooling curriculum they have to follow at a Panama or how does that work? No, it's pretty open here. So we kind of follow a world schooling type of perspective. So our kids travel with us. If I'm speaking at events, most often I'll take them with me. So they travel internationally. My daughter, so I have an eight year old, a almost four year old and a new baby. He's 10 months old right now.

So my daughter is properly being homeschooled by son. We're doing early development and the baby is a baby. But the plan will be to homeschool all of them. You know, we do video programs and, you know, a loose curriculum, but a lot of it is interest-based learning. We do a lot of activities and art classes and private tutors and lessons. And she does martial arts and swimming. And, I mean, she's got a more active social life than I do, to be honest.

I mean, and then we encourage her to talk to strangers. So often, like, we'll go to an event or a large dinner or something like that. We'll be like, okay, go meet people and she'll be, you know, out there and tugging on people's shirt sleeves and, you know, asking them questions and picking their brains about different things. And it's amazing. You know, our kids are very outgoing, very inquisitive and very creative. And I think that is because of homeschool. I'm a huge proponent for homeschool. Well, it's, it's, you know, one of the things that I find very intriguing about your,

your life, I guess, right? 25 years away from, well, I mean, you're building, you're building your foundation as you go. But like, you know, 25 years away from, I don't know, is it the traditional thing to grow up in a country and just stay there and go through the public education system and on and on and on and on. And I know I got a ton of homeschoolers listening. So I understand that's not the only way. But, you know, like the standard way is you grow up in, I don't know, I'm sitting in Alberta right now.

So you're going to grow up in Alberta. And you're going to have, you know, five years old. And you're going to go in the public education system. And you're going to spend 12 years there. And then you're going to go on to this. And then you're going to go on to that. And when I, when I sit in Lissy, I'm like, what an interesting perspective you bring to the table by, you know, even, you know, I guess, you know, as it was going along, I just assumed your kids would go

to school at a private school in Panama. But it's, no, you're homeschooling. And I assume that opens up a whole range of possibilities with, you want to talk about eclectic people. I assume homeschoolers are eclectic, you're a beautiful bunch of people, but homeschoolers on the world stage is got to be some other sort of, uh, eclectic group of people as well. Yeah, they're amazing. I mean, homeschoolers in general are brave, you know, courageous people. Um, I think that also, it really shows a lot about people who are looking to take responsibility for every aspect of their family. Because it's very easy just to follow what the state wants and just give your child over. But I think this is wrong. And I think a lot of more people are realizing how damaging

government can be in state-run education. Also, when you think about tradition, Sean, consider that public education, state-run education, is only about 150 years old. Like, you know, if you look at the longevity of humanity, that is a drop in the bucket. I mean, it's nothing. Traditionally, what we actually did was mentorship. That was the, you know, you would look, you would work under a trade. If you're, you know, you had an uncle or an aunt who was a baker, you would learn that. If you had an interest in, you know, in whatever it was, you'd have a family member or someone from the community and you would apprentice underneath them.

We've kind of done away with apprenticeship models, you know. I do believe a lot in mentorship. I think that there's so much to be said from learning from real people who have done real things. And just sitting at a desk for six to eight hours a day, staring at a whiteboard and being told not to move and not to ask questions and not to do anything and just wrote memorization, just being rammed down their throat so that you can have them write a test. I don't think that's the best way to learn. Maybe it is for some people, but I think the majority of people actually learn in much better ways. So when you start asking questions and going down the rabbit hole, you will realize that public education is one of the main things that we relied to about. Actually, we just did a podcast episode a week or so ago on your red pill moment.

So my company, we've got about 30 staff. We asked every staff member how they got red-pilled, and we brought a half a dozen them on to the show. And I asked them a bunch of questions, and we had some who came to us, like mine was through public education. That's how I came to all of this, was through public education. But some came through the Federal Reserve. Some came through mandatory vaccinations or child vaccine schedules. Other people came through the medical system in general on insurance. People came through Ron Paul in that movement.

But there was lots of wake up moments for people. And it was just super interesting to see the breakdown of our team members and how they came to this. Because to work at my company, like, you have to be philosophically aligned. Like you don't have to believe what I believe by any means. Like, I want lots of questions. But once again, I'm not taking in woke people. It's not, you know, none of this kind of stuff like I mentioned before are allowed here. Like we want to work with people who take responsibility for.

their own lives. That's paramount. So you build a really cool and interesting cultural from a corporation, from a company when you start with your core values as like honesty and integrity and not aggression principle and all of these types of things. Yeah, I agree. I love diversity of thought, right? I like people who think differently. But if you truly believe the little boy can transition to a little girl. We got a, yeah, we got a, we got a major difference and I don't think we're going to get along. McKell Thorpe, thanks for, thanks for hopping on and doing this. Once again, if people are interested in Panama City and in March or just finding your show,

where can they find you? And appreciate you hopping on. Yeah. So best places just go to expatmoney.com. We've got all of the links on there. the conference coming up March 14th and 15th. It's hosted in Panama City, but it's not about Panama City. We're covering Panama, but also Mexico, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Paraguay, Cyprus, Turkey.

Like, we're going to cover lots of different countries in the world. So it's a real live offshore conference, you know, focused on taxes and immigration, wealth protection, you know, and foreign investments. Like if those types of things excite you and you want to learn more about it, then come grab a ticket. We're super happy to see you guys. But yeah, everything is at expatmoney.com. There you go, folks.

Thanks again, Mikkel, for hopping on and doing this. Hopefully we get to chat with you, you know, because one of the things we're going to wait and see if Trump gets in, I assume he is. And then we're going to see what happens in Canada. And I'm sure there's going to be other things that happen on the world stage. And your perspective is always welcome here because it's so unique to the, you know, the list of guests that I bring on the show.

You have a very interesting perspective. and, I mean, network, to be honest. You know, it's fascinating to hear your thoughts on the world at large, and we appreciate you hopping on once again here in the new year. And we'll see best luck with the conference. And, well, thanks again for hopping on. Pleasures all mine. Thanks, Sean.