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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]How do your kids -how old?- do with constantly being uprooted, packing, moving, making new friends over and over?

Do your kids even know what the US is like?

Where did you and dh grow up?

When you're doing taxes each year, is it a major pain bc of your expat status?

Have you considered being on House hunters international on hgtv?[/quote]

The kids are 8 and 5.

They have never lived in the US but they know they are Americans. They go to an American school and have other American/Canadian friends (the school gives preferential admissions to North Americans). They also have friends from many different nationalities.

The oldest only has the memories of school in HK and friends in HK. There will be another move in probably two years. Both kids will cope. Kids always do. They're already used to friends leaving all the time.

I grew up in Maryland and DH grew up in Massachusetts.

Taxes are a pain because we own property in the US and have income from US sources. Our overseas income is not wholly tax free and we get a generous tax exclusion but we still pay a decent amount of income tax every year.

I have never seen House Hunter but I know of it. I think most of you would be surprised by how simply most high-earning expats live. Our houses and apartments tend to be fairly basic in decor and furnishing. No one is having property done up by interior decorators because if you're moving in a year or two, what's the point? Or spending a lot of money on furniture that you might have to sell cheaply in a year or two. I have boxes of china and silver sitting in my parents' basement that hasn't seen the light of day in a decade. There's no point bringing it overseas with us.

On the flip side, it's amazing how much money people will spend on shipping just to relocate their Ikea crap from one country to another. [/quote]

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