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The Number One American Dream…?

February 8, 2024

Volume XXII, Issue 6

It’s a kind of joke we tell that “The Number One American Dream is to Live in France,” but it’s not really a joke. The American Dream is now all about leaving the U.S., period, even if France is not their destination.

I know first hand that almost every consultation client I have says the same thing, in so many words, “Get me out of here. This isn’t the same country it was even a few years ago.” The confidence in “The American Dream” has waned for the young and the retirees are fed up. According to a WSJ/NORC poll from October, only 36% of the respondents still believed that “if you work hard you’ll get ahead,” a steep drop from the previous poll. And couple that with the ability to work remotely and what you get is a serious exodus out of the U.S.

Then, consider the retirees who discover they can have a much higher quality of life for a lower cost of living outside of the U.S. They are downsizing and packing their bags for greener pastures. We know. They are our clients.

There is no specific data that explains the true extent of Americans heading in all directions, but in 2020, the State Department estimated that nine million citizens were living overseas. Still, there’s no telling of the full extent of the damage because U.S. citizens are not obligated to register with the State Department before they hop on a plane.

According to a 2023 study done by the blog HireaHelper.com, the UK is the number one destination, with Mexico falling just behind that. I am not surprised considering that the UK language is English, and Spanish is widely spoken by Americans, making both destinations less intimidating than moving to France and having to learn French.

I would have thought Canada was Number One, however, they have lost ground, but did welcome 10% more in the first six months of 2023 than they had the entire year before. As it turns out, Canada took in fewer Americans than each of France, Spain and Germany. France claimed to have issued 50% more visas to Americans in 2023 than they had in 2022. This has been the highest interest in getting the hell out of Dodge since the Presidential Elections of 2016 (Trump vs Clinton).

According to the official statistics, about 160,000 Americans moved to 40 different countries in 2022, more than any year since 2017, and is a 16% increase over 2021. And if you add up all the years, 821,000 citizens have relocated.

These articles citing the statistics offer up a few reasons for the moves, particularly remote working which has enabled people to live wherever they want and still earn a living. But, I can tell you the reasons from talking with so many of them on a daily basis: lower cost of living, lower taxation, better quality of life and the biggest one of all—political and moral issues. They are not happy with the direction the U.S. is taking.

This upcoming election, likely to be Trump vs Biden (even with 91 indictments against Trump), is sure to spark another wave of emigration. Political analysts are predicting a Trump win, and if that happens, then democracy as we have known it will be greatly threatened…as Trump himself has already promised.

Where do you want to be when that happens?

I’ll be in France…very happily, thank you.

Note: The graphics and charts shown here are thanks to HireaHelper.com.

A bientôt,

Adrian Leeds
The Adrian Leeds Group®

P.S. We can help you make the move from beginning to end. Visit our website to learn more and to request a consultation.

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5 Comments

Nanci on February 8, 2024 at 10:36 am

I am one of those leaving because of the gun culture, Republican obstruction in Congress, their falsehoods and moves to establish a fascist state. I have narrowed my search to five cities in the south of France and have been learning French via Duolingo for two years in preparation to move.

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Lorraine on February 8, 2024 at 12:15 pm

Thanks for the informative newsletters. Can properties in France be purchased by say (as in the U.S.) a limited liability company? Is there an equivalent in France of the LLC?

Thanks.

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- Adrian Leeds Group on July 9, 2024 at 4:12 am
  
  We can answer all of your questions during a personal consultation. Click here to schedule: https://adrianleeds.com/our-services/consult-with-adrian/#booking-form Thank you!
  
  Reply
Arlene Presser on February 8, 2024 at 1:02 pm

Hello Adrian:) Can I just say, ‘What another great piece of very useful information!’ Keep it coming!

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Barbara Smith on February 10, 2024 at 5:11 am

Regarding the ever growing numbers of Americans “getting out of Dodge”, I believe that there are other contributory reasons besides who’s president.

I am a California native, very close to your age, therefore I am old enough to have seen better days in this state. I, as well as many others, are disillusioned by the deterioration of our quality of life. Consequently thousands have left the state which has resulted in our losing a seat in the House of Representatives, not to mention losing tax revenues.

Furthermore, California is not the most business friendly and we’ve lost many large corporations and jobs to other states.

We have a DA in Los Angeles who’s extremely soft on crime and more supportive of criminals than victims. He co-authored (along with our governor Newsom) a proposition worded deceptively enough to hoodwink the voters into putting into place a law allowing thieves to steal up to $950 per day with only a slap on the wrist. Smash and grab thieves steal without consequence and retail businesses suffer and/or close down.

Crime in general has gone up as confirmed by police department statistics. Speaking of police, they’ve been so maligned in the past few years that we can’t recruit enough of them to replace those retiring or quitting and in Los Angeles there are now a thousand less compared to their numbers in 2018. Plus if one needs to call 911 one has to wait on hold for an inordinate amount of time for an answer. Sadly the same problems exist in other major U.S. cities such as San Francisco, Chicago and New York City.

We now need to spend money on security systems for our homes in order to feel some semblance of safety.

The homeless situation is a humanitarian disaster despite the billions of taxpayer dollars spent. Money is squandered on cronyism- especially for building contractors who claim they can’t build a housing unit for under $700,000 – $800,000 just to house one person. Our politicians seem to think that housing is the only answer when what’s badly needed are mental health facilities to help care for the approximate 70% of the homeless suffering from drug addiction and/or mental health issues.

Taxes are high and what we get in return are freeways lined with trash, many streets filled with potholes and many sidewalks taken over by tents for the unhoused.

Just recently an unfinished high rise in downtown LA was covered in graffiti and some of our city council members said that this was an acceptable “expression of art”.

Our local politicians have done us no favors and I can’t emphasize enough how demoralizing it is to see this deterioration.

On a recent trip to the south of France it was a breath of fresh air to see clean beaches and clean parks without homeless tents or needles on the ground. I felt safe walking around at night and wasn’t worrying about someone breaking into the place where I was staying. I know that France also has its social problems but I believe that they hold a greater belief in law and order which is a great incentive to start looking into a move out of California and even out of the U.S. I imagine that many more Americans feel the same way.

I didn’t expect my comments to be so lengthy but thank you for listening.

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