I want to change up my life, live overseas and show my children how other parts of the world live. Sound interesting? Well Bali surely is the place to do something like this. It is guaranteed to change your life in so many ways.
Being an expat in Bali can be full of surprises and you learn something new everyday. It can also be full of hidden costs and not as cheap as some might think. Before you look at the living costs, how are you going to be able to afford to relocate there?
In response to the most common question – How do you financially live in Bali?
I have listed 10 different ways to finance your living in Bali dream. This list is from personal experience meeting other expat families who have done exactly that. I have also consulted families who have chosen one of these financial options when they have used the ‘Make your Move’ to Bali service.
It could also be a combination of a few financial methods. For example, in our situation, we sold our car, rented out our house and my husband ran his own business remotely online.
Top 10 ways to financially live in Bali
- Work online – either your job or business already is online OR you ask your current employer and prove that the work can be done remotely. Now we have all been forced to work from home this should be even easier than before. Even if you have to fly back home for work every so often it might still work out beneficial.
- Live off your assets from home – rent out your home and keep your business running and any other income like shares, other properties etc while you are in Bali.
- Fly in and Fly Out – apart from the popular mining industry, there are many families whose husbands usually fly out of Bali to either neighbouring Asian countries like Singapore or even Australia on a regular basis.
- Get sponsored and find work – there are very few English speaking jobs in Bali. However the main areas would be teaching, hospitality and tourism. If you are lucky enough to get a job in Bali, your visa usually covers the whole family to in live in Bali for at least 12 months.
- Buy a business in Bali – usually buying off another expat who has an established business in the hospitality or tourism industry in Bali.
- Sell everything back home (car, house, business, belongings) and live off your savings -you then have lots of spare time to think of new business ideas or look at other options for your future.
- Create a business – either online or find a niche in Bali that will generate income. Note it does take a while to set up a business in Bali and you may have to jump through some hurdles!
- Retirement – live on a retirement visa (and hopefully associated savings) from the age of 55 where you don’t have to spend money leaving Bali every few months like other visas.
- Long service leave, sabbatical, maternity leave – disconnect from your regular job and routine and live on part of the income from your leave entitlements to live in Bali for period of some time.
- Save, save, save – people have decided to live off their savings – even look at taking a loan or remortgage to be able to afford some time away.
I guess now that you have worked out how to finance your life in Bali, how much does it cost to live there? Well that is a hard question as it depends on so many factors such as what education you choose, villa style, visas, neighbourhood, transport, food, electricity, internet, staff, medical, insurance and so much more!
