International Living Reviews 292

(1) Provide at least a box lunch. 400+ senior citizens is a lot to unleash on a hotel restaurant at one time - this was a holiday weekend and other area restaurants were closed. (2) People pay a lot of money for this conference and gave up an entire holiday weekend to be here. Every session should be value-add. To that end: (A) Laypeople/expats are maybe OK for the speed-dating portion but their deeper-dive talks were almost always a verbatim repeat - waste of time. (B) The in-depth talks on countries should be the attorneys etc. who can talk knowledgeably about what is required to move there. (C) There was a LOT of duplication (oil&gas, Ronan and Jeff in particular stand out here). Remove the overlap, have them make their spiel only once and use the extra time from their 2nd/3rd/4th spiels to give more time to complex topics like tax, social security, Medicare, finances. 10-15 minutes is not enough for those. (D) We all felt for the Thai expat who is not a public speaker, but that should have been vetted ahead of time. (E) The presentations should be rehearsed to run to time. France’s expat ran long and didn’t care, which gave short shrift to the immigration attorney whose content was actually useful. (F) The slide decks were almost always illegible. Too small font, white text on patterned background, too much text, and then the speaker flipped through them without speaking to them - wasted slide. You need to provide coaching and guidance ahead of time, break up the slides yourself if you have to. (G) The nuts and bolts of moving - 1st speaker had 10 minutes and spent 7 of them on his life story. Otherwise all we learned from him was “be careful.” 2nd speaker was more of a sum-up of what we’d already been told - if it’s “nuts and bolts” of moving, I expected to hear about actually moving stuff overseas - customs? Packing? Things to consider? None of that was covered. (H) Pet session didn’t discuss bringing pets back to the US from overseas - that is different and harder. (I) Medicare presenter was MAGA and it showed. Biden was “crafty” and the OBBB “isn’t going to change Medicare next year” (when everyone but Fox News viewers knows the changes won’t hit till after the midterms). If he’s an expert he should have more to offer than Fox’s talking points. It hurt his credibility. His talk also assumed a level of familiarity with the subject matter that I at least didn’t have - less breezy chitchat and more step-by-step explanation. (J) Jeff’s session on Schengen hopping didn’t actually explain the mechanics of how to hop or what that is accomplishing.
(3) Bottom line: IL is in the business of communication. Many of these sessions did not have good communicators. There were useful tidbits scattered throughout, but more rehearsal, more focus on polished and professional presentations with less overlap and repetition would enhance your brand rather than detract from it. I recognize there will be some sales pitches like crypto, oil&gas, RETA, etc, but there was a very heavy emphasis on those and less on information that would be more useful to your attendees.

Close to 5 stars! A few suggestions to improve: 1) quality of presenters and content is inconsistent. A few sessions were disappointing. 2) leave time for at least 1-2 questions from the audience.

If you have any interest at all in traveling or relocating internationally and want to learn more about countries or regions beyond a simple sightseeing trip, then this Bootcamp format is for you! Not only will you find subject matter experts who currently live in the country you are interested in, but also a cadre of like-minded folks who are eager to share their experiences (or learn about new ones). Each session is recorded, so if there are competing sessions, one catch up later after the recordings are uploaded (which are included in the conference price). U.S.-based bootcamps provide a smorgasbord of country options while Country-specific conferences focus on a region or country with a deep dive.

The very broad range of topics presented by experienced and knowledgeable people made it easy to find something relevant to me. Having 3 choices for each time slot was very useful and the choices at each time slot were diverse so that we found something interesting for almost every session. The Bootcamp information packet has so much useful information to refer to after the event

Really eye opening! The event was at the perfect location and hotel. I can’t think of a single thing to change. It was all very well thought out

An incredible amount of useful information for moving overseas.

Jeff Opdyke's GOLD Masterclass was a powerful introduction to key strategies for investing in gold. Beyond the basics, the various strategies were mostly new to me and filled me with new opportunities and ideas to choose from. Jeff is incredibly knowledgeable and experienced and made it easy to understand and learn.

I subscribed to the gold "Masterclass" with International living and although it was well presented this was just Basic info on gold, the how to earn income from gold was buy dividend paying major miners or streamers. This was no Masterclass it was routine info and nothing new especially for the cost of $747!! What a misleading scam.

Very comprehensive and insightful presentation explaining why owning gold is essential and delivering a multi-pronged approach to set up a diversified gold portfolio. Covers physical, paper, and digital holdings, including recommendations and pitfalls. Very useful in creating a well balanced portfolio that has an excellent chance of appreciation given the uncertainties of today’s financial climate.

I have subscribed to IL for many years now and mostly enjoyed the information while avoiding buying their products and investments. I decided to unsubscribe and went to their website and unsubscribed from everything. But they have ignored my actions and keep sending me emails weekly. They say they have a NO SPAM policy, which obviously is not true. Once they get their hooks in you they won't let go.

I got an email stating my subscription was cancelled as per my request. I never sent them a request to cancel. Then when I phoned to inquire about the cancellation they wanted a credit card to reactivate which was not an issue. But then she wanted my security code for the card which I will not give to any one unless I enter the payment information online directly. Not sure what is going on with this organization with mysterious emails and then the credit card issue but decided this was time to depart from this group. Was not really getting a lot of value from the membership other than numerous emails weekly and a magazine every quarter.

Hard time cancelling my membership. Auto renew kept popping back on when turned off.

An absolute waste of money.

This was focused and the speakers did not go over their time limits.

I found every presentation that I went to very enjoyable and valuable. I skipped 3 presentations over the course of the conference because I needed to, and it was easy to slip back in because they stayed right on schedule. The hotel and its food were top notch, and now I feel like I’m an expert in all things Costa Rica.

I came into this program not knowing what to expect. But by the second day I am in the process of planning the timeframe to make the shift

Everyone has been so helpful and patient. It's been so nice to be able meet folks from different areas and talk with them one-on-one.

Great Crypto Masterclass! I came away knowing how to build a crypto portfolio, and importantly, how to do it in stages according to my comfort level and needs.

Jeff has a gift of being able to take complex financial info and distill it to a level of understanding for the lay person. His train analogy is fabulous.

His recent Crypto Master Class was excellent. It was comprehensive (he didn't dumb it down) but easily accessible to the newbie.

He provided actionable information and was generous with his time during the many Q&A sessions.

He is a wealth of knowledge and relatable to the average person who wants to learn about Crypto.

I called their number 800-681-2402 to inquire about subscribing to IL magazine. I spoke with a John in a call canter in the Philippines. This call center person was brusque and rude. He sounded like he was blaming me for being unclear about my intent in calling. What a moron. Talk about discouraging a potential subscriber from subscribing. Please train your reps to be polite.

Lovely conference hotel in an amazing location. The speakers were very knowledgeable on their respective countries and what life is like in their country. The length of the conference was just about right. This was my first IL conference and I learned quite a bit about what I need to do to live overseas. It was eye opening. I also learned a lot about living in those countries highlighted and I narrowed my list to 3 countries I am seriously interested in. I WILL be attending next year's conference in Rome. If you are considering living overseas, this is a must attend event.