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Jeff D. Opdyke is an American financial writer and investment expert based in Cascais, Portugal. He spent 17 years covering personal finance and investing for the Wall Street Journal, worked as a trader and a hedge fund analyst, and has written 10 books on such topics as investing globally and personal finance.
Today, he travels the world in search of unique income and investment opportunities—the kind of opportunities you are absolutely not hearing about in the mainstream (or even alternative) financial media. To get his latest boots-on-the-ground research and analysis delivered direct to your inbox, sign up to receive his Field Notes.
When I moved to Prague last year, I arrived with two concerns: healthcare and banking. Today, I want to focus on banking and explain how I set up a financial life that allows me to get paid in U.S. dollars back in America, while maintaining local accounts that are necessary for spending and bill paying here in Prague and across the rest of Europe...
Back at university, I studied Russian language. I might as well have studied Martian for all the good my Russian language “skills” offered when my girlfriend, Yuliya, and I stepped into a Georgian restaurant along the Crimean coast recently...
I guess you would classify me as the "tirelessly moving, globetrotting workhorse." That's my takeaway from a recent story in Kiplinger magazine by a financial adviser and investment educator that categorizes retirees into nine buckets: Tireless Mover, the Lost, Workhorse, the Lonely, Globetrotter, Reluctant Spender, Superhero, Overly Generous, and Never Retired.
I guess the best way to spin this is to say, “I’m trendy!” That’s my reading of a new Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development report, “Working Better with Age,” which effectively concludes that older workers are now absolutely vital to the global workforce, and that people who might otherwise be settling into life after Read more...: My Retirement Plan? Pursue My Passions in a Place That Fills Me With Energy
So many of us grew up in an age when the Soviet Union, and Moscow by extension, was widely considered a second-world destination—poor, underdeveloped, and monolithically gray. Cast aside those images. Moscow, in particular, is a vibrant, first-world economy with a wealthy and expanding middle class—a place where you find outlets for every major fashion Read more...: 24 Hours in Moscow: What to See, Do, and Eat
How you travel is often as important as where you travel. In Europe, where stunning medieval cities are linked by meandering roads with plenty to see, your mode of transport can play a huge factor in your enjoyment of the experience. With idyllic villages, mountain passers, and scenic coastal drives dotted throughout the continent...
With just 24 hours in one of the truly great cities of Europe, why waste it on a dull breakfast? So, let’s start at Teremok, a Russian fast-food chain that doesn’t taste like fast food. Teremok serves up freshly made Russian breakfast staples—porridge and pancakes. But we’re not talking simple, tasteless porridge and pancakes...
Few cities are as iconically European as Prague. Because Hitler wanted to turn Prague into the cultural capital of a Pan-European Nazi empire, he spared the city from the ravages meted out on much of the rest of Europe. The result: Prague’s architecture and landmarks today largely exist as they always have and still reflect 1,200 years of Bohemian history...
There is something intoxicating about being in a new part of the world, experiencing a different way of doing things, eating food you didn’t know existed, and, of course, enjoying a generous share of the local liquor. Traveling is about letting go of your worries and embracing new experiences wholeheartedly...
I landed in Portugal for the first time just before 9 a.m., the 12th of February 2019. I was 53 years old. With any luck, you'll learn from my mistake. I've been traveling internationally since I was about 7 years old. I've seen a lot of places across six continents and 64 countries...