How do you live well while on an international assignment? The short answer is the same basics to living a good life while in your home country: have good relationships, health, finances and have a positive perspective on life. People who do these things are generally happy. However, with the changes that you experience while on an international relocation it may not be as easy to keep the basics in mind at all times. Below you will find some quick advice to help you live the “good life” while on international assignment.

What is the good life?

The good life is defined as living up to the expectations you have for yourself and living at a standard living where you are relatively comfortable in good health and have good relationships. Generally speaking it is living life being thankful for the relationships and things that you have.

How to be happy while on an international assignment?

1. Protect Relationships – You can’t over communicate before, during and after an international assignment with a spouse and children. Each person will be feeling different stresses during the process. Sharing these feelings will be an opportunity for the family to grow closer to one another as they are honest with each other. (Check out When Moving Abroad, Consider Relationship First and Expat Exchange’s Relationship Advice by City).
2. Join a community – This is especially important if one spouse is relocating based on the other spouses career. A trailing spouse not adjusting to life abroad is the number one reason for failed assignments.
3. Prepare for culture shock – Culture shock is often a reality of an international relocation to another country. However, if you can manage your own expectations and approach it effectively it should not be problem for your assignment. (Check out How to deal with Culture Shock and the Expat Exchange Culture Shock by City list).
4. Pick a good school – Picking schools for your kids might be one of the most difficult decisions you have to make. Take your time, do research, and find a school that meets your kid’s needs. (Check out International Schools Review and Expat Exchange’s School Reviews page to help with your search).
5. Manage your expectations – By the very nature of living in a foreign country things are going to be different than they were back home. Embrace these changes and be thankful for what you have. Sometimes changes in perspective can make all the difference.
6. What makes you happy at home? – Whatever it is you do at home that makes you happy do that as much as you are able in your new location. Do you like to run outside? Don’t stop because you moved to a new location. Do you like to take your wife out to dinner? Enjoy the adventure of finding restaurants you both love in your new location.

How to live comfortably while on international assignment?

Sometimes the costs of an international relocation might catch a family a little bit off guard because of the cost of living difference in the new location. This doesn’t mean that the family can’t adjust their financial plan in order to live comfortably in the new location. Recently we wrote on the happiest places to relocate to, in this article we cited data that indicated that while not always true there was a connection between the wealth of a country and its perceived happiness. To be able to live comfortably you need to be able to have enough money to acquire what you need. If money is tight there are two options: either spend less of what you have or earn more. If you would like to boost your income while living abroad to help you live more comfortably do the following:

1. Budget – The simple idea of a budget is to spend less than you take in. This might seem like a daunting task at first but with the help of free online money management software products available today it can be fairly easy because these systems can aggregate all of your spending across multiple bank accounts and credit cards so that your spending can be found all in one location. (Check out this list of money management software from One Money Design).
2. Shop around – What might seem like a task that isn’t worth your time might actually end up saving you lots of money. From a Telegraph.co.uk article: “For example, can you switch to a lower interest rate mortgage? Can you buy your groceries in a budget supermarket, or will you save more if you shop locally or buy in bulk? Can you halve transportation costs by car sharing?”
3. Find a job – If the trailing spouse is allowed to work in the host country there might be many options available. Among them are teaching the language you are fluent in, you could be sell local items on eBay, or even become a Destination Service Provider for expats coming into your host country . (Who knows better about the experience of relocating to your host country better than you?)
4. Make wise decisions – Be careful when buying large items. These questions might help reduce costs of big purchases. For cars/appliances/electronics: Can I buy this item used for a better price?, Do I need to the get the newest version?, Will it be worth shipping home?

Ultimately, life on assignment is the same as it is living in your home country – it is what you make of it. You make the decisions that decide whether your experience is going to be a positive one or not. Embrace the adventure of living in a foreign country while on assignment. If you are able to protect and build relationships and live comfortably within your means than you should be able to experience the good life where ever you live in the world.

This was posted by

Mike Morabito – who has written 170 posts on The Paragon Relocation Blog.

Mike has over 10 years of relocation experience working for Paragon Relocation. Mike is recognized by Worldwide ERC as a Certified Relocation Professional (CRP) and a Global Mobility Specialist (GMS).

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