JLD & Kate’s crib tour!

Welcome to the Entrepreneurs on Fire HQ, home of John Lee Dumas and Kate Erickson!

Palmas Del Mar official commercial

Why did we move to Palmas Del Mar Puerto Rico?

Hi!

John Lee Dumas here. I’m the founder and host of Entrepreneurs on Fire, a top ranked business podcast where I interview the worlds most successful Entrepreneurs. With 2300 interviews to date, over 1 million listens a month and 7-figures + of annual revenue, Kate and I are just getting started!

If you want to learn more about our business you can click here ==> https://www.EOFire.com, our story ==> https://www.EOFire.com/about and you can subscribe to our podcast here ==> https://www.EOFire.com/eof

On to Puerto Rico!

Since I turned 18, I’ve never lived in the same place for more than 2 years. From Providence College, to the Army, to Boston – New York – San Diego – and Maine, I seem to get that itch every couple years to ‘relocate’.

In 2016, Kate and I had been in San Diego for a few years and that itch had me looking for options (not to mention the BRUTAL Cali taxes).

I found out about the AMAZING Act 20/22 tax benefits offered by Puerto Rico (more on this below) and immediately knew I was Caribbean bound. I just had to convince my born and bred Pacific Beach native girlfriend (Kate) to move with me.

After promising a quick return to SD if PR turned out to be a bust, Kate and I moved our business and life from sunny San Diego to sunnier (and rainier) Puerto Rico on May 1st, 2016.

Puerto Rico is a US territory, so it was an easy move as you don’t even need a passport to visit (or relocate).

The main reason we chose Puerto Rico of all the places in this world was Act 20/22 and the tax benefits they offer.

Act 20/22 is simply the BEST tax shelter opportunity for Entrepreneurs that will ever be available in our lifetime, and as I update this post, Kate and I have been enjoying the benefits of Act 20/22 for 4 years!

A quick summation of Act 20: If you move your business and yourself to Puerto Rico and spend more than half the year here, your business pays a flat 4% corporate tax rate, total. No state tax, no federal tax. For those interested in learning more, Google ‘Act 20 Puerto Rico’ for the latest and greatest and watch this video.

It took us 18 months from the date of our application to receive the Act 20 Decree (Act 22 took about 10 months). It is real, but it is also a process. We have friends who moved here recently who are benefitting from a much smoother and faster process and received their Act 20 in 4 months.

The good news is it’s retroactive to the date you move to Puerto Rico, so we have been paying 4% taxes since May 1st 2016.

You do have to pay yourself a ‘reasonable’ salary as well which will be taxed at 33%, but the rest of your income will be taxed at 4%.

A quick summation of Act 22: If you move your business and yourself to Puerto Rico and spend more than half the year here, you will pay 0% capital gains on EVERYTHING. For those interested in learning more, Google ‘Act 22 Puerto Rico’ as there are plenty of up to date articles about the latest and greatest.

If you are interested in learning more from an actual Puerto Rican attorney who specializes in this, you can email our attorney Alexis here.

Our first two months on the island were spent on the western side in a town called Quebradillas.

It was an enjoyable two months and we explored the west side of Puerto Rico.

While exploring the east coast, we found ‘Palmas Del Mar’ in the town of Humacao.

Instantly, we knew we had found home and after a day exploring Palmas, we found our dream home (video below).

Palmas Del Mar is full of successful and adventurous Entrepreneurs and we’ve made great friends and enjoyed all that this tropical paradise has to offer.

If I could go back in time knowing what I know now, I would move to Puerto Rico in a HEARTBEAT.

Palmas Del Mar has truly become home and I can not picture myself living anywhere else in the foreseeable future.

Is Palmas Del Mar a great place to raise a family? In one word, YES. But don’t take my word for it, watch the Palmas Del Mar Commercial below and hear from actual families who have made their home here.

Here is a great PDF resource guide put together by Heidi DeCoux, entrepreneur and founder of Illuminated Life School, and fellow Palmas Del Mar resident.

Pros and Cons of living in Puerto Rico

Like anywhere, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows, and there are some cons that anyone moving to Puerto Rico should be aware of.

Cons

• The roads are in rough shape. Potholes are common & drivers are poor. This does seem to be improving, as 2020 has seen a lot of positive roadwork.
• Power outages happen a few times a month, sometimes more often. We have a whole house generator so there is very little disruption in our lives, but it can still be frustrating.
• English is a distant second language. Even though Puerto Ricans begin learning English in Kindergarten and continue through 12th grade, few retain the language. It’s one of the main reasons we moved to Palmas Del Mar, where English is the language of choice.
• Hurricanes are always a possibility; Hurricane Maria devastated the island in 2017. At the time you are reading this Palmas Del Mar is 100% back to pre-hurricane Maria, but some parts of the island (especially inland) have years of struggle ahead.
• Health Care is ‘to be desired’. There are rumors of a ‘state of the art’ hospital being built right outside of Palmas in 2021 – 2022, but time will tell…

Of course, there are also many pros to living in Puerto Rico.

Pros

• It’s an adventure to live on a tropical island.
• The tax benefits under Act 20 and 22 are amazing.
• The people that make the move to Puerto Rico are incredible. Adventurous, successful, and fun are just a few of the adjectives that come to mind.
• The feeling of community in Palmas Del Mar is strong. We are on the dark side of the moon in some ways, and that gives residents the sense of a tribal family.
• We are 45 minutes southeast of San Juan, so we are close enough to a major city/airport, but at the same time far enough away.
• Because PR is a US territory, you don’t need a passport to get here, and we have the major stores we have come to know and love in the states like Costco, HomeDepot, Walmart, etc.
• Palmas Del Mar is very kid-friendly, with a K – 12 academy right in the community.
• Palmas Del Mar also boasts a golf club with 2 great golf courses (designed by Chi Chi Rodriguez), a tennis club with 20 tennis courses, a beach club, 17 restaurants, and a Plaza with a bank, barber, mail facility, market, and other nice to haves.

If you are interested in checking out real estate in Palmas Del Mar, you can’t beat Ricky and Liz, an amazing husband and wife team. Tell them JLD sent you and they’ll be extra nice ;-).

Overall, if you are adventurous, willing to put up with ‘3rd world frustrations’ and are in a situation where Act 20/22 would be financially game-changing for you (as it is for us), then it’s time to call Puerto Rico home sweet home!

– JLD