Courtesy of Camille Gaines
Camille Gaines left Houston and lived in Bermuda for 13 years with her husband.Gaines said the experience was challenging, but she doesn’t regret moving to Bermuda.As a foreigner, she found it almost impossible to purchase a home and work in Bermuda.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Camille Gaines, a financial coach from Austin, Texas about her relocation to Bermuda. It’s been edited for length and clarity.
When my longtime boyfriend moved to Bermuda for a job opportunity, I stayed in Houston for my career as a commercial real estate broker. Then I chose to marry him, leave my career, and move to Bermuda almost a year later.
I’m a nature lover. I love water sports, beautiful gardens, and islands. You’d think a move to Bermuda for my husband’s career would’ve been perfect, but moving to a new place is a big deal. The outcome of moving can steer your life in entirely new directions and there were challenges living in this idyllic location.
Despite the challenges, I don’t regret moving to Bermuda. The lifestyle experience I gained was invaluable. I lived in Bermuda for 13 years and returned to the US afterward. With this huge life lesson behind me, here’s what I learned from my move.
1. I should’ve evaluated how a relocation would affect my financial goals
As a financial coach, I now see that I seriously overlooked the impact such a move would have on my personal finances. My career was set back when I stopped working in commercial real estate for the move to Bermuda. This hurt my ability to earn an income.
On the other hand, marrying and living overseas allowed us to save money since my husband’s employer paid for many expenses that we would’ve had to pay if we lived in the US. This helped us reach our financial goals sooner.
2. I wish I would’ve assessed if I’d be able to continue doing the things I loved
I loved the outdoor activities I could do in Bermuda including scuba diving, snorkeling, riding my bike, and golfing.
A normal Sunday afternoon activity was snorkeling with my family from our boat in one of the most beautiful places in the world. This was beyond spectacular, but I also love working. I didn’t realize I wouldn’t be able to work in real estate as a foreigner living in Bermuda.
Since I lived in Bermuda, the general rule has been the same. The government of Bermuda states that foreigners cannot work jobs a Bermudian can do, making it difficult for foreigners to work in fields such as real estate. If you aren’t a Bermudian, you must get permission from the minister responsible for immigration before you can work in Bermuda as a real estate broker or agent.
The only good work opportunities available to me were in accounting or finance. I’d worked as an accountant before my move to real estate, but I didn’t want to work as an accountant again.
I felt lost not working in Bermuda. In hindsight, I should’ve held rental properties in the US to accumulate real estate equity while living elsewhere. Extremely early retirement was hard for me, even in a beautiful place.
Fortunately, I’d always been interested in stocks and bonds, so handling our investments became my unpaid job.
3. It would’ve been smarter to decide if we wanted to stay in the same home for at least a decade
Changing homes is a big element in moving. Homes become emotional anchors.
For me, it was almost impossible to purchase a home in Bermuda as a foreigner. This led to my family renting three different homes while we lived there.
Of course in Bermuda, and elsewhere, when you rent a home you can only stay as long as the landlord allows. The owners of the first house we leased wanted to move into the home themselves, after a while. The second home only had two bedrooms and we wanted three bedrooms since our family had grown and we had frequent guests, so we moved again. I prefer owning my home and moving less frequently, so I wish I’d considered this in advance.
4. I failed to consider the long-term social aspects of an international move
There are merits to the old saying bloom where you’re planted. I lean toward being an introvert. Living abroad among an international community was a wonderful experience in many ways but it wasn’t easy from a social perspective.
Friends who weren’t Bermudians moved after solid friendships were formed. I didn’t have difficulty making Bermudian friends, but they already had a network of their own local family and friends, and I was a temporary resident which created some challenges.
When we finally left the island, we moved to Austin where I knew no one. I was in the fourth location for making new friends.
5. I didn’t take enough time to discern whether such a move would fit into my life goals
I participated in a time management course a few months before the option to move to Bermuda presented itself. One of my biggest goals was to live on the water. I envisioned this happening decades later, but I achieved it in my late 20s.
This was spectacular, but due to this decision, I had other life goals that weren’t reached — like a long-term career in commercial real estate with the leading retail brokerage firm in Houston.
I didn’t realize how much this move would steer my life because I was young. That direction was based on someone else’s career, not my own. In hindsight, this was a challenge for me being a very independent woman, so I wish I’d known that before I moved.
Living in Bermuda was night and day from living in Houston
Houston is a large city, while Bermuda is an island just over 20 square miles in size. The British cultural influence in Bermuda was another world from Texas. The people I became friends with in Bermuda were from all over the world, while I didn’t have any friends from outside the US while living in Houston.
Life was also much more relaxed in Bermuda, and day-to-day logistics differed. In Bermuda, the speed limit was 20 miles per hour and I drove on the left side of the road. We were allowed one car per home, so we had a scooter that I sometimes drove.
When I lived in Bermuda I missed my career, but maybe more so, I missed my freedom as a patriot. I gained a greater appreciation of my rights as a patriot from this move.
Still, after I moved back to the US, I missed Bermuda and its small-town warmth, friends, safety, and scuba diving. There was beauty and simplicity in living on a small island.