This week I barely touched my code editor.

Instead, I was buried in spreadsheets.

Trying to figure out how much I'm actually saving by being in Cyprus versus just living cheaply in Asia and dealing with tax later.

The answer surprised me, so I thought I’d share it in this week’s letter.

At my income level, the tax savings are almost completely eaten by the higher cost of living.

In Thailand or Vietnam, I was spending about $1,000-1,400/month all-in. Rent, food, gym, everything.

In Cyprus, I'm looking at $2,500-3,000/month for a comparable lifestyle. Rent alone is $1,500-2,000 for a decent one-bed (in Limassol city). Electricity is brutal. And food is 3-4x what I was paying in Asia.

So I saved maybe $1,500-2,000/month in tax by being here. But I'm also spending $1,500-2,000 more per month just to exist.

I moved countries, hired lawyers, began setting up a company, spent a week viewing apartments... and I'm roughly in the same financial position.

(I sat with that for a while.)

At higher income levels, the maths flips completely.

If you're earning $15,000-20,000/month take-home, the tax savings in a place like Cyprus (which has 15% corporate tax rate, with the possibility under IP Box regime to get down to ~2.5% effective rate) become real.

$4,000-5,000/month in tax savings against $2,500-3,000/month in living costs.

In such a case you're genuinely ahead by $2,000+ every single month.

That's $24,000+ a year in real savings.

And it grows fast the more you earn.

So the lesson is simple, but you won't find it in the viral 'I just moved to Cyprus' tweets: tax optimisation is a scaling problem, not a starting problem.

If you're in the early days of your business, your energy is much better spent growing revenue than minimising tax.

You should focus on doubling your income and then the tax problem either solves itself or becomes genuinely worth solving.

And I wish someone had told me that before I spent a month distracted from SuperX.

No.

I'm here, I'm building, and I'm learning things in practice that I wouldn't have learned from a spreadsheet alone.

But if you're reading this and you're thinking about optimising your tax setup before you've hit $10,000/month take-home, my honest advice is: don't.

Focus on the business. The tax stuff can wait.

And even when the numbers do work, tax savings aren't the only number that matters.

Being close to family. Being somewhere you're actually happy. Being in a timezone where you can pick up the phone to the people you care about.

These things don’t show up when you file your tax report, but you feel them when they're missing.

If nothing else, hopefully this saves you from learning it the hard way like I did.

Founder breakdowns are still coming. Interviews are in progress. I promise it's happening.

Question for you: have you ever moved somewhere or made a big decision that looked perfect on paper but didn't quite play out? Reply to this email and tell me I'm not the only one who's done this :D

See you next Tuesday.

You've got this.

Rob