Location-Independence is Kind of Overrated.

I recently learned there's a name for what I've become: a location-independent entrepreneur. I have a steady, diverse stream of passive income from small businesses that exist entirely online, so I could live and work from anyplace on the planet that has an Internet connection.

Sounds great, right? I should pack my bags for Fiji and never come home!

Except, I'm not, and I probably won't anytime soon either. In reality, where you live is tied to much more than where you must work. Here's what's keeping me in Orlando:

Do You Have a Family?

I bet you do. Me - I've got a wife and two daughters in high school. One's about to start college next year locally, and we can't just transfer her at the last minute. The other daughter has a social life here that we're not about to pry her away from without a fight. Plus, I've got an elderly mother in Massachusetts who will probably need my help sooner than I'd like to think.

If you have a family, it's not just your roots you need to consider uplifting - they have their own roots to consider as well.

"Bah, just move and transfer their schools," you might say. But I can tell you first-hand how dangerous a move that can be. When we moved here, we meticulously researched school districts to find the best schools the area had to offer, and paid a premium to live there. But every state plays games with their school rating system, and there's never a metric for "how many violent, mouth-breathing drug addicts is my kid likely to encounter here?" Redistricting is also a possibility - a couple of years ago, our school district decided to distribute out kids from the bad part of town to all of the other schools. What was once a safe school for my daughter is now a place where stabbings and gang rapes are not uncommon. Our only option is religious private schools, and I simply refuse to send my kids to a place where young-Earth creationism is taught as fact - and the drugs the kids use are just more expensive.

If you have kids, you are really spinning the roulette wheel on their future by moving. We've decided to stay put at least until they have established their own lives, and that could be a very long time.

The Grass is Always Greener

If you start to seriously consider moving to a tropical paradise, you'll soon start to realize it's not all it's cracked up to be.

When you look deeper, you'll find that while the resort areas are beautiful, the natives that work in the resorts live in the poverty-stricken, crime-riddled, drug-filled neighborhoods outside the resort gates. You're not going to live full time inside Sandals - as a resident, you'll be faced with the darker sides of these tropical islands on a daily basis. The Caribbean and Central America in particular suffer from this reality.

There are a few exceptions - parts of Hawaii are perfectly good places to live, for example. But again, if you have kids, it will be challenging. Native kids tend to give mainlander kids a hard time, from what I've read.

You're also giving up a lot of big-city amenities you take for granted by moving to a tropical island. Would my family truly be happy in a place where the only real entertainment is the beach? The novelty of that would wear off pretty quickly. "Island fever" is a real thing.

One Does Not Simply Move to Another Country

Let's also get real: you can't just move in to another country legally. Unless you're restricting yourself to US states and territories, you need to get a special visa to live abroad beyond a vacation of a few weeks. Some countries are easier than others to obtain this from. We've looked into Australia and New Zealand for example - and they would only let me in because I'm under 55 and work in technology. They don't want foreigners moving in and mooching off their social services any more than we do.

Another huge issue: the United States is unusual in that it taxes its ex-patriots. If you are a US citizen, you must pay US federal income taxes even if you do not live in the US. And you'll also need to pay taxes in the country you are living in. Many countries have reciprocal arrangements to make this more manageable, but there are income limits involved that are easy to hit. Basically, expect to be taxed through the teeth if you move abroad and are actually earning a good amount of money. You can't just not pay your US taxes - most of the world's money flows through US banks, and the IRS can and will seize your money no matter where you live. Many foreign banks won't even accept US customers for this reason. Your only recourse is to renounce your US citizenship, which expats are doing in ever-growing numbers - but you need to gain citizenship someplace else first, and that takes years.

Many countries also have laws that prohibit non-citizens from owning property. You may find yourself forced into renting your home, or forced into some odd relationship with a local bank that owns the home on your behalf - at a steep fee, of course.

And, let's be honest: no place is perfect. If you're thinking of running away from the US because it's being taken over by idiots, I've got bad news for you: idiots live everywhere. Dig deeply enough, and you'll find problems abroad that match any problems you're dealing with where you are.

There's No Place Like Home

If the timing's right for the rest of your family, location-independence can at least let you move someplace that's less expensive and has better weather within the United States. That's what we did.

But moving to another country? Not anytime soon. Living abroad is still on my bucket list, but it will wait until my family responsibilities have lessened. I'm not going to force them into the risk such a move entails.