Portugal’s expat population has exploded by roughly 150% since 2018, and Americans aren’t just part of that wave, we’re leading it. Meanwhile, Spain’s numbers have grown too, but nothing like Portugal’s surge. This isn’t a marginal preference shift. This is a full-scale reallocation of American dreams.

I’ve watched this unfold from the ground in Lisbon, and I’m still sometimes startled by it. The American couple at my local pastelaria who moved from Austin last month. The family from Denver I met at my son’s football match. The retirees from North Carolina who bought the apartment two floors down and are slowly, charmingly, learning Portuguese with their neighbors.

This isn’t a coincidence. This is a pattern. And patterns have reasons.

So let me tell you what’s really driving this westward shift, from someone who’s living it, watching it, and talking to the people making the move every single day.

This week, Portugal made news. The government announced citizenship would now require ten years instead of five. An international school in the Algarve was shuttered for regulatory violations. And if you’re sitting in Brooklyn or Seattle reading those headlines, I understand why your stomach might have dropped a little.

But here’s what I see from my terrace, from my conversations at the market, from the rhythm of daily life that doesn’t make it into news alerts: Portugal isn’t closing its doors. It’s finally comfortable enough to be selective about who walks through them.

This is the story of a country that’s done apologizing for being incredible.

Estate Planning and Multi-Generational Wealth Structuring

Portugal offers:

• Favorable inheritance tax treatment for direct descendants

• A stable legal environment for trusts, holdings, and international planning

• The possibility of future EU citizenship for children born into the structure

• A jurisdiction that signals long-term stability rather than political volatility

For family offices and multi-generational wealth stewards, the longer citizenship timeline isn’t a deterrent.
It’s alignment.

It forces generational thinking, the kind that compounds.

After years of chasing more, and rushing through life, we chose to invest & live wisely. This is the story of how Portugal changed our pace and why I’m helping others do the same.