What does it actually take to leave your corporate job, relocate your family to another country, and buy a home abroad — in cash? Alicia Sanchez did exactly that. In this episode of Yo Quiero Dinero, she breaks down the real financial planning, the digital nomad visa process, what attorneys actually cost (spoiler: not $10,000), and why the most transformative thing about moving to Spain wasn’t the house or the visa. It was watching her six-year-old daughter finally have a childhood.
The Circus Was the Sign
Alicia Sanchez spent over 20 years working her way through some of the most recognized brands in the world — American Express, ESPN, Klaviyo. She knows marketing and email strategy better than most people in the game. But one day she looked around at the endless meetings, the corporate jargon, and the endless circling back on nothing, and she thought: I am better than this.
So she did what smart women do. She didn’t quit first and figure it out later. She built in silence — testing her business, stacking her income streams, getting her clients locked in — all while still on payroll. Because they don’t have to know.
“Start working on what you need to work on before you leave. They don’t gotta know — seriously. That way you’re also testing every aspect of it and you can go through those changes.”
This is the move that most people skip — they wait until they’ve made the leap to start building, instead of using the runway they already have. Alicia used hers.
Corporate Stability Is a Myth
Here’s the thing that Jannese brought up and that every one of us needs to write on the wall: corporate stability is a mask. You could be laid off tomorrow. If you haven’t been building income outside of your W-2, you are one financial emergency away from chaos.
Alicia saw this clearly. As a budgeter and someone who had spent four years studying FIRE (financial independence, retire early), she already had rental properties, multiple income streams, and a clear picture of her monthly numbers. She wasn’t just dreaming about leaving. She was preparing.
“Corporate has different income streams — a whole bunch. And one of them is our creativeness. I said: nope, you’re not going to cash in on my creativeness anymore.”
Why Spain — And Why Now
Alicia’s connection to Spain goes back decades. In her twenties, she taught English there for a year on a CIEE program and fell in love with the culture, the lifestyle, and the cost of living. When she and her wife began talking seriously about their family’s future, Spain kept coming up.
She lives in Southern Spain — specifically in a small village outside of a larger city — where she gets the slow living vibe she was looking for without the noise of a big urban center. The heat (she’s Dominican, she needs it), the proximity to the beach and to the rest of Europe, and the quality of life for their daughter all checked the boxes.
The actual decision happened in February 2025. She and her wife came back from a trip to the Dominican Republic and looked at each other and said: if we don’t do it now, we’ll never do it. On Monday she called the moving pod company. By Tuesday, the pods were there.
“If you don’t just do it, you can manifest all day — but if you don’t take action, you’re going to be manifesting forever. You have to do something.”
Timeline breakdown: they started the process in February 2025, set foot in Spain in June, received their digital nomad visa on July 4th (yes, Independence Day — she took the sign), and bought their house on July 20th.
The Financial Planning Behind the Move
Alicia is a spreadsheet woman. Before any of this was possible, she built a clear picture of what their cost of living would be — not just the fun stuff, but the actual monthly number to simply exist. From there, she thought strategically about where she could pull money from across her different income streams and investment properties.
As for how they found the house: they were in Alicante exploring rental options and found the prices wild. Up to 12K just to move into a rental they’d have to leave in eight months. That didn’t make sense. Then they saw a YouTube post from a British realtor living and working in Spain — she had translated everything into English and Spanish, knew the process inside and out, and had their house listed.
They called her. They went to see it the next day. They negotiated. (She’s Dominican. That was never not going to happen.) And they bought it.
“We got a five-bedroom with a yard and a pool we’re building — for under $70K. Eliminating the mortgage meant our cost of living dropped so dramatically that now we can put more into savings and investments every single month.”
Important note: purchasing property in Spain as a foreigner generally requires cash — there’s no traditional mortgage process the way Americans are used to. But in smaller villages and southern regions, property prices can be dramatically lower than anything comparable in the US. Doing the math first was everything.
The Digital Nomad Visa: What You Actually Need to Know
There is a lot of noise online about the Spain digital nomad visa — and a lot of people out here trying to charge you $10,000 for information that is largely accessible and a government fee that is set. Here’s what Alicia actually wants you to know:
- Apply from inside Spain — not the US. When you apply from within Spain, you get approved for three years. When you apply from the US, you only get one year, and then you have to go through the process again.
- As a Latino/a, after two years on the digital nomad visa, you can switch to permanent residency through your lineage — using your home country passport or your parents’ documentation.
- You are required to pay quarterly taxes in Spain. This is not optional. Know this before you go.
- As a digital nomad, a maximum of 20% of your income can come from Spain. The rest must come from clients or income sources outside the country.
- Your bookkeeping needs to be clean. Spain wants to see at least three months of invoices showing consistent income from actual clients. If your finances are scattered, get organized now — not when you’re about to apply.
- Bringing your spouse and dependents? They go under your visa. They may actually qualify for more benefits than you — including access to public healthcare and the ability to work locally in Spain.
The documentation process gets complicated when your income comes from multiple sources — rental properties, freelance clients, studio shops. Alicia had it all. A good lawyer helped her classify and present it clearly. The key word: match. Everything has to match.
What You Actually Need to Spend on an Attorney
The Spanish government has a set fee for the digital nomad visa. That fee is what it is. What Alicia wants you to know is that you do not need to pay someone $10,000 to “get” you a visa. She recommends:
- Visit Spain beforehand — actually go and see if this is the life you want
- Join Facebook groups and forums of people who have already done this process
- Find a legitimate lawyer who will tell you exactly what you need and what you don’t — and who will be honest with you about what you can skip
- Be an educated consumer. You don’t have to know everything, but you should know enough to know what you’re paying for
Jannese has also partnered with a relocation agency based in Alicante, Spain that helps people through the full process — visa evaluation, housing, documentation, government appointments — for 1,500 euros. Not $10,000. The link is in the episode description.
The Part That Actually Scared Her: Taxes
Alicia is honest about where she felt the most uncertainty: the Spanish tax system. In Spain, taxes are paid quarterly, and the government is specific about how they want their money. As a digital nomad, every invoice you receive has a direct relationship with what you owe.
The good news: there are exclusions, write-offs, and strategies — your situation is specific to your visa type, your income structure, and your family setup. The answer, again, is to work with a lawyer who knows your specific situation rather than applying blanket rules.
“Every situation, every couple, every family is very different. Reach out to a lawyer who’s going to look at your stuff and say — oh yeah, you can do this, you can write that off.”
For what it’s worth: at least in Spain, Alicia can see where her taxes are going. Healthcare. Schools. Social safety nets. In the US, Jannese and Alicia both noted, we pay taxes into a system that offers very little in return for most working people.
What’s Really Keeping You?
For anyone who feels called to make a big change — leave the job, leave the country, leave the relationship, leave the neighborhood — Alicia has one question for you:
“What’s keeping you? What’s really keeping you?”
Because here’s the truth: leaving isn’t as hard as we make it. It’s leaving what we’re used to that’s hard. The consumerism. The routine. The people who make us feel like wanting more is selfish.
Trim those people. It’s spring. Perfect time to prune.
And don’t pay for someone to paint everything rosy — find the people who give you the good AND the bad AND the ugly. That’s who you can trust.
Start with one small thing. One extra dollar saved. One conversation with a lawyer. One Facebook group joined. That’s how it starts. That’s how everything starts.
Key Takeaways from This Episode
- Don’t wait until you quit to start building — use the runway you have right now
- Corporate stability is a myth. Start building income outside your W-2
- Apply for the Spain digital nomad visa from inside Spain — you get 3 years vs. 1
- Latino/a lineage = path to permanent residency after 2 years
- You cannot earn more than 20% of your income from Spanish clients on the digital nomad visa
- Clean bookkeeping and invoices are your most important asset when applying
- Don’t overpay for a visa. The government fee is set. Find a transparent lawyer
- Eliminate the mortgage and watch your whole financial picture shift
- Spain’s tax system is quarterly and specific — factor this in before you move
- You are one decision away from a completely different life
Connect with Alicia
Resources Mentioned
- Episode 269: How To Be A Money Making Mama | Alicia Sanchez
- Unlock your Puerto Rican Citizenship
- Relocation & Immigration specialists in Andalucía – tell them YQD sent you!
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