During my trip to Europe last month, I made a brief stop in Lithuania, where I was invited to speak as a keynote speaker.
While I was there, I had the chance to speak with attendees and hear from several well-informed Europeans about what was happening across the continent.
One subject kept coming up: energy.
Plain and simple, they were worried.
There were high-achieving people who could easily absorb a few extra hundred bucks a month to keep their homes and keep their families warm in the colder months, so no, that wasn’t the basis of their concerns.
What worried them is living amongst people who can’t.
What extremes will a desperate father who is already struggling to put food on the table go to when his children are shivering cold in the middle of winter?
I have been closely following what I think we can safely call an energy crisis in Europe for more than 5 years.
Most evidently, Germany is bearing the consequences.
For most of the 21st century, Germany was a high-performing, industrious nation.
Mention “precision engineering,” and Germany entered the conversation.
Germany built one of the most successful industrial economies on Earth around a relatively simple formula: extraordinary engineering capabilities, highly skilled workers, world-class manufacturing and access to relatively inexpensive energy (Russian natural gas).
After the war in Ukraine began, the flow of cheap Russian pipeline gas that Germany had built much of its industrial model around rapidly disappeared.
Simultaneously, Germany was shutting down the last of its nuclear reactors because of, you know, “nuclear bad”.
Now they’re relying more on LNG (liquefied natural gas) imports, which isn’t cheap.
Losing access to cheap, reliable energy is speeding up the inevitable collapse of the German economy.
Its manufacturing sector is bleeding out.
Factories and production facilities are already closing or relocating to countries that offer better operating conditions, and as a result, the entire massive industrial ecosystem needed to support a once-enviable manufacturing powerhouse is crumbling.
And no - the competition from China, overregulation, labour costs, high taxes, and several other factors aren’t making things easier.
The point I am making is this: businesses ultimately have to act in their own best interests and, particularly for public companies, in the interests of their shareholders.
If the ingredients that once made a country an attractive place to manufacture, invest and grow disappear, while the cost and complexity of operating there continue getting more prohibitive, the choice for these operators becomes clear: seek higher ground.
This points to something much bigger happening around the world right now.
The countries we grew up thinking of as the world's economic powerhouses no longer occupy the same positions.
Germany is not what it was twenty years ago.
Neither is Canada.
Neither is the United Kingdom.
Neither are most (if not all) Western countries that have spent most of our lifetimes at the top of the economic food chain.
The best days are long gone, and they aren’t coming back.
They have shot themselves in the foot over and over again, AND again… and the weapon used wasn’t a forgiving one.
Meanwhile, the places in the world where most people barely thought of us as “functional” even just 15 or so odd years ago are doing the complete opposite.
…and wouldn’t you believe it, the pro-business, pro-investor, and pro-family approach is working…
Understanding the shift that is occurring (particularly in Latin America) has become one of the conversations that I am having with the families and investors I work with, and frankly, it’s a discussion I love having.
I have called Panama home for more than 7 years, so the ins and outs of Latin America are basically my bread and butter at this point.
On October 1st and 2nd, I'm bringing together more than 20 experts from my international network for The Expat Money Online Summit 2026: Latin America is Rising to spend two full days discussing how well-informed, future-conscious families can position themselves to thrive as the world’s global order is challenged.
I can’t tell you with complete certainty which country will be the “biggest winner”.
But I can tell you with strong conviction that Latin America is the region set to thrive in the coming years and decades.
When you attend this year’s Summit, I will introduce you to people who have spent years on the ground investigating where capital is moving, where opportunities are emerging and where governments are still actively competing for people like us.
Registering is completely free. You can do so by clicking this highlighted blue text here.
The old economic order has fractured beyond repair.
The countries that dominated yesterday are giving way in real time to a new set of players who are competing for high-achieving families and investors like us.
Join me on October 1st and 2nd to better understand how to navigate the world taking shape.
Speak soon,
Mikkel
PS. You can maximize your Summit experience by attending as a VIP. For under $200, you will receive access to the exclusive VIP-only panel discussions, a special VIP-only post-Summit Q&A, as well as having lifetime access to all the Summit presentation recordings, including the transcripts and audio-only versions. Upgrade here: Attend The Expat Money Online Summit 2026: Freedom Is Rising In Latin America as a VIP.
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