Beat the Odds: Essential Conversations For Couples Abroad
This week I’m sharing a short clip from my TEDx talk (2023), Can Blockchain Be Used to Decode the Future of Economics? But don’t let the title throw you. This moment isn’t about cryptocurrency or code. It’s about something far more intimate and universal: the emotional and financial dynamics run our entire world economy.
It’s a story that begins, quite unexpectedly, in a bank when I was buying a house with my husband. A moment of unexpected clarity pulled back the curtain on an unspoken truth: the systems that define value in our society often render caregiving, emotional labor, and domestic contribution completely invisible in the field of economic value.
This talk is for anyone who’s ever been told they should “just feel lucky” to stay home with the kids. For anyone who’s contributed time, care, and energy into building a life with someone - only to realize too late that time doesn’t always translate into security. And why it is essential to have conversations about this before a move abroad (or before any major transition).

What We Talk About in This Episode
Throughout the episode, we explore the unseen systems and outdated assumptions that place financial risk disproportionately on caregivers - most often women - in long-term partnerships.
Key Moments:
- Why shared households don’t automatically equal shared security
- The emotional and economic risks of assuming your value is secure when it is only valuable to your partner and not the market
- How unpaid care work quietly sustains our global economy, yet goes unaccounted for
- Why it’s critical to create household agreements before making major life moves, especially abroad
So many of us move through love and partnership assuming that care will be enough to protect us. But as this episode reminds us: love needs structure. Secure Love needs agreements and Creating Value deserves clarity.
A Call to Find Your Shared Values - Together
These conversations aren’t always easy. They can stir up fear, regret, or even shame. But they are powerful. They create space for understanding, mutual respect, and the kind of shared responsibility that truly sustains partnership, especially in the midst of international transitions, career shifts, and family growth.
If this resonates with you, I invite you to watch my full TEDx talk here: 👉 Can Blockchain Be Used to Decode the Future of Economics?
And if you’re navigating this terrain in your own relationship or preparing to make a big move abroad as a couple, I’ve created a relationship guide to help you have these essential conversations before the burnout.
Join us at houseofperegrine.com/signup for more resources, expert-led tools, and conversations for those building meaningful lives across borders.
Write your life story with Intention.
Feeling inspired? Share this episode with someone you know navigating life between cultures - and don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review. Every story shared is a thread that weaves us closer together.