There are many things that I look forward to after Mrs. 1500 and I leave our jobs. Near the top of the list is extensive travel. In our current lives, vacations consist of one week of running around like crazy people trying to squeeze in far too much. Post-work, I look forward to travel that is measured in weeks and months instead of days.
Fellow blogger Tawcan has similar dreams. I was eager to learn more about them, so I asked him for a guest post. He was awesome enough to come up with a pretty great post and include some of his breathtaking photos.
Take it away Tawcan!
Traveling and living abroad
Every human wants to be free, free from being controlled, free from being told what to do. We as humans however also like to stay in our comfort zone, because it’s comfortable and we don’t like changes. Being someone that’s left-handed, I like to think outside of the norm. This leads me to be a true believer that if we’re not extending our comfort zone and learning, we’re busy dying. We only fear what we don’t know and this is perhaps what’s holding many people back from looking at different alternatives than the typical lifestyle also known as the norm. We all need to sit down and think through our lives and determine how we can improve our lives. For us, traveling and living abroad is one of the ways to expand our comfort zone.
One of our dreams when reaching financial independence is to explore the world by traveling and living abroad. Our love for travel started when we were both young. Since we were kids, both Mrs. T and I have had the opportunity to visit many different countries with our parents. In our 20’s, we were fortunate enough to explore the world on our own. As a young Dane, Mrs. T worked as a tour guide in her early 20’s and this experience allowed her to work and live in Egypt, Lanzarote (Canary Islands), and Sri Lanka. As a young Taiwanese-Canadian, I worked in Germany during my university time and travelled all over Europe. Although we have traveled to many different countries on our own (24 for her, 19 for me), we have only visited a few countries together. Thanks to the world scratch map hanging in our living room, we have something visual to inspire us to explore the world together.
Achieving Financial Independence Faster
Before I go on further, please allow me to define our definition of financial independence. For us, financial independence means our passive income equals or exceeds our expenses. We have the choice to decide whether we can continue working actively or not, we have the freedom to decide what we want to do with our lives. Right now the majority of our passive income comes from our dividend portfolio – averaging about $950 Canadian per month. We are aiming to have the dividend portfolio covering our monthly expenses in roughly 10 years.
Traveling and living abroad doesn’t necessarily mean our expenses will increase. In fact, it can be quite the opposite. We can certainly accelerate our 10 year financial independence plan by setting foot in lower cost countries compared to Canada, such as Mexico, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Croatia, or Taiwan. By living in a “cheaper” country, we don’t need as much passive income to be financially independent. Essentially, we can become financially independent quicker. We can retire and live around the world, earn a modest amount of money, and continue having a similar lifestyle as what we currently have living in Vancouver. How much cheaper would your monthly expenses be if you don’t have to pay some of the “fixed” cost like mortgage payment, house insurance, electricity, gas, car insurance, and etc.? By living in a lower cost country, we can lower our living expenses significantly. For example, instead of a monthly budget of $3,000 Canadian, we may live comfortably on a $1,500 Canadian budget in a country like Thailand.
Think of the Children!
Traveling and living abroad is perhaps more straight forward if you’re DINK (Double Income No Kids). Since we have a 2 year old toddler and another one on the way, due in Q1, our idea of traveling and living abroad requires us to think more about the kids and how we can do that best.
Mrs. T and I realize that education is important. However, our traveling plans would mean that the kids will be away from school for an extended period of time. After some discussions, we believe home schooling is probably the best option. Language(s), Math, Science, Social Study, and Physical Education, are part of the typical education curriculum. But ask yourself, what is a more effective way of learning? Sitting in a classroom, reading books and watching videos about WWI? Or physically being in the WWI battle fields, walking through the trenches, seeing thousands of crosses in the different cemeteries, and having the chill down your spine on how terrible wars are? I never liked memorizing the different geographic items during geography classes, but love exploring different cities without a map and learning the geographic locations of the different cities through my own experience. What’s a better way to learn a different language than living in a country that speaks this particular language? To Mrs. T and me, we believe traveling and living abroad would provide so much more learning opportunities than the typical school educational system for our kids.
Examine the Options
When it comes to traveling and living abroad, we believe there are two options for us.
First option is to sell most of our belongings to become nomads, roaming from city to city. We can stay in one city for an extended period of time, explore the area, move to another city or country, and repeat. This option require us to understand how long we can stay in each country and possibly find ways to extend our visitor’s visas. Because both Mrs. T and I hold dual citizenship, we perhaps have more flexibility. For example, since Mrs. T holds a Danish passport (and our kids too), they can stay in Europe for as long as they want. For me to stay longer than the maximum allowed 90 days, I will need to explore getting a permanent resident in a European country or other methods to extend the stay.
Second option is to become part time nomads. We would continue living in beautiful Vancouver, Canada, but we would live somewhere else for parts of the year. For example, we can live in Vancouver during the summer time, then live in Taiwan one winter, traveling around in Asia during that time. While we are away from Vancouver, we can rent out our house to generate additional income. Cost of living is high in Vancouver so another option is to move to a smaller Canadian city, live there part of the year, and travel abroad the rest of the year. This should help reduce the “fixed” cost.
We have examined both options and believe the latter option is better suited for us. Since we are both not originally from Canada but love what Canada has to offer, why not call Canada home? It’s also nice to know that you have a place to call home. Having a home base will allow easier enrollment of different medical and travel insurance, making sure that we’re covered while abroad.
Non-location dependent work
Having sufficient passive income to cover expenses during traveling is great but that doesn’t mean we can’t work. As part of our plan, we have started pursuing non-location dependent work. For example, we have written a couple of cookbooks that are being sold in the US, as well as over the web. Some other non-location dependent work Mrs. T and I can do including photography, cooking classes, self-improvement workshops, holistic healing treatments, personal finance coaching, and internet radio show, to name a few. I have not included my personal finance blog as a non-location dependent work since I’m writing it for fun, but hopefully with a steady readership growth, one day in the near future the blog can generate some income as well.
Since our kids are young (one still in the womb) and do not need to start school just yet, there’s no reason why we can’t pursue our dream of traveling and living abroad now. We are free to travel for an extended period of time. We can certainly start living in a different country for the maximum allowable time (i.e. 90 days in Japan) and live in Vancouver for the rest of the year. Because I deal with people all over the globe for work, working remotely in a different time zone is definitely a possibility, as I demonstrated in our 4 week Danish vacation this past summer, working remotely for two of the four weeks. There are lots of possibilities, the only limitations are the ones we’re creating in our mind. Since traveling and living abroad is very different than the typical lifestyle, the biggest setback is our belief system. We need to first break away from the normal way of thinking and start looking at all the different possibilities we have right in front of us. Instead of thinking that we can’t afford it, start thinking how can we afford it, how can we get it to work?
In case you’re wondering, here is a list of countries that you can easily get around in with English and also have a lower cost of living that may work for us – Bahamas, Belize, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Philippines, India, Sri Lanka, and Fiji to name a few. If we were to expand the countries to include languages such as Danish/Swedish/Norwegian and Mandarin speaking countries, that list certainly would expand quite a bit. Now, the Scandinavian countries are not the cheapest but they have excellent social benefits and the government pays you money to attend post-secondary education. Perhaps living in Denmark when the kids are older is an excellent idea.
Is traveling and living abroad one of your dreams? How would you make it work for you?
Thanks again Tawcan for the inspirational post. I hope that our paths cross someday.
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Mr Zombie says
January 20, 2016 at 4:50 amTawcan – respect for having so many avenues open to you and your family for earning money, that’s awesome. And your photos are ace.
Travel is one of the reasons I’m chasing FI, not to go zipping through somewhere in a couple of weeks, but to spend months somewhere actually living there. To spend a winter in the alps. To spend a summer on the south west coast of France. That’s got to be better than a 2 week blitz tour.
Kids is such a big obstacle to that, but far from impossible! Good luck, hopefully I’ll be following a few years behind you!
MrZ
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Tawcan says
January 20, 2016 at 9:00 amHi MrZ,
Thanks, we are trying to generate multiple revenue streams to diversify. Spend a winter in the alps would be absolutely amazing, being a skier myself. If you see kids as a big obstacle, that’s all your’ll see. If you see kids are opportunities, you’ll figure out a way to travel around the world with them.
Tawcan recently posted…Living outside the norm
Mr Zombie says
January 22, 2016 at 11:23 amTrue! A friend is just back from a year travelling with his kids and wife, said it was incredible. Home-schooling took a good chunk of time, but he thought they learned so much more through travelling as well.
Mr Zombie recently posted…Traditional retirement projections are f**king with your mind, man
Mortimer says
January 20, 2016 at 4:53 amInspirational indeed! Traveling abroad is one of our dreams as well, though we are much farther away from realizing it than you. And you couldn’t be more correct about experience being the better teacher than classroom learning. Leonardo da Vinci was an uneducated peasant who decided to show his more privileged peers what could be done by learning through experience. You’ll be giving your kids a better than world class education with your plans. I look forward to reading about it on your blog!
Mortimer recently posted…How to See Abundance Everywhere While Living Frugally
Tawcan says
January 20, 2016 at 9:01 amHi Mortimer,
Thanks, glad to have inspired you. Good point about Leonardo da Vinci…. Einstein was in the same boat too.
Tawcan recently posted…Living outside the norm
Thias @It Pays Dividends says
January 20, 2016 at 5:13 amI’ve actually only been out of the US once and that was to Cancun for our honeymoon. We have travel plans in our future but to be honest, we haven’t planned them out in much detail. We have so,e places we want to visit but no timeline. We want our daughter to be a bit older before we do it so she can experience the world more than my wife and I did in our childhood.
Love your goals! I think the experience will be incredibly beneficial to your children. There is a big world out there and a lot of us don’t see more than our neighborhood growing up.
Thias @It Pays Dividends recently posted…How Much Money Do You Need to Make in Order to Save Half Your Income?
Tawcan says
January 20, 2016 at 9:03 amHi Thias,
US has a lot to offer in terms of traveling. I have been fortunate enough to have traveled to ~40 US states. Good point on waiting for your daughter to be a bit older, it’s nice to have some memories about all these travels.
Tawcan recently posted…Living outside the norm
Matt @ The Resume Gap says
January 20, 2016 at 5:39 amThese are great! I almost could have written the same goals myself, minus the kid considerations. One of the things that’s been most inspirational to me about the online full-time travel community is the number of people who pull off exploring all over the globe with one, two, or more kids in tow. You might face some skepticism at home, but it’s completely doable! The part-time nomad option is fantastic as well — still providing a base and a sense of home while allowing for plenty of travel time.
Tawcan says
January 20, 2016 at 9:04 amHi Matt,
I think a lot of people in the FIRE community have similar goals/plans. It’s always cool to read about people doing full-time travel around the world. It’s so inspiring. The most important thing is not to care what other people think about you. 🙂
Tawcan recently posted…Living outside the norm
Fervent Finance says
January 20, 2016 at 7:55 amIt’s definitely on the “quite possibly” list for me. Not sure I could go full nomad – but who knows! Sounds like you have some fun plans!
Fervent Finance recently posted…Why I Haven’t Quit
Tawcan says
January 20, 2016 at 9:05 amHi FF,
It’s definitely possible if you plan for it. Nothing’s impossible in my book. 🙂
Tawcan recently posted…Living outside the norm
Magilla says
January 20, 2016 at 8:46 amTravel is a huge part of our FIRE plans and our current plans. We try to do a big trip every year to a different country, and plan to increase the length and number of such trips post FIRE. Even now we prefer to take it slow and not try to cram in as much as possible in our usually 2 week vacations.
To be honest I’m somewhat surprised how many people in this community say that travel is part of their FIRE plans but eschew any big travel now.
Tawcan says
January 20, 2016 at 9:06 amHi Magilla,
We seem to have done international trip every year in the last few years. We wish we can extend the length of the trip, hence for our plans.
Tawcan recently posted…Living outside the norm
Maggie @ Northern Expenditure says
January 20, 2016 at 9:02 amYou’re living the dream! The Part-time Nomad option is the one we hope to eventually take. Though I’m not entirely set on homeschooling, I may have to do that as I haven’t found a good way to put the kids in school in another country legally without working in said country.
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Tawcan says
January 20, 2016 at 9:08 amHi Maggie,
We may decide to do a bit of hybrid – some home schooling and some regular schooling so the kids still have some social interaction with other kids.
Tawcan recently posted…Living outside the norm
SavvyFinancialLatina says
January 20, 2016 at 10:00 amLiving abroad will be really cool. Keep I get a expat assignment since I work for a global company.
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Tawcan says
January 20, 2016 at 2:36 pmI work for a global company too so getting something outside of Vancouver would be rather neat.
Tawcan recently posted…Living outside the norm
Mr. SSC says
January 20, 2016 at 10:48 amWe want to do traveling, and are also in the “parental unit” category with 2 young ones. I don’t think we’d go total nomad style, but more of a longer staycation of a month or so in a certain region. Maybe Italy for a month or 2, South America for a similar time period, and use the summers to fit those types of vacation/visits into our plans.
We had originally hoped for expat opportunities but lots of factors have nipped that in the bud, and we’ll be FI before they come up again at work. It still sounds like a win on our part. 🙂
Mr. SSC recently posted…Small Decisions, Big Outcomes; How I met Mrs. SSC
Tawcan says
January 20, 2016 at 2:37 pmExpat is another idea to fill in the gap. Sure having kids will make it more challenging to travel around the world but you can certainly work around this. Longer vacation in a certain region would be nice but it’s rather hard to take extended time off with my work, hence for our plans. 😀
Tawcan recently posted…Living outside the norm
The Roamer says
January 20, 2016 at 11:35 amHi Tawcan
That is one of the reasons I really want to reach FI.
We are on the 10 years plan also, it is a long way out. Specially since we haven’t yet developed any location independent work. So congrats that you already have so many in the pipeline.
Also Mr.1500 you can most definitely start having slow travel experiences. No need to run around like crazy people. Even if its just a week long trip you can aim for deep immersion in one place over skimming many.
The Roamer recently posted…2015 goals: year end review
Tawcan says
January 20, 2016 at 2:39 pmHi Roamer,
We think we can probably accelerate our 10 year plan if we change some of our plans & assumptions. Just the other day Mrs. T and I talked about doing a “dry run” before the kids start school. A dry run of traveling around the world for short period of time before we implement our plans might be a good idea.
Tawcan recently posted…Living outside the norm
Magilla says
January 20, 2016 at 3:41 pmFor those that think you can’t travel with kids:
http://www.earthtrekkers.com/
I’m in awe of this family 🙂
Tawcan says
January 21, 2016 at 8:19 amVery neat, will check it out.
Tawcan recently posted…Living outside the norm
1500 says
January 21, 2016 at 8:42 pmHoly cow, those people are awesome! Hey Earth Trekkers, come to Colorado!
Kapitalust says
January 20, 2016 at 5:09 pmMy wife and I have yet to solve the dilemma of whether the social utility of having your kids attend school outweighs the home schooling option.
We both think that regular socialization is very important and that the inferior “education” of a public school can be balanced out by the interaction with other students can provide.
Was wondering if you had any thoughts on that?
Also, how have we not met up yet living in the same city!?
Kapitalust recently posted…Year in Review 2015
Tawcan says
January 21, 2016 at 8:27 amDude we need to meet up and pick on each other’s brains!!!
After more discussion I think we decided that we should do a hybrid of home schooling and regular schooling. Maybe home school when we’re traveling and when we’re not traveling, enroll the kids in school and make sure they get a full school year. Social skill is definitely important.
Tawcan recently posted…Living outside the norm
Chad Carson says
January 20, 2016 at 8:20 pmGreat post Tawcan. And I loved those photos!
Your ideas and goals definitely resonated with me. We have 2 and 4 year old daughters, and we love to travel. My wife and I did some mini-retirement/sabbatical trips prekids, and we did some road trips out west when our first was just born. We also went to Mexico for a few weeks last year.
Next year (January 2017) we plan to love abroad to either Spain or Argentina (still deciding). We’re going to rent an apartment and stick to one place so that the girls can enroll in school/preschool and become fluent in Spanish (like bucking-the-trend.com).
We are also more the 2nd style – have roots in one place, and explore other places for extended periods of time. I love your points about the kids learning with travel. We are going to try some traditional schooling, but I want to “interfere” enough with these trips off and on so they get a good mix.
I look forward to following your blog.
Chad Carson recently posted…Book Review: Your Money Or Your Life
Tawcan says
January 21, 2016 at 8:33 amHi Chad,
Thanks! That’s really cool that you were able to do some mini-retirement/sabbatical trips prekids. Spain would be really cool to live there for an extended period of time. I think having roots in one place will provide more stability, especially to the kids. At least this way their friends will be around and the kids can contact them.
Tawcan recently posted…Living outside the norm
Formative Fortunes says
January 21, 2016 at 1:09 pmI love traveling and my dream is to live abroad! My family has been in the same town since 1904 so id like to continue living their so my kids can grow up there but I have also had a long time dream to live in Italy, luckily I can speak the language and have family there. I just want a simple life there!
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Tawcan says
January 22, 2016 at 4:03 pmItaly is one of the countries I really enjoyed while traveling, especially small Italian towns. Hope you can live there one day.
Tawcan recently posted…Living outside the norm
Dane Hinson says
January 21, 2016 at 1:27 pmYou have a great outlook on educating your children by seeing the world. I have two little boys and I’ve always thought that they learn so much more from true experiences.
Dane Hinson recently posted…Why Index Investing IS Sexy
Tawcan says
January 22, 2016 at 4:03 pmThanks Dane. 🙂
Tawcan recently posted…Living outside the norm
Taylor says
January 21, 2016 at 4:19 pmTawcan, your photos are AMAZING. I’m feeling so much wanderlust thanks to this post 😉 I love how you guys approach traveling and look at is an adventure in freedom, even with children. I’m not sure I could travel full-time (I love having a “home”) but my partner and I are working towards a lifestyle where we split our time between Southern California (where we currently live) and London (the places we are both from). Definitely NOT the cheapest places to live, but I think they are worth the extra cost 🙂 Cant wait to continue to follow your adventures (and Mr. and Mrs. 1500 as well!)
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Tawcan says
January 22, 2016 at 4:05 pmHi Taylor,
Nothing wrong with having a home, that’s why we are considering traveling part time. Spiting your time between Southern California and London is pretty awesome. London is a great base to allow you to travel in Europe.
Tawcan recently posted…Living outside the norm
Mike Hardy says
January 21, 2016 at 9:59 pmWe’re doing this now. Emancipated ourselves in 2013, wound down previous life in 2013-2015 (we went with the sell-everything route while traveling some domestically, we wanted a clean re-start even if we stayed in the same country) and set off late 2015.
Our boy was 2 when we hit FI and 3 when we first hit the road domestically, and just 4 when we hit the international road. Wasn’t even really potty-trained :-). He is now nearly 5, so we’re similar though we won’t have a newborn. I think the newborn will actually be easy though (we traveled a ton with our boy when he was newborn – it’s much much harder now that he’s opinionated and mobile)
I’m not sure why you’re not considering international schools? One of the primary purposes of our travel was to try to fully integrate (that is: attempt to raise children – including socialization via schooling) with local culture and really experiment with living abroad, ideally in a cost-arbitrage location. To that end we’re having a great experience in Chiang Mai, Thailand right now. There are quite a few international schools and one didn’t fit us but then we found one that really did. Seems to be one for nearly any type child. I’ve heard Costa Rica (our next dreamed-of “fully integrated” stop) is similar.
Also, workaway on farms is great. We stayed in Tuscany this way and our boy was in heaven while food and lodging was free. Bonus is I got exercise (I like exercise 🙂 ), and learned a ridiculous amount about olive and vegetable farming.
In the meantime, the truly slow travel (no less than a week somewhere, often multiple weeks, or a home base in one spot on monthly rental with weeks abroad from it) has been fantastic. Very highly recommended. Most important in that vein is to maintain open-ended itineraries even if that makes visa arrangements harder (i.e., you may need to purchase refundable one-way exit tix to get on inbound planes, but then you refund them and purchase your real travel later once it is determined). Reason for open-ended itinerary is that our original idea of what worked did not work once we started doing it. Small modifications made things great but if we were locked to an itinerary already? Disaster! Booking as we go takes time but we get exactly the trip that’s working for us as we go.
We did a cruise as well – with kids don’t turn your nose up at them. You can get good deals and you have a consistent “home base” plus a kids club (if they are old enough) plus zero food issues. We ended up really enjoying it and we are NOT cruise people. Just make sure it’s a casual / no dining schedule cruise (because, kids). We even got to see some whole cities as adults-on-a-date while kid was on ship enjoying kids club. Major win.
If you click this you can see what’s possible. We’re in CNX now but are about to do the second half of this itinerary (SE Asia / Sydney stopovers on way to 4-week caravan road trip through New Zealand, then Palau and China stopovers on way back to States to visit family)
http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=aus-szg,szg-lowz,lowz-vce,vce-cfu-jtr-jmk-gpa-vce-dbv-ath-adb-spu-vce-pmf,pmf-flo-pmf,pmf-eba-pmf,pmf-fco,fco-cnx,cnx-bkk,bkk-kbv,kbv-sin,sin-bkk-syd,syd-akl-chc,akl-nrt-gum-ror,ror-icn-pek,pvg-lax-den-mia
Airfare and some hotel nights were all paid for with points from travel hacking signup bonuses on credit cards as well. So even the transport is pretty low-cost. We just pay for lodging any time we’re not on workaway.
Oh, and T-Mobile’s new plans have roaming that really works. Saves SIM card shuffle everywhere. And First Republic Bank’s ATM Rebate checking refunds all ATM fees international anywhere any time no limit. I LOVE that account and I’m a nerd about this stuff.
Good luck!
Tawcan says
January 22, 2016 at 4:10 pmHi Mike,
Wow thanks for the great input. We haven’t really thought about international school as we want to be as flexible as we can, but that’s definitely something to consider. You’re right, traveling with a new born is much easier than a toddler. It was a lot of work traveling with Baby T1.0 when we were in Japan.
We definitely like the idea of open itinerary. We don’t like to plan things done to the smallest detail. We have done cruise a few times and quite enjoyed it. Considering Baby T1.0 eats a lot (he’s only two), an all inclusive type of travel might be worth it.
Tawcan recently posted…Living outside the norm
Mike Hardy says
January 23, 2016 at 4:03 amYoull find most schools can do a “temporary student” – in Chiang Mai they all seem to anyway. Weekly with no other fees. We do most of our remaining work (travel planning, travel hacking, finance stuff, shopping for food) plus adult day trips to sight see while he’s in school. Done it both ways and everyone’s happier this way :-). That’s us though of course. Best of luck!
Amber Tree says
January 21, 2016 at 11:38 pmHey Tawcan,
kudos for the plans and mind set that you have! It is inspirational for us.
We also like tot travel and expand our horizons. It is actually part of our life goals: to show the world and cultures to are kids. We are still *too* caught up in the jobs we have with no flexibility for remote work. Getting over this hurdle will be a big one for us. I hope one day we can get over it.
All trhe best with your plans. I do hope they work out for you. IF you plan to pass Belgium and need some tips, feel free to ask!
AmberTree
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Tawcan says
January 22, 2016 at 4:11 pmHi AmberTree,
That’s definitely a reason to achieve FI so you are not tied down by work.
Would love to head to Belgium one of these days. I was there over 10 years ago and really enjoyed my time there. Would need to find NMW if I’m there too.
Tawcan recently posted…Living outside the norm
hinhxamdoc says
January 22, 2016 at 11:56 pmit’s amazing…somtime i feel so stress..in 2016 i hope i and my gf have happy ending and travel somewhere ..Thanks your post! <3
Jackyy says
January 23, 2016 at 1:39 am“We all need to sit down and think through our lives and determine how we can improve our lives. For us, traveling and living abroad is one of the ways to expand our comfort zone.”
Laura Beth @ How to Get Rich Slowly says
January 23, 2016 at 9:13 pmHi Tawcan,
Loved the post! I especially like the way you and Mrs. T have visualized all of the possibilities. You know what you want and you have a concrete plan to get there. It’s just a matter of time until you reach FI. All the best to you both. Will be following your journey! Thanks for sharing.
Lady FruFru says
January 24, 2016 at 3:36 pmI think you’re rigth that FI is different for everyone. If your cost of living is low then you don’t need a multimillion dollar portfolio to get on and enjoy your life. My overhead is low so I am hoping and planning to retire on less. I’m 50, so you whippersnappers have made an amazing head start on living the life you want. Kudos to you!