Best or earliest FI-RE is abroad, true or false?
Many people on the internet seem to be under the impression that is the way to achieve earliest FI-RE.
If we had worked hard for many decades putting our best life on the back burner, and we thought that going abroad could get us off that treadmill sooner, would we do it?
Would you?
The first thing is that we were not on that treadmill to begin with.
We took what is known today as mini-vacations.
This was way before Tim Ferris who wrote The 4 hour workweek made that idea popular.
We were young business owners in our 20's in north America. We were taking trips to Mexico etc.
And we also took all the opportunities to travel and see our own country.
Mini vacations in the u.s.a. I write this to say that we were not itching to jump off the u.s.a so we could achieve relief.
Many people believe that is what is necessary in order for them to FI-RE earlier and better.
So with that back ground, would we go abroad?
When you are in your working years in terms of working and retirement, people have a strict schedule they adhere to, such as work all week, weekends off, with some variations of that.
Many people on the internet seem to be under the impression that is the way to achieve earliest FI-RE.
If we had worked hard for many decades putting our best life on the back burner, and we thought that going abroad could get us off that treadmill sooner, would we do it?
Would you?
The first thing is that we were not on that treadmill to begin with.
We took what is known today as mini-vacations.
This was way before Tim Ferris who wrote The 4 hour workweek made that idea popular.
We were young business owners in our 20's in north America. We were taking trips to Mexico etc.
And we also took all the opportunities to travel and see our own country.
Mini vacations in the u.s.a. I write this to say that we were not itching to jump off the u.s.a so we could achieve relief.
Many people believe that is what is necessary in order for them to FI-RE earlier and better.
So with that back ground, would we go abroad?
When you are in your working years in terms of working and retirement, people have a strict schedule they adhere to, such as work all week, weekends off, with some variations of that.
You've seen
this, you go shopping at the same hour every one else does.
You go on vacation when your company allows it, and it happens to be when every one else is doing it. When the resorts are at their peak.
So you're always fighting the crowds, the prices.
But once you're out of that picture, there's all these mini seasons that become available that you could not take advantage of before.
There are times off from resorts, vacation spots, when they have low seasons etc.
What I'm saying is, if we take a closer look at this idea, you will see that it is possible to do a lot of these things that seemed unreachable before, but now that you have the flexibility that you didn't have before, it opens doors to all these possibilities you didn't have before, and to FIRE earlier and better.
My wife and I have visited all of the great parts of north America while in our 20's and 30's and so we didn't feel compelled and were not financially pushed out of the u.s.a.
Although most people won't admit to themselves that is what they're contemplating.
You would be surprised what you can do in the offseason in the u.s.a.
For example the beaches of the mid Atlantic and Florida are reasonably priced in the offseason, and some mirror the prices of popular expat hangouts that are touted to be cheap abroad, but that thanks to the crowds don't stay that way.
In other words, you may end up spending the same amount abroad or at least close to it, that you would spend in the u.s.a. if you were going in the off seasons.
You could arbitrage the high season abroad with the low season at home. Kind of a reverse engineering from what is being preached online.
We've lived this way all of our lives, doing a lot of mini vacations in the u.s.
Lived full time in a 30 foot travel trailer and toured all of the u.s. great places, Florida beaches, Mid Atlantic beaches, New York, California, the desert, the midwest, the Pacific Northwest, Las Vegas etc.
So when we go abroad, it's not so that we can FI-RE earlier and better because we did that and can do that in the states. And you can do it too
Am I trying to keep you from going abroad? Absolutely not.
But if you think you HAVE TO go abroad in order to FI-RE earlier and better, then I wanted to let you know there is another perspective, from someone that has been there, done that.
What are your thoughts?
You go on vacation when your company allows it, and it happens to be when every one else is doing it. When the resorts are at their peak.
So you're always fighting the crowds, the prices.
But once you're out of that picture, there's all these mini seasons that become available that you could not take advantage of before.
There are times off from resorts, vacation spots, when they have low seasons etc.
What I'm saying is, if we take a closer look at this idea, you will see that it is possible to do a lot of these things that seemed unreachable before, but now that you have the flexibility that you didn't have before, it opens doors to all these possibilities you didn't have before, and to FIRE earlier and better.
My wife and I have visited all of the great parts of north America while in our 20's and 30's and so we didn't feel compelled and were not financially pushed out of the u.s.a.
Although most people won't admit to themselves that is what they're contemplating.
You would be surprised what you can do in the offseason in the u.s.a.
For example the beaches of the mid Atlantic and Florida are reasonably priced in the offseason, and some mirror the prices of popular expat hangouts that are touted to be cheap abroad, but that thanks to the crowds don't stay that way.
In other words, you may end up spending the same amount abroad or at least close to it, that you would spend in the u.s.a. if you were going in the off seasons.
You could arbitrage the high season abroad with the low season at home. Kind of a reverse engineering from what is being preached online.
We've lived this way all of our lives, doing a lot of mini vacations in the u.s.
Lived full time in a 30 foot travel trailer and toured all of the u.s. great places, Florida beaches, Mid Atlantic beaches, New York, California, the desert, the midwest, the Pacific Northwest, Las Vegas etc.
So when we go abroad, it's not so that we can FI-RE earlier and better because we did that and can do that in the states. And you can do it too
Am I trying to keep you from going abroad? Absolutely not.
But if you think you HAVE TO go abroad in order to FI-RE earlier and better, then I wanted to let you know there is another perspective, from someone that has been there, done that.
What are your thoughts?
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