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What Is This Site About?

First, tell me if this story of a "Traditional Life" sounds familiar to you:

This simple narrative is drilled into us our whole lives. Our parents preached it. Our friends lived it. We hear about it in the media. The financial industry makes our goals around it. This path must be the best way, right?

I was following this path and it can work. But here is the dark side the world doesn’t explain to you. A university degree and a “good job” is meant to mean a high paying job; Doctor, lawyer, software engineer and a $100,000 a year job. Let me guess. You are not making that? That is because most people are not making that either.

“Work really hard” usually means long commutes in a car, sitting in a grey cubicle, and working 70+ hours a week. More than 40% of adults don’t take a SINGLE vacation day. NOT ONE DAY. No days off to visit your family, see your kids football game, or relax on a beach. It means missing out on life.

To live this version of success, people work an average of 59 hours per week. Many work 70 to 80 hours according to Barron's Financial and Investment News. These hours are not even the extreme. Extremes are Elon Musk (who I think is genius BTW), working 120 hours a week. Or as the entrepreneur and New Your Times best-selling author Grant Cardone states "Most people work 9-to-5. I work 95 hours [per week]." That comes out to about 14 hours of work a day, 7 days a week. 

So, this "Traditional Life” we are pushed towards means we work 70+ hours a week, with no vacation days and no life, until we are 65.

We are being asked to trade 47 Years of Work for 15 Years of Retirement???? Sounds great. Sign me up!

Ok the "Traditional Life" sounds like a terrible way of doing things. What are my options?

Financial Independance Retire Early  (FIRE) is a growing movement showing there is a better way.

There are two big things I disliked about the Traditional Path:

Consequently, just because you make less than $40,000 a year also doesn’t mean you are doomed to a life of poverty. There are a lot of "rich" Doctors and Software Engineers who are cash poor and there are lots of working class people who are Millionaires-Next-Door.

“FIRE” is a FINANCIAL SYSTEM that prioritizes hitting Financial Independance (FI- the first part of FIRE) way before 65. Many advocates aim for 45 years. Some even try to hit their mark before 40.

No way! It is impossible to reach those financial goals that quickly

It is not impossible. I am part of that movement. I retired at 41 years old from a corporate job and have spent the last five years traveling the world and living on sun-kissed beaches, vibrant cities, and tranquil countrysides in 40 different countries. FIRE is the system I used to prioritize my spending and maximize my investments to get me to Financial Independence. 

The second part of FIRE is RE. RE stands for Retire Early. While Early Retirement is inherent in the FIRE name; Retiring Early doesn’t necessary mean “Not Working.” It means that you have reached a level of freedom, where working is up to you. A job becomes optional, not a requirement to living. 

How Does Nomadic FIRE Differ From Normal FIRE?

Nomadic FIRE is two parts: 

FIRE is the FINANCIAL SYSTEM to prioritize your spending and maximize your investments.

Nomadic is the LIFESTYLE SYSTEM that amplifies your finances. A nomadic lifestyle allows you the luxury of traveling abroad to better weather, tastier food, a more appealing social life, and a HIGHER standard of living at a LOWER cost.

How Does Nomadic FIRE Make Financially Independence Easier?

Nomadic FIRE leverages geoarbitrage to make it easier for you to save money. Simply put, If your income is $2000 per month and we can reduce your rent, food, and other living expenses by 50%, you can save more money and reach your Financial Independence faster. Nomadic FIRE uses living abroad in countries with a lower cost of living than the US to maximize your FIRE savings. This concept is called Geographic Arbitrage or geoarbitrage. 

Geoarbitrage doesn’t just mean retiring on a beach in Thailand once you quit working. You can still use Nomadic FIRE while working to allow you to save more to retire sooner. Geoarbitrage is a key tenant around another movement called being a “Digital Nomad.” We will get into the pros and cons of the Digital Nomad movement (and why I HATE IT) in later articles. But the concept of Nomadic FIRE and geo-arbitgrage is a powerful tool to Reinvent Your Retirement.

You can use being Nomadic (the LIFESTYLE system) and FIRE (the FINANCIAL system) independently. If you don’t make any changes to your income or expenses, but become Nomadic and move to the Philippines, you will be financially better off. Your money in Manila, Philippines will allow you an upgraded lifestyle with a nicer apartment, maids, and a more active social life.

If you don’t want to move, but follow the FIRE system, you will still be financially better off, as your savings and investments increase, even if you stay in the same location.

BUT, if you leverage the LIFESTYLE with the FINANCIAL system, you can exponentially change your path to Financial Independence. It is not a scam or magic trick; it’s a process. How did I do it? It isn't a way to get rich quick. But it is actually much easier than you think.