It has been 8 months now that Motoko and I left Japan. We are having a great time with our lives but this is also not an idyllic lifestyle. It is great to be able to see the world and have complete freedom, but we are really starting to miss having a regular routine in our lives. Here is a short summary of our current situation.
We are in Istanbul
We are currently in Istanbul and loving it here. The hospitality of Turkish people has been amazing. Turkey is very unique in that it is a bridge between European and Middle Eastern cultures. It is so different then anywhere else we have been but I will write more about the country later.
Our Financial Situation
We haven’t been able to sell our house in Japan because of the terrible real estate market there, so we have been paying bills and a mortgage for an empty house. It would have been nice to get rid of that obligation, but such is life. We are now thinking of spending a few months every year in Japan. Unfortunately, we got rid of all of…
I had an opportunity to meet up with and interview the charismatic Benny Lewis from Fluentin3Months.com in Budapest recently. Those of you following the location independent and travel blogger crowd will likely already be well acquainted with Benny. His blog and recent language hacking guides have been extremely popular. Currently fluent in 8 languages and proficient in many others, Benny definitely knows what he is talking about. What I admire most about him is the intense focus of his blog and language missions in different countries. Travel, lifestyle design and location independence are all very saturated topics, Benny managed to find an unique angle and he sticks with it. He is the Language Hacker Polyglot.
Here is a very brief summary of the video.
00:20 Start off by introducing yourself.
(He studied electronic engineering. Has been travelling for 8 years. Started his blog 1.5 years ago with a language focus. Every three months or so travels to a new country to learn the language.)
1:45 Why three months?
(It is not a magic number. It depends on the person. Three months is good for him.)
26 year old professional day trader Marcello Arrambide of WanderingTrader.com works a couple of hours a day trading futures while travelling the world. In this interview Marcello explains what day trading is, how he got started and talks about some of his travels.
Interview Summary
01:11 Where are you now?
(Buenos Aires)
01:39 What is day trading?
(Essentially taking profits from the differences in moves in the stock market.)
02:04 What exactly are you trading?
(Indexed futures.)
04:50 Do you make money on every trade?
(No, losing is part of the game. It is all about probability. Make sure you win more than you lose.)
05:18 Do you have negative months or weeks?
(No, negative days. That is about it. When people get consistent enough it is rare to have losing days in a row.)
05:50 Do you have some algorithm or computer program that helps you determine when to buy and sell?
(It is a set of indicators. It is not a red light or green light that tells you when to get in. There is a set of rules you have to follow but within those rules there is some wiggle room for discretion in…
I have written recently that niche marketing is one of the best ways to make money online. It is no get rich quick scheme but it does have the potential to earn a solid consistent income while offering the freedom to work when and where you want. Most niche marketers are secretive about their niches to avoid a tsunami of competition, however David Boyd from CreditCardCompare.com.au was happy to share some information about the niche business he has built over the last few years. This is a great example of what to expect with niche marketing and if you happen to live in Australia you might want to check out his site to compare all the top credit cards.
Please tell us a little about yourself?
My name is David Boyd and I live with my wife a couple of hours north of Sydney, Australia. For the past couple of years I’ve been running an Australian credit card comparison website, CreditCardCompare.com.au which is free to use and impartial from the banks.
We are looking for a new home after being forced to leave Europe
Our six to eight months plans of travel in Europe have just been cut down to less than three months. With the Schengen agreement in the European Union, non-EU citizens are only allowed to be in Europe for a total of 90 days.
Admittedly it is my fault for not researching thoroughly prior to coming to Europe but we expected that we could just travel to another country once our tourist visas expired in each country. Unfortunately, we will have to leave the Schengen region entirely and stay out for 90 days before we can return. That means we only have about 7 weeks left in Europe.
I have discovered several travelers that have over-stayed the 90 days without repercussions but the risks are too large. We could be banned from the EU, face fines, imprisonment or even be deported to our home countries. The last one wouldn’t be a problem except for the fact that my…
Many travelers hope a travel blog is going to provide enough income to have a location independent lifestyle. What could be better than getting paid to write about your travel experiences? The problem is that blogging is one of the most difficult ways to earn an income online. It takes a phenomenal ongoing effort to write and promote posts and even then you have to steer topics towards selling something; you don’t make money by writing an online travel diary. There are much more effective, faster and reliable ways to earn money while traveling.
Want to be a Millionaire?
Imagine if you had one hundred thousand dollars in the bank. In today’s financial climate, you would be pretty lucky to earn a safe 3% per year or $3,000 ($250 per month). That means if you could make $250 per month in regular passive income, it would be the equivalent of having $100,000 in savings. If you could ratchet that up to $2500 per month you would in fact have the income of a millionaire. ($1,000,000 X 3% = $30,000 per year. $30,000 / 12 = $2,500 per month)
Making the decision to move to another country is difficult and scary. It is even harder if you have a family to support and educate. Brandon Pearce, his wife and two daughters made that choice and moved to Costa Rica at the start of the year and are loving their new life outside of the US. Brandon is also proving that the idea of the low hour work week (he works 5 hours per week) is definitely possible if you put in the effort. Brandon offers some great details into his business and his lifestyle in Costa Rica in this interview.
Please tell us a little about your background.
I just turned 30 years old, and was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. As a child, I fell in love with both music and computers. I learned to play the piano and sing – a passion probably inherited from my parents who are both musicians – and when I was 12, I began teaching myself to program in QBasic. I always dreamed that one day I would either be a music teacher like my dad, or have my own…
I love watching people succeed through hard work and talent. I often say that we live in amazing times, because anyone with focus and dedication and rise to the top. Corbett Barr is one of those people that I have admired since his blogging beginnings just over a year ago. He has managed to build two popular blogs, start several other business ventures and live location independent in Mexico for a good portion of the year. Corbett has the talent and dedication to accomplish big things. If you want to track the progress of a rising Internet celebrity, than I recommend watching and learning from everything he does.
Please tell us a little about your background
I’m a 30-something former careerist who traded salary and perks for doing what I love and living anywhere.
After growing up in typical American suburbia, I jumped on the career hamster wheel and ended up as a management consultant working for Fortune 500 clients. I traveled across the country and worked on projects that helped giant corporations make more money or become more efficient. It paid well and everyone I worked with was whip-smart,…
It has been just over one month since my wife and I left Japan. We spent three weeks of that time in a small town in central Canada with my grandmother and have now returned to my home city of Calgary.
The first week or so was spent just relaxing after all the stress and work we had finishing up our old lifestyle. We gave up everything; our house, car, business, furniture, personal belongings, daily routine, everything. It was a lot of work but it is also incredibly liberating. There is a freedom that I have rarely experienced. It really feels fantastic to not want to buy things. We can’t take much with us on our travels so there is no need to even think about furniture, electronics or any other accouterments of modern life. We are finished with consumerism (for a little while anyway).
It has only been a month but we are already starting to make some important realizations.
I don’t want to be a traveller.
We will always live abroad and we hope to continually move to different locations but we have to do it slowly.…
The Underground Guide to International Volunteering
Volunteering can be a fantastic way to see the world and make a real difference in local communities at the same time. From teaching English in Thailand to helping disaster victims in Haiti, there are countless ways to contribute. The trouble is finding the right cause to support and a reputable organization to help you get started.
Decade long traveler, Kirsty Henderson of NerdyNomad.com has written an inexpensive guide that is bound to save you dozens of hours of online searching and screening of numerous volunteering opportunities around the world. The ebook, “The Underground Guide to International Volunteering” is only $14 and Kirsty is donating half of the proceeds to Hands On Disaster Response.
Even if you are not in a position to volunteer abroad now, investing in this ebook will provide you a great headstart on your future plans and you will be supporting a great cause.
