We are on a road trip to New Mexico and Colorado, with a week in Albuquerque (timed to watch the lunar eclipse), a week between Santa Fe and Taos, and a week in Denver. This previous post covers why we picked Albuquerque as our first stop to see the lunar eclipse. Since the drive each way from the east coast is 3 days, the total trip will be 4 weeks. It will be an interesting test of our ability to live as digital nomads, and also a good test of how much it will cost to do this on a [...]
I've become a little obsessed with the moon in recent years. Hard to say when it started exactly, but perhaps it was enjoying looking at the full moon when we caught it right, bright in the sky, when driving on our many road trips. With a lifetime mostly spent in New York City, watching the moon isn't an activity that is easy to do or accessible given all the tall buildings, so it was an interest when I saw it, but not something front of mind. The start may have been seeing a fantastic full moon in Greece when we [...]
Two towns in Italy – Santa Fiora in Tuscany and Rieti in Lazio -- will subsidize 50% of your rent if you work from there. You would need to be a digital nomad because authorization to work in Italy isn’t included in the deal. These towns are so small there likely wouldn’t be work awaiting you anyway. Or, if you’d rather stay Stateside, Zillow has named Jacksonville, FL (pictured above) the number one city to be a digital nomad. Jacksonville scores high for affordability with typical rents just under $1,000 (though Asheville also made the Top 10 for digital nomads, [...]
How are you determining (without MLS in CR) the value of the home? They ask for $400K just because they believe it is worth that price point. Most don't seem to have a P&L to back ROI. – Dom Yes, it’s true that there is no MLS, or Multiple Listing Service, in Costa Rica, so there isn’t a one-stop information site to learn at what prices properties sold for, what they were originally listed for and how long they were on the market. Whether you’re a seller trying to price competitively for a sale or a buyer trying not to [...]
Our oldest turned 25 recently – yikes, we have a kid old enough to have a quarter-life crisis! That milestone, as well as Mother’s Day just around the corner, put the work and family juggle back on my radar. (Speaking of yikes, our youngest turns 20 in a few months, so soon both kids will be in their 20’s!) The pandemic has made things particularly challenging for working moms – the Wall Street Journal reports that there are 1.5 million fewer working moms as of February 2021 than this same time last year. However, juggling work and family has always [...]
I’m a self-employed CPA struggling with the R in Fire. Financially I have the means to retire and I have been saying “no” to prospective new clients. I can’t believe it’s so hard to prioritize restructuring my business to free up my time. I’m always tackling client affairs and mine go on the back burner. Making myself priority #1, is tough!I’m not looking to retire 100% at this point but I do want to deal less with daily deadlines and move my practice towards more fulfilling work like showing others how to financially FIRE. I need some kind of impetus [...]
Our current portfolio is mostly traditional investments, including paper assets and rental real estate. However, we currently have about 5% of our money in two private loans: one to fund a fix and flip; and another to fund a growing start-up. We have considered other alternative investments (such as a coffee farm in Panama or special use facilities, like assisted living), but so far we have passed. Recently, we have been approached to lend on another deal. The intermediary who made the introduction is someone we know, but the end borrower we do not. As we go through the process [...]
If you have a job at a high enough salary that you can save a high percentage of it each year, you can calculate how long it takes for that savings pool to eventually grow large enough that it equals years of take-home pay. For example, if your net salary is $100,000, and you frugally live off of $30,000, you can bank $70,000 each year. Say that your salary just keeps up with inflation, so you save that net $70,000 each year. After 10 years, you would have $700,000, which at a 4% withdrawal rate could give you $28,000 per [...]
If you have seen my previous book round-ups, I read a lot – 33 books in 2020, and 43 books in 2019. I am on my sixth book for 2021, so at this pace, I’ll finish somewhere in-between the last two years. I didn’t set out to focus on travel books specifically, but three of my early choices for 2021 relate to travel in different ways. Take More Vacations by Scott Keyes is a travel book through and through. Keyes is the founder of Scott’s Cheap Flights, a newsletter perfectly titled for what it does – listing bargain airfares all [...]
My FIRE challenge right now is actually the RE part. We are absolutely in a financial place to officially retire (my husband already is), but I'm holding on due to, well, fear. I have a very good job with excellent benefits working with great people that isn't hard but doesn't fulfill me at all. Quitting would put strain on some of those great coworkers so I'm battling with that guilt as well. I'm struggling with giving up the safety of corporate life. — Sarah I hear you and feel you, Sarah, as I consider myself quite risk averse. Scott and I did [...]
