The variety of reasons to leave the
workforce when young are many, and the options for living a satisfying FIRE
(Financial Independence Retire Early)
lifestyle are inspirational. We always say there's no one-size-fits-all.
Below we have an interview with Mr. and
Mrs. Nomad Numbers, who tell us their story.
Take a look!
Enjoying the view at Hierve el Agua
just outside of Oaxaca, Mexico
Retire Early Lifestyle: Could you tell us
a little about yourselves?
Nomad Numbers: Mr.
NN is originally from France and Mrs. NN is from the US. We both worked tech
jobs in the Silicon Valley that we enjoyed but they weren’t our passion. We
achieved financial independence and in mid-2018 at the age of 36 and 37, we
decided to sell all of our stuff, move out of San Francisco and travel the
world. We share our travel journey with the cost of living details on our
blog where we
hope to inspire others to choose their own path.
REL: When did you
start your journey to Financial Independence? What was your motivation?
Nomad Numbers: In
a way, we got a headstart on our journey to
Financial Independence before we knew what it was because we were both
frugal and natural savers. Our motivation for FI was to find a way to
sustain travel long-term. The first time we heard about FI was actually when
we were researching perpetual travel and stumbled upon the
Mad Fientist Podcast interview with Retire Early Lifestyle! Our minds
were blown when we discovered that it was possible to retire in your 30s and
travel the world living off of savings and investments. From there, we were
hooked on learning more through blogs, podcasts and books. It didn’t take us
long after that to
put our
finances in order and start making plans, we were sold on the idea!
REL: Did you ever
think it was possible to live a different lifestyle other than the
conventional one?
Nomad Numbers: For
the longest time we did not think it was possible. We thought it was for
people that were either hustling digital nomads or millionaires that sold
their startup. We didn’t know that there was a middle ground that was very
achievable while not sacrificing on standard of living.
REL: Would you
consider yourselves to be Financially Independent? Are you still working to
afford your lifestyle?
Nomad Numbers:
Yes, we are
financially independent wooHOO! We are able to cover our living expenses
through our savings and investments. It also helps that traveling is a lot
more affordable than others think and we find it is much cheaper and more
exciting than staying at home!
Mrs. NN swimming in the perfect waters
of Eagle Beach in Aruba
REL: How many years have you been retired
now?
Nomad Numbers: We
are newbies! Mr. NN has been ‘retired’ for 1.5 years and Mrs. NN for 9
months. We say ‘retired’ in quotes because we have been working on passion
projects that keep us busy such as the blog for Mr. NN and studying
nutritional therapy for Mrs. NN.
REL: When
we retired in 1991, the digital world didn’t exist for the regular
person. Things are very different now. How would you say having digital
access to information, banking, and keeping in touch with family and friends
has changed your view of the retirement or nomadic lifestyle? Has it made
things easier? What challenges do you face in your digital life?
Nomad Numbers:
Technology makes things so much easier! We are not sure we would have had
the courage to make the leap from a conventional lifestyle to a nomadic one
if it weren’t for all of the blogs, podcasts and books we researched. It
definitely helps to see others before us do it successfully and to hear
their stories. It is especially good to know long-timers like Retire Early
Lifestyle because it may be doable for 5 or even 10 years but
30 years is
something else! Practically speaking on the day-to-day, technology makes
it easy for us to book flights, find apartments on AirBnb, plan our days and
keep in touch with friends and family. However, we try to be aware of our
attachment to our devices and intentionally disconnect when we can. The 2
day silent meditation retreat in
Chiang Mai
we recently attended was a good time for that!
REL: You both like to
travel. Can you mention a few of your favorite places where you traveled in
the years since your FIRE?
Nomad Numbers: We
loved the Costa Brava in Spain for the gorgeous coast and perfect ocean
swims. Other favorites are
San Miguel de Allende in Mexico, Montreal in Canada and
Chiang Mai
in Thailand, where we are currently.
REL: Do you have a
home base?
Nomad Numbers: We
have family in the San Francisco Bay Area and in the Alps region of France
(lucky us!). We plan on visiting and staying with family for a couple of
months each year so in a way it is our home base but we don’t have our own
place there. After a few years of
full-time
travel, we intend to find a true home base to slow down and build more
of a community.
REL: Since housing is
a big expense, how do you manage
lodging on
the road? Do you
house
sit? Rent apartments? Stay in hotels?
Nomad Numbers: We
almost always rent apartments through AirBnb. Since we tend to stay a
minimum of 4 weeks, there’s usually a big discount from the nightly rate up
to 40%. We would be interested in trying house sitting one day but haven’t
looked into it yet.
Wandering the caves of Arikok National
Park in Aruba.
Rel: What do you do about health care?
Are you open to Medical Tourism?
Nomad Numbers: We
are open to
medical tourism and plan to pay out-of-pocket for any minor medical
visits. We have observed that there is a
high quality
of healthcare for a very low cost in countries we have visited such as
Mexico and
Thailand. We
do have
expat medical insurance through IMG in order to be covered for any major
treatments.
REL: What do you
average in spending annually? Does this include health insurance?
Nomad Numbers: Our
first full year of nomadic travel cost us $28K which is about half of our
spending when we stayed at home the year prior! Mrs. NN was still working
remotely most of that year so her employer covered health insurance. This
year, we are paying for an expat medical insurance through IMG that is
costing us about $3K for the two of us.
REL: Can you share
with us anything about how your portfolio is structured? Did your retirement
affect your allocation at all?
Nomad Numbers: We
are index funds fans! We are mostly in the
total stock market index funds and total bond market index fund plus we
have 2 rental properties in Texas and 2 in France. We decided to invest in
the rental properties in Texas prior to retirement in order to add some
diversification and because it would be much harder to get a mortgage
without a W2.
REL: How do you manage
your finances while on the road?
Nomad Numbers: Mr.
NN loves to manage our numbers! He
keeps
track of all of our expenses and investments mostly in
spreadsheets
with the help of tools like Personal Capital and Splitwise. He is even
building an online tool to help better manage and report our travel
expenses.
REL: Do you own a
vehicle?
Nomad Numbers:
Nope! We didn't
own one before we started traveling either.
REL: What’s the worst
thing you deal with in this new chosen lifestyle? Your biggest challenge?
Nomad Numbers:
Making and keeping friends is the toughest part because as soon as you meet
some cool people, either they are leaving or we will be leaving.
A perfect spot for some meditation on
Eagle Beach, Aruba
REL: What has surprised you the most
about your Early Retirement Lifestyle?
Nomad Numbers: How
did we ever
have time
for a job? Our days are filled with fun activities, sight-seeing,
experiences,
delicious meals and interesting projects. We weren’t exactly sure what
we would fill our days with once we didn’t have a job occupying 40-60 hours
per week but it’s really easy to be busy with true living.
REL: What is
exhilarating beyond words? Something you would never trade about your
lifestyle to obtain “security?”
Nomad Numbers:
Asking ourselves everyday, what do you feel like doing today? We get to wake
up every morning with complete control of our days and usually in stunning
places. There’s no way we would trade that for an alarm clock, being stuck
in traffic, a booked calendar of unnecessary meetings and sitting at a desk
indoors all day.
REL: What would you
say to someone who is considering tossing the conventional lifestyle and
living one of travel? What advice would you give?
Nomad Numbers: You
won’t regret living a life that is true to yourself and not what society
expects of you. Everyday and every destination will be an experience of
discovery and self-growth. Why wait another day?!
REL: What would you
say are your most unique talents?
Nomad Numbers: Mr.
NN has a refreshing optimism that helps us find joy in everyday life and
approach everything with a glass-half-full attitude. It’s a really great
balance to Mrs. NN’s worrying tendencies. Mrs. NN talent is more tangible
(and edible!). She can make wonderful gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free
treats like brownies, cakes, pancakes and cookies. In fact, she can make
these treats while traveling and staying in AirBnbs with very limited
ingredients and kitchenware. She can even make a mug cake in a microwave if
necessary!
REL: What are your
greatest passions in life?
Nomad Numbers: The
obvious for both of us is
travel!
Other than that, Mrs. NN is passionate about
health and wellness. She really believes in the body’s ability to heal
and thrive given the right nutrition, sleep, stress management and
lifestyle. She is grateful that she now has the time to study nutritional
therapy and who knows, maybe one day apply her passion in the future
somehow. Mr. NN’s hobbies include photography and
videography that he is having a lot of fun with on our travels. His
carry on backpack is essentially filled with his tech toys, including a
drone!
Taking a walk by the beach in San
Francisco, California where Mr and Mrs. NN were based before they started
traveling full-time.
REL: Tell us about your greatest personal
success, not necessarily finance related.
Nomad Numbers:
It’s hard not to sound cliché but we are
living
our dream! Our greatest success is achieving this dream of traveling
around the world indefinitely while being financially independent. This once
sounded like a far-fetched dream that we might achieve around traditional
retirement age but we still sometimes pinch ourselves that we are living it
today in our 30s.
REL: How do you
contribute to the world?
Nomad Numbers: We
try to do our part to leave the world a better place by being
environmentally conscious and volunteering with the local community. We are
very aware that travel leaves a big carbon footprint so we are thoughtful
about our transportation, avoid animal tourism, carry a zero-waste
kit(reusable bottles, bags, utensils, glass straws etc.) and support local
businesses when possible. Mrs. NN is also part of an organization,
Give a Day Global, that
connects travelers with non-profits around the world to
volunteer for
one day. Now that we can refocus our energies from our careers to elsewhere,
we are excited to figure out how we can be of more service to the world.
REL: What is a secret
fact about you?
Nomad Numbers:
Speaking of the digital world making this lifestyle possible for us, Mr. and
Mrs. NN met on an online dating app! We couldn’t have imagined the dream we
would be living together after we both swiped right!
REL: Where do you see
yourself in 5 years from now?
Nomad Numbers:
Finding a beautiful home base somewhere in the world and building a
community around it. But still traveling for at least half of the year, of
course! Also continuing to work on things we care about and making a
difference in our own way, whatever that may become. We are on an ever
evolving and unique journey that does not have everything mapped out like a
conventional lifestyle might - some days that feels uneasy but mostly it’s
amazing and we look forward to the adventure and what the future may bring.
REL: What is your
biggest splurge?
Nomad Numbers: It
is actually tough to think of something because we are both such valueists
and don’t splurge! One thing that we did treat ourselves to was attending
the Chautauqua retreat in
Ecuador which
was an inspirational one week
FIRE
retreat with like-minded folks and bloggers we look up to like Mr. Money
Mustache,
Jim Collins and Millennial Revolution.
REL: Is there a
happiness mantra or motto that you've found to be very helpful?
Nomad Numbers:
Funny you ask because Mrs. NN recently decided on a mantra to use during
meditation: Expect nothing, appreciate everything.
REL: What do you do for fun or
entertainment?
Nomad Numbers: Our
favorite activity is hiking, we try to join a hiking group whenever we visit
a place so that we can get out into nature and meet like-minded people. The
most impressive hiking group we joined was in San Miguel Allende Mexico
where our hiking leader was 80 years old and extremely fit to lead an 8
hours+ hike in the mountains! That group was definitely an inspiration for
us to stay active well into our grayer years.
REL: Where are you
going next?
Nomad Numbers:
After a month in Chiang Mai, we will be spending a month swimming everyday
in Koh Lanta which is supposed to be a beautiful tropical island. We then
plan on visiting Malaysia,
Vietnam,
Indonesia and Japan - about a month in each country. We are certainly
enjoying life and are so grateful for our nomadic lifestyle!
We at Retire Early
Lifestyle would like to thank Mr. and Mrs. Nomad Numbers for sharing their
vision of FIRE and their perspectives on Life and Travel.
We hope their
enthusiasm for adventure has lit your own fire to FIRE! You can follow their
journeys at nomadnumbers.com
To read about more Early Retirees and
Captivating Characters,
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Retirement Issues,
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