Revisiting My "Why"

When I embarked on living internationally in June 2019, I had two goals: 1) travel the world to learn and explore, and 2) reach FIRE.

How is the progress working towards these goals? Have the goals changed? Why or why not? I enjoyed rereading my first blog post, My Why, and reflecting about the past 4 years.

World Travel

My purpose for traveling full time is to learn and explore. I wanted to discover what life is like living around the world, in different type of communities small to large. I wanted to know what is similar and different to where and how I grew up. This part of my journey has been amazing.

If you have been following my day to day happenings on Facebook at A Suitcase and A Smile, you will see tons of pictures and read my commentary about daily experiences. More often than not, my daily activities include grocery shopping, eating out, walking all around the communities, doing laundry, and then folding in light sightseeing. Grocery shopping and laundry are two activities that I find are quite different from my upbringing in the US.

Of the nearly 40 countries I've been in so far, only a couple of them have grocery stores that resemble a Kroger, Dillions, Target, Walmart, etc. that I grew up with. Instead, people buy produce and protein at stands on the side of the road or in markets. Dry goods, processed items, cleaning supplies, toiletries, and beverages would be purchased in stores that look more like convenient stores like a Seven-11. People also do not buy hoards of products either; they buy what they need for a few days or a week, and then shop more frequently. But most people do not have cars, which is quite different from where I lived in Kansas, Texas, Illinois, Louisiana, and Arizona. They walk, ride bicycles, or motorbikes, and carry their shopping purchases home in bags and backpacks. So you buy what you can carry, where I grew up with the norm being, fill your trunk or backseat with a bunch of bags.

Laundry is an important activity that I partake in about every 3-5 days because I simply don't own many clothes anymore. I have learned that dryers are almost non-existent outside of the US, as everyone line dries their clothes. This too was brand new to me. I have always lived in a house, dorm, or apartment that either had both washer and dryer in the home, or within the building. My mom would have a drying rack in her laundry room (another novel idea that doesn't exist in many places). She would hang dry a few of her items, but I would throw almost everything I owned within the dryer. What I've learned living in tropical regions that are super humid, if the clothes line is not in the sun, find a way to put a drying rack or my portable clothes line inside and in the flow of the AC unit. The AC will dry the clothes faster than line drying outside in the shade with high humidity.

Closets don't seem to exist in most places I've been. There may be a wardrobe or dresser, and many of my rentals have fashioned some sort of area to hang items. I guess most people keep all of their clothes folded, where I grew up with large walk-in closets where I hung 90% of my clothes and only a few things went into drawers.

Now let's talk toilets! Four years into world travel and I am still struggling to figure out this "bum gun" thing. I've Googled how to use these things, watched animated videos, and read how to guides. I understand the sanitary benefits of bidet use but I'm struggling with feeling like I'm soaked. When bathrooms have zero toilet paper and only the bidet gun, how do you dry off? Is this what your underwear is for? What about people who don't wear underwear, are their pants, shorts, skirts, or dresses just wet until it dries? I consider myself a fairly smart woman but I admittedly struggle with this one; however, I will figure it out, one day! Besides learning how to use a bum gun, there are few places I've lived where you put toilet paper down the toilet. You put it in a waste bin and take out the trash frequently. This too was another major difference from my upbringing.

Kitchens have been quite different too. Refrigerators are smaller, which makes sense because you only buy a few days worth of food. Ovens are not common, as people cook in other ways. Kettles are the essential tool that every kitchen or kitchenette has, and I haven't seen a food pantry anywhere to my recollection.

As I reflect on the logistical parts of living abroad, they are quite different than what I grew up with. It's helped me understand that what I though the norm was, is not normal at all, whatsoever.

Another important part of living abroad is the communities and friendships. I have met the most amazing people who have taught me about what it was like for them to grow up somewhere, or move to a new country and enjoy life as an expat. I have met hundreds of other travelers too, which helps me understand that my lifestyle is not novel, and there's plenty of other people enjoying the lifestyle too. I get asked often if I get lonely traveling solo, and that is a huge misconception. Just because I am single and solo, I am rarely ever alone. If anything, I have to protect my alone time because it can become overwhelming and exhausting hanging out with new people all the time. I explained my process for making friends and meeting new people in my post called, Not so Solo, Solo Travel. Besides getting involved in all the local groups, I am meeting hoards of travelers from the travel Facebook groups I am a member of, as well as followers of this blog and my Facebook page who reach out and want to meetup when we overlap in a location. It is so amazing to engage with all of these wonderful people all around the world. I am definitely not lonely, let alone much even though I am solo.

FIRE

My second major goal for living abroad was to reach FIRE, which stands for Financial Independence Retire Early. My goal was to increase my income while decreasing my expenses, so I could grow my savings gap. By investing the savings in the market, they will work hard for me over time and through compounding.

Decreasing my expenses was a huge perk of living nomadic which I had just addressed in my previous post: 4 Year Financial Brief. When I lived in the US, I was spending anywhere between 80K to 120K, because my income kept increasing with each career change and I succumbed to that lifestyle creep, and Keeping up with The Jones's. But living abroad and out of a suitcase, my annual expenses has averaged to just 44K. That is a huge change and a major lever to the formula (increase income + decrease expenses = grow the savings gap).

Simultaneously, I increased my income. I have been self employed since July 2017, so my freelance business was nearly 2 years old when I began living abroad. I am a former high school math teacher, university mathematics professor, curriculum developer, and manager of professional development. I took my skills and reached out to my professional network to start freelancing full time in the mathematics education space. My business contracts with textbook publishers and educational technology companies, providing editorial services on their mathematics content and resources. This business functions by email, which allows me to manage it from anywhere in the world. By 2019, I already had hired contractors to work with me, as my business was strong and I did not want to work 60-80 hours a week anymore. Then in 2020, when the pandemic forced all schools to go online, my business exploded. It was insane, exciting, and scary.

Besides my business growing fast, I had sold my house in May 2019, and invested the profit of $127,000. By the end of 2020, I had reached my CoastFI number and decided to start "coasting" in February, 2021. More about the details of that can be read here. It was at this time, I decided to change my role in the business. Instead of being one of the persons providing the editorial services, I switched over to just the project management side. It allowed me to work only about 5-10 hours a month, freeing up my time to enjoy more about living abroad. Instead of focusing on wealth accumulation, I earn enough to cover my annual expenses. In my industry, there's few people that do what I do, therefore it is lucrative. Understanding this about my field, I decided to make changes again to my coasting methods. Since I can earn what I need to live on by working my business for 2-3 months, I've decided to stop working all year, and run the business just a few months a year. I planned for this transition by stockpiling a years worth of expenses in cash accounts (like a high yield saving account), and I am living off of those funds.

What about the market going down? Yes, the market has dipped during the past two years but I have continued on my coasting journey. I don't plan to touch my invested honey pots until my early 50s, which is when I should still reach my full FIRE number. That provides a minimum of 6 years investing. Even at that time, I will follow the 4% Rule, withdrawing a lower percent of your portfolio than what you're earning, so your principal will continue to grow and compound.

What I love about my CoastFI milestone is the choices and options available. Sure I could ramp up my business again and save more quickly, but I don't have to if I don't want to. And right now, I simply do not want to. In 2019, my FIRE goal did not include CoastFI. That was something I had learned along the way and it really resonated with me. Overall, I feel like I have done great progressing towards my FIRE goals and I truly am proud of the hard work, planning, and focus.

I have enjoyed revisiting my “why" and I hope you have too!