I think for all of my life I’ve dreamt about being independent, working for myself, and just don’t have a fixed schedule.
To get out of the hamster wheel and not live a life like most of the people I saw around me.
Almost 15 years ago I had this plan about living solely from odds betting.
I created a user on over 60 different bookies to get a deposit bonus and to get the best possible odds at all times.
I created a “system” that worked well with low stakes, but it was impossible to scale due to bookmaker limitations.
Anyway, this kind of “work” made me believe that there had to be an alternative path out there instead of working the classical 9-5.
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Freedom
There are days when I just want to escape from everything, just leave my country and start all over again somewhere else. I don’t know where this feeling is coming from, because I feel that I am happy and content with where I am. But there is something freeing about just going somewhere new, knowing no one, and just vibing. It’s not that I’m looking to get to know a lot of new people. I already have some quality friends. Actually, I’m perfectly fine with traveling alone, and most often that’s what I prefer. Because then I can meet people when I want to, and spend time in my own company the rest of the time. Maybe you’ve heard about solitude, but if not, it means being alone (but in a positive tone). It’s not the same as lonely which is the uncomfortable state of being alone.
I’ve pondered a lot of why I am this way. I mean, why do I prefer staying alone most of the time? Obviously, I am an introvert, but I don’t have any trouble being in social settings. I think one reason is that I always have huge to-do lists with tasks I want to fulfill within a certain day. I am ambitious but in my own way. I have goals for all aspects of life. For health, wealth, lifestyle, romance, etc. For a long time, I used to track it all through an old blog I had and also share it on Twitter. But then at some point, I got tired of it, and now I don’t feel like I can do it anymore because my account has grown too big. It’s more uncomfortable sharing things with a larger audience, at least that’s how I feel it. I have been pondering starting a smaller account, but I haven’t had the motivation for it. Maybe one day.
Anyway, this post is about being a digital nomad, and why I think it’s appealing to me.
The first part: freedom.
Being a digital nomad means that you can be where you want when you want, with whom you want, and do whatever you want at all times. The ultimate freedom. Another aspect I like about it is that you have a limited set of belongings with you. You’re free of things. You have your backpack and/or your suitcase, and that’s it. Having lots of things stresses me. It clutters my mind so that I can’t focus on reading, writing, spending time with friends, etc. I’ve been asked a lot of times why I don’t own a luxury car. But first of all, I don’t need it. To please some friends I really tried to look at some cars. I found the Porsche 911 to be extremely good-looking, and if I get a big midlife crisis or something I will 100% buy it. But for now, I think with my schedule and work situation I travel that much so it doesn’t make sense to own a car at home. I also own one apartment and a house, and honestly, this is starting to stress me a little. I’ve been considering selling one of them because I don’t want it to “destroy” my freedom with all the maintenance that follows. Instead of buying more real estate, I’ve been considering going way harder in crypto (to risk more), maybe just for the thrill of it. If not I have to hire some contractors to handle the real estate part if I focus more on that going forward (outsourcing). What I like about real estate is that it’s a physical asset. Yes, the market could collapse by 50%. But you can still live in the house, or someone else could (rent it out). Meanwhile, in crypto, your money can disappear in a brief second. Just 6 months ago FTX collapsed, and there were people that had all of their money there. Imagine that. Or, maybe this actually happened to you and you had to start all over again. All kudos to you. I was lucky and dodged everything last year. You could say “lucky” because I basically live online. I react to news fast, and on the slightest risky happening, I take care of things quickly. For example, all of the Binance FUD we’ve had in the last 6 months was something I took deadly seriously. I withdrew everything to my hot/cold wallets. I also got panic when Kraken froze funds for some hours in February. Luckily this was a non-event, but if had been permanent I would have lost like 5% of my net worth here even though I reacted super fast. Anyway, I’m talking too much now. Digression. Then another digression…
I haven’t written much about it on Twitter yet, but I’ve worked for 6 months at a DeFi protocol called Silent DAO as the head of Growth. So far I’ve really enjoyed it and it has been a fresh breath of air in my crypto journey. It looks like I’m going to travel quite a lot going forward too since the protocol will launch somewhere around July-September (most likely).
Anyway, traveling is something I really enjoy. I don’t do anything special when I’m out traveling. I don’t go and see tourist things anymore, maybe if it’s a hidden gem without tourists. But maybe not even then do I have the interest of seeing these things.
There’s a quote that I like that goes something along the line of:
“A tourist sees what he has planned. A traveler sees what he sees”.
I think it’s beautiful because if you let life happen to you instead of planning everything you may be able to actually experience magical moments. Ask yourself this: how memorable was that visit to Coloseum in Rome when you had to stand 3 hours in line just to get in at the venue flooded with tourists with selfie sticks? How genuine did it feel? And that selfie you took with your gf where you can see tourists in the background? Magical, right? Instead, you could experience the most beautiful things if you avoid the tourist traps and go where the locals go. One of my best experiences is when I discovered Catella Sant’Elia outside of Bagheria (a small town next to Palermo). I had zero expectations, but it ended up being one of my best ever. Zero tourists, stunning view of the crystal clear sea, colorful buildings. Reminds me of Cinque Terre (just without the tourists).
Another great memory is when I skipped shopping with my uncle at a vacation and instead ended up strolling in the streets by myself. I ended up meeting the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen, and which I spent the next 24 hours with. It was as magical as “Before Sunrise” if you’ve ever seen that movie. I haven’t seen her again as we live way too far from each other, but the experience is stored in my memory forever. Actually, I am okay with that. Some experiences aren’t meant to last, but they can still be great.
Okay, so I’ve talked a lot about traveling which is one part of freedom. Another aspect is the typical 9-5 life that I am not very fan of.
If you ask me how much I remember from 2016 - 2021 I could mention some vacation trips I was at with my ex-GF, some weddings, and that my family dog died. Other than that I mostly worked.
If you ask me what I remember from 2021 - 2023 on the other hand there’s a lot more. Because in this period I’ve been “free”. By free I mean working on my own terms. I’ve been working more than ever before to be honest, but at least on my conditions. I think this is something I and the rest of the crypto community bond on first of all. We’re very interested in freedom and sovereignty. To control our own destiny and to design life in our own way. Meanwhile in a 9-5, if you lose your job, you are on your own. If you don’t have any f*ck you money saved up on the side It could lead to a very stressful and even desperate job hunt. Ending in you taking a job you absolutely hate. There’s always another job of course. But what if I asked you: “What is your dream job?” What would be your answer? For me, I know that a forced job never is a dream in the first place.
Nomad Flag Theory
Ngl, but taxes are also an important part of the equation of why it makes sense to live in a different country.
In my country, if you are ranked as a high-income individual (over $100k) you easily have to pay 50% income tax. This means that if you earn let’s say $400k per year, $200k goes to Uncle Sam. Yes, this is the price of living in a welfare state. But a rough price to pay IMO. In Norway, we also have something called wealth tax, which is, as far as I know, the only country in the world that have this.
1.1% of your net wealth is taxed every year. It may seem like a small thing, but let’s take a look at why rich people don’t like it.
Read the tweet from DegenSpartan below and my answer to it:
So the Dune Analytics founder Fredrik Haga just moved to Switzerland because he had to choose between continued growth for his business or risk stagnating.
Okay, so you have an income tax, wealth tax, and dividend tax (that you need to pay in order to pay the wealth tax).
Let’s say you earn $400k per year and have $4m in net wealth, then you end up paying 43,5% income tax + 1,1% wealth tax which gives you an effective tax rate of 53,8% of your salary (if you have your own stock company you pay 22% company tax, but then 37,8% on every realization). If you had no income it would be $40,000 in wealth tax only, but since you have to pay out dividends to yourself you have to pay 37,8% tax on the $40k you have to pay in wealth tax, so that’s an extra $15k in taxes.
My point is that your $400k is easily cut in half by taxes, and digital nomads that want to be financially secure faster could probably enjoy living in a country with more “friendly” taxes. This comes at another cost though. Because not everybody wants to live in another country, and leaving friends and family can be not something that is worth it to you. If you feel like you’re giving up on life just to save money, then you’re doing it wrong IMO.
I’ve considered Portugal which is tax-free for crypto as long as trading isn’t your main income. Therefore probably not suitable for full-time traders, but more so for people working in the industry. Probably some loopholes that I don’t know about, so worth checking out. Also, they have an NHR visa which makes foreign income tax-free for 10 years. Decent for digital nomads. Great weather and relatively cheap too. Lots of other places like eg. Dubai, but I’m not sure about the lifestyle over there. Not a place I want to live, however, could probably work as a base and live somewhere else. For now, still residing in Scandinavia.
This post is just filled with random thoughts, and to be honest, I miss just writing freely without a certain agenda or with the pressure of coming to a conclusion.
So yeah, there is no conclusion to this post. I’m just thinking out loudly. Trying to search for answers by writing about them. I’m in a very happy phase in my life right now
Haven’t posted this personally in a while and this is something that I want to get back to. After all, my point in searching for financial freedom in the first place was so I could just spend my days thinking, reading, and writing. As Nassim Taleb would call it: a Flâneur
Let me know in the comments if you like personal posts like this or if you prefer that I be more strict about my topics.
Have a great weekend!
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I really enjoyed your post. As a 25 yr old & having done my first stint in SE Asia, I could relate a lot to the bouts of introspection you shared from your travels. I think it's all about identifying exactly what you want in your life-- such as the levels of freedom, things, work, etc. that is appropriate for you.
I too, also noticed that I just really enjoy living a normal life (opposed to the touristy things you mentioned) in different countries and allowing life to unfold.
Thanks for that share. Looks to me like you’re on the right track. What is your background and how did you learn your current ‘occupation’? Do you trade or mainly invest in crypto? Me and my partner live in Mauritius which is currently tax-free for crypto and they give a kind of digital nomad visa quite readily I believe. We are working towards travelling 6 months a year (last year was the first) and need to solidify our online income streams which is mainly crypto investing for now.