This is such a tough subject. Lets go through some concepts first. You are here because you want to be rich in the currency of time, health and fun.
How much you need is simple math. What are your expenses and how long you will live determine how much you will need. That simple thing is very stressing for many people, the good news is when you get there it is easy to let go of the stress and things kind of fall into a cadence. Provided you did a bit of planning.
No you do not need a financial planner, they mostly just steal your money. But you need to be careful and learn how to invest and manage your money. If this is something you really cant do then go to that financial planner.
How will you retire?
re:Traveled is all predicated on a comfortable but minimalist nomadic lifestyle that includes lots of long term travel. Good food and even nice airline tickets and accommodations are built into the budget. However some sacrifices are made that are critically important.
- No car. Cars are extremely expensive and will kill a budget. Besides you will be leaving each place every 3 months so you can’t have a car. However trains, busses and streetcars work great and are key to making this work.
- Less stuff. Put aside your American ideas of buying things. It really needs to all fit in a suitcase. This means no TV, just the clothes you absolutely need and for sure no knick-knacks. Your hobbies will have to be constrained to digital. The stuff you do have needs to have purpose, be quality and durable. That iPhone Pro is fine but refrain from upgrading every year.
- Easy on the luxury. While good flights and comfortable places to stay are in the cards, luxury travel has to be a thing of the past. It really isn’t that important in the great scheme of things. That said there are opportunities for splurging and that beach vacation or business class seat are not totally gone, just every day life is well mundane and the travel you are doing is really just everyday life.
Expenses
The following chart is a budget of expenses. The Average is simply the average of all 4. The special costs are things that come up, maybe you needed to buy a new laptop or even better decided to take a side trip to Poland while staying in the Netherlands.
| Average | USA | Tier 1 | Tier 2 | Tier 3 | |
| Rent | $? 1,682.77 | $? 2,200.00 | $? 2,189.52 | $? 1,581.32 | $? 760.25 |
| Daily Costs | $? 854.98 | $? 1,200.00 | $? 1,003.53 | $? 760.25 | $? 456.15 |
| AirFare | $? 425.00 | $? 550.00 | $? 550.00 | $? 300.00 | $? 300.00 |
| Transit | $? 148.03 | $? 250.00 | $? 182.46 | $? 98.83 | $? 60.82 |
| Utilities | $? 205.00 | $? 400.00 | $? 140.00 | $? 140.00 | $? 140.00 |
| Medical | $? 100.00 | $? 100.00 | $? 100.00 | $? 100.00 | $? 100.00 |
| Special costs | $? 800.00 | $? 800.00 | $? 800.00 | $? 800.00 | $? 800.00 |
| Total | $? 4,015.78 | $? 5,500.00 | $? 4,965.51 | $? 3,780.40 | $? 2,617.22 |
Stay as long as you can
Because airfare will be a big expense maximizing your passport helps keep the costs down. The average stay is 85 days in each location. This minimizes the number of plane tickets needed.
Most people think of travel in 1-3 week intervals. This would be crazy expensive and exhausting. Think of each destination as home and live there for ~3 months at a time.
Blend your travel destinations
As you can see a variety of destinations is scheduled such that there is a blend of costs to keep the average expense per year down.
| Jan-Mar | April | May – July | August | Sept-Nov | December |
| Tier 1 | USA | Tier 2 | USA | Tier 3 | USA |
There are some ways to mitigate costs here, one you can stay with family when back in the US for low to no cost, provided you are a good guest and spread the love or shorten your stays to less than what your family will tolerate 🙂
There are lots of amazing places that are in the Tier 2 or Tier 3 cost range. Only go to expensive places once every couple years and live more often in places like Korea, Latvia and Malaysia.
My actual budget looks more like this by making some different choices and staying with family in between adventures outside the USA.
| Average | USA | Tier1 | Tier2 | Tier3 | |
| Rent | $? 1,195.27 | $? 250.00 | $? 2,189.52 | $? 1,581.32 | $? 760.25 |
| Daily Costs | $? 679.98 | $? 500.00 | $? 1,003.53 | $? 760.25 | $? 456.15 |
| AirFare | $? 425.00 | $? 550.00 | $? 550.00 | $? 300.00 | $? 300.00 |
| Transit | $? 130.53 | $? 180.00 | $? 182.46 | $? 98.83 | $? 60.82 |
| Utilities | $? 140.00 | $? 140.00 | $? 140.00 | $? 140.00 | $? 140.00 |
| Medical | $? (100.00) | $? 100.00 | $? 100.00 | $? 100.00 | $? 100.00 |
| Special costs | $? 800.00 | $? 800.00 | $? 800.00 | $? 800.00 | $? 800.00 |
| Total | $? 3,270.78 | $? 2,520.00 | $? 4,965.51 | $? 3,780.40 | $? 2,617.22 |
These costs have been working over the last year and are in 2024 dollars. More on inflation and budgeting in other posts.
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