Moving to a Nomadic Mode of Life

Three years ago if you had asked me about going nomadic and virtual I would have shrugged you away as a romantic dreamer. And got promptly back to plotting my next corporate conquest. I had it all planned out. I was going to be a CMO of a big shiny multinational corp, with a corner office looking out to the bay where my boat was parked.

But to my own jaw-dropping surprise, I quit that job and went under the radar. Disappeared from the world for a couple of years. Half-heartedly dabbled with a few startups. Did some courses in Digital business and read and listened to a lot of Carl Jung, Jordan Peterson, Sam Harris, and Alan Watts. And in the process totally reimagined me.

Cut to today. Here I am sitting under a rather old and lazy Wisteria tree with a gentle wind tickling my rather long hair and a 22-celsius sun trying to get a sneak peek of my screen. It’s my typical Wednesday 3 pm. Although today is made special by being played out in Tuscany, Italy where we happen to have one of our homes. My wife is on a conference call in the room next doors. At 5 pm when we finish working, the pool languidly awaits.

I and my wife are `working from home. Welcome to our nomad life.

Here are our 10 steps that got us to today. You, I am sure have yours. Let’s compare notes.

1. Get married to your best friend early and hustle at a job like crazy.

We met when we were 22. Both of us have MBA’s that got us jobs that paid decent money from the get-go. We fell in love and became best friends all at once…got married at 27, left home (India), and moved to London at 28. Worked shamelessly like hampsters in corporate jobs and diligently climbed the ladder one political step at a time.

2. Build up a career that pays you a lot of money for at least a decade in a low tax county/country.

Do a job that pays well. Enjoy doing it, sure. But make sure you haggle the highest salary. Get that big bonus. No shame in that. It’s all for that freedom fund down the road. It’s all for the right reasons. I used to sell soap, beer and even fast food to the masses. It was all done with the highest dedication and I had a blast making those marketing campaigns. It was all part of the `leela’(theatre). We then moved to Holland and availed of the 30% tax rebate that the Dutch government gives to Expats who come to work in Holland. That was handy.

3. Stay lovingly married and don’t have any kids or dogs.

This was a big help. We decided early to not have any kids. So that took a big chunk of responsibility and financial costs out of our life equation. We could move anywhere we wanted to work or for pleasure without worry or guilt. We remained in love and invested in each other throughout the way. We had our rough patches..sure…but we became stronger because of them. We took the vow of `for better or worse, in thick and in thin, in sickness and health, until death does us apart’ as an unquestionable truth. The compound interest of a loving relationship is priceless. It’s foundational to becoming nomadic.

4. Stay far away from your parents and relatives. Love them but don’t live a driving distance away.

There is a saying that `your closest can hold you the hardest’. Parents and relatives can become too sticky and that can easily breed contempt. We were lucky to have parents who supported our decision to live away from home and be childfree. But the distance meant we could get on with the business of making our own decisions without any interference or resistance. We could take total responsibility for the outcomes. For better or worse. This made us courageous and we took calculated risks along the way on many things and most of them worked in our favour.

5. Travel around the world every time you have a break.

We loved exploring the world. This meant we could sample the life that we wanted to live on all the continents of the world. This taught us to get a taste for adventure and living outside our comfort zones. We have travelled from Chile to China and had some of our most enchanting experiences along the way. This meant we learnt that humanity is the only language one must learn and that laughter and hope look the same no matter where you go.

6. Invest in buying homes that are dreams in a drawer.

We love the security and joy of nurturing our own home. We love nature and the ocean. We knew that real estate is a scarce asset that will go up in value, will earn us rent and offer a lifestyle change when the city life got too pedantic. So along the way we invested in a fisherman’s house in Seychelles and bought an old Tuscan farmhouse. Which we renovated slowly over 7 years and rented it to tourists to cover the costs. And lived in them for a few weeks every year to invest in their care and build a strong network of reliable support staff and friends who would help us look after the homes while we were away. We have accountants, builders, cooks, gardeners, cleaning companies, lawyers, real estate agents as some of our best mates in cities where we have homes.

7. Invest the earnings, savings and good debt into diversified asset classes and geographies.

We follow Ray Dalio as one of our Youtube mentors and follow his advice on how to diversify our asset portfolio. We don’t just do the 60:40 Equity bonds split. We overinvest in emerging markets alongside the US and UK equities, real estate in emerging and developed markets, rental income, ETF’s, besides my wife’s salary and my consulting, blogging income. We recently reinvested our Pensions into Self Invested Pension Plans to improve their flexibility and currency options. We are a frugal couple. We don’t have credit card debt, no car loans( we don’t own a car) and we only cook and eat at home. The only debt we have is on our current home in Holland. This debt is at a 1.5%, 10 year fixed rate that helps hedge the inflation risk. We have used debt to buy our homes using our salary incomes as collateral, but have been disciplined enough to pay it off slowly over the years.

8. Start testing the nomadic lifestyle slowly.

One must never waste a crisis. So Covid has meant that working from home has now been granted global validity. This has meant that we can now work from our homes. But we are doing this slowly. This year we intend to work from Italy for two months, Seychelles for two months and India for another two months. And the rest of the year will be in Holland.

This is a test year. Can we make it all work…pay our taxes on time…make sure that the office is not neglected while the grass is also cut and the roses pruned on time. I have to write and consult and manage the rental business. My wife has her job that she loves. The issues that still need to be tested involve insurance and health costs that are specific to each country. But thankfully for most things, the internet is the friend of the nomad.

9. Pick up some habits that heal the body and the mind without needing a specific person or place or equipment.

We meditate, swim, run and cook. If we need any ideas or advice we look down at the internet. We don’t watch TV or engage in social media catwalks. My wife loves to read and I love to write. All of the above activities can be done from anywhere around the world.

10. Living with the values of Courage, Love and Gratitude. We know we are blessed to be in this position. We remind ourselves daily of how lucky we are and how we must never take this good fortune for granted. We worship courage to continue like this for as long as it is destined and always know that no matter what happens to our life, we will always love each other…forever.

Coda:

Time will tell but so far the shift to the nomad mode is going as per plan. We intend to turn professional nomads in 12 months. Live and work virtually and enjoy the freedom of choosing how to spend our money and more importantly — time.

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Previously Published on medium

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