Comments on: 3 Secrets to Early Retirement (and Life like a Nomad forever)

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 09:55:16 +0000

I’m currrently on Bohol together with my father and a friend from my home town. I know, the lack of updates is disturbing to say the least, but my computer crash 3 weeks ago left me without my draft posts and without access to the internet. Have a new Netbook now, slowly rebuilding – but still have to be Travelguide until early next week. So you can expect updates to the sites some time next week, when I’m online and up and running again. Sorry for the inconvenience!!!

By: Chris Simpson

Chris Simpson — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:55:00 +0000

Hey Chris! Where did you disappear to? I was about to send a search party! Are you still in the Philippines? I got here 10 days ago, our baby was born 5 days ago; all fine. Drop me a line if you are going to be in Zambales during October?

By: Sunny

Sunny — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:00:25 +0000

Hi Andre:
Your fear may be unfounded. According to law in, say, the USA and Singapore, the banks who act as the Fund Managers or Trustees cannot touch the assets of the Fund they are managing. The banks’ assets and the funds’ assets are in different balance sheets. Even if the bank goes bankrupt, its creditors cannot touch the mutual funds, because the latter belongs to the unit holders. For most investors, investing in individual stocks may not give you the opportunity to diversify internationally. For example, you may need to open several accounts in order to invest in stocks in Switzerland, Thailand, China, USA, Korea, Japan, etc. You may need to remit money to these accounts also when you want to increase your investment or receive the profits. It’s too troublesome. If you have a son, you must think of his education. I know of a couple who are traveling full-time with a child! One idea would be to enroll him into a distance learning school. If you are an American, you might consider a nationally accredited school like Ashworth University which offers accredited high school diplomas, associate degrees, bachelor’s degrees and master’s degrees online. Exams may be taken wherever you are in a local exam center. If you are a European, you might consider the National Extension College in England which offers GCSE or GCE ‘O’ and ‘A’ Level courses. After passing these internationally recognized school-leaving exams, your child may study a University of London External Programme degree. The UOL is an internationally renowned, old British university with many colleges being ranked in the worldwide top 100 leagues. It has been offering external degrees which you may study anywhere you are for many years, probably around 100 years! So, either way, you son may receive quality education while you travel. Fees are much lower. The quality of these qualifications are comparable to that offered by typical public universities in the USA and Europe on- campus. Moreover, you and your wife may spend a few hours a day providing personal tuition to your son based on the study materials provided by these institutions. In this way, your son would be able to learn better. It also helps you to learn while your son does. You may even want to register for the same courses and sit for the exams with him so that he feels he is not alone. With the advent of internet, education needs not be a problem to nomads. In fact, you can get your master’s degree from UOL or Ashworth, and even a doctorate from University of Phoenix in USA. If your son wishes to go to traditional on-campus universities at any stage, with these online-studied qualifications, he can qualify for admission to the traditional on-campus unis easily.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:29:54 +0000

Andre Paes, yup – everyone should fine his/her own investment strategy. Your idea is generally right, although some lost their money even with that version, just think Madoff. But mainly you are right, they can’t usually take down your assets if they go down…

By: Andre Paes

Andre Paes — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 04:32:26 +0000

Chris and Sunny – Great exchange on investment strategy. I am 39 yrs old and after 15 years of hardwork I believe I am very close to retirement. Thinking about settling in southeast asia, probably Bali to start with since I am a surfer. I am married and have a six yr old son, so I have to plan for the family needs as well !
I agree with you two 100%. If I may, I would only add to avoid investing your money in banks products. I mean own a stock share instead of investing in stock funds … buy and rent property instead of buying property funds and so on. This way you secure that if a bank goes bankrupt you don’t lose all your money ! I look forward to joining a normal life soon, as you already do !
All the best, Andre

By: Sunny

Sunny — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 05:33:34 +0000

The only problem with renting out a physical property is it’s harder to manage. Time consuming to look for tenants, collect rental, etc. So, my personal preference is, if I become a nomad, I will dispose of physical properties, convert them into liquid assets. For example, the McDonalds’ and Coco Cola shares we discussed about would be ideal if bought at a bargain price. They offer dividends, and it is unlikely that people will stop eating or drinking their products in the foreseeable future. Other than that, mutual funds are also able to help us diversify into government bonds (eg. US, European govts).

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 16:03:10 +0000

REITs sound interesting for the reasons you mentioned, Sunny. For me it’s just another market instrument I don’t know nothing about. So following Warren Buffets philosophy, only to invest into things you understand, I decided so far against it. But maybe I just have to educate myself better, because on papers it sounds much better than owning real property….

By: Sunny

Sunny — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 08:52:16 +0000

I understand that diversity is good. But I was just wondering why you would want to keep a property rather than buying into REITs (property fund). In this way you can diversify to a few properties, and you don’t have to hire a property manager since REITs are already managed by a manager.

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 06:47:40 +0000

Diversity is always a good thing. Having several passive income streams is better than having only one, as you don’t put all your eggs in one basket. I’m all for rented out property, preferably debt-free. The trick is to buy property in high-cost-hard-currency countries and let them manage by a property management company, like you said. You (in your low-cost-soft-currency country) can then easily enjoy the fruits of your hard-working money,

By: Sunny

Sunny — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 08:28:17 +0000

Hi Chris,
May I have your opinion about renting out property for income. Do you have any property that you rent out for income? How do you manage the property? Do you hire a property management company to do the maintenance and collect the rental? Why do you rent the property instead of keeping your assets in the form of stocks or bonds that are easier to manage for a nomad?