Deb and Tim – New Zealand 2009
In 2018 we retired early, sold everything we owned, and packed what was left into three duffel bags. This started our journey of being full time worldwide nomads. We plan on wandering the world, visiting each country for a month to a few months. We’ll be in remote areas hiking, large cities checking out the culture and people, and everything in-between.
Although working longer would have provided greater financial security, we started to think about the future risks of “health security.” In other words, what if our finances were solid for retirement, but we were no longer physically capable of doing the travelling and hiking that we wanted? So we made the decision that finances were good enough, and decided to hit the road.
We had began talking about what retirement looked like half a dozen years earlier, and our plans for retirement were similar, but not identical. Deb wanted to go back overseas, preferably Europe, to live full time. Tim felt that living in the US would be easier – without the complications of international taxes, property ownership, and long term residency. Both of us wanted to use our home as a base for extensive travel, travelling perhaps half the year internationally. Then one day we got the idea – what if we sold everything, packed into a few duffel bags, and became permanent nomads? With this approach, we wouldn’t have to worry about international taxes, long term residency, and many other hassles that go along with living overseas. And after looking at the numbers, we realized that travelling full time this way would actually be cheaper! After all, we wouldn’t have home costs, utility bills, internet and cable bills, car costs or property taxes for a house or apartment that we would only be using half the time. As a bonus, we get to visit even more countries, and see more things, travelling full time.
As expected, the idea of not being with family and friends daily was difficult, but since we don’t have children it was a compromise we chose to make. And today, technology makes it so much easier to stay in touch.
So here we are at the start of our journey. In less than one year we sold our home, our cars, everything we owned and pared-down to three duffel bags. It was quite a process we will share later on this website, but we are elated to be on this journey together and doing what we love.
