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LONG-TERM LIFE PLAN - EVENTUALLY
My long-term expectation is to set up my own domain somewhere, likely in the U.S., and settle in. I’m thinking that will be property/home that I own. My main focuses there would be:
- Starting and enjoying projects (garden, building things, fixing things, and so on - various types of ‘flow’ activities)
- Establish some hobby incomes or simple work that I enjoy
- Building a social circle
- Setting up “home” in ways that I like
… and then, I hope, living there a long time
BUT NOT READY NOW…
I’m still thinking through some things, like:
- What parts of the country / what cities …
- Normal house in city?… Some ‘alternative’ home (tent/yurt, cabin, tinyhouse, earthbag, etc.)
- Will the money work out? In most scenarios, I’d need to earn some more income to make sure I cover the costs of land/house/bills. Would work better in a few years when I’m getting $10k per year from my retirement accounts through the IRA ladder I started in 2017.
And, maybe mainly, I’m just not sure I feel ready for it yet.
CURRENT LIVING ISSUES
I’ve been living in Portland with some friends for about 4 months now. In many ways, it has gone great. But in some, not so good. There’s friction living with others. Here, most of it is from observing the behavior of my roommates, and not between me and them. I’ll spare you the details.
One day I thought “If I had more money, I wouldn’t be here” and thus that carried/included a “so maybe I should do something else”.
(The “Lentil Buddy” stuff has gone quite well. I may post some details about it)
GO TO ASIA??
Living in Southeast Asia or south of the U.S. is a phase of life I’ve been considering since back when I was still working. Lately, when I thought of it, it was along the lines of “that’s something I used to think about doing”, and didn’t consider doing ‘now’, mainly because it’s far away, and language barriers.
I learned a bit about the language barrier thing when I spent a winter in Mexico. First - that I can feel very much like a stranger. But also - that I feel it would work out ok if I just stay in the same spot for significant time.
I’ve recently met a bunch of people who have lived in Asia, or still sort of do and are just back for the summer. Eventually my thinking changed from the “I used to think about doing that” to “hmmmm, maybe I should now”.
Then I went through what I think Nassim Taleb wrote about in ones of his books: I could feel myself deciding I’d do it, knowing that it wasn’t a thought out logical choice, and knowing that over the next few weeks I’d think about it logically and of course conclude that I should do it.
At this point I’ve decided to go. I’m still at the point where it’s possible to change my mind though…
SOME REASONS TO DO IT:
- Low cost of living. Sounds like <$600/mo would be doable. <$1,000 very very easy.
- Nice weather. Sort of.
- Nice beaches in some places
- Could have very simple life (in some ways. Not entirely)
- Very easy to start romantic relationships.
- Would be another another interesting/fun phase of life.
SOME REASONS NOT TO DO IT: (or, things that may bother me)
I think the main two are:
1 - Won’t have long-term continually ongoing friendships. This is something important to me now.
—> Right now, it doesn’t feel important to me at all to establish a “forever” kind of romantic relationship. I’m cool with shorter ones (in the range of months), and Asia may be particularly fun for that.
—> Traveling more or less continually in the van was eventually a problem in this department. I think Asia may work ok if I do a good job of being social, and I stay in places for 3+ months at a time, and come back to the places I like numerous times.
2 - Won’t be able to do hobbies/projects that require sizeable physical materials/space (like gardening, building things, etc.) I’ve had a lot of enjoyment doing these kinds of things in Portland, and I’ll miss not being able to do them.
—> So - what would I do there?
- Online work (I’ve been meaning to and have just recently started ramping up one that I’ve been doing for years. Could probably find more to try out)
- Photography work? (for tourists? Money potential is likely not so high, possible issues with ‘working’ there. But I’d like to keep at shooting portraits)
- Focus on fitness. (been doing great this summer and I’d like to keep that rolling. Gyms are pretty cheap in S.E.A.)
- Read
- Calligraphy
- Make friends, girlfriends, etc.
Some other potential issues:
- Would need to be highly minimalist (a benefit of this is it keeps me from spending a lot of money on hobbies like motorcycles, building things, etc.)
- Cultural/infrastructure annoyances
- Bad air quality?
- Annoyed by visa renewing, maybe by frequent moving?
- Really spicy food?
- Poor logic among people in some of these countries(?)
- Limited education, particularly of women(?)
- Dangerous drivers
- Dirtyness/trash/smells?
OTHER OPTIONS:
- Go ahead with home base - alternative style. Buy land. Build something (yurt or other nice tent, tiny/small house, dirtbag home, etc.). Start big garden and other hobbies. Fairly low cost for a home. Possibly very low ongoing costs
- Go ahead with home base - normal house. ~$100k plus. Then focus heavily on establishing (hobby) income.
- Rent an apartment or house somewhere. Test out income ideas. If decent income started, buy a house. If poor income results, change to cheaper way of living or get an engineering job
- Go to Mexico for winter. Van or possible just Motorcycle (and rent a cheap apartment). Either way, settle in at one area and make friends. No flights. Visa length 6 months and super easy. Very low likelihood that I’d want to stay down there through summer. Could be possible that I’d go back for more winters.
- Travel in van more. Go slow. Add high top to van for better ergonomics. (don’t feel like doing this one)
- Stay with my friends longer. Keep trying to help improve their communication/relationship skills so it’s less annoying. Zero rent, so possibly the cheapest option.
Going to Asia or Mexico are the cheapest options that include having my own ‘normal’ home to myself.
I’ve also started thinking about actions to prepare for leaving to Asia. I may post about those fairly soon. For now, I’d like input on the decision process. I will make another thread asking for input on Asia (where to go, what the people are like, what living there is like, etc)