Nomadic-ERE Year 5 - Wanderlust Prevails

Where are you and where are you going?
2Birds1Stone
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Re: ERE Experiment - Vagabonding On A Shoestring Budget

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

@J+G, the expenses are a bit tricky. I can already see that if my lifestyle stayed the same (location, hobbies, housing), the expenses would drop significantly without the job. That being said, we knew and planned for a few adventures over the first few years that are going to cost more than our normal life did while accumulating. I already know that the three months we spend in Western and Southern Europe will be more than my typical $1,500/month spend. Poland might be around the same or possibly cheaper, and then Asia really is a wildcard because we don't know what type of travel we will do there, and what we will want to do. The year we do our AT thru-hike should be cheaper than current lifestyle, and van-life will initially be more expensive with the purchase and building out of a van, but then definitely cheaper once we get on the road. The great thing is, there will be some temporary paid work during those in-between phases (like during the van build) which will mean we are never drawing more than 4% from the portfolio (as outlined by my personal investment policy statement).

In December I didn't find any CC or bank churning opportunities, so my income will be zilch. It is the end of the year, so there are some dividends getting paid out, but those don't actually increase the portfolio due to how dividends work. Many people don't realize this, but this is how your investments look when you get a dividend;

Say you own $10,000 worth of company X
On December 16 the company declares a dividend of 2% (paid in Dec for simplicity)
On the ex-dividend date the dividend gets taken out and NAV drops by 2%, so your investment is now $9,800
A few days later you get your 2% ($200) dividend
Your investment is still worth $10,000

Now the assumption is that the stock will rise back to the same price (NAV) per share as it was before the dividend was paid out, but that's not always the case. So it's a bit of a wash.

@ajcoleman22 thank you!

@Stahlmann, I was a fat guy in HS (though mainly in first few years of college) because I grossly overconsumed calories and under exercised. The top 5 things that helped me drop 100+ lbs and keep off ~90-100 of those have been;

Be mindful over overeating/emotional eating, especially high calorie dense foods (sweets, fried foods etc)
Learn how to cook well, so that I can make lower calorie and healthier versions of my favorite foods.
Lift weights (this was huge, it increased my lean body mass and changed my nutrition partitioning permanently).
Find activities I enjoy outside of the gym to get my caloric expenditure up. I mountain bike, cycle, run, and walk a lot now, which means even without gym I average closer to 3,000-3,500 calories a day burned vs. previous 2,000-2,200.
Lastly, I track my weight in a spreadsheet, and have a general idea of where I don't want to drift over (~210 lbs) and if I do, I consciously do intermittent fasting which works really well for dropping the lbs quickly at the start.

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Lemur
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Re: ERE Experiment - Vagabonding On A Shoestring Budget

Post by Lemur »

@2Birds1Stone

Cool updates.

+1 on tracking weight through a spreadsheet. It keeps one mindful of their health state because I do believe that simply maintaining a healthy body-weight is one of the most, if not the most, important thing you can do for your health. Just maintaining a healthy body-weight keeps one away from all the "western" diseases: obesity, heart disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, cancer to some degree, etc. I've been tracking my weight on a spreadsheet as well for the past couple of months. I have a graph with 2 lines: the actual weight recorded that day and a 7 day rolling average line. Interestingly, I noticed that using a 7-day rolling average I consistently maintained weight in a 3 pound range (181-184lbs). The trends are interesting to see (increases around holiday & stress times) and decreases around weekends where I'm typically more active.

2Birds1Stone
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Re: ERE Experiment - Vagabonding On A Shoestring Budget

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

It helps with awareness for sure, now to get my ass in gear and turn some of this motivation into conscious action! I always gain weight as the weather changes, and this year is no different. I see the number climbing significantly over the past 3 weeks, yet I'm still not doing anything to change it. It's a combination of greatly reduced exercise due to the weather and daylight changes, and for some reason I crave more/worse food when it gets cold/darker out.

Ramblings

We've officially been married for two weeks now. Don't feel much different, but didn't expect to. It was a nice ceremony with only our immediate family, followed by a few beers at a local brewery with some close friends. December seems to have flown by, with some preparation for the holidays, time spent with friends/family, and dealing with medical stuff re: wife's work injury. We're making very slow progress on treatment/diagnosis as well as the workers comp claim. Hopefully she is able to get an MRI in the first week of January, and if she needs surgery no later than the end of the same month. Everything points to a torn rotator cuff right now. She's been put out of work for an additional 4-6 weeks. Returning no sooner than end of January.

I've reapplied for UEI, and will have a decision from the NYS labor board by end of the month. If it gets approved, I should be able to claim for 10 weeks until(if) we leave as planned on March 11th. Until the workers comp gets sorted out and/if my UEI gets approved we are in a fairly large income deficit for the foreseeable future, which is fine. This is one of the great benefits of living the ERE lifestyle over the past few years, and more importantly buckling down before it was necessary.

The markets have been blowing my mind lately. Makes me feel a bit silly for having such a low allocation to stocks for my age, with a bit of FOMO coming into play, but I know I would be singing a different tune had we had a 25% drop in stock valuations vs. an increase. December dividends have been quite nice for mental accounting, and I expect a few more to pay out before the end of the year.

The landlord contacted us to let us know he only has one more postdated check for January rent, and he will be by around xmas time to say hello and pick up another 6 months of checks. I replied letting him know that we need to have a chat (and unbeknownst to him, break up). February will be our last month living here, regardless of how our travel dates pan out. We continue to sort, donate, pack away, and slowly move out possessions to parents house, as we don't want the burden of moving an entire apartment in the midst of winter. We are hoping he lets us apply our security deposit toward February rent, but are prepared to shell that money out and hope to get our deposit back once we move out (he's been a stand-up guy the past 6.5 years).
Last edited by 2Birds1Stone on Fri Feb 05, 2021 2:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Ego
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Re: ERE Experiment - Vagabonding On A Shoestring Budget

Post by Ego »

2Birds1Stone wrote:
Sat Dec 21, 2019 3:22 pm
We are hoping he lets us apply our security deposit toward February rent, but are prepared to shell that money out and hope to get our deposit back once we move out (he's been a stand-up guy the past 6.5 years).
Make sure to provide the notice in writing and if you have a good relationship you could give him a deposit slip with an envelope addressed to your bank and he can send the refund directly to them. You might offer to show the apartment to prospective tenants as it is a pain in the ass for someone who lives off-site to do so, especially if the apartment is occupied. He may not take you up on the offer but he would be far more likely to refund the full deposit if you did so.

Good luck.

slowtraveler
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Re: ERE Experiment - Vagabonding On A Shoestring Budget

Post by slowtraveler »

Good luxk with everything, I hope your wife heals quickly.

I think winter weight gain is natural. Many animals do this to an extreme degree as winters (prior to modern food storage) were scarcer times. Fat is useful to survive the winters when scarce sunlight provides fewer calories at rhe base of the food cycle.

Still, this all makes me want to start tracking my weight levels.

I'm really curious to see how you keep working out during your travels. Might have to resort to squats and push ups with your wife on your back.

Jin+Guice
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Re: ERE Experiment - Vagabonding On A Shoestring Budget

Post by Jin+Guice »

2Birds1Stone wrote:
Mon Dec 16, 2019 9:49 am
Be mindful over overeating/emotional eating, especially high calorie dense foods (sweets, fried foods etc)

How do you do this?!? I have a really hard time not over-eating. The best I can come up with is restricting myself to 1 meal a day using IF, but even with that I have the capacity to put away more than I need.
2Birds1Stone wrote:
Mon Dec 16, 2019 9:49 am
Lift weights (this was huge, it increased my lean body mass and changed my nutrition partitioning permanently).
I'm hoping this gets me to a point where my body is using the extra calories I eat and I don't have to change my intake, but will I just be hungrier during the day then?
2Birds1Stone wrote:
Mon Dec 16, 2019 9:49 am
I can already see that if my lifestyle stayed the same (location, hobbies, housing), the expenses would drop significantly without the job. That being said, we knew and planned for a few adventures over the first few years that are going to cost more than our normal life did while accumulating. I already know that the three months we spend in Western and Southern Europe will be more than my typical $1,500/month spend. Poland might be around the same or possibly cheaper, and then Asia really is a wildcard because we don't know what type of travel we will do there, and what we will want to do. The year we do our AT thru-hike should be cheaper than current lifestyle, and van-life will initially be more expensive with the purchase and building out of a van, but then definitely cheaper once we get on the road. The great thing is, there will be some temporary paid work during those in-between phases (like during the van build) which will mean we are never drawing more than 4% from the portfolio (as outlined by my personal investment policy statement)
Back on my permanent soapbox: This is why I think saving up $X amount of dollars so you never have to work again, based on current expenses, doesn't make a lot of sense, in most cases. Because current expenses aren't forever expenses. For something like a once in a lifetime (or even decade) trip, I think it makes sense to plan to pay for it with earned income (eventually) rather than investment income.

classical_Liberal
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Re: ERE Experiment - Vagabonding On A Shoestring Budget

Post by classical_Liberal »

Congrats again on the marriage! How are you feeling about having all this extra time? As good as i have been I hope.

The markets have been blowing my mind as well. Although I dwell on this stuff much less than I had been. I'm invested very conservatively and have still seen high teens ROI this year. I have no FOMO though, if anything I'm considering going even more conservative. A side effect of all these returns is that I'm much less motivated to go back to work, and second guessing my half time set-up. If I lost 40K, instead of making it, on investments in 2019, I'd probably be much more thankful for my foresight in leaving high paid work on the table.

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Seppia
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Re: ERE Experiment - Vagabonding On A Shoestring Budget

Post by Seppia »

Big congrats on the marriage and best wishes for a speedy recovery to your wife.
The markets have indeed been amazing - which is why I never like to go all-in on one strategy.

2Birds1Stone
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Re: ERE Experiment - Vagabonding On A Shoestring Budget

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

@Ego, thank you. We did speak with him face to face as he visited for the holidays and were able to negotiate the deposit being applied toward rent in return for us being flexible in showing the place the last week or two we're here. Will officially be homeless after Feb 29th!

@slowtraveler, thank you sir. It's been a slow mend but things are moving in the right direction. We were able to get her an MRI right before Christmas and she is scheduling an appointment with the doctor to review the results sometime this week or next. One good thing so far is that we finally were able to get the insurance company to pay the correct workers comp benefit (even if it is small).

@J+G, I use several tricks. The best being not to keep that shit at home, as now I'm much less likely to go out and overpay for shit food. Other than that, it really does help to have a realistic weight range in mind, and consciously make better choices when you approach (or go over) the upper bounds. I'm there now, and I feel sluggish and look much softer at this weight. Fine in the winter, but it makes me feel bad as the weather gets warmer. Luckily warmer weather = more activity and lower appetite, so as st pointed out above, it's more natural to lose weight.

I agree with you wholeheartedly on the saving vs. spending and accumulation topic. It really all is meaningless past a certain point. I was FI, now I'm married and suddenly my WR% went from 3.3% as an individual to ~5% as a couple/household. In the future circumstances, goals, and the world in general will change. Focusing on lifestyle design, resilience, and happiness are far more important to me than an absolute net worth amount moving forward. I still plan on tracking spending, net worth, and really enjoy analyzing the data, though it's much more of a hobby now.

It's very unlikely that we will get our expenses permanently low enough to sustain our lifestyle off of investments alone, so a return to some sort of paid work for both of us is in the cards once we get vagabonding out of our system in a few years.

@c_L, I feel amazing. Today is my 3 month semi-EREversary, and I can't imagine going back to a normal career job right now. If I could flip a switch and have a decently paid PT job (2 days a week, $20/hr) I would take it in a heartbeat, as long as the work didn't suck and I could get some social interaction at said job. It makes no sense to look for this arrangement as we leave in 10 weeks! But when I get back, that's going to be the goal as long as I'm not traveling.

It's a mixed bag on the investments. You made a great point re: my fears of a downturn before/during my long sabbatical. While it might hurt like hell on paper, the reality is that we have enough cash to enjoy the time off, and while the world collapses around us, what better place to be than traveling around the cheap parts of the world, enjoying freedom from work. Eventually the economic cycle will have to improve, and finding a place to trade some time for money will always appear. I can say I'm more grateful for the ability to work after dealing with my wife's health issue. A traumatic injury to her dominant hand really limits the types of unskilled labor she could do, if we were both in that situation, it can change how confident I am about finding a job. Just food for thought for all of the healthy people out there.....it can be gone in an instant.

I really enjoyed your 2019 wrap up post, and I can't wait to do my own. I'll do a shorter December monthly one, as usual, and then a longer more thought out 2019 one. It was one heck of a year, between family health crisis, job loss for both of us, marriage, international travel, planning this crazy trip we're about to embark on, to downsizing our life into 2 50L backpacks.......

@Seppia, thank you my friend! Indeed! I think that's one of the biggest takeaways from ERE for me.

Musings/Updates

Wife got MRI right after xmas, report shows a tendon tear. Scheduling appointment with ortho to review results and further treatment options sometimes this week or next.

NYS approved one week of UEI, followed by sending me a letter stating that I have to appear at a re-employment assessment this week, at the local unemployment office. Looking online, and it looks like I would have to jump through many hoop to collect the benefit, but it might be worth a shot at least for the next two months.

Moved all of my business clothing to my parents house in NYC. Going to take one more trip to get camping gear, triathlon equipment (bike, wetsuit, etc), and few other odds and ends that I don't want to sell/donate over there. Wife is doing the same with her stuff at her moms house.

Hoping to get our 2019 taxes done before we leave. It's going to be a bit complicated with getting married, 401k rollovers, workers comp, losing health insurance mid year, and a slew of other caveats to a simple tax return. Have to change our mailing address for dozens of accounts and won't be able to receive physical mail for almost a year......not sure how to handle this yet.

Still fat, but more active the past two weeks.

2Birds1Stone
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Re: ERE Experiment - Vagabonding On A Shoestring Budget

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

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2Birds1Stone
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Re: ERE Experiment - Vagabonding On A Shoestring Budget

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

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take2
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Re: ERE Experiment - Vagabonding On A Shoestring Budget

Post by take2 »

Excellent numbers and recap! I too had a mind-boggling NW increase in 2019 - definitely makes it look unsustainable for the future.

Congrats on all of the hard work and best wishes for a speedy recovery to your wife. Happy new year!

Frugalchicos
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Re: ERE Experiment - Vagabonding On A Shoestring Budget

Post by Frugalchicos »

Pretty impressive how much your NW grew in the last year. All the best and happy NY!!

Smashter
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Re: ERE Experiment - Vagabonding On A Shoestring Budget

Post by Smashter »

Nice work! I really look forward to one day being "FI as fuck" :D

classical_Liberal
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Re: ERE Experiment - Vagabonding On A Shoestring Budget

Post by classical_Liberal »

It'll be an interesting year for you, I'm excited to read about how the lifestyle change impacts your overall thoughts and life.

Jin+Guice
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Re: ERE Experiment - Vagabonding On A Shoestring Budget

Post by Jin+Guice »

I'm really excited to hear what your adventures are like and how you enjoy being FI. I've been really enjoying c_L's post retirement journey. It's going to be interesting reading about your life upending juxtaposed against his keeping everything much more the same.

2Birds1Stone
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Re: ERE Experiment - Vagabonding On A Shoestring Budget

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

Thanks, anesde and Frugalchicos! May our paths cross in 2020. Happy new year to you both as well.

Smashter, I felt the same way not too long ago. The formula for achieving it is available to all of us here! It took a huge mindset change on how much we need to be happy. That was more important than any career changes or saving amounts.

c_L, it's already been an interesting few months. I'm ready for a big change. It's something I've craved and wanted to do for many years now. My biggest initial driver for reaching a more traditional FIRE was the freedom to travel and be location independent. This will be a nice taste of that. Even though it's only been ~3 months since I last had a job, it feels like so long ago. I've already gotten used to not working, and the next chapter is very exciting. I thought I would be anxious about moving out of a comfortable place we've lived for 6+ years, and leaving a life we know and enjoy quite a bit, but it's the opposite. The sense of freedom is making my smile from ear to ear any time I introspect about what it is we're about to do. There's also something amazing about giving up almost everything we own, and not being tied down to a particular place. Time will tell if we enjoy it as much as we think we will.

J+G, I too enjoy c_L's journal very much! He's already been doing a lot of the USA based travel that I hope to do in the future, with our preferred method being road trips as well. It's such a great way to see so much while spending so little. For us the key will be finding a vehicle/setup that makes it so that we don't have to spend money on lodging. Likely end up with a minivan or smaller cargo van to explore the USA for a year sometime in 2021-2022 after our thru-hike.

Speaking of thru-hikes, the wife and I were talking about what our return to the USA might look like next year, and we both agreed that if we can't find suitable (high paying, low effort) jobs without much effort, we'll probably jump right into a thru-hike for the summer. Planning to return from Asia sometime in the spring of 2021, in a little over a year. A lot will also depend on just how expensive this year of vagabonding ends up being. I don't think I've written much about the estimated costs here, but we've done a LOT of research. May as well break it down, and compare to reality vs. expectations. The trip will be broken down into three large segments; Western/Southern Europe (3 months), Poland (3 months), and SE Asia (5-6 months).

For Europe we estimate the costs to be the highest, mainly due to lodging. Budgeting $100/day which we estimate will break down to;
$50 lodging
$20 food (groceries, outdoor markets, some eating out/boozing on the local fare)
$10 activities/entertainment
$10 transportation (train, bus, ferry, local metro, etc)
$10 misc (travel/health insurance, mobile data, laundry, gym access, incidentals)
$9000 total for 3 months

For Poland, the costs drop to $75/day because we will have a free place to stay part of the time, and food is slightly cheaper;
$35 lodging
$15 food
$10 activities/entertainment
$10 misc (travel/health insurance, mobile data, laundry, gym access, incidentals)
$5 transportation (train, bus, ferry, local metro, etc)
$7000 total for 3 months

For SE Asia, we anticipate ~$80/day because we will be moving around more and doing some more expensive things like getting the wife PADI Scuba certified + refresher course for me, some island hopping around southern Thailand, surfing lessons and rentals in Bali, and some time in more expensive areas like Borneo and Singapore;
$30 lodging
$15 food
$15 activities/entertainment
$10 transportation (short haul flights, trains, bus, ferries)
$10 misc (travel/health insurance, mobile data, laundry, gym access, incidentals)
$14,000 total for 6 months

Which breaks down to ~$30k estimate for one year of living a completely nomadic lifestyle on a day to day cost basis. This does not include any large and sporadic costs over the year (medical care, transcontinental flights, returning to USA in fall for my brothers wedding, unexpected "emergencies") for which we are estimating an additional 20% buffer. Depending on how those pan out, our year abroad could end up costing slightly less than our normal life over the past 12 months in the USA, or slightly more. If our estimates are shit, it could be a whole lot more, in which case we have to decide whether we eat the cost or just cut a portion of the trip shorter.

Hope y'all have a great weekend.

2Birds1Stone
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Re: ERE Experiment - Vagabonding On A Shoestring Budget

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

It's finally starting to feel real. I'm typing this while sitting outside in the backyard wearing shorts right now, and while it happens to be Sunday, I could be doing the same thing any other day of the week. It's been 15 weeks since my last day of active work, and we are going to officially become nomadic in just under 7 weeks. There's still a good amount of purging, selling/donating, packing, and consolidating left to do. We're both going to get international driving permits, needs to get copies/digital copies of our passports and other important documents, finalize the travel/health insurance choice, get rid of the remaining "beater" car, and tie a few other loose ends with address changes and mail/paperwork.

I don't miss work at all. Part of it is just the fact that my last gig was so isolated most of the time that my lifestyle doesn't look all that different than it did when I was working (sans crazy travel, usually in bursts). Looking back on my career, I do miss my time at my first white collar job. It was definitely the people/culture and friendships that have developed as a result. That's an environment that I could tolerate on small doses if future circumstances require it, but I can't say I have the slightest issues with boredom or feeling unfulfilled. I've been sleeping much better. A big change in schedule as I've always been a "morning" person, or at least I would pride myself on calling myself one for many years. Now with only a few exceptions I wake up naturally with no alarm clock, and have settled into going to sleep around 11-midnight and waking up between 7-8 AM most days. Lucky to have friends who are business owners/work non-standard 9-5 M-F hours, I am able to meet up for runs/MTB rides during the week. The wife being out of work right now has also given us a good taste of what both being financially independent could look like. It's an interesting observation, but I find myself completely content with doing my own thing in her presence if I feel like I need some space for my own thoughts/activities. We are able to do a lot of things together sporadically throughout the week, without having to worry about schedule or time. I could see PT work and separate hobbies as a great way to "do our own thing" and have friends outside the mutual group we've been a part of for almost a decade. When we were both working, it made us appreciate the time we had together more, but at the same time were too stressed/burned out sometimes to enjoy each others company. I feel like we're both much more relaxed around each other, and are really enjoying this time.

I'm no more or less active than I was when I was working, as my favorite hobbies/pastimes during the warmer months were always MTB, cycling, running, hiking, walking, etc, and I got to do plenty of those even while working. Come to think of it, if I were to go back to a FT 40 hr/week job, than WFH sales is something I would definitely consider delving into. A fully remote position could allow for a nomadic lifestyle, and flexibility to continue a non-traditional lifestyle. Right now that's out of the question though, I would really have to need the income or have some alternate reason to go back

Living with one car for 2 months now, and it's been fantastic. I can't imagine needing to be a two car household again. Since switching gyms a few months ago, I've been walking to the gym almost every time I go. Driving has dropped to maybe 400 miles a month between two people, and that's primarily to see my family (live 40 miles away), and a few friends and family that we regularly spend time with. Unfortunately our area is very car reliant (no sidewalks in the residential neighborhoods, unsafe main roads with no/narrow shoulder, and things that are generally spaced about 3-15 miles from where we live. In the future, I would like to live somewhere that's walkable, which could require no car (renting when necessary).

Extrapolating the cost savings from NOT working, it's very feasible for us to afford this lifestyle in a M/HCOL area for ~$30k/yr for two people. Of course this is just fun to think about, since future needs/desires will completely change. And we would still have a way to go to prove we can hit $30k/yr, considering our health insurance was heavily employer subsidized. We don't play to ever completely rely on assets for long term expenses, but would like to eventually cover 100% of actual expenses using a 3% WR. A few short bouts of work should get us there without much effort. Especially if we continue to optimize on the expense/skills side. Geographical arbitrage could be used to lower costs to the $24k/yr level immediately, so that's a nice option as well. Some of you may remember the observation on costs of living in Poland from this past summer......I think I pegged our current standard of living over there @ ~$20-22k/yr. I'm sure SE Asia could be done for same/less.

I have a question for anyone who may have experience in this area, and it's regarding my cell phone service. I've had the same number and been on a family plan with my parents and brother for nearly 20 years. The plan is with AT&T if it matters. When I was in Poland over the summer I could use my phone on WiFi to make calls/send texts using my normal number without using any cellular data. This was extremely helpful for stuff like verifying my identity for credit card authorizations, two-factor authentication, and sending pass-codes to reset passwords for accounts that act cloogey when you access them from different countries. Right now I'm paying $60/month on this plan to have unlimited minutes/txts/data, but won't need any of that while traveling. I would like to keep my phone number, and find a cheap plan (maybe prepaid?) to port my number over to, so that I could continue using Wifi calling/text to dual-factor authenticate and make calls from a US based number.

AT&T allowed international WiFi calling/texting for free (no roaming), is this something that every provider offers? I won't need to use any actual data/cellular minutes while traveling, as we will have local sims for data plans to use and a local European phone number. Does anyone know of a cellular provider that I could use to keep my AT&T phone number and use free WiFi calling/texting on? Is there a solution I'm not currently thinking of?
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Ego
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Re: ERE Experiment - Vagabonding On A Shoestring Budget

Post by Ego »

You could port the number to Google Voice for free. You can make calls using Skype over WiFi for free from anywhere. You can change the caller ID number so that Skype displays your current number allowing it to work for account verification.

The good thing about using Google Voice is that when used in combo with a yubikey it virtually eliminates the most common account vulnerability, sim swapping. Most people use their phone for 2fa for bank accounts and other important logins which is better than nothing but not terribly secure.

If you don't have one, get a vpn for your phone and computer.

bluecollarmusician
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Re: ERE Experiment - Vagabonding On A Shoestring Budget

Post by bluecollarmusician »

Hey, @2birds!

Nice to see you over here- I finally created a username over here. :-)

I second porting the # to google voice. You can use it from anywhere... I did it years ago with my # and never looked back. We have traveled a ton over seas and all you need is a data sim wherever you go. And then you just get a local # wherever you are. People can call you, you can call them. Simple as pie.

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