A Cynical Approach To Work

It is important to consider alternative approaches to work, even extreme ones, to develop an understanding of how to improve work patterns. This one relies on international movement to minimize costs (and therefore reduce the amount you need to earn) and is only possible with relaxed Covid restrictions. The basic idea is that life is to be lived and enjoyed and you are focusing on developing freedom by not focusing on work all the time. The aim is also to be a sigma, not caring about family events, long term friendships etc., but being a truly independent mind and mysterious.

Basic outline of the cynical approach

1. You live temporarily in places with low costs of living, examples include Georgia, Vietnam, Serbia, Peru, Ecuador, Cambodia etc.

The breakdown of the cost of living in these places is as follows:

• Rent a cheap apartment on Airbnb for around £300 per month
• Transport can be cycling/walking which is free with the occasional bus ride which will be a negligible cost. You will mainly be staying in capital cities which will not require too much travel
• Keep food costs low by eating mainly fruit/carbs and cooking yourself - £150 per month
• Plane tickets every few months - £50 per month budget
• Entertainment - you never know, but let's say £50 per month for sake of argument. You should be prioritizing free entertainment in nature, e.g. surfing, mountaineering, cycling etc.

In total, the monthly living expenses should not regularly exceed £600 for you to break even.

2. Your income is entirely remote-based and can be done from a laptop. A clear example of this is teaching English online - with EF Education Trust the rate is £9-12 per hour. Working 12 hours per week will estimate that you will earn £600 per month which will cover the total living expenses above. This means that working 2 hours per day will cover everything. The moto here is this: if I am given work, then I earn money which helps to cover my living costs, but if I don't work, then I go and enjoy the day. The idea behind this is also to prevent the risk of being beta-buxxed. 

3. Having gold reserves. For example, say you have £20,000 in gold reserves, even if you lose £100 each month with expenses being higher than income, it will still take 16.5 years for you to run out of money or 20% of an average lifetime. You also want some liquid cash because there is no spread with cash versus holding gold which typically comes with a 5-10% spread each time you need to liquidate it. Holding gold is merely an inflation hedge as I will be holding this gold for the long term.

Possible best locations 

For starting out, I recommend the area around Eastern Europe and Georgia, Armenia,. The cost of living in these places is very low - for example apartments can easily be had for less than £300 per month. The visa stays are long, for example you can stay 1 year in Georgia, 180 days for Armenia and 90 days in pretty much all Eastern European countries There is also the added bonus of super cheap flights with Ryanair, a quick search shows a £9.99 Ryanair flight from London to Bratislava going regularly throughout September and never really extending beyond £30 ever. This region is also close to home, so you can fly home easily without having to worry about booking an expensive flight.

South America has expensive travel, but low living costs - travel is mainly for business purposes, not for leisure which is why there are no cheap flights. When international travel there becomes cheap with some low cost airlines, this could be an exciting option. There would also be lots to do in the way of outdoor activities there and a relaxed culture.

South East Asia - cheap flights and low cost of living, but short visa stays. Thailand, Cambodia 30 days, Vietnam 15 days, Malaysia 90 days, but slightly more expensive. Here, you may end up doing lots of frequent flights due to visa requirements, which could offset against low costs of living.

Africa - one for the future. At the moment it is too dangerous and flights are overpriced. 

Risks

The main risk is that if there is a ban on international travel (as we have now due to Covid) or the environmentalists lobby airline companies to the extent that international travel becomes expensive, then this may no longer work. During Covid, many people who became digital nomads living their dream lifestyles could no longer do so. One example on the BBC of people living in a van round New Zealand had to return home to living in a campervan in their parent's garden during Covid.