Location Free Lifestyle

I’ve had lots of question from people asking just how much money you need to start a location free lifestyle. My usual answer is:

• $100 a month is tough.
• $1000 a month is really quite nice.
• $10,000 a month you are in luxuryville central.

In the beginning you probably aren’t making that much money online so you want to choose a location that’s fairly inexpensive such as Thailand or Argentina.  Then as you move up the ladder you can try other countries such as Sweden or Japan.

A real example

Let me give you a concrete example.   At the place right next to me here in the Bang Po area of Koh Samui, a clean, cool, safe bungalow will set you back 290 Bahts per night.  (I’ll do the conversion to dollars and Euros at the end)  You can get a lot cheaper than this, but I’m erring on the conservative side here.   If you eat where the locals eat, a good Thai curry with rice will set you back 50 Bahts or less.  So let’s say 100 Bahts a day for food.  Then you need to download your email and upload your work so 30 Bahts a day for the internet.  That’s basically all you need.

• 290 + 50 + 50 + 30 =   420 Bahts or about $12 US or $9 Euros per day
• =  $360 or 270 Euros per month.

So that’s your basic living expenses.  Remember you’re working out here so I’ve included no beer money.  “Delayed gratification” is one of the “rules of the rich” that the experts always go on about.

Other costs

Now we need to figure in other costs such as your flight, which will be the major factor.  The key here is to stay as long as you can by getting the longest visa possible.  But say if your flight costs $600 then that’s $200 split over 3 months.  There are ways to get your flights paid for, but I’ll cover those in a future post.

Plus you also need insurance, never go anywhere without insurance.  That can be around $1000 a year  from any of the international insurance firms.  So add in an extra $100 a month.

Plus you also need to save %10 of your income.  Even if you are earning very, very little then always, always do this, or so says the Richest Man in Babylon.  It’s a fantastic discipline to learn,  if you wait till you are earning a lot till you save then you’ll never do it, and you’ll never be financially free.

So the income you need is …

So basically you either need to have an income or savings to cover around $700 a month.  If you work ten hours a day here building your online business or online job then that certainly is achievable with a couple of months of hard, smart work.  Remember it’s not “easy” it’s just a lot more fun to be in a funky location!

I’m also assuming you’ve paid off any credit card or other debt you have.  That has to be your first priority before you even think about anything else.

Or for $100 a month

Some of you will be thinking that this is impossible. Well, fair enough, this isn’t for everyone.  But one of the skills you’ll need is believing in yourself and what you can truly do.   I’m not trying to sell anything or promote a “get quick rich” scheme, I’m just passing on my experiences in the hope that it might help a few people realise their dream lifestyle.

When I first started my current business I was living on $100 a month (from writing a magazine column).  Luckily I didn’t have accommodation to pay for, but this was in Japan, one of the most expensive countries in the world!  I used to have fights all the time with mates about which ramen shop to go to as I couldn’t afford anything more than the very cheapest.   But I was working all day, and all night and it’s amazing how much money you save when you do that.  And also how much you save when you don’t have a car or watch TV.

Delayed Gratification

It’s always a sacrifice in the beginning, but if you are living like this in a wonderful location you begin to appreciate the free things in life like walks on the beach or mountains or looking at the sunset or even window shopping instead of the real thing.  If you can carry that ability along as you start to make more money then you will be truly rich.   It’s also amazing how the cheaper places work out to be much more romantic date locations.

Well except for the window shopping!

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