Life Update: I Moved Again

I’ve relocated for a while and here’s why

My 20s just keep getting wilder (for a relatively risk-averse person that is), and I am here for it! It’s exactly what I know I should be doing at this point in my life to ensure that I never look back and think, "I should've done more."

Last week, I moved base to South Africa (SA). I say "base" because at this point, I am a digital nomad—a resident of no country but a citizen of three, with a business set up in two countries, earning in three currencies. And let me tell you, it feels great to move around the world freely, absorbing the best of what each country and continent has to offer. I explain more in the caption of this IG post.

My decision to move base came after quitting my job. It’s as simple as this: if I'm reducing my income, then I should also reduce my expenses to maintain my savings rate. While I expect to make more this year than I did last year, my income will not be as stable as a job where you have a particular date that guarantees a certain level of income, so I need to factor that in. Remember that video I made on influencers and managing their money? No? Watch here.

My monthly cash outflow on fixed expenses in SA, including food, works out to be less than £300 per month! This is around the amount I spent on utility bills per month in Dubai. Many young people who quit their jobs typically move back home. How many times have we heard the "building a business from my parents' garage" story? It's because it makes sense. Worrying about money while trying to build a business is a sure way to make poor, money-motivated decisions without long-term thinking. It's what drives a lot of people back to their job, and I get it. Not having to worry about rent and even food is a massive help. Remember, for most of us our biggest costs in life will be where we live, transportation, and food. However, for me, moving back home was not an option. I don’t want to go back to London, not for the short or medium term at least. So my equivalent of moving back home was somewhere that I could drop my monthly fixed expenses + food to £300, and it's ten times better than moving back home for me.

I’m in my own space, in a luxury apartment that has everything I need. I am currently writing this from the high-end restaurant that’s in my apartment complex, slurping on an iced frappe that cost me £1.69, surrounded by other remote workers and people having business meetings over some food and drinks. I love it!

There were a bunch of other factors too that led me to move to SA, one being the upfront cost I would’ve had to pay if I stayed in Dubai. I probably would’ve had an outlay of around £20k in the first few weeks of me leaving my job. Around £17k for rent (in Dubai, you usually pay upfront in 1, 2, or 4 cheques). I like to pay in 1 cheque because you can negotiate the price down quite a bit that way. I would’ve spent an additional £3000 on the setup of my company and my. Did I have the money for this? Yup, this was my initial plan, so I was prepared. In fact, overprepared. But remember when we spoke about liquidity in last month's newsletter? No matter how much I had saved and how much money I had coming in, spending £20k in your first few weeks on leaving your job on costs that aren’t even related to the business is not the best position to be in.

I’ll wrap it up here. I can go on and on about the pros and cons I weighed up, but that’s not the goal here. I took the leap, and I’m sure it’s going to pay off, as with every other calculated risk I’ve taken. No risk, no reward.

Speaking of risk, there are obvious risks to consider when moving to South Africa. It's an amazing country, but safety lacks, especially when compared to Dubai. But I’ve taken all the measures I can, trust me! It’s quite interesting how places like Mexico and Jamaica have similar levels of crime, but people still flock there, but when it comes to Africa… hmm, anyways, that's a discussion for another day.

I have so much to say and there’s so much I’ve learn over the last 2 years so I’m doing a Live Webinar series/course soon, diving all into how you can achieve Financial Independence with property, so stay tuned. You can also sign up for my mailing list just to double make sure you don’t miss any communication, though I will obviously share with the newsletter gang too.

Until next week when we NEED to talk about how to not get discouraged going after your big goals!

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📹 Interested in someone else living life across multiple continents? Check out Karl

🎙️ The Podcast that changed my perception of Digital Nomading