Inspiration: 3 Travelers that I aspire to be like

I have been doing some digging around on the net lately to see if others out there are doing what I aspire to do: travel perpetually. I found a few that are "living the dream" that I am working on every day. None of these blogs seperately do what I intend. My dream encompasses a mixture of all of them

The Blogs:

• Todd's Wanderings: How I piad for 12 years of continuous travel
• Interview: Retired at 38 and spent the last 20 years traveling the world
• BoundToWander: An Aussie guy that left with no end date!

Overall the combination of these 3 blogs is what I want to do. Todd in the first link teaches English and does some volunteer work. The second is an interview with a couple who have enough income from investments to travel the world and live cheaply. The last guy is truly traveling and seeing the world without a specific income. These all sound great to me.

My intention is to combine the 3 to achieve what I want. I don't mind working just don't want to do it ALL of the time. I would also have some reserve savings and side income that will help support at least some of my travels. Finally I will do some traveling purely for pleasure. A month or two just simply enjoying a beach town sounds good.

The obvious questions is: How do I make this happen both logisitically and financially?

So far I have a basic plan that I believe will build upon itself to reach my ultimate goal of being a semi-nomad. I broke it up into major steps:

1. Become debt free and build savings. This critical step is to reduce my expenses to minimum. Ideally I would have my house paid for but would entertain renting it out. Either way I have a place to come back too. I would also have a $10,000 reserve that I do not touch. If the plan failed somehow and I had to come back to full time work this would be my safety net.
2. Transition from working to semi-retirement/traveling. The details here are fuzzy but I am considering teaching English for a couple of years or lining up some project-based work with defined beginning and end. Would travel between contracts (overseas) to transition. At this point I am financially secure enough to not have to work full time if I choose not too.
3. Freedom: Between side income, my savings, and planned working stints I have the security I need where I can decide where I want to go and what I want to do. I have found places where I can "home base" and travel into and out of. I will discover these as I go. One place that works for this is Bangkok.

As of today this is my game plan. Adjusting my habits and keeping my eye on the prize is the most difficult part. Big goals do not materialize without some sacrifice. I am making progress but certainly not as quickly as I would like. Patience is one of the hardest things to learn.

Big Office Move Tomorrow

I made it through one hell of a week. We are officially moving servers and workstations over to our new office in Downtown Atlanta tomorrow morning. Hooray for unpaid overtime!

I will actually come out ahead overall in this move. I will get to start taking the train to work therefore saving gas and more wear and tear on my car. I will also be in a much better neighborhood with lots more to do near work. I can take the train to the airport on travel days if need be also.

My office will be a corner office with windows and in a much quieter and nicer building. I have a lot more food options and and interesting place to walk around when I am ready to pull my hair out after a meeting. It will certainly be a welcome change of pace after 4 years in the dump of a warehouse that we were in.

Now if I could just get a raise!

When it rains, it pours

As if having major car problems weren't enough I am also sick this week. It is just a sinus infection but it certainly brings my energy level down to near zero. Just in time for our office move at work and I have a lot of project deadlines closing in too. Excellent.

Complaining aside I still believe that my "luck" comes in waves. Things are good for a good long wall then it all seems to hit the fan at once. It takes roughly a month to get to normal again. That has been my past experience. If this holds true I should be back to the usual in early June.

Time to load up on meds and vitamin C and chicken based soups. This is a long week...

It's about more than just money!

It was pointed out to me that this blog focuses a lot on money. I agree since this is a financial blog about money...but also understand that I could do some more non-money related posts. After all life is about experiences and doing what you love. For me that is travel. That is the other face of this blog.

Today I am going to stay off the money topic. I am going to share my plan for my upcoming month in Asia with my girlfriend. It will be a busy trip but a lot of fun at the same time. Here is the rough plan:

• Arrive 1 week ahead of girlfriend: I plan to laze around on the beach and not think about work
• Girlfriend arrives and we spend a couple days in Bangkok then onto Ayuthaya (ancient city) for a day and overnight train to Chiang Mai.
• While in Chiang Mai we have plans to do a Thai cooking course and an elephant sanctuary. These look awesome and I cannot wait!
• From there we fly down to Phuket to catch a fairy to the nearby Phi Phi island. An absolutely stunning place that I want to see again. We then move onto Koh Lanta another great island before going back to mainland.
• We have a long travel day to get from Koh Lanta to Penang, Malaysia over land. It is the easiest way to get there by taking 2 buses. 
• We spend a few days in Penang exploring cuisine, historical sites, and hopefully a good beach. 
• Finally we catch a cheap flight down to Singapore. We spend a couple of days exploring the city before our flights back home in early December.

That sounds like a lot but I have 1 month and she has 3 weeks to cover it all. A couple flights really help us make up for time in covering a wide area. I will also welcome a break from the cold weather in November and will have fun spending another Thanksgiving overseas. To me, this is what life is all about. 

Ramping up savings: A change in direction!

I am finally to the point now where at the end of the month I have decide which goal to add my leftover money too. I call this a good "problem". This will soon increase a little since my company is moving to an office where I can use mass transit and get it reimbursed. Not only will I get a free metro pass but I will also be down to driving 1 mile (total) per work day.

With gas prices approaching $4 per gallon in the Atlanta area (I filled up today for $38.00 for 10 gallons!) I really like this idea. That doesn't even factor in the wear and tear, tires, brakes, oil changes, etc. that will all be delayed due to less driving. I also like being able to get things done on the train in.

My office will be moving next month. That means a lot of work in the meantime but well worth it in the long run. We will be in a large building with a mall in the basement with lots of great lunch options and in downtown Atlanta with plenty of nice places around us too. I will have a view of the city from my office. All pluses!

For my budget this should free up around $100 per month. That means I will have that much to add to savings month-to-month barring any extra spending or minor expenses that can pop up. I am considering getting more aggressive with my emergency fund to hit the magic $10,000 mark then switch to Roth IRA funding and a couple of other smaller goals. If all goes well I should have a raise in July too!

I finally feel as if I am starting to gain ground on getting to the life I want. I am able to travel a little bit more thanks to airline miles, great deals online, and more free cash flow. I am coming out of the rut of debt and stress and moving towards a little more freedom. It is very refreshing and I want more!

Pre-Plan Salary Increases to Prevent Lifestlye Inflation

Most of us, if we are lucky, get some sort of raise every year. It may be fixed or it may be decided by someone above us in the company. It is very tempting to simply add your raise to your "fun money" and move on with the status quo. Don't do it! Plan ahead and make sure you get ahead!

I got a salary increase last month. In fact it was a reinstatement of my old salary when my company had to cut pay to make it thru an economically challenging time. Once I got work that I was getting full pay back I went to work on my budget to be sure I utilized the extra money effectively. Once I figured out what the take home increase was I update my excel budget. Here is what I did with the "new" money:

• Increased my 401(k) contribution
• Restarted my emergency fund deposits (monthly)

By planning ahead and foregoing the opportunity to spend the money unwisely I am now well on my way to meeting my big goals. Most of us get some sort of warning before a raise kicks in. You must act immediately to be sure you stay on track. This is a good problem to have!

Term life insurance - The best kind!

Life insurance is a hot topic in the financial world. Lots of folks need it and it is widely available in many different forms. You have term life, whole life, annuities, and all sorts of hybrid. I am here to tell you that you only need to concern yourself with one type: term life.

Term life is the simplest form of life insurance. There is a set time period (term) that the insurance covers. 20 years is the most common term for those looking to cover income for children and spouses. It has a set amount ($1 millon dollars, for example) that will be paid upon your death to whatever beneficiary you select. It has a fixed cost throughout the term.

You will have insurance salesmen try to sell you other types. They will try to scare you with horror stories and other gimmicks to get you to "upgrade" to another product. DON'T do it! They only have their interests at heart (commission) and you almost always lose in the long run. If you want to invest money take the monthly cost difference between a whole life policy and term life policy and invest it yourself.

By investing the difference in premium you get to choose how it is invested, keep all of the returns, and have easy access to it should you really need it. You can invest in IRA's, 401(k)'s, taxable accounts, savings accounts, and anything else you desire. Keep your money in your pocket.

Bottom line here is that term life insurance fits the needs (cheaply) for most of us. If you are really interested in the other products I suggested studying them (and their fine print!) carefully and make a well educated decision. Get the coverage you need and get on with life!

Budgeting for happiness!

Budgeting has gotten a bad connotation these days and not justly so. It is a very useful tool that helps us to track our money and not over spend and get into debt (again). This does not mean that we have to live unhappy and restrictive lives because we have a budget. The key is to make sure to budget for happiness.

How do you budget for happiness?

Simple! You have to make sure that your budget includes money (and time) for things that you actually enjoy. I will use myself as an example. My two favorite things to do are travel and try and find really good and affordable restaurants. I have categories for each in my budget. I set aside a set amount for my travel fund as well as eating out each month. A little can go a long way here.

First and foremost you must have all of your life essentials covered. After that you should not feel like you have to save every dime over the essentials for retirement or other goals. Being able to retire and enjoy life later is important but it is also important to enjoy life now as well. If we don't take time to enjoy ourselves now as well as later then why bother?

In my own example I budget $100 per month for eating out and on average $50 for travel funds. I use miles to get my tickets so I don't need to save as much for travel. This represents a very small portion of my budget currently as I am also paying down my debt. Even with debt I feel it is important to do something I enjoy in order to stay sane and not get discouraged. Any good budget will have built in motivators to help you stick to it.

There is no "correct amount" to set for doing things that make you happy. The best formula is to: pay your essential bills first, then save the correct amount for retirement, then budget for things that are fun, and finally save anything else left over. My only exception to this "rule" is that you need to have an adequate emergency fund before doing fun stuff. It is simply too important! Following this formula will ensure success and happiness over the long term.