For the record, I really get a lot of value from these types of videos. I appreciate your willingness to share what works for you. You've given my husband and I several things to consider as we move forward to getting our money lined up so we can retire. Thanks for being open with your journey and also for sharing all the wonderful places you travel. Hugs to you both.
In Australia there is a book called The Barefoot Investor, I bought a copy for my son for his 18th birthday. He was still at school but had started a part time job and doesn't spend much, its really well written in simple terms about being money smart incl the mistakes you can make. 7 years on he has graduated as a Civil Engineer from University, still living at home (for now) saving and investing his money, also through some great government initiatives, adding pre-taxed funds toward the purchase of his first home. We have compulsory superannuation in Australia that an employer must contribute 11% of your annual salary to super on top of your salary (ie they don't take it from you, it's in addition to it). I'm not sure where you're from but if an Aussie it's well worth looking up.
I have just started watching your show. I admire what you are doing but I think maybe you should have done this when you were a bit younger ten or fifteen years. To get sick abroad will wipe out your finances. I think that women like to have a nice nest to go back to . Ten years is a bit ambitious five might be more to the mark. Traveling is very tiring and stressful so I wonder how long you can go on dealing with some of the uncomfortable situations. Good luck.
Hi Neil and Sarah, I just found your channel and am going to be following you because my husband and are hoping to retire too and travel in 2 to 3 years. But we are still not financially secure and also still have a kid in high school. So this video was very interesting to me, Thanks!
I realise that these videos were filmed well over a year ago but still find them relevant, I enjoy and appreciate the information you share and how that has worked for you without giving too much away for obvious reasons. We are a couple of Aussies (actually a little older than you guys) and are debt free but have no savings or investments other than our family home and superannuation (do you have that in the UK). Remember we are talking Aussie dollars so that's turned to shite atm compared to the US/Pound and Euro - its' quite depressing when you start currency conversions. Our plan is to rent out the family home and live off the income and if necessary supplement that with some of our super, which we are now able to access given hubbies age. I do wonder whether it might just be easier to sell the house and put the cash into term deposits, we'd actually net more doing this than renting out the house but we'd have zero growth on the property moving forward and we are in a down market. I think renting it is something we should try first, we can always still sell it if we find the burden of home ownership too much. It's really scary and I'm very nervous as there is pretty much no going back to our jobs once we pull the pin, it's not even so much about the money (which is a major thing in itself) but what do we do for the next 10 years, travel does seem quite exhausting and in some cases boring. I am not wathcing your vidoes in order - I tend to bounce around a bit so am off to watch more like this one, cheers H
We thought once we reached 60 that we’d travel for a year or two once retired. However what we discovered was that 12 weeks was about the most time we wanted to travel as it’s exhausting. We’ve now worked out after 6 years that about 7 weeks is optimal for us. So now we go away every year rather than travelling non stop.
Getting into the details of your thought processes and the pitfalls is really interesting. The balance of location insight, how you plan and the tools you use showing some great money saving tips, and as in this video how you got to this place financially is a perfect blend. Love the channel.
Hey Steve! Really appreciate the comment, it is difficult to get a good balance and we struggle with it in every video so to get a comment like this is really helpful. Best regards, Neil & Sarah
Agreed. @2GoRoam mention they do that too. I'm interested to know, in the '22 downturn, did you use your cash reserve as a buffer and equally, is that now being topped up to restore a 2-3 year cash like buffer? I've not seen Neil or Sara mention whether they used any 'cash buffer' during '22 or just adjusted spending downwards.
Hi guys, I'm catching up on your videos and have to say thank you again as this was an excellent one. Your openess does help esp seeing as so many are desiring a change in lifestyle which necessitates financial security. I worked in investment banking for 14 years as an executive assistant and I 100% agree w your comment that no one will care more about your $ than you will. Becoming financially literate is my goal as well. I'll look up the book you recommended 👌🏻
Hey Kate! Thank you for the kind comment, hope you enjoy our content as we go forward! Yes, I (Neil) worked in banking for 20 years and it is very much dog eat dog. You have to focus on yourself and the outcomes for your own life, we are all the CEO of our lives. Appreciate you getting in touch again. Best regards, Neil & Sarah
How are you able to consistently make your videos better each week!? You both are precious. I always look forward to your content. Very inspiring. I wish I had thought to keep more cash handy. The Turquoise Coast certainly agrees with you both. You look tan, fit and happy. You've got a great thing going. Your relationship is priceless. I hope you'll make a video about how you fell in love and keep things going! Thanks for another awesome video. I'm a huge fan of Neil and Sarah.
The thing is FIRE for one is totally different for everyone else. I have since resigned 12 years early. I have 350k cash , and 650 - 700k in Equity, which will be reinvested, ETF, Crypto etc.... And will do similar, identify locations around the world where my hard earned money will work harder for me.. If I get bored which I don't think I will, will simply take a contract role, work where and when I want. There's always RUclips, 😆
Excellent. Such great content. Feel like you are sharing a stories familiar. Nice to hear your journey and know I am not alone in experiences. Really appreciated you sharing. Finance is such a big part of retirement. You make me feel like I too can figure investments out. Just ordered the book you recommended. Really appreciate you pointing out tips.
Hi Sarah and Neil, Another great video. Many people in the position you found yourselves in a couple decades ago would have buried their heads in the sand. You help people understand they can turn it around even well into one’s adult life. I am sure it has crossed your mind how much more you could have had by avoiding your early mistakes. However, that probably would have meant just having more money but not spending it! I don’t think spending more to do what you are doing now would change your enjoyment of world travel. It would be nice for this video to get to younger audiences but I am guessing most here are like me close to your age. Keep up the good work and good humour! Cheers, Rod
There's a horrible tax rule in Ireland where every 8 years any investment gain is taxed an exit tax of 41%, even if you don't sell. It scuppers the power of compound interest for us 😢
Coincidentally for the same reasons you gave I arrived at the same choices as you for investments. Hope yours will be OK in the impending bank and market crash. Currently I'm in cash except for unrealized losses in Bonds, and hoping to buy when the market hits bottom and starts to rise again. (many false dawns currently). Thanks for your videos - they are both helpful and inspiring, and much appreciated. Make sure you have the time to enjoy the locations you visit.
Great video. May I ask what age you were when you discovered JL Collins’ book and adjusted your investment strategy to align more with the fundamentals of the FIRE movement?
This was the right "touch", and kudos for giving what you feel is your best-guess experience, but not falling into "money rabbit hole", as I call it. Too many, dare I say WAY too many travel related channels go so deep into the weeds of financial advice that they forget they serve me better as a viewer to cajole me INTO thought about things, instead of being an all-inclusive clearinghouse for advice on money matters. A good video opens your curiosity, opens the intellectual appetite to go to expert resources and keep these things in important silos of information. If you have not gotten your financial house in order, you need invest 70% of your time in that, and far less in travel channels because you can't reach this dream until you crystalize the finance reality. Well, well done. Clean, neat, to the point, summarized and get the hell out of the morass. I love what you are doing here. You are filling the road map with markers, some easter eggs; if you will, but enough information to keep it interesting without bogging down into minutia. I look forward to the "what happens after the 10 years" part of this series. You have my interest, and fully piqued my dear friends. Hugs to both.
Another awesome video! My dad was a big fan of “The Millionaire Next Door” and my parents did a good job of living by its guidance. When Levon and I got married (also in our early 30s), he gave us a copy. While we didn’t treat it like a bible in exactly the same way, “pay yourself first” and “live below your paycheck” have been two of our financial mantras. I’m quite sure that made all the difference in our being able to retire early. Congratulations to the two of you for all of your hard work to get to where you are today!
I like this format you guys have got going. Information on the financial aspect of your life and travels while showcasing the area you are visiting. I feel like you are settling into your niche.
I REALLY enjoyed the information on what you’ve done with your investments. It gives me more to look into, to see if I want that. You specifically say to people, do your own research. Anyone being careful should know to do this.
For me. I'm almost fifty. So I would like to retire as soon as possible. So I am taking much more risk than you. But it's also a lot of study. There is just individual stocks. I would like to retire in five years. So it's not like I am in my twenties. I could have invested in anything and just let it go. I have no complaints. I do what I want when I want to and how I want to all day long. I just can't retire yet. Not much people can say that at this age. I think. Whatever. I just never did have a life like that. So for me it's pretty amazing already. But like you said. You need to be financially savvy to get to that. It has been ten years studying and applying everyday to get to that. It was really tough. Now I can enjoy it. I did it all for me, my wife and my kid to enjoy it.
Time 13:40: I'm not a financial advisor but I personally would not leave 2 to 3 yrs of cash in a "near zero interest savings account" due to high inflation - your purchasing power is just melting away probably 15% per/year not the Gov's number of 8%. I would (again I'm not a financial advisor) look into stable coins that earn a higher yield. You won't out pace inflation but your money won't melt away so fast. A good stable coin IMHO is Gemini (GUSD): but everyone should of course do your own research. BTW, just stumbled across your channel - Love it....
As an investment advisor for 40 years, I am impressed by your hard-gained financial wisdom. You seem to have absorbed all the right lessons, albeit through some hard knocks.
This sort of content is what I’m really interested in, thank you for sharing such personal investment information. Will look forward to seeing future videos continuing on this theme 😎👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
We can relate so much to those early life decisions that may or may not have helped the retirement life. Thankfully, Investing was an early decision even though how much was inconsistent. We still consider our retirement accidental, but very grateful we are here. Cheers, and thanks for sharing!
Hey DK! Absolutely, it feels like we failed our way to retirement lol. Thank you for getting in touch, it's lovely here in Turkey. Best wishes Neil & Sarah
Hi Neil and Sarah. Thanks for the book suggestion. I live in New Zealand and I was wondering how relevant would The Simple path to Wealth be to those who live outside of the UK?
Hey Cath! Thank you so much for taking the time to drop us a comment! The book is actually American but we can answer your questions quite clearly as we recommended to a friend last week and she told us a couple of days ago that there are a couple of chapters that are very US based but she ignored those and the rest was great. We would say that it is likely to be the best investment you ever made. Best regards, Neil & Sarah
And again, thank you :) it was really helpful to learn your how-to style and what your personal choices are for investment. It's really a matter of comfort, isn't it? WE can always learn something new. Thanks for sharing that resource as well. I'm def. going to look it up!
Hey Calico! Absolutely, comfort... There are a dizzying array of choices for how we all invest in life and none of them are 100% right or wrong, we all have to just do our best. Pleased you liked this one. Oh Sarah and her Coach bags!!! Best wishes Neil & Sarah
Great job in the way you are presenting and your format. Looking forward to your videos. Would love to know why you decided not to go more into dividend etf’s. A lot of FIRE use 4% rule and or dividends so I was really expecting that as your outcome. Love your honesty . It’s the key to great content.
Another great video!!! I loved Simple Path To Wealth - made it so much easier to streamline my investments and understand why I was choosing things. I felt confident ditching my AUM FA and going DIY, although I do have a low cost team I subscribe to for tax planning help. Enjoy the coastline - looks lovely 😁
Hi guys, I appreciate Beth's lovely response to my last question. From my point of view, we have to assume that I have got my finances in place and that I am able to take the plunge. I do not need financial/Shares advice and I have a mortgage free house, money in the bank, but not enough to last a lifetime. I am not rich, just about "comfortable" like you guys. You sold your house and all your belongings. What provisions have you made for when you return to UK ? How do you afford to buy another house once you're home in the uk or..... Are you going to rent until you drop Think you guys are lovely.
Hey Kieran! Thank you so much for getting in touch. We have a video that is coming out on Saturday 30th April where we address your question about being priced out of the housing market, so we won't steal the thunder of that one :-) As it is, we have no provisions in the UK. We have family in the UK but that is all, we are trying to be as free as possible and then to see what we really want as time moves forward. Hope that helps a bit, but next weeks video will spill more! Best wishes Neil & Sarah
Great content! I don't think you're giving advice. You're just sharing your journey. I really related to the first part of the video when you talked about buys things like cars and purses. The marketing industry has done an excellent job of convincing everyone that "things will make you happy!" So we all run around in our youth collecting things because that will make us happy, right? Then the awful truth sinks in: they are just things. Keep sharing. It's great stuff! : )
Hey Mel! Thank you! It can feel a little awkward making this kind of video. But you are right, frustrating when the reality sinks in and you realise the money you have wasted but it's all part of life eh! Thanks as ever for getting in touch! Best wishes Neil & Sarah
JL Collins. His writings in his blog were a calming voice of reason to me. Always confirming I was on the right track and not to fear the gyrations of the market. His piece on why you need F- you money was a light bulb moment for me and helped me understand the importance of financial independence... early retirement or not.
Thank you very much for sharing your financial journey and for your honesty. Personally, this video includes the content I was looking for (there's quite a lot of information on FIRE from USA bloggers, but not the UK). Congratulations on your videos, they are better every week. I have a specific question (I hope you can help with): are you able to maintain UK residency if you are constantly travelling and if you do not own or rent a property in the UK?
At present, my house is fully paid for, I have no debt. I have several years cash to live on. I have a good job. No investments. That is the only area that terrifies me. The market goes up and down and I just do not want to risk my money. Every single person out there says invest. But at 59, is it worth the risk? I may not work but 3 more years. That would clearly be too short a time to get a decent return on my money, especially considering the current state of the markets.
Hey Annie! Our view is that 59 is young and whether it being worth the risk, you do need to look at the long term. As I mentioned in the video, a good book to read is The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins. I would say that the best advice anyone could give is to read that book and then take a view. I would say purchasing and reading that would be a great way to invest in yourself. It is not a complex book and JL Collins is not a guru, he is down to earth and very relatable. Give it a go. Best wishes Neil & Sarah
I’m 60, and I felt the same way. No debt. House paid for. Two years cash to live one. My husband is collecting social security and I’m still working for at least 2 more years. We lost a lot of money in the market in 2008. After a lot of reading, and talking to 2 financial advisors, we went with the formula of 100 minus your age. So, my husband is 70. We have 30% of his retirement money in stocks. 40% in mine at 60. We’ll adjust as we get older. We sleep good at night with that conservative ratio. Inflation erodes money, unfortunately.
Enjoying this set of videos. Are you planning on buying a place later down the track or renting? Or will you cover that in your video about what will happen after ten years? Turkey looks lovely and ticks a lot of boxes as a place that’s ideal to base yourselves. I’m looking forward to going one day!
Hi both. I also have 2 to 3 years in cash and the rest in shares and funds, just wondering where you choose to hold your cash, is it held by your broker in a very low risk investment like long term bonds, TIPS etc or in a savings account? If the latter is it locked in for 1 year plus to get some kind of interest? Rates are so low now. I guess for me I am less interested in investment info (there are dedicated videos on this) and more interested to hear what to do during retirement after both working full time (me and my wife both professionals and looking to retire soon) and how to handle the transition to retirement without feeling empty or lost
Isn't it interesting that among us people who suddenly accelerate our financial learning due to looming retirement, we often draw broadly similar conclusions? Some of the biggest takeaways are things to avoid, such as: investments with high management fees; investments we don't really understand (e.g. Bitcoin); investments that are too volatile (e.g. Bitcoin again). And yet I suggest that it's okay to take a small portion of your investments, an amount you are prepared to lose, and test theories with it. It keeps things interesting in the learning journey.
We just found your channel and we are enjoying your prospective. We ended up buying the Kindle version of, “Simple Path to Wealth”. This read is fantastic! Thanks for the channel and for the book recommendation.
Hey Cindi! Thank you for getting in touch! Isn't that book amazing! Sarah is reading it again right now as I type this reply to you. We wish you well! Best wishes Neil & Sarah
Love the videos; so well thought out and produced. I’m wondering if you put the money from the sale of your home into a separate investment vehicle ensuring that it will grow and be accessible when you decide to modify your travel?
Hey Carol! Thank you so much, we put so much effort in and spend a day writing each script so it's great to get that recognised. That is exactly what we have done, moved the money from the house into Low Cost Index Funds 👍. Best wishes Neil & Sarah
I love this video! Thank you so much for answering so many of my previous questions. I'm looking forward to find out what your plan is after the 10 years of travel.
Very informative, it was great to hear your experience, I really appreciate what both of you are doing! It's tough - but someone's gotta do it. 😉 I've noticed some new editing tricks on the vid Neil - looks good!!! Really inspired by what you're both doing, im sure it's not all rainbows, blue skies and turquoise beaches - hold up, it is..... but what I mean is, there's still life on life's terms and it's really lovely to see you both glowing each week because you're doing what you both love. Thank, and I watch all of your vids 🏵
We both have something in common Neil. Good women that get us straight. Now formidable teams. Great vlog. Lets have a travel vlog and show us some of Turkey. 😁😁
Hi both. Great video as always and love the beach! I'm now finally at the stage in my life i can put a fair chunk of savings away and to be honest its the retire early that is now driving me to do this. I have a small mortgage remaining and trying to pay extra off this every month. At what stage did you realise you could retire,was it when you had sold the house or could you have maybe lived off savings for a bit without selling? Will you both be drawing from your retirement pots at 55 or can you afford to hold off? Looking forward to your next update🏝🌞.x
If you could only use one camera for your travels, what one would you use? I too am impressed with your video production, the sharing of ideas and just living life- much appreciated!
Great video, excellent advise! I am also now looking at early retirement! Looking back on my 30 years of working and saving, everything you say is 100% spot on. Dont waste, save properly and plan ahead.
Hey Dave! Thank you so much. Difficult to get the balance right in this kind of video so very pleased to get this kind of comment from someone that is in a similar position. Best wishes Neil & Sarah
Didn't particularly learn much from this unfortunately. I think it's more helpful to be transparent with your portfolio where you're invested why you invested in particularly etfs etc. The level of cash burn and what amount you allowed yourself etc. Alot of these channels are becoming transparent which is definitely more helpful without crossing the line of giving advice.
Hey Ian! Thanks for the feedback. It is really difficult to get the right line on this stuff. Our main concern is that if we give too much information someone may think "That's what I will do then..." without doing the proper research. What we really want people to do is research and build their own knowledge. With regard to the money we allow ourselves, you hopefully saw our video last year where we outlined our budget for the year and we also provided a mid-year update on our budget. Any ideas you think we could implement would we absolutely great. Really appreciate you taking the time to let us know in this comment. Best wishes Neil & Sarah
@@2GoRoam yes I understand there is a fine line between you being transparent without being misconceived of giving advice. But I think if you making a youtube channel about financial freedom and how you arrived there seems abit strange missing out the main ingredient which is your investments. Channels like our rich journey, money unshackled and many more all seem very transparent it's popular and it is helpful without pointing to doing things our way. I haven't looked at your previous budget videos but now I will.👍
Hi Ian, Thank you we appreciate it. We are going to be doing a lot more of this style of video so we will look at sharing appropriately as we go. Thank you for the feedback. Best wishes Neil & Sarah
Great video. As you said, financial literacy is key to this journey. I spent many years just plunking money into my 401k without too much thought of the exact investment mix. Luckily I had initially selected a reasonable set of funds and things worked out. I'm sure it could have been better but I've done ok. I paid off my house a couple of years ago and have been doing more post tax investing since. My post tax investments are mix of low cost index and bond based ETFs. My biggest investments are in VTI and BND but I am doing smaller chunks in other areas like SCHD, VIG, VGT, VXUS, SCHF, VTV and VTEB.. I did move some of my pretax money into a couple of actively managed mutual funds from Vanguard (Wellington and Wellesley) but the fees there are still fairly low compared to most. I'm a DIY investor and still learning every day. I hope to to retire in about 3-5 years but we will see what happens in the market. For risk appetite I am ok with a bear market for a couple of years but if we end up in a longer recession that will put a damper on things. Thanks for sharing!
You have been to a number of countries the past year. At this point, if you were going to settle in ONE country for the rest of your lives, which would you choose?
Hey Comrade! Wow that is quite a question. I think if we were forced to choose one country that we have been to in the last year to settle in, it would be Turkey. But Mexico is a close second. Best wishes Neil & Sarah
I really enjoy your content and thank you for sharing! To add to the JL Collins book recommendation I also recommend looking at Quit Like A Millionaire y Kristy Shen. I feel like that is the most in depth book for outlining FIRE, taxes, and geoarbitrage.
Only the trend is your friend in the markets the past 18+ months so stay involved. The US bond market is having its longest drawdown in history at 25+ months, the largest -12.3% since 1980 that was down -12.7%. Bonds are a bad hold for protection past 2 yrs if your hold them. Good luck to all of us in the next 12 month! 📉
Neal & Sarah, I understand that this was not an easy video for you to make; none of us really want to feel responsible for giving financial advice to others. You did a great job of providing an outline for success. I liked that you mention having cash on hand to minimize the sequence of returns risk. The FIRE movement is fantastic. I have introduced it to my kids while telling them that I WISH that I had known about it in my 20’s! I’ve been following you guys since your first video! Thanks for your transparency as you travel your journey; it continues to spur me on toward something similar. I’ve begun selling things as a test of sorts… I just sold a set of Italian Cantilever chairs that I thought I would have for the rest of my life - and I’m happy that they’re gone now. I have always bought things of quality with the prevailing idea that ‘quality items last longer, bring more pleasure and greater functionality. I think that this mindset has ‘chained’ me to my ‘things’ in a way that I am tired of now. So funny that you mentioned sports cars - I’ve been thinking about selling my garage-queen Porsche 911… that will be a real test (of dissociation with materialism) for me. I’m REALLY questioning my affinity for ‘things’ now. I may have to settle for storing some things first ‘just in case’ - we’ll see. I too have been curious about your plan after the 10 years of travel. In particular - if your thoughts going into this journey were that you’d probably find another country to live in (perhaps a place with a lower cost of living), etc. Looking forward to all of your future videos - I know that it is a lot of work to make them. Thanks again!
For the record, I really get a lot of value from these types of videos. I appreciate your willingness to share what works for you. You've given my husband and I several things to consider as we move forward to getting our money lined up so we can retire. Thanks for being open with your journey and also for sharing all the wonderful places you travel. Hugs to you both.
I’m getting that book for my 30 year old son. Thanks. Binge watching your channel. Appreciate the work you put into planning, shooting and editing.
I hope he's already investing. If not, tell him to start today.
I plan on getting the book for both of my sons also. 30 and 31.
In Australia there is a book called The Barefoot Investor, I bought a copy for my son for his 18th birthday. He was still at school but had started a part time job and doesn't spend much, its really well written in simple terms about being money smart incl the mistakes you can make.
7 years on he has graduated as a Civil Engineer from University, still living at home (for now) saving and investing his money, also through some great government initiatives, adding pre-taxed funds toward the purchase of his first home. We have compulsory superannuation in Australia that an employer must contribute 11% of your annual salary to super on top of your salary (ie they don't take it from you, it's in addition to it). I'm not sure where you're from but if an Aussie it's well worth looking up.
I have just started watching your show. I admire what you are doing but I think maybe you should have done this when you were a bit younger ten or fifteen years. To get sick abroad will wipe out your finances. I think that women like to have a nice nest to go back to . Ten years is a bit ambitious five might be more to the mark. Traveling is very tiring and stressful so I wonder how long you can go on dealing with some of the uncomfortable situations. Good luck.
Hi Neil and Sarah, I just found your channel and am going to be following you because my husband and are hoping to retire too and travel in 2 to 3 years. But we are still not financially secure and also still have a kid in high school. So this video was very interesting to me, Thanks!
I realise that these videos were filmed well over a year ago but still find them relevant, I enjoy and appreciate the information you share and how that has worked for you without giving too much away for obvious reasons. We are a couple of Aussies (actually a little older than you guys) and are debt free but have no savings or investments other than our family home and superannuation (do you have that in the UK). Remember we are talking Aussie dollars so that's turned to shite atm compared to the US/Pound and Euro - its' quite depressing when you start currency conversions.
Our plan is to rent out the family home and live off the income and if necessary supplement that with some of our super, which we are now able to access given hubbies age. I do wonder whether it might just be easier to sell the house and put the cash into term deposits, we'd actually net more doing this than renting out the house but we'd have zero growth on the property moving forward and we are in a down market. I think renting it is something we should try first, we can always still sell it if we find the burden of home ownership too much.
It's really scary and I'm very nervous as there is pretty much no going back to our jobs once we pull the pin, it's not even so much about the money (which is a major thing in itself) but what do we do for the next 10 years, travel does seem quite exhausting and in some cases boring.
I am not wathcing your vidoes in order - I tend to bounce around a bit so am off to watch more like this one, cheers H
We thought once we reached 60 that we’d travel for a year or two once retired. However what we discovered was that 12 weeks was about the most time we wanted to travel as it’s exhausting. We’ve now worked out after 6 years that about 7 weeks is optimal for us. So now we go away every year rather than travelling non stop.
Good advice. Very practical and only wished we had started earlier.
Getting into the details of your thought processes and the pitfalls is really interesting. The balance of location insight, how you plan and the tools you use showing some great money saving tips, and as in this video how you got to this place financially is a perfect blend. Love the channel.
Hey Steve!
Really appreciate the comment, it is difficult to get a good balance and we struggle with it in every video so to get a comment like this is really helpful.
Best regards,
Neil & Sarah
2 to 3 years in cash is key. Let’s you ride out the down times and good from a stay calm and carry on aspect. Enjoying your vlogs - thank you 👍🏻
Agreed. @2GoRoam mention they do that too. I'm interested to know, in the '22 downturn, did you use your cash reserve as a buffer and equally, is that now being topped up to restore a 2-3 year cash like buffer? I've not seen Neil or Sara mention whether they used any 'cash buffer' during '22 or just adjusted spending downwards.
Hi guys, I'm catching up on your videos and have to say thank you again as this was an excellent one. Your openess does help esp seeing as so many are desiring a change in lifestyle which necessitates financial security. I worked in investment banking for 14 years as an executive assistant and I 100% agree w your comment that no one will care more about your $ than you will. Becoming financially literate is my goal as well. I'll look up the book you recommended 👌🏻
Hey Kate!
Thank you for the kind comment, hope you enjoy our content as we go forward! Yes, I (Neil) worked in banking for 20 years and it is very much dog eat dog. You have to focus on yourself and the outcomes for your own life, we are all the CEO of our lives.
Appreciate you getting in touch again.
Best regards,
Neil & Sarah
I really enjoyed your straight forward chat about this issue. So helpful.
How are you able to consistently make your videos better each week!? You both are precious. I always look forward to your content. Very inspiring. I wish I had thought to keep more cash handy. The Turquoise Coast certainly agrees with you both. You look tan, fit and happy. You've got a great thing going. Your relationship is priceless. I hope you'll make a video about how you fell in love and keep things going! Thanks for another awesome video. I'm a huge fan of Neil and Sarah.
The thing is FIRE for one is totally different for everyone else. I have since resigned 12 years early. I have 350k cash , and 650 - 700k in Equity, which will be reinvested, ETF, Crypto etc.... And will do similar, identify locations around the world where my hard earned money will work harder for me.. If I get bored which I don't think I will, will simply take a contract role, work where and when I want. There's always RUclips, 😆
Excellent. Such great content. Feel like you are sharing a stories familiar. Nice to hear your journey and know I am not alone in experiences. Really appreciated you sharing. Finance is such a big part of retirement. You make me feel like I too can figure investments out. Just ordered the book you recommended. Really appreciate you pointing out tips.
We love your comments! You are so welcome to our channel! Let us know what you think of the book, it is a life changer.
Awesome! thanks for sharing!
are u doing something like the 5% rule to preserve the capital or do u have x amount invested and u plan to spend through it all in the 10 years
Almost a classic 3 bucket strategy 😊 Loving what you guys are doing and the way you’re living life 🎉
Thanks so much!
Hi Sarah and Neil, Another great video. Many people in the position you found yourselves in a couple decades ago would have buried their heads in the sand. You help people understand they can turn it around even well into one’s adult life. I am sure it has crossed your mind how much more you could have had by avoiding your early mistakes. However, that probably would have meant just having more money but not spending it! I don’t think spending more to do what you are doing now would change your enjoyment of world travel. It would be nice for this video to get to younger audiences but I am guessing most here are like me close to your age. Keep up the good work and good humour! Cheers, Rod
There's a horrible tax rule in Ireland where every 8 years any investment gain is taxed an exit tax of 41%, even if you don't sell. It scuppers the power of compound interest for us 😢
Coincidentally for the same reasons you gave I arrived at the same choices as you for investments. Hope yours will be OK in the impending bank and market crash. Currently I'm in cash except for unrealized losses in Bonds, and hoping to buy when the market hits bottom and starts to rise again. (many false dawns currently). Thanks for your videos - they are both helpful and inspiring, and much appreciated. Make sure you have the time to enjoy the locations you visit.
Great video. May I ask what age you were when you discovered JL Collins’ book and adjusted your investment strategy to align more with the fundamentals of the FIRE movement?
This was the right "touch", and kudos for giving what you feel is your best-guess experience, but not falling into "money rabbit hole", as I call it. Too many, dare I say WAY too many travel related channels go so deep into the weeds of financial advice that they forget they serve me better as a viewer to cajole me INTO thought about things, instead of being an all-inclusive clearinghouse for advice on money matters. A good video opens your curiosity, opens the intellectual appetite to go to expert resources and keep these things in important silos of information. If you have not gotten your financial house in order, you need invest 70% of your time in that, and far less in travel channels because you can't reach this dream until you crystalize the finance reality. Well, well done. Clean, neat, to the point, summarized and get the hell out of the morass. I love what you are doing here. You are filling the road map with markers, some easter eggs; if you will, but enough information to keep it interesting without bogging down into minutia. I look forward to the "what happens after the 10 years" part of this series. You have my interest, and fully piqued my dear friends. Hugs to both.
We saved in properties after buying a home on the beach ⛱️🇨🇵. There are many ways to do things 👍. 600% increase in equity. Time to cash in soon 😀.
Another awesome video! My dad was a big fan of “The Millionaire Next Door” and my parents did a good job of living by its guidance. When
Levon and I got married (also in our early 30s), he gave us a copy. While we didn’t treat it like a bible in exactly the same way, “pay yourself first” and “live below your paycheck” have been two of our financial mantras. I’m quite sure that made all the difference in our being able to retire early. Congratulations to the two of you for all of your hard work to get to where you are today!
I like this format you guys have got going. Information on the financial aspect of your life and travels while showcasing the area you are visiting. I feel like you are settling into your niche.
Hey Finneys!
Yes we are liking this style of video a lot so we appreciate this feedback!
Best wishes
Neil & Sarah
You are wonderful and this video very interesting indeed. Cheers 🍻
I REALLY enjoyed the information on what you’ve done with your investments. It gives me more to look into, to see if I want that. You specifically say to people, do your own research. Anyone being careful should know to do this.
Very helpful information! Thank you!
Take care of your health.
Great channel. How are you able to trade your ETF's if you live out of the country more than 6 months. This seems to be a problem in Canada
For me. I'm almost fifty. So I would like to retire as soon as possible. So I am taking much more risk than you. But it's also a lot of study. There is just individual stocks. I would like to retire in five years. So it's not like I am in my twenties. I could have invested in anything and just let it go. I have no complaints. I do what I want when I want to and how I want to all day long. I just can't retire yet. Not much people can say that at this age. I think. Whatever. I just never did have a life like that. So for me it's pretty amazing already. But like you said. You need to be financially savvy to get to that. It has been ten years studying and applying everyday to get to that. It was really tough. Now I can enjoy it. I did it all for me, my wife and my kid to enjoy it.
Time 13:40: I'm not a financial advisor but I personally would not leave 2 to 3 yrs of cash in a "near zero interest savings account" due to high inflation - your purchasing power is just melting away probably 15% per/year not the Gov's number of 8%. I would (again I'm not a financial advisor) look into stable coins that earn a higher yield. You won't out pace inflation but your money won't melt away so fast. A good stable coin IMHO is Gemini (GUSD): but everyone should of course do your own research. BTW, just stumbled across your channel - Love it....
As an investment advisor for 40 years, I am impressed by your hard-gained financial wisdom. You seem to have absorbed all the right lessons, albeit through some hard knocks.
This sort of content is what I’m really interested in, thank you for sharing such personal investment information. Will look forward to seeing future videos continuing on this theme 😎👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Great video. Thank you
Hey Lande!
Thank you so much, it was a lot of work so it is lovely to get a positive response.
Best wishes
Neil & Sarah
We can relate so much to those early life decisions that may or may not have helped the retirement life. Thankfully, Investing was an early decision even though how much was inconsistent. We still consider our retirement accidental, but very grateful we are here. Cheers, and thanks for sharing!
Thanks guys, slow and steady. You show it can be done! Water looks gorgeous! Enjoy!
Hey DK!
Absolutely, it feels like we failed our way to retirement lol.
Thank you for getting in touch, it's lovely here in Turkey.
Best wishes
Neil & Sarah
Hi Neil and Sarah. Thanks for the book suggestion. I live in New Zealand and I was wondering how relevant would The Simple path to Wealth be to those who live outside of the UK?
Hey Cath!
Thank you so much for taking the time to drop us a comment! The book is actually American but we can answer your questions quite clearly as we recommended to a friend last week and she told us a couple of days ago that there are a couple of chapters that are very US based but she ignored those and the rest was great. We would say that it is likely to be the best investment you ever made.
Best regards,
Neil & Sarah
@@2GoRoam Thanks so much for such a thorough answer. You guys are great.
And again, thank you :) it was really helpful to learn your how-to style and what your personal choices are for investment. It's really a matter of comfort, isn't it? WE can always learn something new. Thanks for sharing that resource as well. I'm def. going to look it up!
AND, Sarah, i understand the coach bag necessities!! :)
Hey Calico!
Absolutely, comfort... There are a dizzying array of choices for how we all invest in life and none of them are 100% right or wrong, we all have to just do our best. Pleased you liked this one.
Oh Sarah and her Coach bags!!!
Best wishes
Neil & Sarah
Great job in the way you are presenting and your format. Looking forward to your videos. Would love to know why you decided not to go more into dividend etf’s. A lot of FIRE use 4% rule and or dividends so I was really expecting that as your outcome. Love your honesty . It’s the key to great content.
Another great video!!! I loved Simple Path To Wealth - made it so much easier to streamline my investments and understand why I was choosing things. I felt confident ditching my AUM FA and going DIY, although I do have a low cost team I subscribe to for tax planning help. Enjoy the coastline - looks lovely 😁
❤️
Hi guys,
I appreciate Beth's lovely response to my last question. From my point of view, we have to assume that I have got my finances in place and that I am able to take the plunge. I do not need financial/Shares advice and I have a mortgage free house, money in the bank, but not enough to last a lifetime. I am not rich, just about "comfortable" like you guys.
You sold your house and all your belongings. What provisions have you made for when you return to UK ?
How do you afford to buy another house once you're home in the uk or.....
Are you going to rent until you drop
Think you guys are lovely.
Hey Kieran!
Thank you so much for getting in touch. We have a video that is coming out on Saturday 30th April where we address your question about being priced out of the housing market, so we won't steal the thunder of that one :-)
As it is, we have no provisions in the UK. We have family in the UK but that is all, we are trying to be as free as possible and then to see what we really want as time moves forward. Hope that helps a bit, but next weeks video will spill more!
Best wishes
Neil & Sarah
Great content! I don't think you're giving advice. You're just sharing your journey. I really related to the first part of the video when you talked about buys things like cars and purses. The marketing industry has done an excellent job of convincing everyone that "things will make you happy!" So we all run around in our youth collecting things because that will make us happy, right? Then the awful truth sinks in: they are just things. Keep sharing. It's great stuff! : )
Hey Mel!
Thank you! It can feel a little awkward making this kind of video. But you are right, frustrating when the reality sinks in and you realise the money you have wasted but it's all part of life eh!
Thanks as ever for getting in touch!
Best wishes
Neil & Sarah
Hi Phil
Where's best to get a camera case from?
Thank you for sharing
Hey Adventurous!
And thank you for commenting :-)
Best wishes
Neil & Sarah
I do prefer a mix of different ETF's ie: mining weighted and top ASX ETFs. just don't put all of your eggs in the one basket.
JL Collins. His writings in his blog were a calming voice of reason to me. Always confirming I was on the right track and not to fear the gyrations of the market. His piece on why you need F- you money was a light bulb moment for me and helped me understand the importance of financial independence... early retirement or not.
Thank you very much for sharing your financial journey and for your honesty. Personally, this video includes the content I was looking for (there's quite a lot of information on FIRE from USA bloggers, but not the UK). Congratulations on your videos, they are better every week. I have a specific question (I hope you can help with): are you able to maintain UK residency if you are constantly travelling and if you do not own or rent a property in the UK?
At present, my house is fully paid for, I have no debt. I have several years cash to live on. I have a good job. No investments. That is the only area that terrifies me. The market goes up and down and I just do not want to risk my money. Every single person out there says invest. But at 59, is it worth the risk? I may not work but 3 more years. That would clearly be too short a time to get a decent return on my money, especially considering the current state of the markets.
Hey Annie!
Our view is that 59 is young and whether it being worth the risk, you do need to look at the long term. As I mentioned in the video, a good book to read is The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins. I would say that the best advice anyone could give is to read that book and then take a view. I would say purchasing and reading that would be a great way to invest in yourself.
It is not a complex book and JL Collins is not a guru, he is down to earth and very relatable. Give it a go.
Best wishes
Neil & Sarah
I’m 60, and I felt the same way. No debt. House paid for. Two years cash to live one. My husband is collecting social security and I’m still working for at least 2 more years.
We lost a lot of money in the market in 2008.
After a lot of reading, and talking to 2 financial advisors, we went with the formula of 100 minus your age.
So, my husband is 70. We have 30% of his retirement money in stocks.
40% in mine at 60. We’ll adjust as we get older. We sleep good at night with that conservative ratio.
Inflation erodes money, unfortunately.
Rent your house out maybe that way your keeping your house for later on and gaining a income while travelling abroad
Enjoying this set of videos. Are you planning on buying a place later down the track or renting? Or will you cover that in your video about what will happen after ten years? Turkey looks lovely and ticks a lot of boxes as a place that’s ideal to base yourselves. I’m looking forward to going one day!
Hi both. I also have 2 to 3 years in cash and the rest in shares and funds, just wondering where you choose to hold your cash, is it held by your broker in a very low risk investment like long term bonds, TIPS etc or in a savings account? If the latter is it locked in for 1 year plus to get some kind of interest? Rates are so low now.
I guess for me I am less interested in investment info (there are dedicated videos on this) and more interested to hear what to do during retirement after both working full time (me and my wife both professionals and looking to retire soon) and how to handle the transition to retirement without feeling empty or lost
Isn't it interesting that among us people who suddenly accelerate our financial learning due to looming retirement, we often draw broadly similar conclusions? Some of the biggest takeaways are things to avoid, such as: investments with high management fees; investments we don't really understand (e.g. Bitcoin); investments that are too volatile (e.g. Bitcoin again). And yet I suggest that it's okay to take a small portion of your investments, an amount you are prepared to lose, and test theories with it. It keeps things interesting in the learning journey.
We just found your channel and we are enjoying your prospective. We ended up buying the Kindle version of, “Simple Path to Wealth”. This read is fantastic! Thanks for the channel and for the book recommendation.
Hey Cindi!
Thank you for getting in touch! Isn't that book amazing! Sarah is reading it again right now as I type this reply to you. We wish you well!
Best wishes
Neil & Sarah
This is soooooo interesting thanks for sharing!
Hey Anais!
Thank you so much, we really appreciate it.
Best wishes
Neil & Sarah
So, finally index funds and bonds or index funds and cash?
Love the videos; so well thought out and produced. I’m wondering if you put the money from the sale of your home into a separate investment vehicle ensuring that it will grow and be accessible when you decide to modify your travel?
Hey Carol!
Thank you so much, we put so much effort in and spend a day writing each script so it's great to get that recognised.
That is exactly what we have done, moved the money from the house into Low Cost Index Funds 👍.
Best wishes
Neil & Sarah
ETFs for the win! My favorites are VOO and VTI
VOO and QQQ for me. With QYLD for dividends
I love this video! Thank you so much for answering so many of my previous questions. I'm looking forward to find out what your plan is after the 10 years of travel.
Very informative, it was great to hear your experience, I really appreciate what both of you are doing! It's tough - but someone's gotta do it. 😉 I've noticed some new editing tricks on the vid Neil - looks good!!! Really inspired by what you're both doing, im sure it's not all rainbows, blue skies and turquoise beaches - hold up, it is..... but what I mean is, there's still life on life's terms and it's really lovely to see you both glowing each week because you're doing what you both love. Thank, and I watch all of your vids 🏵
Thanks for another great video and making us wannabes a step closer to the goal! Your videos are the highlight of my week! Thank you
We both have something in common Neil. Good women that get us straight. Now formidable teams. Great vlog. Lets have a travel vlog and show us some of Turkey. 😁😁
12:20 how is it doing today?
Great video guys 🤙
New subscriber here! Thank you for sharing your journey! Love the walking chats….you are giving me some excellent ideas for places to visit.
We and money were like oil and water, hahaha!!
Very helpful to know how you invested love this type of video. Still drooling over Turkey!
Hi both. Great video as always and love the beach! I'm now finally at the stage in my life i can put a fair chunk of savings away and to be honest its the retire early that is now driving me to do this. I have a small mortgage remaining and trying to pay extra off this every month. At what stage did you realise you could retire,was it when you had sold the house or could you have maybe lived off savings for a bit without selling? Will you both be drawing from your retirement pots at 55 or can you afford to hold off? Looking forward to your next update🏝🌞.x
You are doing amazing doing videos- thanks for sharing
Enjoy!!!! 🤸🏻♂️ thanks for all the info. Keep it coming! 💝
If you could only use one camera for your travels, what one would you use? I too am impressed with your video production, the sharing of ideas and just living life- much appreciated!
Great video, excellent advise! I am also now looking at early retirement! Looking back on my 30 years of working and saving, everything you say is 100% spot on. Dont waste, save properly and plan ahead.
Hey Dave!
Thank you so much. Difficult to get the balance right in this kind of video so very pleased to get this kind of comment from someone that is in a similar position.
Best wishes
Neil & Sarah
Good advice !
Hey Phil!
Thank you man! Can't wait to grab a beer with you sometime soon.
Best wishes
Neil & Sarah
@@2GoRoam only if your paying ….. every penny is a prisoner, and I’m Scottish lol
Didn't particularly learn much from this unfortunately. I think it's more helpful to be transparent with your portfolio where you're invested why you invested in particularly etfs etc. The level of cash burn and what amount you allowed yourself etc. Alot of these channels are becoming transparent which is definitely more helpful without crossing the line of giving advice.
Hey Ian!
Thanks for the feedback. It is really difficult to get the right line on this stuff. Our main concern is that if we give too much information someone may think "That's what I will do then..." without doing the proper research. What we really want people to do is research and build their own knowledge.
With regard to the money we allow ourselves, you hopefully saw our video last year where we outlined our budget for the year and we also provided a mid-year update on our budget.
Any ideas you think we could implement would we absolutely great. Really appreciate you taking the time to let us know in this comment.
Best wishes
Neil & Sarah
@@2GoRoam yes I understand there is a fine line between you being transparent without being misconceived of giving advice. But I think if you making a youtube channel about financial freedom and how you arrived there seems abit strange missing out the main ingredient which is your investments. Channels like our rich journey, money unshackled and many more all seem very transparent it's popular and it is helpful without pointing to doing things our way. I haven't looked at your previous budget videos but now I will.👍
Hi Ian, Thank you we appreciate it. We are going to be doing a lot more of this style of video so we will look at sharing appropriately as we go. Thank you for the feedback.
Best wishes
Neil & Sarah
You sold everything?
Great video. As you said, financial literacy is key to this journey. I spent many years just plunking money into my 401k without too much thought of the exact investment mix. Luckily I had initially selected a reasonable set of funds and things worked out. I'm sure it could have been better but I've done ok. I paid off my house a couple of years ago and have been doing more post tax investing since. My post tax investments are mix of low cost index and bond based ETFs. My biggest investments are in VTI and BND but I am doing smaller chunks in other areas like SCHD, VIG, VGT, VXUS, SCHF, VTV and VTEB.. I did move some of my pretax money into a couple of actively managed mutual funds from Vanguard (Wellington and Wellesley) but the fees there are still fairly low compared to most. I'm a DIY investor and still learning every day. I hope to to retire in about 3-5 years but we will see what happens in the market. For risk appetite I am ok with a bear market for a couple of years but if we end up in a longer recession that will put a damper on things. Thanks for sharing!
You have been to a number of countries the past year. At this point, if you were going to settle in ONE country for the rest of your lives, which would you choose?
Hey Comrade!
Wow that is quite a question. I think if we were forced to choose one country that we have been to in the last year to settle in, it would be Turkey. But Mexico is a close second.
Best wishes
Neil & Sarah
@@2GoRoam And one more question.. Which city do you prefer in Mexico?
I really enjoy your content and thank you for sharing! To add to the JL Collins book recommendation I also recommend looking at Quit Like A Millionaire y Kristy Shen. I feel like that is the most in depth book for outlining FIRE, taxes, and geoarbitrage.
Only the trend is your friend in the markets the past 18+ months so stay involved. The US bond market is having its longest drawdown in history at 25+ months, the largest -12.3% since 1980 that was down -12.7%. Bonds are a bad hold for protection past 2 yrs if your hold them. Good luck to all of us in the next 12 month! 📉
👍
So glad I found you two! Absolutely love watching your videos! I am 59 and my husband is 55. I would love to be in your shoes! Thanks for your Videos!
Neal & Sarah, I understand that this was not an easy video for you to make; none of us really want to feel responsible for giving financial advice to others. You did a great job of providing an outline for success. I liked that you mention having cash on hand to minimize the sequence of returns risk.
The FIRE movement is fantastic. I have introduced it to my kids while telling them that I WISH that I had known about it in my 20’s!
I’ve been following you guys since your first video! Thanks for your transparency as you travel your journey; it continues to spur me on toward something similar. I’ve begun selling things as a test of sorts… I just sold a set of Italian Cantilever chairs that I thought I would have for the rest of my life - and I’m happy that they’re gone now. I have always bought things of quality with the prevailing idea that ‘quality items last longer, bring more pleasure and greater functionality. I think that this mindset has ‘chained’ me to my ‘things’ in a way that I am tired of now. So funny that you mentioned sports cars - I’ve been thinking about selling my garage-queen Porsche 911… that will be a real test (of dissociation with materialism) for me. I’m REALLY questioning my affinity for ‘things’ now. I may have to settle for storing some things first ‘just in case’ - we’ll see.
I too have been curious about your plan after the 10 years of travel. In particular - if your thoughts going into this journey were that you’d probably find another country to live in (perhaps a place with a lower cost of living), etc. Looking forward to all of your future videos - I know that it is a lot of work to make them. Thanks again!
Thank you for another great video guys. I’m going to order that book :)
Hey Stacie!
Absolutely you should, the most common sense book we've ever read.
Thank you as ever!
Best wishes
Neil & Sarah