View money values in British Pounds, US dollars or Swedish Kroner.
“How do you afford to be a nomad?” That is the single most common question I get. To answer it, I post a financial review each year. This is the third instalment, covering 1 August 2013 to 31 July 2014.
As a quick recap, here are the closing remarks from the first two.
[2012] My net money flow for the year was a negative £9,149$14,913106 037 kr (£25$41290 kr/day or £762$1,2428 832 kr/month). I am bleeding money, but the blood flow is slow enough that I can go on for a while longer. However, in order to make my nomadic life sustainable, I will have to start earning money. Starting today, my next focus is to establish a new geo-independent career! Stay tuned!
[2013] I’ve earned roughly the same amount that I’ve spent, so I’m no longer bleeding money. However, considering that I haven’t paid any rent this year, I would not call my current nomadic life economically sustainable. […] I’m also tired of living like a poor pauper. I’m tired of not being able to eat out, hire a car or go to some activity because of money issues. […] In short, I want to raise my living standards. I know I ended my first financial review with the same sentiment, but really, it is now time to establish a new profitable geo-independent career!
So, was this the year that I managed to create a profitable sustainable geo-independent career? Read on!
Keep in mind that these are my finances, and useful as I hope them to be, they are still only an example of what it costs to live a nomadic lifestyle. Your mileage will vary!
Earnings
Early on in this financial year, I started work as a full-time software engineer. This one factor completely changed my finances. No more low-paid and sporadic freelance work! Oh no, now I have a good and steady income!
Like stated last year, the purpose of these financial reviews is to help prospective nomads estimate their own finances. Publicising my salary wouldn’t help you as you know best what skills you have and how you can monetize them. But, I can say that I am earning enough to stop worrying about my finances. The shoe-string budget has been severed, as you’ll see in the next section.
There really isn’t that much more to say. I work a lot, and it pays. Emotionally, it feels damn good to earn a proper living once again, and I’m really enjoying the work as well. It comes at a steep cost in time (I don’t feel like I have the time to work out any more, and my blog-posting rate has fallen drastically.) but it is well worth it.
Expenditures
My third year broke the trend of my hobo-living. I started eating out again, I afforded me a few (ok, alot) board games. I didn’t think that I had increased my expenditures that much though, until I checked the numbers while writing this article.
I spent a grand total of £17,062$27,811197 749 kr. That breaks down to £47$77545 kr per day or £1,422$2,31816 481 kr per month. That is twice the amount of last year and 40% more than 2012.
That is everything that I’ve spent, including food, rent, travel and fun. (A lot of fun!) Rent accounts for 14% of my total expenditures at £2,327$3,79326 970 kr. Flights account for 5% at £887$1,44610 280 kr. This number would be a lot higher if it wasn’t for my airline patron allowing me to fly on cheap stand-by tickets. (Thank you!)
The Bottom Line
This job of mine was the solution to my money-worries. It has completely changed my living standards. I can finally order what I want from a menu instead of just picking the cheapest option, or avoiding restaurants all together.
Yet even with my new approach to spending, the nomadic lifestyle hasn’t turned out to be a financial sink-hole. £17,062$27,811197 749 kr total expenditures for a year isn’t an enormous number. I certainly spent more than that living in London. So the idea that a nomadic lifestyle is only for the rich is false. And if you are willing to turn every penny like I did during my first two years, you can do it for a lot less.
Finding a way to get a steady income while on the road is difficult though. I searched for this kind of job for two years before I found it, and I am in a profession that is well-suited to remote-working. Your mileage will vary! Perhaps you’ll sort out your income in a year, or it may take five! I hope, however, that these financial reviews have helped you to estimate the financial risks involved and manage them, should you wish to become a nomad.
Amazing to me you spent so little and yet lived so well. The experiences are what I am talking about. I have no intention of becoming a Nomad but reading this has given me a boost simply because my own income will be cut drastically in the next two years and I have been having some concerns as to HOW to manage. I see it can be done. I can live, more carefully as to outflow of $$$ obviously, but can still see myself doing the things which matter most. Thank you for this.
One of the things I did while I lived abroad was teach English in South Korea to support my travels. I saved up a bunch of money from that and backpacked most of Asia. This time around, I’ll be wwoofing it through South America, this way I don’t have to spend the money I’m saving up. I plan on doing some tribal visits as well. We’ll see how this turns out. Like you said…it’s all an experiment 😀 Thanks for your courage!
Forgive me if this question comes from insufficient reading of your history, but have you tried picking up simple, hourly-wage jobs such as you can get at coffee shops, grocery stores and construction crews? My thought is that you could work in a place for a few months, save up enough cash to push on, and then move. What do you think?
I never did try that no. I enjoy my technology jobs too much, and the one I have now works really well.