Around the World with Nomad on FIRE

My guest is Eric Richard—he’s pretty far along the path to FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early). In fact, in July 2019, he quit his full-time job to become a location-independent entrepreneur.

After learning about FIRE in 2015, he immediately began making positive life changes. First thing he got serious about was personal finance. By following the principles of financial independence (FI), he soon had enough savings & investments to leave his job and start living the digital nomad lifestyle.

Dream come true.

Eric now hosts the Nomad on FIRE podcast, where he talks about the digital nomad lifestyle and FI. He interviews other digital nomads, early retirees, entrepreneurs, freelancers, world travelers. Even Man O made an appearance last year!

In this episode, we discuss our world travels. Eric has visited 16 countries, including Latin America and Southeast Asia, but says he’s never touched down in Europe. I suggested he train thru the Euro-zone to quickly double his country-count. But I also warn him about how expensive train travel can get if he waits till the last minute to book.

We also have an in-depth chat about Chiang Mai—Eric loved how laid back it was. He said living there was easy—super cheap, great food and great co-working spaces set up around town. Chiang Mai instantly felt like home the first day he walked around.

We also talked a lot about Bali, Indonesia, which was his last trip before returning to the US because of COVID.

If you enjoy straight talk, travel stories and learning about different cultures, then this is a podcast episode you won’t want to miss!

Questions asked:

Have you touched foot on all seven continents?
[Question to Brad:] How expensive is it [to train through Europe]?
What’s your favorite part of the world to travel to?
What did you like most about Chiang Mai?
Where else in Southeast Asia is a hotspot for you?
Do you ever regret coming back to the US?
Has COVID created such a mess to your lifestyle and work life that you’ve had to make adjustments personally?
How does Remote Year work? What would paying a membership fee provide?
What did your work schedule look like?
What’s your ideal work environment for being productive?
How does having a girlfriend work with Remote Year? How do you achieve alone time with her?
How old were you when you decided to do a “Remote Year?”
Did you live off your savings when you were traveling? And did you allocate a certain amount of money to spend every month?
Did you run into a problem where you would meet people while traveling that didn’t have your same ideas of spending?
[Question to Brad:] Did you ever consider Remote Year or any sort of group travel?
Do you think other countries’ opposition parties are blaming their president for the [COVID-related] deaths in their respective countries?
Do you think we’d know if China were at war with us right now?
Are you someone who gets information and news from both sides of the aisle?
Did you ever have doubts about taking your girlfriend on the Remote Year trip?
Do you have a different view of American women after having met so many foreign women?
What are the main differences between American women and women in other countries?
[Question to Brad:] How did you know that your wife was the one for you?
[Question to Brad:] Did you ever try any apps/online dating?

Fun questions:

Social media – net negative or net positive for society?
Do you think not wanting something is just as good as having it?
Do you think Jeffrey Toobin should’ve been fired for accidentally exposing himself on a Zoom call?
What’s the best doughnut you’ve ever had?
If you were stuck on an island and could only bring one Spotify list with you, what would that list look like?
What is one piece of travel equipment that you’d recommend to someone if they only had $100 to spend?
If someone were to give you $100,000 worth of stock, in either Spotify or Airbnb, which would you take?
If you could organize a dinner party with six guests, and have either: a) everyone you’ve ever hurt or b) everyone who’s ever hurt you, which would you choose?
If somebody dropped $1 million in your lap tomorrow, what would you do with it?