Becoming a Digital Nomad – Common Questions I’m Asked as a Digital Nomad and Financial Freedom Fighter

Having come back to the Bay Area, I realize my 2-year digital nomad journey comes as such a surprise and crazy story for people. I get many emails asking about my journey and how to become a digital nomad. I constantly receive questions in person about how I did what I did. These questions were asked a lot during my journey, but it still happens to this day!

I wanted to compile some frequently asked questions on becoming a digital nomad and financial freedom fighter. Hopefully this relates to you or helps you out in some way or form!

Becoming a Digital Nomad – Common Questions I’m Asked as a Digital Nomad and Financial Freedom Fighter

What sparked your digital nomad journey?

Back in 2014 I went on a month-long solo Europe trip that inspired me to see the world. People I met were extremely passionate about life and pursuing their dreams. I had been working for about 4-5 years, and I wanted to know what it was like to live life outside of the office. And after reading books like Rich Dad, Poor Dad and 4-Hour Workweek I realized a whole new world of freeing up time and making money work for me. I wanted to try to double down on building passive income as there was a lot more opportunity in the world than I thought. I ended up booking a one-way ticket to Stockholm 6 months in advance, and I forced myself to study up until that point. During that time I read over 20 entrepreneurial / online business books and researched resources online. I learned so much that I decided to make this blog to document my journey and teach others aspiring to do the same.

I’m back in the Bay Area and enjoying my job currently, but I’m still passionate about passive income, travel, designing my life, and inspiring others to live life to their fullest potential.

What were your favorite countries?

If I had a nickel for every time I’m asked this question! I basically can expect that if I meet new people, they will ask me what my favorite countries I visited were.

Though it’s an easy go-to question about my journey, I actually find I have difficulty answering it. I usually respond that some of my favorite destinations were Chiang Mai in Thailand, Lisbon/Porto in Portugal, and Berlin in Germany. There wasn’t a place that resonated with me so much that I wanted to move there, and since I was living in places month-to-month it was like I was adapting to new places as a local. I wasn’t spending my time vacationing and frolicking – I was building businesses, visiting cafes, walking around, and making nomad friends. I did take a few small vacations and some other memorable destinations included: Bali in Indonesia, Hoi An in Vietnam, and Krabi in Thailand.

How much money should I save up to be a digital nomad?

Figuring out how much to save as a digital nomad really depends on how long you are staying, where you are going, and the type of lifestyle you live. You would need to do some research and math around average expenses per month per destination you are looking to stay at. I actually decided to document almost all my spending reports: click here to access them! I created these reports to help people realize traveling doesn’t have to be that expensive at all!

Case in point: I spent about $600-700 average per month in Chiang Mai per month. Isn’t that crazy? This included food, rent, transportation, entertainment, and more…this is pretty much half the cost of renting an apartment in the Bay Area that you share with roommates. I ended up visiting Chiang Mai for about 4 months so I believe it’s a credible statistic.

Your expenses, however, do depend on how you normally live. I rarely went out or drank alcohol, but I ate out for every meal and went to fun events like festivals, movies, nightlife shenanigans, escape games, water parks, and night markets.

If you look at my spending reports link you would find that I would generally spend around $1,000-1,500 per month at different locations. This figure was a result of me picking cheaper countries to stay at, being pretty good about budgeting, and not spending excessive amounts of money.  A great way to check how much places cost include checking nomadlist.com and numbeo.com. These are great sites to see expenses by location.

When it comes to how much you should save up, I like to err on the safe side. I would recommend saving 2x the amount you believe are the estimated expenses of travel for however long you want to stay. If you assume you’re going to spend around $2k/month at each place, and you’re traveling for a year, I would save $2k x 12 months = $24k, multiplied by 2 = $48k. The best way to be extremely safe is to book travel in advance. I actually booked about 6 months of accommodations and flights before I embarked on my journey, so money wasn’t really an issue.

If you don’t want to play it on the safe side, $24k should be fine. And if you want to play on the dangerous side, you could start in Chiang Mai with just a few grand in your pocket. I know of expats that visited with just $500 in pocket and a dream. To me that’s crazy and risky – but again that’s just me. Sometimes I find I’m wired to be a little too risk averse.

What first destination would you recommend?

Chiang Mai, Thailand is known as the digital nomad capital of the world. Some other common destinations include Bali in Indonesia or Medellin in Colombia. If you are a beginner, I recommend Chiang Mai because I’ve been there the longest and enjoyed my time so much. The cost of living is SUPER cheap for a pretty nice lifestyle. There I also met a lot of digital nomad YouTubers that I had known before I started traveling, so it’s actually an awesome place to network.

One thing to note is I came back to the Bay Area from Chiang Mai wanting to be around more ambitious, inspiring, entrepreneurial people. I wanted to be in that Silicon Valley energy where people I knew were chasing dreams and seeking to impact the lives of others. I felt Chiang Mai had this energy of people wanting to relax and get by after they’ve made a bit of passive income. This wasn’t a bad thing, but at my current stage in life I wanted to be immersed in the hustle.

How did you make friends abroad?

I made friends by the following means:

• Nomadlist Slack channel

Pieter Levels of Nomadlist and I!

• Facebook groups (looking for expat / digital nomad groups by location)
• Friends of friends
• Meetup.com
• Talking to locals at hostels
• Co-working spaces

There are many ways to make friends abroad! You just have to put yourself out there. A lot of my friends were made through online means, and I still talk to some of my nomad friends to this day. The ones that I am closest with were met through Facebook groups.

How is medical care abroad?

In terms of medical insurance, I purchased IMG Global. A lot of people recommend World Nomads as well.

When it came to actual medical care, it was actually really easy to book a doctor’s appointment and be taken care of when I was sick. I went to a doctor that a lot of expats recommended (I forget the name…) but it cost around $30-40 for the appointment AND the prescription. It was a great deal. I am not sure about other countries, but I hear that healthcare abroad is more affordable and efficient outside the US.

How do I start making passive income?

Conclusion

This Q&A ended up being a lot of me giving my subjective answers, but I hope they help. Being a digital nomad was an amazing experience, and I still feel like I am one, in ways. Now, I feel much more freedom when it comes to travel. Because a lot of my work is online, I can get things done from the comforts of my laptop, wherever I go.

If you have any questions for me you can also contact me or comment below!