ERE Country Profile: Malaysia

I love Malaysia.  I have very good friends there.  The culture is really interesting.  There's a mix of Malay, Chinese, and Indians.  They each bring their own food, languages, and cultures to the country.  Malaysian food is as good as Thai food in my opinion.  The infrastructure is good and so is the weather.  This guide will refer to the situation in Penang, Malaysia.

(Rated from 1 to 3; with 3 being best)
Affordability: 2 - 2.5 (Housing is 2 or lower, everything else is about 2.5.)
Hassle: 2 (3 for visa, 1 for housing, 2.5 for everything else.)

Affordability:
Per bed, housing is moderately affordable.  Housing would take up a larger portion of a budget in Malaysia than in Thailand.  An average 3 bedroom apartment might cost as low as US $300 per month.  A hostel bed could be found for around US $6.

Gas and water are very cheap.  Electricity is moderately priced.  Free Wi-fi is available in some spots and Internet cafes are available.

For grocery shopping there are wet markets and modern grocery stores available.  Prices range from the same as the US to maybe half the price depending on the item.  It's possible to eat out at a vegetarian buffet restaurant for about US $1.50 - $2.

Public transportation is well priced.  City bus rides start around US $.50 and go up from there depending on distance.  A bus from Penang to Kuala Lumpur could cost US $20.  It's possible to walk around a lot of the northern part of Penang.  Other areas are possible, but more tricky.  Discount airlines fly throughout the region.

Health care is affordable.  You can get a dental cleaning for US $30.

Visa free (in both senses) entry for 90 days.  That adds transportation and housing costs that need to be factored into the budget.

Hassle:
The visa situation in Malaysia is very easy, which is a large reason it is my top destination.  You can enter for 90 days as a tourist without any cost or administrative burden.  It might be possible, but not necessarily advisable to step across the border and come right back every 90 days.  A more reliable option might be to spend some time in other countries between visits to Malaysia.

However, housing is a hassle.  There are few one bedroom apartments.  Most seem to be three bedroom places.  That means you need to pay three times as much for an apartment.  Finding shared housing is not that easy.  Also, one year leases are standard here.  Short term housing is much more expensive.  A number of properties request tenants of a particular race.

Good communications options.  Internet can be unreliable sometimes.  English speakers are common and Malay is not a difficult language.

Indian and Chinese cuisine is vegetarian friendly.  No problems finding good cheap food at all.

Plenty of reliable banks and ATMs around.

Weather in Penang is constant year round.

Conclusion:

Entering Malaysia is really easy.  In fact, everything about Malaysia is great except for housing, which does put a damper on its ERE prospects.

Country Profiles

A key part of my strategy to avoid paid work for as long as possible is to move overseas.  I think moving overseas will help with that because if I choose the correct location I could really get my cost of living down.  But the other, more important, aspect is that I'll have the opportunity to really connect with, learn from, and enjoy different ways of life.  To experience other cultures first hand.

So I thought I should write out some of my observations on potential countries to move to where I might be able to do that.  I'll be looking for low cost of living, low hassle, and a high chance of health.

Low cost of living would include:

• Affordable and comfortable housing with cheap utilities
• Housing includes a kitchen for home cooking
• Affordable Internet connection/Internet cafes
• Affordable groceries/outside food
• Easy and safe walking/biking and/or cheap and convenient public transportation
• Affordable health care
• No/low "gringo tax"
• Affordable visa procedures
• I guess to make it meaningful I need to say that living expenses need to be below USD 400 per month including one time and annual expenses.

Low hassle would include:

• Uncomplicated visa procedures
• Housing with flexible rental terms
• Housing is independent with own bathroom
• Easy to connect with outside world
• Easy to get around/find what I need
• Locals understand English/speak a language I (want to) know
• Not much chance getting robbed/shot/arrested by government
• Vegetarian friendly
• Legal ways to make money/investment options
• Easy access to ATMs/can open bank accounts
• Easy to understand and prepare before going

High chance of health would include:

• Not too many deadly viruses
• Vaccines/cures available for local illnesses
• Low pollution
• Low noise level
• Close to nature
• Few animals trying to kill me
• Not much chance getting shot
• Good healthcare available locally

I want to get to know more of the world so I plan to move around every so often.  That should provide me the incentive to continue examining new countries and creating new country profiles.

How I Learned To Grocery Shop

As far as my memory allows, I can identify about four separate food phases I went through while working.  This doesn't even touch on the extraordinary food experiences I had during prior years.

When I started full-time work I didn't care too much about my grocery budget.  At least in relative terms.  I wasn't spending much money on anything else and food was my main entertainment.  I don't remember what my breakfasts were, but I imagine I had cereal.  I brought my lunch to work and would on a rare occasion eat at a restaurant if co-workers were going.  Lunches were generally instant noodles, which I suppose was largely due to laziness, since I knew very well how to cook.  Dinners were made at home.  So this was my opulent food lifestyle for a while.

Enter the second phase.  I now prepare actual meals for lunch and restaurant visits are even rarer.  Otherwise, things are pretty much the same as the first phase.  I don't remember when it developed or if I had it from the beginning, but I did -at least eventually- have a food budget.  The problem was it wasn't strict.  If what I wanted pushed me over the limit then that was acceptable.  The food I bought was somewhat healthy, but generally processed.

Phase three swept over me like a warm blanket.  After a trip to Southeast Asia, I came back reinvigorated and with some new thoughts in my head.  I adjusted my diet and decreased processed foods.  I did more cooking from scratch.  I did more batch cooking.  I would make a whole week's worth of lunches, if possible, on Sunday.  I would get a few days worth at least.  For about a year my breakfast was rice porridge.  I can tell you that eating rice compared to processed cereals can bring some good savings.  I ate it cold in the mornings.  Dinner was cooked each night and I could give it more attention, since I was batch cooking my lunches on the weekend.  I was now saving a lot of time and some money.  I decreased my budget allowance, but still would allow myself go over budget often.

Phase four was dramatic.  This came after I had The Epiphany and I closely examined my entire food-eating process.  First, whatever rare restaurant eating I did was right out... mostly.  I went out once a month with a friend of mine to a restaurant, but that was it.  One time I forgot to bring my lunch to work and instead of treating it as an excuse to eat out, I used it as a lesson to not forget my lunch (through the power of hunger).  I switched my breakfasts from cold rice porridge to raw whole oats with fruit.  My lunches and dinners followed the same process as in phase three, but with different ingredients.  Processed foods were no longer affordable or in fact desirable.  This had the awesome side benefit of also reducing the packaging I brought in.  I slashed my food budget again and strictly adhered to it.  By the end my final grocery budget was $12.50 per week, with the possibility of tapping into $5 more (if it was available and necessary) which was shared with soap and stuff like that.

Your taste buds change after a while of only buying foods with only one or two words in the ingredient list.  Mine did at least.  Eating processed foods really starts to become distasteful after that.  I practiced as many types of cooking as I could and were practical.  To not be wasteful, I would eat whatever I made, no matter what it tasted like.  Although I would do whatever I could to improve a struggling meal.  The stakes are much higher to learn to cook well when a poor attempt means five awful meals instead of one.

Rice was a main staple, but I also had a lot of pastas.  Different types of beans, tofu, and eggs provided protein.  Whatever green vegetable was cheapest at the ethnic markets were what I chose.  Bananas are hard to beat on a price per pound count.  And I added other miscellaneous stuff to fill out the budget and my stomach.  But basically I could just look for what was cheapest, fresh, and filled out my food pyramid.  I learned to buy foods in bulk which had the highest nutrient level per dollar.  A useful budgeting technique I discovered was to not buy anything that cost more than $1 per pound.  I would go grocery shopping each week and carry what I bought in my backpack.  Since I knew exactly what my budget was and what my target price per weight was, I knew how much my backpack might weigh at the end of the trip.  If it weighed more than usual, I knew I had a good shopping run.

It's also worth noting that I would do my shopping on route to home after work on Friday.  I didn't make a special trip just for the groceries.  I took the bus like always and I could get off in the middle and get back on with my groceries and not lose any money for it, since transfers were free.  On top of that I also lived within walking distance of several grocery stores.  They were generally more expensive than the ethnic stores I liked to visit, but were still there as an option.  It's important to calculate the cost of transportation when price comparing.

The most vivid realization that came from my new habit was psychological.  It gets a bit more difficult to put into words now.  I came to this super-awareness that I had been shopping for my wants, instead of my needs.  I saw that before I would buy something because it ran out, not because I needed it for some reason.  And when I thought I needed ketchup for my potatoes I would reflect that vinegar and salt were just as good.  I was reminded of how simple it is to live.  To be happy with what you have.

Story Time: The Stonemason

This is a story I read a number of years back.  When trying to relocate it I found several different versions and this was the closest to what I remember.  Only one story today.

Once upon a time in a town in the land of China there lived a stonemason. Using hammers and chisels he crafted ornaments, statues and grave stones out of rock. He was very good at his job, and people all around admired his craftsmanship and artistry.

One day he was summoned to the house of a tax collector, who was very rich and who wanted him to carve a large number of statues in honour of his ancestors. The stonemason did a very good job, and was paid handsomely. But he was very impressed by his patron’s wealth, he admired the large palatial house, the servants who were always there to see every whim of their master, and the rich variety of the food served up all day long. In fact the more he dwelt on it the more envious he became, and he compared his own lifestyle with that of the rich man. He decided he wanted to be rich and started wondering about how to achieve this.

Now at that time in China there were many spirits, almost as many as there were people in fact, and some of them had magical powers. One of them had been following the stonemason and decided to grant him his wish. The next day the stonemason woke up and found he lived in a palace of a house, and servants were all around, bringing him water and towels for his bath and sumptuous dishes or his breakfast. The stonemason was very happy; he dressed in the finest silks and spent his days wondering about the town and the surrounding countryside.

One day he woke up to a great commotion outside in the street. A high administrator was passing through the town, accompanied by a small army of civil servants and drummers to announce his arrival. The high administrator was carried on a high chair, and as he passed all the people bowed and kowtowed to him. The stonemason had come outside and watched the procession. As the high administrator passed him he kept standing tall, why should I bow to this man? he thought. I have just as much money as he has, and just as many servants, more, in fact! But the high administrator was very angry with the stonemason for not showing the respect he felt should be accorded a man of his status, and ordered his men to arrest him. They took the stonemason outside the town and administered a beating to him, so severe that he was still lying in the dust when his servants came to find him and carried him home.

The stonemason was lying in his bed, nursing his wounds, thinking that it must be a good life to be a high administrator. I might be rich and have a lot of money, he thought, but they have all the power. He wished he could be one of them.

And behold, his friendly sprit heard his thoughts and within seconds he was changed into a high administrator. Now he travelled the country, carried in a high chair, surrounded by civil servants, drummers and soldiers. He was a very strict administrator and handed out fines and punishments everywhere. The people hated and feared him. One day he was travelling through the countryside with his entourage, in his high chair, when they saw some young girls picking flowers by the roadside. The stonemason and his servants decided hey should try to catch the girls and have some fun. When they saw the men coming towards them the girls started running and screaming at the tops of their voices. Some farmers working in the fields nearby heard the screams and came to the girls’ rescue, armed with their farm tools. They beat up the civil servants and took hold of the fancy administrator, tore his fine clothes off his body and gave him a good hiding.

As the stonemason lay in the field, nursing his wounds, he admired the spirit of these simple farmers, and decided the best thing in life must be to be one of them. Before he new what had happened, he had changed into a farmer. His spirit had obliged again. The stonemason enjoyed being a farmer. Every day he would go into the fields with the other villagers, turn the soil, sow the seeds and pull out weeds. It was very hard work but very satisfying. The only problem was the sun. The heat poured down by the sun was relentless, made him sweat and tired him out. He noticed that animals were much cleverer than men, some stayed in the shade, some, like the water buffalo, stayed in the water, only the farmers worked in their fields all day long, unable to escape the heart of that sun high up in the sky. As the weeks went by, the stonemason came to admire and respect the sun. Eventually he wished he could be the sun, and before he knew it, there he was, high up in the sky, an enormous fireball sending heat down to the earth. Now it was his turn to laugh at the little people down there he could do nothing to escape the power of his heat.

One day some enormous rainclouds came drifting by, and put themselves between the sun and the earth, stopping his heat getting down there. The stonemason was enraged, that these rainclouds dared interfere with him. He’d never before realised that they had the power to obscure the sun. So rainclouds are more powerful than the sun even, he thought, and I’m sure you can guess by now, what happened next. Yes, as soon as the thought entered the stonemason’s head, his spirit heard, and turned him into a mighty dark raincloud. He was so big and dark that the people on the earth below noticed him, and said: look at that big dark cloud. There’s a storm coming up, we’d better take shelter!

And a huge wind came rolling through the sky, pushing the clouds this way and that, tearing them apart, throwing them at the earth below. The stonemason saw all this happening from close by, and was enthralled. My, what power this storm has, he thought, nothing and nobody can hide from a storm. That’s the thing to be! His spirit was always close by, and immediately the stonemason was turned into a mighty storm, that whipped across the fields and the hills, terrorising farmers, rich men, civil servants and administrators alike. He pulled up trees, he blew down huts and houses, he blew the tiles off the roofs, he blew the water from the rivers onto the land; what fun he had! Then he came across a rocky mountainside, and he blew and he blew, but nothing moved. The rock just stood there, untouchable and immovable. That never occurred to me, the stonemason thought, that rocks are even stronger than the fiercest storm. I want to be a rock!

The spirit heard him, and there he was, our stonemason, a mighty grey rock on the mountain side, as solid as the earth itself. How beautiful, this is, he thought, how peaceful. From his position in the mountain he could observe the everchanging sky, he could see the fields below, and the farmers going about their business under the scorching sun. But he, the rock, just sat there, unchangeable, impervious to the elements.

One day he became aware of some unusual sounds, it took him by surprise somewhat, but eventually he realised that what he was hearing were human voices! He couldn’t remember the last time he’d heard a human voice, in fact during his existence as a rock, time had become totally meaningless to him. The voices belonged to some local stonemasons, who’d climbed up the mountain looking for some good solid rock that they could turn into statues and ornaments. They knocked on the surface of the rock with their hammers and picks, until they found just the right qualities they were looking for and then started to rain blows on the rock to separate it from the mountain. Our stonemason was horrified at first. How dare these people come here and disturb his peace! But then it dawned on him that however mighty and solid he was as a rock, a stonemason could always find a way to separate him from his mountain. He screamed for help, and his spirit heard him, and when he opened his eyes, he found himself back in his workshop, a chisel in one hand and a hammer in the other. For a minute he thought he could see his spirit winking at him, and he smiled as he realised how wonderful it was to be a stonemason.

In Which I Read A Book

I took my time about it, but I finally got a local library card.  Now I have access to books so my brain can grow bigger.

At first I tried to weasel my way into a card at the library 6 miles away (bikeable), but they wouldn't have any of that.  That's really too bad, because that would have made everything a lot easier.  I also think that system would have easier access to books I'd like.  Instead I got a card at the library 12 miles away (not so bikeable) where they say I belong.  It was really easy though, they didn't even have me fill out a form!

The problem is I don't want to get in my car every time I want to read a book.  So that's where my great discovery comes in.  The library, along with many these days, can lend Amazon ebooks.  I'm just a poor man, so I don't have any fancy Kindle, but I do have my creaky lappy, which has Chrome, which has a Kindle reader extension.  Now I can read a select few ebooks downloaded from online.  It's been a long time since I read an actual book, so I'm enjoying the experience.  I also researched and found that my old library in the Big City provides access too.  Their selection is different so that means I get access to even more books online.

It's not perfect, but I'm pretty happy about having such easy access to books.  I also like that I could use this service wherever I am, at least while my library accounts are valid.  It makes me excited about a possible future where I could get instant access to any book I wanted.

Don't Enter Without Knowing How To Exit

I used to take this somewhat literally.  Just a strange habit.  When I entered a room or space, I would survey my surroundings and try to figure out the different ways I could get out of there.  It was a sort of hyper-alert state of being.  Uber-awareness.  Though more of a mental challenge than anything else.  The only rule was to figure out how to get out as fast as possible and unconventional ideas were welcomed.  You might think this is silly, but don't come crying to me when you're on the wrong side of the zombie-pocalypse.

I employed this strategy with other aspects of my life also, though perhaps more abstractly.  So prior to opening a bank account, I would want to know the rules for closing it. In trying to decide which online photo site to use, I would want to know the process for retrieving my photos. By doing this research, I would try to select the things which gave me the best exit options. Sometimes the answer might be to avoid something completely if there was no way to get out of it easily or it required too much energy to maintain.   You might think of this as some form of commercial commitment phobia.  You would be correct.   It is not preferable to break a commitment (talking morals here), so the best choice is to avoid them altogether.

When looking for apartments, the rolling one month lease is king. If you start off signing a one month lease, then you are probably not getting a good deal on it (though it might be worth the freedom). However, if you let your one year lease expire and convert to a rolling one month lease, then you've got the lower rental rate and the ability to move with short notice if necessary. Or you could move into a multi-room unit when someone else was moving out. Only a name switcheroo is necessary, no new long lease. Automatic good deal.

When I first started full-time work I actually signed up for a phone with a contract (insane!).  I got a bit of a deal somehow.  Very soon into that, I found the phone was shit and the rest of my experience no better.   I sent back the phone and cancelled the plan within my 30 day grace period.   Instead I got a cheap phone with a prepaid plan and never looked back in the five years since.

So before I initiate something I'll try to understand its parameters.  If its attributes are positive and I can reverse the decision easily, then I move forward.  If its attributes are mixed, I'll decide if it's worth pursuing or not.  If so, I'll figure out how to get out of it.  If not, I'll walk away.  And sometimes despite your best efforts you still end up in a bad spot.  In that case it's time to start looking for the exits.  Watch out for the zombies.

"You Don't Need $1,000,000 To Do Nothing, Man"

"Take a look at my cousin: he's broke, don't do shit." - Office Space

It's not necessary to have a thousand thousand bucks to gain financial freedom.  You only need more money than you spend.  If you invest your money wisely, then it can work for you and you don't need as much money overall.  So instead of having 80 years of savings for your remaining 80 years of life, you could have 25 to 33 years of savings in investments to provide the same amount of money.

If you want, you could figure out what your number is by taking your annual expenses and then multiplying that number by something between 25 and 33.  Depending on your situation that may be a large number.  However, since you're probably doing these calculations before you actually stopped working, you project out how much you would like to spend each year in post-work years.  The trap with this method (which is so easy to fall into, myself included) is it depends on wants to determine the answer.  The problem is needs are finite, but wants are unlimited.  It's so easy to think "I could make it with this much money," but when you get to that mark you think "Well, I'd like it if I had this extra bit more."  It just keeps going.

Here's another way.  I looked at how much money I already had and then I divided that number by something between 25 and 33 to get how much I could spend each year.  That's an interesting difference.  All of a sudden I was free and I just needed to figure out how to work with the numbers I have.  I didn't have to think about how much I wanted, I just needed to figure out how to thrive with what I have.  To win, you can just change the question from "how much" to "how to."

You don't have to suffer to live within your means.  Once your needs are met everything else is cake.  Everyone needs to live within their means.  Millionaires can't have everything they want.  At some point they will come up to a limit where they can no longer afford something.  One can have a fancy car, but not a yacht.  Another can have a yacht, but not an island.  Eventually, there is just not going to be enough money.  There will always be something I might want, but can't have.  So if there is no way to escape desire through having more money, then I should not let my wants guide my decisions since they will always keep me running around in circles.  I'll focus on being happy with what I do have.

Building A Deck: AKA - Structuring Boundlessness

I had a nice 4.5 day weekend taking a break from my landsc-ation to have a construc-ation.  I drove a third of a tank of gas north to help family rebuild an old deck.   We started by tearing out the old decking, but leaving the joists.  It was quite the process since about all of the screws were rusty and just broke apart.  That meant a lot of prying was needed to get the boards out.  That was the real labor intensive part.  It was also fun to tear things apart for some strange male reason.

Then we had to take a metric shit-load of new wood back to the site.  The initial difficulty was figuring out the logistics for the framing and making sure everything would line up.  The mental part.  It was interesting reflecting on how each of us approached these problems.

Once things got rolling, then it was just a lot of cutting and screwing.  Eventually everything came together.  It was really rewarding watching a project go from zero to finished.  It's nice when you can work on something and see the end result.  The sense of accomplishment is much greater than with repetitive tasks that never seem to end.  My work was also much more focused than on the landscaping I have been doing.  The deck work was characterized by extended intense working periods, which contrasts with my time-is-no-issue pond work.

I also enjoyed being able to spend an extended amount of time with my family.  Trying to build up those family bonds when possible.  I will be disappointed if I'm not able to cram some Spanish and Chinese into the kids' heads too.  I also took some time on the first day to walk around the woods near their house.  There's nothing quite like a walk in nature.

That was my extended weekend.  Very pleasant.  Back at the landscape project things are taking shape and progressing nicely.  There is now water in the pond, but there is still plenty of work remaining.  An overflow system needs to be put in place and shaping and beautification needs to happen.  Literally a ton of stones will need to be brought in to keep the liner in place and define the space.  The decision hasn't been made where the majority of the stones will come from.  Could be from a farmer's field or the rock store.  More wood and brush needs to be cleared.  Some frogs, Mo, Frank, and Chaz, have already moved in even though it isn't complete yet.  I worry Chaz may be immobilized by the cold water.

I've also decided that I need to create a bit more structure in my daily routine.  I don't have anything that I really must do.  It's not a problem so much as not efficient and prone to unuseful idleness.  As opposed to useful idleness, which does exist and is lovely.  So I figured out that what I should do is figure out what I should do.  I have added one step to my morning routine and I'll try to see where else I can add some structure.

Finished

Gross National Happiness

I love Bhutan.  Never been there, just love the idea.

I'm sure there are many, many things that make the country great, but I think the most outstanding is their policy of Gross National Happiness (GNH).  Even though I play one on TV, I am no economist.  But that doesn't stop me from thinking they have an awesome measurement of national progress.

To understand GNH we have to look at what it is an alternative to.  Most countries currently measure their progress by calculating their Gross Domestic Product (GDP).  GDP is essentially the value of the widgets a country sells in a year.  But it's sometimes forgotten that GDP is not necessarily relevant to the well being of the people.  It shows you if the country as a whole is or is not making money, but it doesn't mean you are making money, or that you can afford to keep yourself healthy, or that you have the right to vote.  GDP means something up to a certain point, but beyond that it is harder to know how it is effecting your life.  In Bhutan, they have decided to look at a variety of different factors to guide their policy decisions instead of just GDP.

Despite Bhutan being one of the poorer countries in the world, they have decided that making the most money possible will not be their main goal.  The policy, which is known as Gross National Happiness, was introduced by their king decades ago.  The king stepped aside a few years ago to allow a democratic government take control (nice guy, see?).  The newly elected government also strongly supports GNH.  The king and now the people have figured out that there is a lot more to well being than the money they can make.  For example they may enjoy beautiful scenery and fresh air more than logging and factories.  GNH measures a variety of hard and fuzzy factors that they believe have a bigger impact on quality of life than GDP.  I would say they are right.  They have composed an index of the factors they want to track in order to increase the happiness of Bhutanese.  They measure:

- Time use

- Living Standards
- Good Governance
- Psychological Wellbeing
- Community Vitality
- Culture
- Health
- Education
- Ecology

The government implements policies and judges its effectiveness based on if it can increase happiness based on these criteria.  It's pretty radical, which is why it is so awesome.  If people get less than eight hours of sleep a day, GNH decreases.  If their rivers are poluted, GNH decreases.  If people agree with the importance of reciprocity, GNH increases.  If people have enough food to eat everyday, GNH increases.  And so on.  Isn't this what we really need to be worrying about?

Life is not all smiles for Bhutanese and I do not want to disregard the difficulties of poverty, but I think they have a chance to get things right from the start.  That makes me excited.  Maybe there are some ideas from Bhutan that we could use here.  At least in our personal lives when we think about what we need.

Here's a chart from Yale to send you off.

Don't Give Me The Credit

And you can take your bonus points and cram them up your AP¥!!

I did everything I could in life to avoid debt.  So far I have successfully avoided any formalized debt.  That means I did not take out any loans for school.  I did not buy a car on credit.  I did not get a credit card.  I don't have a mortgage.  I really don't like the feeling of owing someone something.  It's even worse when you owe a faceless entity.  It's the opposite of freedom.

Not System Approved
Never having debt means I have no credit score.  No formal entity would loan me money even if I wanted it.  I'm an unknown factor to them.  However, everyone wants to know your credit score these days.  Banks, employers, phone companies, apartments, vending machines.

I remember when I moved for the start of my professional work life five years ago and had to open a new bank account.  I gave the banker my information and he typed it into the system.  He was like "This is weird. I don't see anything. This has never happened before." and I was like "Shit, yeah."  Apparently, I'm the odd one out here.  At this point, I view not having a credit score as security from identity theft (not sure how accurate that is).

Credit Cards
As far as credit cards go, I don't see the point.  I don't want to buy things if I don't have the money for it.  Credit cards might have some value if they offer rewards, but only if there are no large fees, you pay off the balance each month, and you only buy things you need.  Credit cards could also be used as a source of emergency funds.  If you don't own a house or car, then emergencies would be mostly limited to medical and legal expenses, as well as possibly a plane ticket.  Since I don't have a credit card to use for this purpose I keep some savings in cash.

Cars
A car can be made unnecessary in many cases, but if truly needed, then you could save up and just pay cash for a used vehicle.  If you can't get around without a car then the problem may also be location.  Consider transportation when you're choosing where to live.  I realize people don't always have so many options, but I think location is not given as much consideration as possible due to our car culture.

Houses
I believe you could also buy a house with cash only, but you would need to have a long term strategy for it obviously.  You would also need to have modest expectations.  A large house isn't going to be easy with an all cash purchase.  This is certainly one area where buying on credit might make sense.  For the most part, I'm happy with renting anyways, so owning a house is not a concern for me.  One issue is that apartments like to run credit checks on their residents.  Having no credit score and no job may not be appreciated.  I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.  Even though I don't like being tied down to one place, I do like the idea of a place where you know it is your own.

I'm not sure if I'll ever feel like I need to build/start my credit, but so far I've managed to make do without.

How I Moved

By the time I made the decision to quit my job, I was already planning how I would move from the Big City to the countryside where I am now.  The most important factor for me was to make sure I did not waste resources.  First, this meant not wasting money with the process.  Second, and most importantly, it meant I should do everything possible to not let the things I had acquired end up in a landfill.  In the end I did a pretty good job.

I don't own a vehicle, so that added a small complication.  If I had a car I could have fit everything I have in it for my move (500+ miles).  I don't own many possessions, but I have enough to prevent me from just walking on a plane with my things or hitchhiking.  A rental car was an option.  Unfortunately, after some research it turns out rental car companies won't rent a car to someone without a credit card or a credit score (essentially, anyone who has their own money and doesn't need to borrow someone else's money).  That's okay, I don't like them anyways.

Then I looked into the normal option, which was a moving van/truck.  Those companies don't care about credit, but for some strange reason the trucks could only be rented for a minimum of four days.  It would have taken me one day.  I quickly did The Maths and it turns out the truck would have cost more than my possessions.  So that was out also.

The final (and overall best) option was public transportation.  As I mentioned the airlines were a no go. I could have taken my things, but the baggage surcharges would have been exorbitant.  A train was a pretty good option (lots of luggage allowed), but it was a bit difficult to get to the station.  And that left Greyhound.  I do not particularly like Greyhound (although I love buses), but the bus station was two blocks from my apartment in the Big City.  The baggage allowance was acceptable.  Greyhound it is.

I still had too much stuff though, so I had to sell everything that could be sold, give away what couldn't be sold, and recycle what couldn't be given to others.  And the poorest, saddest last things would need to be thrown away.  It was my goal to make sure that group would be very small (which is also an everyday goal).  I have never had luck with selling things on Craigslist, but this time I ended up making enough money to cover the cost of the bus ride and extra baggage fees.  I was able to give away a few things also.  It was surprising how many things I had to recycle by the end, but they made it happily back into the system also.

In preparation I also needed to make sure I didn't buy bottles (boxes/whatever) of anything bigger than I could use before leaving.  Not buying things is not a problem.  Through some sort of providence (great planning?) everything ran out right at the end or a bit before.  This was achieved in part by using similar things for similar purposes.  The philosophy being: soap, is soap, is soap.

Example: My dish soap officially sanctioned dual use as hand soap, so I used it for both purposes, but the rest I needed to take liberties with.  I ran out of laundry detergent two washes too soon.  I wasn't about to buy 50 washes worth of detergent that would then be wasted, so I improvised.  What I did was take the detergent bottle with essence of detergent and added some shampoo and body wash.  I used that in my next wash.  It turns out it makes a good detergent.  Just as good as the real stuff.  And my clothes where silky smooth to boot!

Finally, I didn't have enough luggage for my things.  I needed at least two large bags (checked) and two as carry on.  I only had one large bag though.  I wasn't about to buy another bag for just one move.  So I did what any wise man would do: improvise.  I just happened to be visiting my bike (sold) in the garage and noticed that there was one of those fancy roller bags in the trash room.  The problem was this bag was not large enough for my purposes.  However, I did have a large plastic container from my previous move.  I wasn't able to use it alone since it would be hard to drag a large, heavy plastic box at the same time as my other bags.  What I could do though, was create a Franken-container that would give me some leverage to drag my things up to the bus station.  Wisdom prevails.

Now I don't mind looking like a poor/homeless person, so I was okay with my contraption.  I did get some interesting comments on it though.  My final problem was that one of the wheels was broken on my improvised luggage, so I had to drag the 50+ pound bag for the two blocks.  The bag's handle made it easier to manage.  After all, if an ant can carry ten times its weight, I should be able to drag one times my weight.

Salvaged bag

Cut off the lid and sides and inserted plastic box.

Duct taped to bond and secure.  Rope for stabilization.

Journey completed! 

My Vacation From Unemployment

One week after I left my job I went on a week long family vacation to the Adirondack mountains.  I don't want to belittle my other experiences, but I think this was probably the most enjoyable thing I've done since leaving work.  I enjoy going there because you have time to relax and think about things.  There is nothing that needs to be done, but plenty of activities to do if you want.  It is a great time to do some reading.  Things are pretty much the same from year to year.

The cabin we visit is located on a medium size lake which is nestled among the mountain tops.  The area is the perfect location for all sorts of outdoor sports.  This year I went swimming, hiking, biking, kayaking, and sailing.  The weather is often cool during our summer visits, but this year it was pretty warm.  That made it a lot more tempting to get into the lake often.  Of course, it is nice to just sit on the deck and look out over the water.  At nighttime you can occasionally hear loons calling over the lake.  Nature is all around.  It's a nice place to just be.

Sun

Rain

Wake

Sail

Lily

Underwater camera test.  Thar be fishies!

Quack

Size of a small bird.

Perspective

Life After Work

I've been out of work for about one month now.  Some of you may be wondering what life is like without a job.  I was curious what it would feel like too after five steady years of work.  And here we are.

If you're still working, you may be happy to hear that it doesn't feel like anything special to not work.  When working, days off from work are great because you know you will go back to work at some point.  But when there is no work looming ahead, making you really savor the time, it's just a day.  I guess this is what days are supposed to feel like though.  No super high and no super low.  Um, I'd still rather be here though.  It's also worth noting that a little while ago I had a nightmare in which I had to wake up with an alarm clock (details are a bit fuzzy now).

I'm now living in the countryside as I make plans and preparations for my next move.  I'll admit I had this dream of riding my bike down the rural road to the farmer's market and picking up some cheap local produce.  Unfortunately, the farmer's market seems to not have any local produce?!  There was only a small selection of produce which looked like it was at least partially trucked in and it was more expensive than in the Big City!  Transportation is an issue.  Everything is far away, so I need to plan my outings to accomplish as many objectives as possible in one go (which is the way it should be).  I still miss being in the city though, with car-free access to people and resources.

Ironically, now that I have all this time, I feel guilty taking a nap during the day.  I get this feeling like I should be productive or something.  Conditioning I guess.  I've only had a nap on a very small handful of days.  I guess I might be sleeping more at night though, so maybe that's why naps don't reign supreme anymore.

Days pass much more slowly now.  With so much of the day available, one day can feel like one week has passed.  One week feels like two or more weeks.  It makes me feel like I'm moving slowly.

Completing tasks feels great.  I can't say I'm that diligent about rushing to complete everything I want to do, but I'm making progress and slowly checking things off my to-do list.  Here are some of the projects I've worked on:

• Scan documents so that I can still have access to them once I move again, but not have to carry them.
• Chop up a large tree for firewood.
• Landscape the backyard to convert runoff water into a water feature and pond.

I've met with friends and family.  This was one of my key goals for choosing to come here, so I would like to do more of this.  Even for someone like me who enjoys a lot of solitude, this is a great pleasure in life.

I feel like I'm supposed to be thinking about stuff, but I don't know what it is.  I have this problem when I change my environment.  I do have plans I need to make, since I won't be remaining here in the countryside for too long.  I have a lot of options and I'm not very good at making decisions.  It's nice when you can weigh one option against another to figure out which direction to go, but seeing the positive and negative in each variable things usually come out even.

With all this free time I even took a vacation.

The Epiphany

The Epiphany was partly that I was looking at the question from the wrong perspective.  It's not just how much you need to save, it's also how much you need to spend.  What are your needs?  Reflecting on my earlier life I knew my needs weren't many.

Through the help of the Early Retirement Extreme blog I was able to get a better perspective on some of the financial issues I was considering.  I read through the blog and comments, applying what I could to my situation.  As you will recall, I had been putting the majority of my investments in retirement accounts, which normally can't be withdrawn without penalty or taxes.  So I needed to figure out how to get at that money.

In some ways I wish I had discovered this information earlier.  I could have made a better go at it and avoided some unprofitable actions.  In other ways I think it is better that I didn't know.  It might have made it more difficult to work and I might have left without having as much savings.  I probably left too early as it is.

The Epiphany comes in two parts.  I'll throw in a preliminary bonus point also.

Bonus Point: Maximize Savings Through Reduced Spending
The premise of maximizing savings is that it is much easier to decrease spending than to increase income.  This was certainly true for me.  The more you save means:

• Obviously, you will have more money to live on.
• Because you will need less to live on, your savings will go farther.
• You will get to financial independence quicker.

Epiphany Part 1: The Number
Something that I was trying to figure out as I was planning my long term financial security was how much money I needed.  The problem is that almost all financial advice available is so random as to be useless.  The advice usually says you need some percentage of your income (ex. 80% of your salary) in retirement.  The ERE blog introduces several equations that are useful in determining The Number.  However, I think the most important point is the change of perspective to what you need (as opposed to want).  The less you need, the lower The Number.  Once you figure out what you really need then you will have the basis for The Number.

• Figure out how little you need to live on.  Really challenge your assumptions.  Even if you don't change anything based on the discovery it will give you better perspective on how you live.
• Historical research has shown that you can live reasonably safely off your investments forever by withdrawing only 3 or 4% of your assets.
• That means you should have savings worth 25 or 33 times your annual expenses in order to stop working.

Epiphany Part 2: Give Me Back My Money
The other revolutionary idea that came to me was that the money I was hiding away in my tax sheltered retirement accounts could potentially be withdrawn now without penalty or taxes.  Yay!  I did extensive research and it should work.  At least until the tax laws are changed.

• Investment profits in retirement accounts aren't taxed until you take them out as ordinary income.
• Just like with earned income, the amount below the combined federal personal exemption and standard deduction isn't taxed at the federal level (you would still need to pay sales tax if you bought things and state tax depending on your state).  
• If you can plan ahead or wait five years before using your money, you can get it without penalty also.  You would need to convert a portion of your Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA each year.  Then you can withdraw the amount you need to live on from the Roth IRA. (Read the tax laws, it's complicated.)

These two discoveries together opened a new avenue for me.

The Making Of A Free Man

In high school I became disillusioned with society and the system it had created for how we were to live our lives.  I knew what society expected and how it functioned, but I preferred a different life.  Well, I was a teenager after all.  I wanted to be free and live a simple life without rules.  I spent a lot of time thinking and learning about things.  I enjoyed having existential discussions and learning about foreign cultures and other ways of looking at the world.

During college I was exposed to new exciting ideas and people, but still felt disenfranchised.  At the end of my second semester I read Hermann Hesse's book, Siddhartha.  The effect was very powerful at the time.  It was all I could do to even make it to my final exams, though I did well as always.  That would be my last semester of studying for a while.  At least in a classroom.

That summer I went on a road trip out west with my high school friends.  Things felt right.  I spent the rest of the summer living in a campground with my college roommate.  That was pretty awesome.  It was real freedom.  I didn't go back to school in the fall and then at the end of the year I made another significant decision.

I went on another road trip.  Then I kept on going.  With new friends, I lived on the road and in the woods for the next three years.  I hitchhiked all across the country.  I lived in the desert and the rain forest.  I lived in vans and a school bus.  I cooked, ate, and gave away free food.  I lived almost entirely without money.  Then, with my friends all separating to the wind, having no direction or purpose, I decided to go back home.  I didn't want to need to live like this when I was old and had no options.  I was free, but having no money left me quite insecure.

Back home, I still didn't know what I would do, but anything was better than nothing.  Having purpose is important.  I got a temp job and started studying the martial art, Aikido.  I found that I did enjoy learning (formally).  I decided to go to community college just to learn.  I studied whatever I wanted, including languages I didn't think I could learn -Japanese- and got 4.0's.  I discovered that a bachelor degree would allow me to go overseas and teach English.  So, I resolved to go back to university and finish my undergrad degree.

After college I decided to go to Taiwan and teach English.  At the job I found, I worked about 20 hours per week mostly in the afternoons and evenings.  It was a good job though difficult at times.  It wasn't a bad life.  When I needed to make a return trip to the US, I discovered that my job wasn't that secure.  Being a foreigner presented some barriers to making a life working there.  I had more money, but was less free.

After returning home again, I decided to stay in the US and find a job that I could settle into a bit more.  Maybe I could work for a while and save some money for my future.  It took a long time to find a job.  I was looking in a specific field where experience was important and I didn't have much.  I did eventually find a job and I moved after just a phone interview with no idea what sort of place I would be working at.  I started saving in retirement accounts.  My hourly rate was not that different from my job in Taiwan, but I worked twice as much and could get overtime too.  Overtime was actually required.  At some point I had the idea that I could work 'til around 40 saving money the whole time.  Life was hell though.  Where was my freedom?  I needed more of my time back.  Money is useless without time.  I looked for another job.

I found my next job not far away in the same region.  The pay was lower, but I had more free time compared to my last job.  I also felt my job was more meaningful.  There were several parts of it that I thoroughly enjoyed.  But, I still spent the majority of my time at work or preparing for work.  For me, that was too much.  And 40 years old was a lonnnggg time away.  How much life would I waste just waiting for 40?  And would I leave and wander the world at 40?  That sounded old.  I wondered if I should set a financial milestone instead of a random age.  Maybe I didn't need as much money as I was thinking.  So I continued saving in tax advantaged retirement accounts.  Then about four years into my full-time work life, one year before I left my job, I had The (Financial) Epiphany.

Don't Cry For Me

I'm dying.

I've known for a while now.  Every day that passes is one day closer to my last.  Reflecting on that can be frightening.  Yet, at other times it can be liberating.  A push for change, to do the things I want.  It forces me to think about how I'm living my life and what my priorities are.

I should clarify that I have no known health problems and am planning to live to 100 at least.  But, nevertheless I still know I will die someday.  The haunting part is it could be any day.  It doesn't have to come slowly from a disease I know I have.  It could also happen instantly without warning.  If I don't enjoy today, I might not get another chance at it.

So if my days are limited, how will I spend these final days?  Most adults spend the majority of their waking lives at work.  It is the expected thing.  Some people enjoy working or at least say they do.  I'm not one of those people.  But I'm not lazy.  I'll work for free if I believe the cause is worthy.

Work is not the only restricter of freedom, but it is the most time consuming and visible one.  Even if you are passionate about what you do there will still be compromises you need to make for the sake of your job.  Also, in my experience, people who are passionate about their jobs are still more passionate about the vacations they take away from work.  To me, that says something.

As I understand the economy, work is for money, which is to buy things, which creates work, ad infinitum (you have to pretend that the earth is infinitely large instead of being limited in size and resources, which is what people currently do).  I am willing to give up consumerism for more free time.  It's not good for me or the environment.  Experiences can be exchanged for money, but they don't have to be.  There are plenty that are available for free or at a great discount with just a little effort.  So if I can mostly remove the need for money from the equation, then work would also be unnecessary after a certain point.  If I can obtain/maintain a minimal stream of income then the work would again be unnecessary.

My time is very valuable to me.  It is limited and always decreasing.  With more of my time available, I can determine what activities are the most important to me and pursue them.  I can work when and how I want, for pay or not.  I can study the things I want to learn.  I can travel.  I can visit with friends and family.  I can visit nature.  I can sit and be calm.

I'll need to spend my time taking care of the things I don't have the money to solve.  I'll need to be flexible and willing to change my plans based on my circumstances.

I don't know what makes a life purposeful and enjoyable, but I'm trying to move in that direction.