We Retired Early and Travel Full-Time on $50K/Year

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]Two years ago we left our careers, sold everything, retired early, and began our lives of full-time travel. And inevitably people always say, "Did you win the lottery? Or are you eating rice and beans in order to make this lifestyle work of full-time travel?"

[00:00:17]Neither of those is true, and today we want to talk to you about the three levers that we use in order to be able to make this life work. We haven't cut back on our lifestyle, but we have changed our lifestyle to one that we feel is as good if not better than what we were living before.

[00:00:36]>> Yeah, and if the gods of YouTube brought you to watch this video, let's just define a little bit what kind of lifestyle we had before. We are from Canada, don't have any kids, and our lifestyle prior to retiring early it's basically a regular lifestyle of a mid >> middle class >> class couple working and having a house and trying to find ways to make, to save, and to invest our money.

[00:01:04]>> I mean, prior to retiring Jean and I would go on one to two vacations a year.

[00:01:10]>> Mhm.

[00:01:10]>> We loved going out to eat. We enjoyed spending time with our family and friends. We weren't really the people that were into kind of keeping up with the Joneses, so we didn't need new cars every year, or new cell phones. We didn't need endless amounts of clothing, things like that. So, we weren't so much into that, but we definitely did invest in our future, but also into experiences that we would have together, those trips I talked about, going out, you know, seeing things in the city and doing festivals, stuff like that. Those are the things that we liked. That was our lifestyle prior to retiring.

[00:01:49]>> Uh-huh.

[00:01:50]But that's only part of it. In order to live the lifestyle that we are having now, we had to make a few choices, and we are going to give you a few of them.

[00:01:58]First of all, our house in Toronto, we sold.

[00:02:01]>> Yeah, we traded the uh home base that many people really crave and desire in retirement >> Mhm.

[00:02:10]>> more for flexibility. So, we traded that safe reliable place to come back to for the flexibility to be able to move and live wherever we wanted to at any given time.

[00:02:22]>> Yeah, as a result, if you don't have a house, why do we need a car? We end up selling initially the first car, and by the time that we decided to start traveling around the world, the second car also sold. Why? Why do we need a car?

[00:02:36]>> We don't need a car. If we come back to Canada, we are very fortunate that my dad and his partner have two cars. They don't really go too far, so when we are here, they allow us to use one of their cars for gas and >> Yeah. Oil change.

[00:02:51]>> uh exchanges, but in the event that that is no longer available, we would just rent a car when we are back in Canada.

[00:02:58]So, we didn't see the need to keep or maintain >> Mhm.

[00:03:01]>> a vehicle here.

[00:03:02]>> Yeah. Yeah, that's true. Another trade-off that we had is communion with our friends and also with our family.

[00:03:09]>> Mhm. I mean, we've talked about this one before in videos, and it was a conscious trade-off because when we live full-time on the road, we see our family in concentrated pockets rather than every couple of weeks or weekends, >> Right?

[00:03:25]>> when we were living here before, we would come home to see them, or those trips that we talked about, we would be flying to Brazil to visit family.

[00:03:34]We made the conscious trade-off that we weren't going to have those frequent visits >> Mhm.

[00:03:39]>> for the more concentrated visits. So, now we get to spend a month and a half at a time or 2 months at a time.

[00:03:47]Right now, we're with my father and his partner, and in a couple of weeks, we are going to be with Shawn's mom. And so those for chunks of time, and we felt that that was a good trade-off, actually. We feel like we're getting more quality time, actually, with our family doing it this way.

[00:04:04]>> Yeah.

[00:04:05]Is it easy? No, but again, trade-offs that's what we need to do and what is going to work for you. So, that's what it works for us. And one big one I'm going to let you talk about this identity, especially in your career.

[00:04:19]>> Yeah, I think that's a big trade, right?

[00:04:21]And the more I think about it, I used to have a bigger issue with the the lack of identity. I was a police officer and now I am a retired nomad. But the more I think about it and the more that we're settling into this lifestyle, the more I am embracing the title of retired nomad, uh world wanderer, if you will. I think that that's a great title. So, there is an identity shift that you need to uh get over as well when you become a full-time retired nomadic traveler. But I think retirement in general comes with I think >> Yeah, yeah, I feel it's I am a goal-oriented if I I usually try to have those things accomplished as soon as possible. Sometimes it's quite difficult and we are learning that as we go.

[00:05:11]It took us some time that we are on year number two or should I say three? It's three, right? So, year number three now.

[00:05:20]And we are still adjusting as we go. Is it perfect? No, but we keep learning and we keep experiencing, we keep trying different things that is going to work for us.

[00:05:29]>> Yeah. And like we mentioned at the very beginning, we did not win the lottery and we do definitely do not eat rice and beans in order to finance and live this lifestyle. But we do use three very distinct uh levers, if you want to call them that, in order to make this lifestyle really work and function in a way that we are really enjoying living this particular life.

[00:05:56]>> true. The first one is going to be geo arbitrage.

[00:05:58]>> And what do I mean by geo arbitrage?

[00:06:00]It's basically looking for places around the world that the cost of living on those specific locations it is going to be lower than the cost of living that you are having right now.

[00:06:12]>> Yeah. And don't get us wrong. We are not staying in low-cost countries all year every year. In fact, we spent almost a month in Germany uh with well, uh the two of us as well as with my father. Uh next year we're going to be in Europe for probably close to 6 months in total.

[00:06:31]>> Yeah.

[00:06:32]>> These aren't going to be lower cost countries, but by offsetting time in a country that the cost of living is lower, we're able to then also stay in some of these more expensive countries as well.

[00:06:44]>> Yeah.

[00:06:44]>> to balance.

[00:06:45]>> We are able to balance and to give you an example. We just finished our second year and we had a chance and opportunity to visit Indonesia.

[00:06:54]>> Mhm.

[00:06:55]>> In Yogyakarta we were uh at the Hyatt Regency. We were there actually for more than 20 or 21 days if I'm not mistaken.

[00:07:05]Impressive. The cost of a night hotel there it was 88 84 dollars if I'm not mistaken.

[00:07:12]>> and everything included.

[00:07:13]>> Taxes and everything included. And you're not the only ones. We've seen so many other people from England, from the United States also living there or spending part of their time there. And you might be asking why? Because the cost of living is lower and everything was actually included.

[00:07:31]>> Yeah, everything was included because we do have hotel status with many of the chains that we're living in as we travel. So, this particular Hyatt we had breakfast, snacks in the afternoon, and then dinner and cocktails in the evening all included for that $84.

[00:07:49]Not to mention we were in a one-bedroom suite as well for that time.

[00:07:53]>> And that's a really good point because I don't think they're going to be living in Canada with $84 per day with everything included. If you have a place in Canada that this is actually the cost, let us know in the comments below or anywhere you are.

[00:08:06]>> Yeah, and I mean $84 for your housing, your food, all the bills, everything that goes along with it. That's pretty good for two people, so.

[00:08:14]>> Yeah.

[00:08:14]>> Uh we do use geoarbitrage in order to offset and not offset, but just manage our our costs.

[00:08:22]>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The second one that is also important is what we kind of call as infrastructure, which is loyalty eligible programs.

[00:08:32]>> Mhm. And we briefly touched on this with the Hyatt Globalist. That allowed us to have access for free breakfast and the lounges at Hyatt properties, but we also have that with Marriott as well as IHG.

[00:08:46]>> Mhm.

[00:08:46]>> And soon with Accor. So, we are managing and leveraging those loyalty programs when we do stay in hotels. We try to make sure that they have uh a lounge that we can take advantage of and that's that means all of our food is then included into that one price.

[00:09:03]>> Yeah, and it's funny because I do remember a few years ago, even when you were working, I honestly did not know that hotels they also had lounge. I hear about lounge, but it's usually related to airports. So, when you when you are in a plane, but hotels, that was the first time, man.

[00:09:18]>> Yeah. Yeah, in fact, I think and so it's not just even for US credit card holders, this goes for everybody looking to travel full-time programs like IHG and Accor are very uh and Hyatt, actually, are very lucrative for people even without holding a co-branded credit card for those programs. So, don't let it not having a co-branded credit card off-put you. In fact, I think we just have a blog article up on our website about the value of the IHG program. So, head over to the website and take a look there if you're looking for some info there.

[00:09:53]>> Yeah, you're going to see the math behind and that's exactly what we share with you. We are You are getting your points and then we do those things and we see what works and what it doesn't work.

[00:10:03]>> Yeah, and it's not just hotel programs.

[00:10:05]We leverage travel points and miles as well. So, most of our flights are covered by points and miles that we earn through our everyday spend on credit cards and we are traveling in a class of travel we didn't even do when we were working. So, most of our long-haul flights are in business class these days. It just makes the experience that much more and we arrive at our destination rested, ready to go and start exploring.

[00:10:34]>> Yep.

[00:10:35]>> And the third one that we have leveraged is we no longer or we have eliminated a lot of our fixed costs. So, we sold our house and our car and all of the stuff that goes along with that and those items come with a lot of fixed costs.

[00:10:49]You have upkeep on a home, you've got replacing a lawn mower, a snow blower, and all of these different things and all those costs really do add up. We no longer have any of that expenditure nor do we have the expenditure of a work wardrobe which can get quite pricey when you're trying to like maintain a an image at work or as you're going out in your social life. So, we have eliminated a lot of those fixed costs.

[00:11:16]>> Yeah, we did eliminate it but we also have kind of focused more on other things that we like to spend the money on.

[00:11:25]>> Yeah, so we touched on it again briefly but now we focus more on experiences in life. We spent money on going and buying tickets to a beautiful lantern festival in Chiang Mai and taking part in that cultural experience.

[00:11:40]>> We also decided to go and take a river cruise along the Mekong River actually in Laos. So, from between in the border between Thailand and Laos, we decided to do this.

[00:11:52]>> Yeah, or we spent a little bit more than most would maybe, but we had a private guide and we did a sunrise tour of Borobudur uh temple in Yogyakarta. So, these are the experiences that we are really valuing now and we are investing in now [clears throat] because these are the memories that we're going to carry with us as we get older and age down the road.

[00:12:15]>> Yeah, and it's imagine the situation back in Canada, January and February are usually cold months here in North America. What have we decided to do? Why don't we go and focus on our health?

[00:12:27]While we were in Southeast Asia, we decided to go to Koh Samui to a health retreat and focus on our health while we have a wonderful food as well as a lot of sun and we just decided to do this because we know how important health is in our lives.

[00:12:46]>> And that's a new focus as well and something that we're really um well, we're spending our money on.

[00:12:52]We're we're investing in our health this year and moving forward um so that we can enjoy our lives as long as possible and in as good a condition as possible.

[00:13:03]So, >> It's all about longevity.

[00:13:05]>> Another thing that we do spend our money on now and we learned this after our first year and are learning it through our second year as well, but we are spending more money on our accommodation. We have realized that where we stay really does play into how we feel about a location and how happy we are while we're staying there. And sometimes if we spend a little bit more money and get a little bit of a bigger or a nicer Airbnb, or we do stay at a a hotel chain that has a little bit of a higher tier to it that allows us to have access to those lounges, it really does add to our quality of life and our our happiness while we're in a location.

[00:13:45]>> Yeah, yeah. The more that we travel, the more that we know that some of those things, yes, they are really nice, but at the same time, you got to remove some of the decision fatigue that you end up having along all of those years. And when we have a better stay, it also means that all of those decisions, where am I going to have breakfast today?

[00:14:07]Where am I going to have dinner tonight?

[00:14:09]It might be bragging, but honestly, if you do this for more, and in our case, than 300 days in a year, it is quite a lot.

[00:14:19]>> Yeah, it can be a lot, so quality of your accommodation is something that we do spend money on.

[00:14:25]>> Mhm.

[00:14:26]>> So, that's how we are making our full-time travel lifestyle work. And I think there are a few things that have surprised us over the last 2 years of retirement and full-time travel. One of which is the financial aspect. So, we use these levers in order to make sure that we are sustainable financially, >> Mhm.

[00:14:46]>> but over the course of the past 2 years, we've noticed that our net worth and our our finances are actually improving.

[00:14:53]Even though we are spending the money and living a really great quality of life, our net worth is is going up.

[00:15:00]>> Yeah, in fact, we just released the video for our members this month. It was actually at all-time high, which is quite good. And you might be thinking, okay, what is the budget that you guys have? We kind of have an idea of how much we wanted to spend per year. And to give an example, for 2026, it's 50,000 US dollars that we're planning to spend.

[00:15:21]>> Yeah. Is it going to be more? Is it going to be less? It kind of depends, but we are not concerned at all with how much we'll be spending.

[00:15:29]And you might say, "Really?" Yeah, I don't Of course, I don't want to plan then spend like $100,000 in a year, but >> Yeah.

[00:15:37]>> it's in our control.

[00:15:38]>> more a guideline that we're living under. Yeah.

[00:15:41]>> Um and some things we did get wrong and we touched on it with the accommodation thing, but at the very beginning we were a little too rigid on the price point for our accommodations and that led to a few uncomfortable Airbnb situations or less than ideal hotel stays.

[00:15:58]>> Mhm.

[00:15:59]>> And so we sat down, we had a conversation, and we decided that there were things that were worth spending the money on. Accommodation was one of them.

[00:16:07]>> one. Yeah.

[00:16:07]>> Um travel comfort-wise was another one.

[00:16:11]>> Yeah.

[00:16:12]>> And just the experiences. If we're going to be traveling to a lot of these locations, we don't want to say we're not going to do a hot air balloon ride over Teotihuacan because it costs $500.

[00:16:24]Uh we want to be able to spend that money, have that experience, and and have that memory for the future.

[00:16:31]>> we are basically living our golden years as people usually talk about, right?

[00:16:36]>> Mhm.

[00:16:36]>> Is there anything that you'd tell yourself 2 years ago?

[00:16:40]>> Well, definitely don't worry about the finances. They're going to look after themselves. It's going to be a lot of fun and a great journey and just learn to relax a little bit earlier and enjoy the ride.