4 Real Retirement Lessons I Learned from a Millionaire Digital Nomad

Mind blown

Sam is an interesting character.

She has gone through plenty in life. Let me explain.

• She was an investment banker for 15 years.
• Sam travels around the world for work and leisure.
• She left banking to pursue her tech startup full-time.

I enjoyed speaking to her. Sam always has something new to share, happy or sad.

I caught up with her last weekend when she returned to Singapore for a family visit. She surprised me with a new identity.

“I’m a retiring digital nomad now, Aldric!”

I could not believe my ears.

I thought she was joking.

But no.

She was dead serious about it.

“This is My Retirement Job. I’m a Retiring Digital Nomad on the Move.”

I was confused. What is Sam trying to tell me?

Sam appeared visibly proud of her new identity. I didn’t want to disturb her flow of communication. She went on and on.

I asked her questions when she finally reached for that glass of water.

“You spoke a storm, Sam. What is this retiring digital nomad thing you are alluding to? Are you retired? Are you a digital nomad? Which one are you?”

Sam was happy that I asked.

She was pleasantly surprised that I actually paid attention to her new identity.

“The mindset is retiring. The root identity is a digital nomad. Clearer now? Haha!”

Maybe, was my answer.

I did probe. It sounded strange to me for anyone to be a retiring digital nomad. Digital nomading sounded active.

It is not a walk in the park. Or, for the faint-hearted.

Sam pointed out my logic gap.

“Aldric, I enjoy being on the move. It is second nature for me. I can retire on the move, carrying my laptop wherever I go. And why not? I am the happiest I can be.”

Ah, ah.

Yes, of course.

I am not Sam. She understands what works for her when it comes to retirement.

And that is the point.

Lesson # 1: Avoid retiring into a lifestyle you do not appreciate. Our Golden Years is too short for that.

“Embrace Clarity and Your Ideal Life Comes to You.”

15 minutes in… and I still don’t get it.

“Sam, I know you have 7-digits under your name. Why not pursue a quieter life and enjoy the sunset? Many retirees I know want to do that.”

She smiled in disagreement.

Her reasons are simple.

• She wants to meet people and work on interesting projects.
• Sam does not believe in a sit-there-do-nothing retirement.
• She wants to finance what she does on the go.
• Sam wants to preserve what she has.

I was in awe. Sam is the most articulate retiree I met.

It is not easy to enumerate what we want.

It means we know what we want.

And that is the ultimate dangerous assumption in life. We assume that people with opinions know what they are talking about.

But we forget.

It is easier to opine than to know what to do.

Take, for instance, the following conventional questions everyone asks… and nobody thinks deeply about.

• Do you need $1 million to retire comfortably? If so, can you explain why?
• Must we leave the workplace for retirement? Who says?

You get my drift.

Lesson # 2: Be clear about what we want for our Golden Years.

“My Laptop is the Only Asset I Need for my Retiring Digital Nomadic Life.”

“We live in incredible times. Who would have imagined that work is where our laptops are?”

Sam and I had a long back and forth about the world of hierarchy, cubicles, large teams, and offices across different countries.

10 years ago, that mode of work was the way. Today, no longer.

One laptop is all we need to work and earn on the go.

“Look at the knowledge workers around you, Aldric. All they need is a laptop to work and to connect to wifi. That’s it! Everything else is a 1st World concern.”

I agree.

I don’t need a cubicle with potted plants. But I do need a laptop to stay connected and plugged in.

But I think there is something deeper than that.

When we think about retirement, we think about assets financing our retirement. Quite naturally, stocks, bonds, real estate, index funds, and other instruments come to mind.

Sam, however, brought up a point from an unexpected angle.

No one spoke about laptops.

I believe she is onto something.

Many people I speak to no longer believe they have a retirement. They have accepted that traditional retirement is out of reach, and they must continue working to finance their Golden Years.

Is this model broken?

Do we have alternatives?

Maybe… becoming a retiring digital nomad is one.

To start, we need a hardy, well-functioning laptop.

That means we need high-income skills to fall back on.

For Sam, they are,

• Online market research,
• Website-related build and support,
• Software support and maintenance services.

What are those laptop-based, high-income skills you currently have?

It is high time for me to think about them as well.

Lesson # 3: Build high-income skills and rethink the assets we need for our retirement. Chances are, we don’t need a lot.

“Can You Become a Millionaire as a Retiring Digital Nomad?”

Sam was not impressed by the question.

In fact, to her, this is the wrong question.

“Aldric, no. You don’t need to make a million dollars to be a retiring digital nomad. I made my 7 digits before becoming one. Don’t pressurize yourself for nothing!”

Clear enough.

And she continued.

“The point about becoming a retiring digital nomad is to live the life we want and finance our lifestyle. I’m 58. I like to be on the move. I must cover my travel expenses no matter how high or low. That is it, really.”

I love it when new perspectives hit me.

It widens my dimension of thinking, especially when it comes to complex issues such as my future retirement…

… if there is one.

Lesson # 4: Know what we can earn during retirement, and what we should not pursue. Chasing millionaire status during our 50s & 60s is an extension of the money rat race. Avoid that.

“The Standard Retirement Narrative is Wrong. We Can Reject It.”

Sam says we can.

That means the choice is ours to make.

We had a deep conversation about retirement life after work life.

It was then I knew she rejected this conventional thinking outright.

Sam has 4 whys.

• Work is critical to keep our minds going. An active mind leads to a happy life. Why not work at our own desired pace in our Golden Years? It beats grousing in the cafes.
• We will not be able to save enough for a do-nothing retirement. Just forget that. Continuing to earn to keep us going.
• We might not live until our official retirement age. Retire partially today.
• Why can’t we choose our pace of life?

To Sam, retirement is not the endgame. It is our chosen pace of life.

It is like people who go out to work before entering college.

We can decide our sequence of events.

She blew my mind… in 45 minutes.

Bonus Lesson: We have a choice in life. It is our choice. Choose the life that makes us happy…. for once.

The Close

Retirement is a mindset.

It is also a choice.

I find this difficult to accept.

After all, I have been fed an image of retirement. What it is, how it should be, how much money I need for a comfortable time at the beach sipping a mojito and getting a tan.

People like Sam showed me the reality of Retirement Rome.

It is not a destination. It is not a place.

It is a mindset. A choice.

And I must say this.

I’m enlightened.

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This article is for informational purposes only. It should not be considered Financial or Legal Advice. Not all information will be accurate. Consult a financial professional before making any major financial decisions.