First Livestream

Introduction and Audio Troubleshooting

Life Advice for 20-Year-Olds

12:21 How about now? Testing. That's so strange. Wonderful. Oh wow, okay, thank you so much guys for being patient. I really, really appreciate it. I have been trying to get the mic working on this thing forever. Let's see if I can get something to kind of prop it up. That's incredible.

13:19 Okay, so thank you guys for joining today. This is kind of my day off work. Class isn't going that well this fall, so I'm just going to prioritize doing some preparation for YouTube and trying to continue to put time into YouTube and grow and evolve and learn. So yeah, like I said, thanks so much for joining today. This is my first livestream and I'm really glad to handle the audio issues.

13:58 So the question that I first want to answer is, I think it's uh, Thievi. So I'm actually in the United States for Thievi. It's interesting that I'll just go ahead and said, I am half Indian, but I was born in the United States. I haven't yet been to India, but I really would like to go in the future.

14:23 I had plans to go last spring. So last spring I was in Thailand and I was really enjoying my time in Thailand. But basically what happened was that, of course, the pandemic shut everything down. I was actually looking at flights from Bangkok to Chennai, and from Chennai I was going to eventually visit Bangalore. But that didn't materialize, so I'd like to go next year.

14:53 But yeah, as far as where I am in the states, I'm in the city of Nashville. So for those of you don't know, that's where I'm from. I'm from Nashville, and it's just a really cool city, growing a lot. A whole lot going on, a whole lot of changes, and it's been really interesting to see a lot of these things over the years.

15:25 So how are you guys doing today? What all are you guys getting into today and working on? Oh, that's a good question. Okay, so I just turned 29 a few weeks ago. Some friends here threw a get-together for me, super cool.

15:40 But I got to answer your question: if I could be 20 again, what would I do? Well, the opportunities now are much different than they were when I was 20. So I think now, especially, it's pretty obvious that computers are taking over. When I was younger, I was kind of told computers are a hobby, something that you do for entertainment, not really something that has a lot of career potential.

16:10 But when I was 20, I was so focused on making short-term money. I was selling a lot of stuff on Etsy and Amazon. What I should have been doing is I should have been focusing on developing digital remote skills. The challenge with selling e-commerce is I was also doing order fulfillment, so I had to be in that place.

16:28 I would travel like Thursday through Sunday, especially in the summers, I would be gone around the Midwestern US. And then from Monday through Thursday, and even sometimes Friday morning, I'd be shipping packages. And that sounds great, you know, I didn't have to commute to a job. I did a lot of stuff just from my apartment.

16:53 But the downside is, eventually I visited Southeast Asia. That was when I was in my mid-20s, I think I was 25 or 26, and I realized, hey, I really want to travel the world. Prior to visiting Thailand, I thought that, you know, why would I ever need to leave the United States? I mean, there's so much to do in the US.

17:13 And so I really would have broadened my horizons, I think, as a 20-year-old and been more willing to go abroad. I didn't actually leave the country until I was 22 for a study abroad. And basically, I was faced with a choice of taking a super boring class and extending my college. At that time, I was doing political science because I wanted to go to law school.

17:35 I just, when I was 20, I thought that I would, I didn't fully consider that the choices that I'd be making would lend themselves to me having to stay in the same place forever. And I think for me personally, I enjoy traveling. And so, yeah, if I could do things over again, I'd focus on these remote skills, these digital skills.

Developing Digital Skills and Business Acumen

17:55 I'd experiment with a few of them. You know, I wouldn't just only look at programming, although you do kind of eventually need to pick one and stick with it if you want to have those compounding benefits. It's a lot better in my mind to have five years of experience as a programmer than, you know, one year of experience as a programmer, one year in video editing, one year bookkeeping, like all these random different things.

18:23 Because it seems like there's less competition at the intermediate and higher skill level professionals. So, like, it's really hard to get a job as an entry-level software developer. Most, it's just so expensive to train software engineers. It's so expensive to train these people that most places don't want to spend the money.

18:42 So if you're able to, as a beginner, and like I said, this is what I would have done, knowing what I know now, I would have focused on trying to get to that intermediate skill level with a digital skill. And I would have, rather than setting up e-commerce stores, which I did. I made a lot of good money, don't get me wrong.

19:00 Like I made a lot of money, I got to see a lot of things, I enjoyed a really extravagant lifestyle. By my standards, I mean, I had a two-bedroom apartment on, by Centennial Park in Nashville, which for those who don't know, is a really nice park and a really desirable location to be in.

19:23 But I also would have lowered my expenses. If you know, I'm not sure at what point you're at as far as success goes, but I became really successful really quickly and did not know how to handle it. I did not know how to manage my money. I had grown up with so little that I just didn't know how to deal with it. And so I blew a lot of money.

19:48 And I didn't really think that it might end one day. I thought I'll just be making lots of money forever, and it'll be really easy to make money. And because of that, I just took things for granted. Didn't understand the economy slows down. Didn't understand, you know, some of it was being in the right place at the right time. I'm not going to discount the hard work aspect.

20:11 But you know, if I was funny, I just, I do focus on a couple things: one, improving my skill set to where I'm more of an intermediate than a beginner. And then two, I would moderate my expenses as much as I can. Attempt to save as much, but not just save cash, because we see that the US government's printing a lot.

20:32 That's the third thing I would have done. I would have focused on, rather than just building up a bunch of cash, buying investments. Because I could have had a house in Nashville. You know, I had the finances and the income and the proof of income and the cash to buy a house. But everybody in my immediate family told me it's a scam, and they're gonna crash.

20:52 And all this crap. And they've doubled or almost tripled in some cases since then in price. So it would have made a lot more sense for me, rather than to just worry about every potential terrible scenario, to be willing to invest not just in myself through education, but also investing in myself through buying stocks, or buying crypto, or buying real estate.

21:21 Once again, this is what I should have done differently. And I'm not suggesting others to go out and buy Bitcoin or go out and buy a house or go buy this or that, but to understand that, you know, our government prints tons of money. We're having currency problems right now, and it's really important for young people, especially, to be attempting to get some assets for themselves because you don't know what's going to happen in the future.

21:49 And for me, when I was that age, I was partying a lot. I was visiting all these different cities, and that was cool. Like, I have a lot more experience in America, I think, than most people. But I would have been a little bit more open-minded. I wasn't, I don't think I was as open-minded when I was 20 as I am now, ironically.

22:10 Back then, I felt like, you know, I was very convinced that I was very sharp and knew what I was doing and would not have considered something like going to Thailand. But things changed. Something else I'd kind of consider alongside that is I'd learned some business skills.

22:30 I might, you know, if you're not making a lot when you start out as a freelancer, which nobody is, when I started my online business, I think I made, well, I was in the red, but like I had a hundred dollars in sales the first month. So obviously, even 10 years ago, $100 is not going to even pay my rent.

22:52 But, you know, it's trying to think of like how to kind of elaborate more on that question. Yeah, learning business skills. You know, if you're not making a lot as a freelancer, you're not making a lot as a, you know, starting out, then it might be worthwhile for you to, I don't think it's the worst idea to work for a business at the same time.

23:36 You don't want to get caught up in it where you completely give up your ideas or love for travel. But at the same time, it can be really valuable when you're young and don't have any business experience to go and see how the professionals do it. See their standard operating procedures, see how they handle different kinds of issues.

Learning from Professionals and Delegation

23:54 Because oftentimes, the big businesses have a lot of good things figured out. You don't have to like reinvent the wheel. So that can be really good. And even like Brett Dev, he's somebody that does a great channel. He worked for a web development firm for several years before he became a freelancer. So that's something else I'd consider.

24:14 Is don't put a bunch of pressure on yourself starting out to be making $10,000 a month as a freelancer overnight. I mean, just getting those business skills. And yeah, he's really good. I like Red Dead too. Getting those kinds of skills from professionals that do have to meet.

24:35 From professionals that do have to meet deadlines, that do have to meet timelines, that do things in a structured way, that perhaps even learn processes for working with others. So, one idea that you might have is that from working that kind of business, you learn about task delegation. You know how work is divided up. You know how if eventually you start to get more work than you can handle, you want to bring on some professionals to work under you or for your business, then you know what that looks like and you're not confused.

25:10 Because I did a lot of this stuff from scratch and hired virtual assistants from the Philippines. That's partly what got me into going to the Philippines the first time. I actually had never been to the Philippines and I needed to hire somebody. A friend of mine was like, 'Well, you should, you know...' Actually, that wasn't a friend's suggestion. So, I ended up adding this guy named Jeff Hunter. Jeff Hunter has a VA business based out of Manila and San Francisco. He lives in the Bay Area, but his Philippines offices are in Cebu or Manila.

25:52 With Jeff, he did some kind of presentation in San Francisco on virtual assistants. He talked about having these people in the Philippines. He was a project manager at a major company in San Francisco, but he decided to become an entrepreneur anyway. I ended up hiring a VA from the Philippines.

26:11 Something to keep in mind is that, in my case, I didn't really know a lot about how to delegate tasks to them. I didn't know how to estimate the amount of time it would take to complete different tasks. I was having him do things I didn't know how to do, like web development.

26:57 Yeah, I'd learn about task delegation and I'd really pay attention to how you can kind of organize work. And so, if you get to a point where you're getting more than you can handle, let's say it's a few... yeah, I know, right? Uh, I don't care. I mean, it shows interest in my content. I'm sure that, you know, it's some kind of algorithmic boost and I could use that.

27:23 But we were talking about, oh yeah, so we're talking about, uh, the, um, I get distracted easily. So that's something you guys will have to keep in mind.

27:40 The delegation, yeah, the task delegation. And you can also understand things like billing. You can understand what is appropriate to charge. Something that's nice too about working for a business, and you might even look for like, I don't know, a graphic design internship or something like that, just something to get you in the door to create a business where you can kind of see how they do things and copy a lot of what they do, not steal their business ideas, nothing like that, but rather...

28:15 Making it a point to not waste time. Because that's something I'm going to get to that point next. You don't want to waste time. You don't want to waste time, especially when you're young. All the things that you do as a 20-year-old compound. So if you learn how to do these different skills, 10 years from now, if you've stuck with it, you're going to be really good. Or five years from now, even something just like money management.

28:48 Like I wish I'd learned about personal finance because even though I'll probably never be a financial professional or a pure financial professional, I'm interested in financial technology, but a purely uh finance guy, it's just worthwhile to have that knowledge. I feel like anything that you can learn that will be valuable for the rest of your life, those are things that you should focus on and things that you should try to get under your belt.

29:16 And I just say also, just don't jump around too much. You know, if you have a priority of living overseas and working overseas, you need to focus on skills that can translate to that kind of lifestyle. Because for me, you know, I don't get a lot of benefits from my e-commerce endeavors. Even though I was able to do some investing and some saving, I don't want... I'm not into the idea of dropshipping and I'm not going to attempt to organize it. There's just a lot of headaches and hassles with it.

29:51 And that's what I like more about programming. Yes, there are headaches and hassles, but I can pick up the headaches and hassles and take them with me anywhere. And you know, if I'm going to have to do knowledge work that can be mentally taxing, I like the idea of being like near a mountain or near a beach. I'm more of a mountain person, but...

Travel, Health, and Happiness

30:12 Yeah, I hope that's helpful. As far as like what I do differently, I'd live on the cheap. I'd learn skills that you're going to carry with me for the rest of my life. I'd pick something and stick with it after exploring a few options. And, you know, traveling. I look at things that are going to allow me to travel the world.

30:36 I wouldn't be too good to work at a business for like six months or a year, maybe a little bit longer, just to learn these best practices and then taking some of those for your own efforts. Because eventually, if you are good at what you do, you will get too much work, more than you can handle.

30:57 I mean, I was just talking to my friend's mom and she was talking about how her cleaning business was so successful that she had to bring on family members. And that's obviously she was really good at doing that, still is. But that's something that you have to keep in mind is that if you are good at what you do and you do understand promoting your business, that you need to delegate. Because I did not delegate nearly enough and I could have been a lot more successful.

31:40 Yeah, that's a really good idea because you want to learn from other people's mistakes. I will say I haven't totally messed everything up. I mean, obviously I spent the first half of the year in South America and did a long trip to Asia last year.

31:57 But it is a bit challenging at times to not have done on all this necessary planning. You know, some of this stuff as far as traveling in the last couple of years, especially my trip to South America, I didn't really have a lot of other choices. I was just struggling to find a place to live in the states. And so for me, it was like kind of last minute, like, okay, I think I decided to go to Medellin and within like, I bought a ticket and then a week or two later, I was flying out.

32:35 So that was optimal. Definitely agree with planning and being preemptive so that when you're my age, like a lot of these things that I have to deal with, you're not even worried about or thinking about. Of course, some of that is situational in my case, but even so, some of it has been my responsibility that I just kind of, you know, fumble a little bit.

32:59 Anyway, you learn. You know, another thing I'd say, don't be too hard on yourself. Everybody makes mistakes.

33:09 Happiness. That's a tough one. I'd say that most people were geared towards survival. That's why I think society does struggle with unhappiness. I don't think people are inherently bad. I don't think that society is inherently bad. I just think that we're geared towards survival. We're geared toward food and shelter, and there's a lot of stress that can come with obtaining food and shelter historically speaking.

33:36 Yeah, I mean, I think part of the challenge in the West is, you know, we're convinced that at least since the 1960s, that we shifted toward more of a consumer economy, that we need to make a lot of purchases, that if we get the money to buy the things that we really want, that we're going to be happy. And so, I do think that's why Western people struggle with happiness because people buy things and then they spend a lot of time trying to maintain those things.

34:08 And most people, in my personal opinion, they don't want to spend lots of time, or at least we're not naturally inclined to spend a lot of time maintaining things. So, as an example, I remember growing up, we lived in a nice house, and it seemed like, at least a part-time job to maintain the house. We had to spend an hour, like in the summer, at least an hour a week mowing the lawn. My grandma was really into yards and landscaping, so she had to spend at least a certain number of hours per week maintaining the yard.

34:45 Now, I know that a lot of people are really proud of their homes. It's considered a big accomplishment to have a home. But I personally believe that when you're spending a lot of your time focused on maintaining a car, or you're focused on maintaining a home, or you're focused on maintaining a lot of physical belongings, you do tend to get depressed. And I think the reason being is that with things, there will never be enough things to satisfy a person.

35:22 You know, there's only so much joy that a person can get from physical things. I'm not going to say it's not nice to have things. I'm not going to say don't try, don't work hard, you know, don't do your best. But rather, there's only so much joy that things can bring you. And on top of that, you adjust. Your sense of happiness adjusts. So if you upgrade your car, eventually that new car, let's say you drive a Toyota. Let's say I upgraded to a BMW and I thought about it when I was doing really well financially. I was making quite a bit of money. I thought, why don't I just upgrade to a BMW? It's going to look more attractive to other people. It's going to make me look cool. I bet it goes fast.

36:10 I don't like to drive, so for me personally, I find driving to be stressful, but I would have found driving to be stressful and dangerous. But I was convinced that if I got this nice car, that's what's going to make me happy.

36:23 That's what's going to make me happy. And eventually, I also kind of assessed a lot of what makes people happy and what brings people joy. I think that relationships are what bring people joy. I find that when you do kind of live in a society that's geared toward consumer purchases, people at times prioritize the consumer purchases over interpersonal relationships, and that's where people do feel unhappy. I think because they make lifestyle choices that can be quite isolating.

37:05 I found success to be isolating in some ways. It's not totally isolating, but you change a lot. It's hard for me to break it down to one thing. I do think some of it is the weather. You know, if you want to talk about something that some people might find kind of superficial, in England, it's pretty overcast a lot, with a lot of rain. It's pretty overcast and rainy, and it can get pretty cold in the winter.

37:44 It's similar in my area of the US. Even though a lot of people think of Nashville as having really mild weather, it actually gets pretty cloudy, rains a lot here, and it gets pretty cold in the winter. I think a lot of people get that kind of seasonal mood challenge. That's part of what's brought me a lot of joy about traveling in South America and Asia the year before: when I am traveling in these places, it's really sunny, beautiful, hot, and warm just about every day. Even in the rainy season, it's really not that bad.

38:24 Even if I don't feel the best because I am prone to struggling with depression, the sun is shining through my window, and it's warm outside. There's just something invigorating about being in a place that's really sunny. My ancestors in India had a lot of sun and heat, and so did southern Japan where my grandma's from. I know a lot of my ancestors really thrived in that kind of environment.

Portugal as a Potential European Base

39:00 That's why I think I feel depressed at times in some of these western places. Historically speaking, my ancestors got tons of sun; they spent a lot of time farming and just being outside and outdoors. I'll come back to that one later because that's a topic I could go on about. I could probably do a five-part, two-hour video series on why I think people struggle with depression a bit in the West.

39:33 But Portugal, hey, what's up Metal Gear MK3? Good to see you, man. This is my first livestream, just testing things out, and fortunately, I got the mic working, so that's really good. As far as Portugal goes, I have interest in it. It's definitely one of the first places I want to go to in Europe.

40:01 My buddy Jim, who I went to college with, I saw him a couple days ago. He's talking about Portugal as well. He said that he is personally working toward financial independence, and his first choice will be to move to Portugal. He's thinking ideally 12 years from now, but I hear a lot of good things about Portugal. I hear the weather's good too. I hear wonderful things about Portuguese food. I've heard comparisons to Spain but with a more modest cost of living.

40:36 Of course, you're in the EU, so you have a lot of advantages of being in the developed world. There's definitely solid infrastructure throughout Europe. So if you're in a place like Portugal, this is something that's appealing to me: if I were based in Portugal, I could hop over to Spain, Germany, or France. That would be super cool to be able to do these kinds of things as day trips or weekend trips. I think there's a lot of value there.

41:08 I am in a position where I still need to increase my cash flow, just to be completely honest. That's one thing that makes Portugal more of a long-term choice for me. When I think about Portugal, I'm thinking maybe like five years from now, just because I do cost of living comparisons a lot. Right now, I'm a computer science student, and so I'm trying to have as cheap as possible living.

41:39 Portugal is cheap by European standards, but if I compare it to Southeast Asia or Latin America, it is a bit pricier. I don't think that should stop people from going to Portugal. Portugal is one of those places that I hear tons of good stuff about, and a lot of people are really interested in it. I definitely want to go to Portugal.

42:17 I don't want to get too much into it in the sense that YouTube can be a little bit picky, but I do think that's smart policy. I don't like to go too extreme on politics, and I don't want to alienate viewers or make my audience feel like I feel really strongly one way or another. But I do think, from an economics perspective, I have gotten in trouble with that when I was young.

43:03 It's really something that we need to change in society. I don't feel like we need to dedicate so many resources to it. I think the real issue, and it's something I admire about Europe, is that it's ironic because you see some expats that don't really like Europe. They think, 'Why would you want to move to Europe?' But that's something I'd point out that's really good: we do need to address that as a mental health issue.

43:28 There are substantial mental health problems throughout the US, especially. You see it in the vagrant population. I just feel like if we address that, if we address people's struggles with mental health challenges, and address people's proclivity to struggle with isolation just because of this social structure of society, I mean, people don't have big families anymore. So if you're struggling with mental health challenges, I'm not big on just the system solving everything, but in that case, clearly private solutions aren't really handling it.

44:22 And so in Portugal, if you do have that more humane attitude, I think that's going to lend itself to improving that society on some level. Of course, I haven't been there, I can't speak from personal experience. I know that some people have said it can be a bit overwhelming to be offered a lot of these things when you first get off the train in Lisbon. But I also think that anywhere you live, there's going to be some downsides, and we have to acknowledge that.

44:52 We live in a society. I think that's a really big part of why I love to travel: it brings me closer to other people. It just blows my mind that not only am I talking to a subscriber that lives pretty far from where I'm at, but also that my friend down the street is also talking about Portugal. So it's really wild to me that there's that much interest in Portugal. I think when you do have that social proof...

Crypto, Safety, and Healthy Lifestyles

45:33 There's my buddy Miles from Colorado, a really sharp guy. He actually, I think his family opened me up a lot to the idea of traveling overseas because, you know, you talk to some people. In my case, I'm half Indian, and you talk to some people about a place like India, and they just think it's like Armageddon. One of the first things I started talking about with Miles and his family is just about a place like India and the vibrancy, the culture, the food, the intensity, all the different things.

46:16 Yeah, Miles, this is one of my subscribers. He's been around for a good minute now. He's around 20 and interested in travel and that kind of thing. So he's asking us guys to have a little bit more experience, kind of advice or insight. And oh wow, yeah.

46:40 That is really, really sharp. Metal Gear, I didn't realize they don't have any capital gains tax on crypto. I own a bit myself, of course, nothing major, but that's really cool to think about. You know, I'll probably have more in the future. I definitely have a little bit of mining going on, nothing major, but I certainly think that most people can agree that a lot of Western economies are struggling with currency problems.

47:09 And crypto is a solid hedge. In the minds of a lot of people, of course, this isn't financial advice. I'm not telling people to go buy this or that, but in a lot of people's minds, it's a solid hedge against hyperinflation. I know that even several years ago, people were using it in Venezuela. I met some Venezuelans in Cusco, and all the Venezuelans that I met, or at least several of them, were into the idea of crypto because they saw their own government kind of mismanage or mishandle the economy.

47:46 People want a backup plan. I think people are more cautious, even after the events of the last year and a half, and they want to be prepared. And not having to pay taxes on that, that's, I mean, you know, you worked hard for that. You had insight well before a lot of people, I'm sure, and accumulated valuable resources. They can't just be printed out of thin air. More power to you.

48:15 I think also if you're into that and that's the case in Portugal, you're going to have more people that are into that. Even now, some people I talk to try to tell me crypto is a scam, and it's like, you know, I should have bought it at $12. I kicked myself a lot for that. I knew about Bitcoin at $12, and my stepdad told me it was a scam.

48:35 And my stepdad told me it was a scam, and I just took his word for it. One of the biggest mistakes I've ever made in my life. But, you know, I also think I wasn't emotionally at the point that I am now. I hadn't worked through some of my issues, I didn't really know myself. And I also worry, you know, I feel like back then I probably would have sold it and bought something stupid.

48:57 I don't know that I would have had the long-term vision that people like Metal Gear have. And obviously, there's a lot of people in Portugal that think that way, so that's something else too that I think about as well. You know, think about what your values are, because if you want to be around like-minded people, they might not be in your community.

49:19 In my case, you know, talking about things like crypto and traveling the world, a lot of people from my hometown are really skeptical. Not so much the young people, but definitely people that aren't in my generation. You know, they're worried about the dangers, they're worried about consequences.

49:38 I've heard that Portugal is quite safe. I've heard that Portugal is quite safe, and that if you want to have kind of a laid-back lifestyle, that it's got a lot going for it. It's obvious I've heard it can be a very healthy lifestyle because there's a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables. They don't use a lot of preservatives in the food.

Food Safety and International Standards

50:04 I think that there's a lot to be said for choosing locations that will contribute to your longevity. I mean, in my case, living in the Midwest U.S., I just get back into fasting when I'm here. It's just so difficult to make healthy food because if you want to go out to eat, you're going to pay a lot for healthy food.

50:25 I mean, you're talking $20 for a solid healthy meal, $15 to $20. And then if you want to cook at home, you've got a lot of dishes. You're also going to be buying expensive seasonings, oils. You're going to have to be doing dishes. All that stuff adds up. That's something I love about traveling is not having to cook.

50:41 In my case, it doesn't make financial sense to cook, and a lot of the places that I go to. And so I just eat out. And that sounds horrible if you're in a place where all the restaurants are unhealthy, like in the Midwest U.S. A lot of restaurants say, you know, they serve a lot of fast food, fried food.

51:02 Food that tastes delicious, but as far as from a lifestyle perspective, isn't really sustainable. There's also a lot of challenges with people maintaining healthy weight and exercising. So if you value kind of a healthy lifestyle, that's where I think, as well as a 20-year-old, I'd be thinking, where can I live at 30 or 40 that the general population is healthy and there's a lot of opportunities to exercise?

51:34 Because health is super important. Health should not be underestimated. You got to think about value when it comes to what it costs you to live. So food safety, that's a really, really good question. Thanks again, by the way, Metal Gear, for the question about crypto, or the kind of insight about that. I think that'll be really helpful for a lot of people.

51:54 So, do I think about food safety? Are some countries better than others? Everybody that's in the Philippines has had food poisoning. So I'm going to start off by saying I've got like an iron stomach. I don't know if it's just from having ancestors that lived in India where there is a lot of bacteria.

52:22 So I would rank it. If you wanted to rank, like if you were to ask me what countries have the most food safety, which have the least, I would say Singapore is going to be is going to have the highest food safety. Maybe that could be somewhat obvious, but Singapore is extremely developed, extremely futuristic, really great public transit.

52:42 You've even got these hawker centers that are kind of their street food, but it's not street food in the sense that they're these like kind of shopping mall food court-like places where you've got maybe 10, 20 different choices, but they all follow stringent food safety protocols. I mean, they were spotless. Singapore in general is spotless.

53:01 After Singapore, I'd say Malaysia. Malaysia and Thailand, those two have fairly good food safety standards. Then I'd say after that, I'd say Cambodia and Philippines are like the third tier. I just got to be honest, you know, I saw in both the Philippines and in Cambodia, I saw a lot of meat that wasn't refrigerated. Flies flying around.

53:29 This is not a judgment of the local people, but rather it's an observation of just, you know, they don't have the money for refrigeration. We take for granted in the Western world, everywhere you go, there's refrigerators. They have all these laws that, you know, food has to be refrigerated.

53:58 But you have to keep in mind too, a big thing that I'd look at too with, and it's not always bad in the Philippines. You also got to think like, am I eating local or am I eating at a restaurant? If you're eating at an actual like full-on restaurant, that's going to lower the risk of food poisoning.

54:19 I'm not going to say it's not going to happen. I definitely ate some pork that made me feel ill in the Philippines in a mall, and it was like I got ribs and thought, man, I'm paying like $8 or $10 for ribs, I shouldn't be getting worried about it, and I did not feel well after.

54:35 So, a big one that I'd look at is look for places that are busy, regardless of the country that you're in. Oh, hey Feral Phoenix, what's up, man? I'll get to your question a bit. Thank you for joining us today. So, when it comes to food poisoning, a big one I do is I look for places, regardless of country, where you see a lot of people eating there.

54:55 So if you happen upon a restaurant or like a food stall and you see 20, 30 local people eating there, chances are it's probably good. Chances are it's probably legit and they probably follow strong protocols.

55:10 Another big one is reviews. So I always check reviews until I get a little bit more comfortable in a country. I eat almost exclusively at restaurants or businesses with reviews that tell me, hey, a lot of people have eaten here, they got a 4.5 out of five rating, they're probably going to be pretty good. They got a thousand, you know, four and five-star reviews, probably going to be pretty good, probably not trying to make anybody sick.

55:38 But, you know, Cambodia especially, like I love Cambodia, I love Phnom Penh, but I definitely encountered at least a couple of sort of wet markets where I would not want to eat anything coming out of there because I didn't see people taking precautions and being safe about it.

Paraguay, Panama, and Cambodia

55:59 So yeah, and you also have to be more careful in the Philippines because of the island things. Because it's 7,000 islands, logistically speaking, even if they want to follow all the standards, some things have to be transported from far away. Like if you are living in Manila, they're not going to have like a pig farm in central Manila.

56:21 So realistically speaking, it's going to have to be, you know, brought in from the provinces, and that can cause issues. But yeah, I hope that answers your question as far as Paraguay or Panama. Aren't they easy to get residency? I don't know as much about Paraguay and Panama. I have heard that about Panama. I've heard it somewhat about Paraguay.

56:46 I knew a lady when I lived in Denver. I used to live in Denver, Colorado. I knew a lady that tried to move to Paraguay, but I feel like in her case, she found it difficult to make money. Of course, I knew that's not going to be the same for some of you guys that may be coming in with digital skills. And so she wanted to do it part-time. She figured, I'll live in Paraguay part of the time and I'll live in the U.S. part of the time.

57:10 I think she probably found it to be too costly because you're looking at, I'm probably at this point, a thousand dollar round trip flight because Paraguay is not like a Brazil or Colombia where there's tons of flights down there. You know, it's kind of a niche place in some ways.

57:24 With Panama, Panama can be quite expensive. I've heard good things like Vagabond Awake is a good channel. He's in Panama right now or has been putting out Panama content recently. He could probably share some insight into Panama. Panama is going to be less niche than Paraguay because Panama, you're in Central America. Of course, there's the Panama Canal, so there's a lot of foreign business presence there.

57:49 But I've also heard the value isn't the best in Panama. So I've heard you have to be a little bit more of a hunter if you're looking for value. Now, if it's just solely, you know, taxes and things like that, you know, I'm not a tax professional, but I'd suggest also considering places where you feel like you'd have a high quality of life.

58:09 There's a lot of places that give a lifestyle similar to Panama. So that's something to think about. Do you like that kind of beach lifestyle? Do you like that kind of tropical lifestyle? If so, then it is definitely worthwhile to look at Panama. Can't speak as much on Paraguay. I do know Paraguay is going to be more affordable than Panama.

58:31 So yeah, thank you. Great question. So the next question, would you say supermarkets are better than restaurants? Yes, I'd say so. I'd say if you're willing to take the time to cook and to prepare your own food, you want to be careful in Latin America as far as scheduling, because sometimes you go to the supermarket, there's a huge line, you're spending like 30 minutes to get through the line to check out.

58:57 And that can be kind of frustrating if you're somebody like me, I just go by to get like bread or a few little things.

59:05 Get like bread or a few little things. My favorite band of frozen pizza is California Pizza Kitchen. That's what I had last night; they had some on sale at my local grocery store, so I had one of those cheese pizzas from California Pizza Kitchen.

59:23 DiGiorno is also pretty good. If I had to pick a favorite, it's not frozen, but it's somewhat in that same realm: Costco. I like Costco pizza. Costco's got really good pizza for really cheap, and it's hearty and great with a hearty amount of ingredients. They're not cheap at all on ingredients.

59:41 So yeah, that's my favorite pizza. Cool. Aaron in Cambodia, I'll check that out. Yeah, I like Cambodia a lot. Cambodia is more of a frontier kind of vibe than Thailand. I don't like it when people call Thailand a third-world country. You walk around central Bangkok, and it feels more developed than where I'm from in the United States.

1:00:04 With Cambodia, some of my viewers have mentioned safety concerns, certainly out in the provinces. You have leftover mines from the kind of Vietnam War era. That's really not good. Cambodia is not a place that, if you're looking at it, I would not be going total adventure mode in Cambodia. You know, do some research on where you're going to go, what you're going to do.

1:00:32 Because Cambodia, you know, because of the extreme poverty, you do have some crime issues that might surprise you there because it is that Southeast Asia vibe. But poverty is poverty, and people are having a hard time. People get desperate, and it's really, really sad. I feel for them because a lot of these people did not have any choice in their government.

1:00:57 Doing what they did in the 70s and 80s. At the same time, I like tough people. I like going to places where the people are tough. I like going to places where I feel like the people have overcome a lot, and that's what I loved about Cambodia. A lot of the people you meet have not had an easy time in life. They are not having just an easy go of things, and there's very little entitlement, very little attitudes of being owed, especially outside of tourism.

Thailand's Cost of Living and Lifestyle

1:01:33 But next question, I'm going to get into a really good comment on Cambodia. I'm glad I got to share a bit more about that. Is Thailand expensive? It can be. Thailand is a place where, and then after that, I'll get to the next question. Thank you guys for your patience. Thailand can be very expensive.

1:01:52 So, is Thailand expensive? It doesn't have to be. I would say you can spend as little as a thousand a month or as much as a million dollars a month. It's like, what's your budget? Are you interested in doing the lowest cost of living? Then you'll look at Chiang Mai. You'll look at the outskirts of Bangkok. You're not going to be looking at Phuket or the islands.

1:02:22 At the same time, if you're looking to totally ball out, you might want to rent a villa in Phuket or on Koh Lanta, Koh Phi Phi, or Koh Phangan. So you can really do it as cheap or as much as you want. For me personally, when I first get over to Thailand, I'll probably be pretty budget-oriented lifestyle because I'm at an age where I need to work a lot.

1:02:46 So for me, I don't want to go and live in the islands and then be working 60 hours a week and not be able to enjoy the islands. For me, if I'm going to be working a lot, I'm going to go for more of the budget option. Same with restaurants in Thailand. You can have a meal for a dollar fifty. I can go get a delicious street food meal, maybe a couple of dishes because they can be a little bit small, but three bucks and I've got a killer meal.

1:03:10 And if I only eat a couple times a day, I'm only spending five, six dollars a day on food, maybe a dollar or two on water. But I've also spent thirty dollars in Thailand, thirty-three dollars, a thousand baht, on an all-you-can-eat sushi for two hours in Chiang Mai. So I went and sat down, and they put a two-hour time limit on your table, and they served me some of the best salmon I've ever had in my life, some of the most flavorful salmon.

1:03:37 Best salmon I've had, the best sushi I've had outside of Japan, hands down, was in Chiang Mai. A thousand baht, all you can eat. I mean, I just ate and ate and ate. So you really run.

1:03:47 And then there's things in between. I mean, there's plenty. Like I had in Bangkok, I had a delicious red snapper dinner. I was about ten dollars. Now, if I had a red snapper dinner here in Nashville, you're talking thirty, thirty-five dollars. So that was really good value.

1:04:05 And pizza's closer in price. Every pizza is pretty expensive. Western food is going to be pretty expensive. So that's another way, if you're somebody that you got to have a lot of western food, you're going to have to pay extra for that in Thailand because the local people, there's just not as much market for local people to be eating a lot of pizza.

1:04:26 Wow, five people. It's wonderful to see you guys here on a Sunday. I appreciate your time. But yeah, as far as expense, do you want a simple apartment or a big apartment? For me, I like studios because I don't have to clean a lot and I don't have to maintain a big space, and it's cheaper. And I don't have to air condition as much space.

1:04:54 Vary in terms of costs and preferences. What you value. For me, I don't value a big place, I value peace and quiet. So if I can get a good deal on a quiet place in Thailand, far out from the city center or maybe even in Chiang Mai, it's got decent insulation, sound insulation, and all that. I prefer that over being in a central district of BKK just to have that kind of luxury.

Relationship Dynamics and Dating Preferences

1:05:30 So, the next thing I'm going to get into here, as far as hot and cold goes, I think that was kind of my experience, at least in Peru. What it means, like in my mind, hot and cold is like some days, it seemed like she's super into me, and then other days, she's just like a ghost.

1:05:57 And I tried to talk to her about it. It's like one way or the other. I like you; she's very attractive. But I also have standards and expectations when it comes to relationships. I feel like I have a lot to offer, and especially over the course of my lifetime, I want somebody that's going to meet me halfway and be willing to do that.

1:06:31 With her, it just felt difficult to get her attention sometimes, and other times she would just be all over me. I don't really want to deal with that. I like to kind of know where we stand and have forward progression. And yeah, I just didn't really want to do this back and forth, this tug of war.

1:07:05 Some days she'd really want to hang out, and then other days, like, not at all. And I just like kind of steady, predictable communication.

1:07:20 The next question. Well, I'll get to Eddie's question and then come back because that's a shorter question. I've never dated an Indian chick, so I've never dated a woman from India or an ethnically Indian woman. So, the only one I have dated out of those two choices would be Southeast Asian women.

1:07:43 So I can't fully answer your question. Yeah. What's, you know, I will say I'm open to it. You know, I'm open to dating an Indian woman. And if I travel to India, certainly, you know, I'm open to dating women there as long as I'm single.

1:08:01 That's something that I'd be open to. I will say I'm definitely not a traditional Indian guy by any means. So if, you know, the person I was interested in came from a pretty traditional family, that might be a challenge. So it kind of depends on if I'm single by the time I get to India or if I'm not.

1:08:19 I'm kind of interested in this chick in Bangkok. And so I might go in that direction and may not be a bachelor in a few years. But if I am, I'm certainly open to it. I think that there's beautiful women everywhere in the world. I've never been to anywhere in the world that didn't have attractive people.

Best Southeast Asian Countries and South America

1:08:44 So, yeah, you know, part of it comes down to expectations. What I expected to follow on Indian traditions. You know, I'm going to learn some of them, but I'm also American and didn't really grow up around any culture much. So yeah, that's got to take consideration.

1:09:00 The best Southeast Asian country that I've lived in. You know, I go back to Thailand a lot because it is developed enough that I can have a lot of the conveniences that I like. I can have a lot of the things I want as far as shopping malls where if I need to get electronics, which for me being a computer professional, I need to be able to get electronics anytime.

1:09:36 Amazon here in the states is helpful for that, but if I'm living overseas, I need to be in a place where I can do the same. And in Thailand, there's electronics malls, there's regular malls, there's, I think they have e-commerce that they're starting to kind of roll out and develop.

1:09:50 So that's a big part. Thailand makes it very easy for me to work. I also like Malaysia. Malaysia's quite developed, but for me, culturally speaking, coming from more of an East Asian kind of upbringing, as far as being raised by my grandma who's from Japan and kind of grew up in a Shinto-Buddhist environment, culturally speaking, Malaysia is more Muslim. And so, while I have a lot of respect and admiration for Malaysia and the culture, personally, I'm more accustomed to Buddhism.

1:10:36 It's not that one is better than the other. I definitely go back to Malaysia. It's like, I said, it's developed. I found the food to be incredible. For me, it's kind of a little bit different than a lot of Indian people in that I do eat meat. And when you are in Malaysia, there is a big variety. You can have chicken, you can have a steak, you can have all these different dishes that aren't going to be as popular or prevalent.

1:10:58 aren't going to be as popular prevalent in India. Aside from that, when it comes to Malaysia, it's clean, they've got public transit in KL, and it's diverse. There are a lot of aspects of diversity there that are interesting, where Thailand is mostly Thai people. But in Thailand, I'm going to come back to this question because I could go on that question for a while.

1:11:25 As far as Uruguay and Argentina, I am reading a little bit about Argentina. Argentina's definitely has interest to me because it's one of the cheapest major cities in the world. Buenos Aires is, and I really enjoyed my time in Latin America, Peru, and Colombia. I didn't know what to expect; I go into a lot of places with no expectations, and I've heard a lot of wonderful things about Argentina.

1:11:51 So yeah, Argentina is definitely on my list. I at least want to give it a month, and I know with Buenos Aires, you can take a ferry to Montevideo, Uruguay. So I would like to visit those places. I anticipate at least a month in Argentina because I want to visit Aconcagua, which is outside of Mendoza. I've heard a lot of good things about Mendoza.

1:12:15 And yeah, Argentina is super, super legit. Thank you for mentioning those places because I actually went to elementary school with this chick from Argentina. I remember everybody talking about where they're from, and she talked about being from Argentina, and I was like, wow, like everybody else is like from Nashville, and she's from Argentina. It just stuck in the back of my mind.

1:12:40 And when I became a traveler and started reading about the mountain Aconcagua, of course, and the different cities and towns in Argentina, the culture, the food, yeah, Argentina is big on my list.

Martial Arts and Bangkok's Appeal

1:12:54 Will I pursue martial arts? Yes, I will. Yes, I will pursue martial arts. I think it is pretty high up on my list as far as what I want to do. As far as from an exercise or a workout perspective, I think it's a good way to stay in shape.

1:13:16 And I just have to be careful about not getting hit in the head. So with martial arts for me, I am a knowledge worker, and I basically to survive, I've got to rely on my intellectual ability and hard work. And so if you get hit in the head, it can cause trauma to your brain that can make a negative impact on your ability to focus and be productive. It's called CTE.

1:13:37 O.J. Simpson is an example of this. There are other examples, Chris Benoit, really sad situations. And I wouldn't tell people, don't ever do martial arts, but rather, understand that there are some risks in doing it.

1:13:51 As I get older, I get more chilled out and more conflict-averse. I do have interest in it from a hobbyist perspective, from a practicing perspective. I wouldn't be competing at any point in the future, but yeah, great question.

1:14:07 In Thailand, you do have Muay Thai. If you're somebody that's interested in training Muay Thai, Thailand is, of course, the home of Muay Thai. You can also go to stadiums and enjoy live events. It's really a cool thing, and I think that it speaks to human grit, toughness, and perseverance.

1:14:28 Great question. Thank you. So I'm going to hit the next few questions. So, Bangkok has the most foreigners in the world. Well, Bangkok had more international flights. BKK Airport, Suvarnabhumi Airport, had more international flights than any other airport in the world in 2019. You have lots of foreigners there, not as much now, of course, but they're starting to come back.

1:14:52 You look at 30 and a Wake Up, he's one of my favorite channels. He's based now in Thailand. He bought an elite visa. Bangkok has just got so many different things going for it in one place. A lot of places, I'm like, I like A, B, and C, I don't like X, Y, and Z. And Bangkok, I have very, very few complaints.

1:15:23 Almost none. Like I would have to stretch for a while to try to find something negative to say about Bangkok. It would take me a while. It's low crime, the people are friendly, they mind their own business. Lots of good food, lots of places to explore. It's a city where you can walk around at 2 AM, 3 AM, 4 AM, totally safe.

1:15:59 I could go on for a long time about Bangkok. It's a world city. You have people there from all over the world.

Colombia's Underrated Charm and Friendships

1:16:05 Did I make any friends in Colombia? Oh, no, I skipped one. Green is legal in Europe. Yeah, that's true, and I think that's going to keep expanding. You know, a lot of countries are opening up to the potential and the opportunity to make money and to expand that industry. So I think that's a really positive thing.

1:16:30 Yeah, we definitely are in a position in our societies around the world that we need to create industry and job opportunity because we've really devastated tourism. And yeah.

1:16:42 Did I make any friends in Colombia? Well, that's a good question, actually. Yes and no. Yes, I made friends with like the owner of the hotel I stayed at in Medellin. He's a nice guy. He was inviting me up to hang out with him and his family, and the only reason I declined is because I had so much work to do. He was like, yeah man, this Sunday we're getting together, we're having a barbecue, and all my cousins are getting together.

1:17:07 He lived in a gorgeous place up in the mountains. I really wanted to go to, but it wasn't a safety issue. I know some people might think, oh, safety. I'm not that worried about it. I don't have anything to take, but I did go to Colombia in part because at Burning Man in 2016, I made a friend from Colombia. And he talked about Colombia.

1:17:35 I also met a friend from Mexico, and everybody you talk to in the States, not everybody, but a lot of people who haven't traveled a lot, oh gosh, Colombia, oh gosh, Mexico. And for good reason, these countries do have some safety issues. I'm not going to call Colombia safe, I'm not going to call Mexico safe. But both these guys opened me up to it because they're both sharp. There's something about being around my friend from Mexico and something about being around my friend from Colombia.

1:18:03 One thing I'm going to do something really quick. I'm going to post this to my social media and I'll be right back. Just going to take 30 seconds to put this on my social media.

1:18:33 Just want to get this up on my Facebook maybe.

1:19:07 I'm having a little bit of trouble.

1:19:15 I'll just copy the channel link and post it.

1:19:31 Okay, so, did I make any friends in Colombia? I had a buddy named Julian that I knew from Burning Man, and he told me about Bogota and how it was really cool. And yeah, it's a really... I so I already had a friend going into Colombia, basically, which is ironic. A lot of people expect you can only have friends in places if you've already been there.

1:19:54 But for me, I've been really blessed to meet people from all over the world. And he had told me about Colombia, and I was like, well, you know, I keep wanting to go to these underrated places. Of course, the Nightcapatalist talks about Bogota. And so, yeah, he showed me around Bogota and introduced me to local friends, checked out the park, hit up a lot of good restaurants.

1:20:18 It's a really underrated city. It rains a lot and it's overcast a lot, so that's what deters a lot of people from it. But I found it easy to make friends in Colombia. I also eventually, if I go back in the near future, which I'd like to go back in the next few years, I'd like to collab with Aphro Kohira. She's got a really cool channel. She's a gorgeous Colombian chick from Guajira, which is kind of the Caribbean area in Colombia, a desert area.

1:20:46 And she's just got a lot of really fun content, and it has a really positive energy and vibe. But yeah, I would definitely go back to Colombia.

Living in Thailand and Exploring Options

1:20:58 Next question: Would you recommend I live in Thailand in a few years? You know, I'd say, oh, awesome. So you know, I forgot here that that's awesome, man. I'm glad you know about her. Yeah, she's got like, I wish I had like 10 of her personality. She's just so bright and positive, and you can tell she loves her country.

1:21:28 You just can't help but feel energy when you watch that chick's videos. But it's really the people that stuck out to me about Colombia. As far as the backcountry goes, the food was okay, it wasn't terrible, it wasn't phenomenal, but the people were just so warm and passionate. You know, the people have this passion.

1:21:56 I just find it endearing. That's the best way for me to put it, but it is really endearing. Yeah.

1:22:04 Would you recommend I live in Thailand in a few years? I would not recommend you move to Thailand without having visited there before. How, what I would do in that case is I would look at, I would potentially look at a long-term visa. I'd look at like a martial arts visa or I'd look at like an education visa and plan to go for say, six months or go for like a year.

1:22:33 You don't want to go and lease a fancy apartment for a long time and make all these major commitments to living in Thailand and then, you know, in a few months, you get tired of it. It's too hot, it's too polluted, you can't speak the language, whatever reason it is that you might not like.

1:22:57 Because if you commit to like, I don't know, say a martial arts visa, and I'm not a lawyer, this is not legal advice, but a martial arts visa, from how it would apply to me, would be that you can have multiple entry, right? So you can come and go as you please for that year. It's a little bit more expensive, you'll pay around 150 a month from who I checked with for that visa.

1:23:23 But let's say you go to Thailand, you're getting bored of it, you've been there three months, but you've got a year left to live there, maybe have a lease for a year on an apartment there. Then you can, you know, you can go to the Philippines for a month, you can go to Laos for a weekend, you can go to Cambodia for a month.

1:23:44 You really have a lot of options for...

1:23:45 You really have a lot of options for being in Thailand because Thailand isn't just awesome because it's surrounded by a bunch of awesome places. You can get to Kuala Lumpur an hour from Bangkok and get to Singapore in like an hour and a half. So it's really, really nice, and if you get bored in Thailand, which is hard to do, if you have the right visa situation, you can come and go as you please.

1:24:07 So that's what I'd say is try it out for a few months, you know, maybe try it out for six months and take a lot of notes. Think about how you feel, think about your perceptions of the area. Try a few different places, don't just go to Chiang Mai, don't just go to Bangkok, but maybe visit Ayutthaya or visit Chiang Rai or Pai. There's a lot of variety in Thailand in a small country.

1:24:29 So that's what I really like about it is it doesn't take a lot of time to get around, but you've got a lot going on in the places that you do visit. It's really special.

Humility from Indian Friends and Education

1:24:53 Oh, thank you, thank you, Walter. You know, in the States, I'd say several of my closest friends are Indian guys. Because even though I come from not the best background, there's this humility I find among my Indian friends that is unlike most people I've interacted with in my life.

1:25:17 You mentioned education; my Indian friends have done this extremely difficult and grueling education that will humble a lot of people. A lot of people that are working through an engineering program will be brought to frustration, potentially tears. And getting upset, that's humbled me a lot. I was arrogant before I started studying engineering, and then I realized, no dude, you're really not as smart as you think you are.

1:25:42 You know, there's, yeah, I'm grateful for my engineering education because of that. It's really been humbling.

Motivation, Discipline, and Planning

1:25:52 As far as staying motivated, you know, for me, motivation is: do you want the pain of staying the same, or do you want the pain of change? The pain of staying the same, or the pain of discipline. And really, it's learning to enjoy the pain, it's learning to enjoy the suffering. It's learning to have humor in the moment.

1:26:15 It's difficult, I'm not going to say it's not difficult. There are plenty of times here in the States I get frustrated or angry with the way things are, things like cost of living, things like people working a lot so you can't see people even if you want to see them. People have to work a lot to afford to live here.

1:26:34 It's also being realistic, understanding that planning is really what's going to help you a lot because you don't want to screw up your journey and have to come back prematurely. It's not embarrassing, it's just kind of disheartening.

1:27:01 But that's something to think about, as well as enjoying the pain and finding things to fill your schedule that all contribute to you doing that. So, like if you find yourself with free time and you've got a few hours, research certain countries, research cities within countries, do comparisons.

1:27:27 So if there's a country you're interested in, take notes on a comparison like cost of living. You know, what is it going to cost you to live in that place?

1:27:37 Another thing I do that can help you staying motivated is, motivation is tough. Motivation is fleeting, and I'd say that what you also should focus on before discipline. Discipline is not fleeting; people who are disciplined typically maintain that discipline.

1:28:01 And another one is working out. That helps me stay motivated. Just going and exercising, getting my frustrations out and burning that energy off. That's a big part of it.

1:28:21 Another part of motivation is, you know, just think about, just imagine. This is something I get from Jordan Peterson's course. I don't agree with everything he says, I think he's a flawed guy in a lot of ways, but he talks about how you need a heaven to work toward and a hell to run away from.

1:28:33 So if I were you, I'd also kind of like, you don't want to get so caught up in hoping for the dream life, but think about what that lifestyle would look like. Think about what your day-to-day would look like.

1:28:44 And then I'll compare it to what if I do with the status quo? What if I just keep doing things the way I've always done things, the way that I've been told to do things?

1:28:59 You know, another part of motivation is, I'd say, don't listen to people who don't live the life that you want to live. I'm not saying discount everybody who isn't an expat or doesn't want to be an expat, but I've had a lot of people here in the States that do not live overseas, haven't been overseas, don't have interest in going overseas, will never go overseas, try to give me advice or suggestions on how to do it or why I shouldn't be doing it.

1:29:23 And it's not really a productive conversation. It's not really moving the ball forward because, at this point, I've spent close to a year overseas, and I know about the variety. I visit the Middle East, I visited Southeast Asia, I visited Latin America. I've been all over North America.

1:29:39 And it's what I want to do, and it's what's going to happen. So you have to consider to be careful when it comes to motivation. Don't let enthusiasm is part of this journey. Don't let people take your enthusiasm away. Don't let people cut your enthusiasm short.

1:29:56 Because part of success is self-belief, and believing that you're capable of overcoming your problems and your challenges and the obstacles that are in the way. And not so much narcissistic self-belief like, 'I can do anything, I could be president.' But like saying, well, you know what, this person's telling me it's not gonna work.

1:30:20 You know, it's not gonna work for them. That doesn't mean it's not gonna work for me. I mean, whenever I'm at the point where people tell me, 'Oh, you can't do this or that,' I'm like, well, you can't do this or that. Like, I understand you have that limitation, and I have my own limitations.

1:30:35 There's a lot of things I can't do. I'm not going to ever be able to be good at because that's just not where I have talents or not where my interest lies. But I'm not going to change who I am or what I want to do to try to make other people happy.

1:30:49 And I feel like that's a big problem in the West is that there's a lot of people that spend a lot of time worrying about what other people think. And I think that does take from enthusiasm and sort of siphon off excitement or desire.

1:31:09 Because like you lose hope that it can happen, and then you start to make decisions that aren't steering you toward that. Like I tried to fight it. I knew when I first visited Thailand in 2018, I knew I wanted to live overseas. Israel opened me up to that idea, Mexico warmed me up even more on it, and then Thailand was the third country I visited.

1:31:29 And at that point, I was like, oh no, it's game over. Look, as soon as I figure out the finances of this, this is what I'm gonna do for the rest of my life.

1:31:44 Yeah, it's just, that's a big part of it with motivation is running the numbers and looking, breaking it down into logic. You know, a lot of people like, how much money do I need to live overseas? Well, start to make a list of what your expenses are going to be like.

1:31:59 Have a comparison like what would it cost me to live in Mexico City? What would it cost me to live in Cancun? What would it cost me to live in Cabo? What would it cost me to live in Panama? Where, what would it cost for northern Uruguay? What would it cost me to live in all these places?

1:32:28 You know what you're getting into. Certainly, there's an aspect of inflation, but breaking it down into, okay, well, if I live in Mexico City, I'm gonna pay $1500 a month for everything. This is all hypothetical. Well, what's my biggest bill? Rent. Let's say my rent in Mexico City is $600 a month.

1:32:48 Well, if it's $600 a month, the first thing that you need to work on is having a $600 a month remote income. But don't just move over there with $600 a month. Once you've taken out that first big bill, then start to tackle the others. How am I going to pay my phone bill every month? How am I going to pay my, what's my food budget? What am I looking at to spend on food every month?

1:33:09 And breaking your goals into bite-sized pieces and trying to tackle one thing at a time is going to be a lot easier than like, okay, if I just work hard for the next 10 years, 10 years from now I'm going to move overseas. It's complicated. There's a lot that goes into living overseas. I think that's why for a lot of people, it's not successful for them, or at least for some people, it's not a good idea for them because it takes a lot of things to go right.

Conclusion and Future Streams

1:33:33 And it takes a lot of work to increase the odds in your favor. So that's how I'd address that.

1:34:13 Any other questions? I think we're getting close to the end.

1:34:32 Well, thank you for watching. Definitely subscribe. Apologize for the audio issues early on. Next time, I don't think that should be an issue. Got the drivers installed and all that.

1:34:42 Definitely comment, let me know what you think if this has been helpful, and I will talk to you soon.