August 11, 2020

Slow Travel, Geoarbitrage and Creative Frugality | Bob Lai

44 minutes

Today’s episode features Bob Lai from Tawcan.

Bob and his wife are both dual citizens living in Vancouver, Canada.

He has a big passion for geo-arbitrage, slow travel, and dividend investing.

Hear how he’s reaching FI while traveling and having three weddings! (spoiler alert, only one bride)

Listen, learn, and let us know what you think about this awesome episode!

Episode Summary

Bob’s Background

Bob’s family grew up in Taiwan with a farming background

Money was never taboo and stuck with him

Frugality was a big point of emphasis

His dad retired in his early 40s

Bob had a cousin who retired at 42

And then another cousin who hit FI and kept working

Bob talks about the influence that had on him

Geo-arbitrage

Geoarbitrage is the act of moving somewhere to lower your cost of living

Think San Francisco resident moving to Montana

This can be within your own country or abroad

It’s important to consider your earnings also dropping

This typically works best if you’re not working or working remotely

Some jobs like doctors actually get paid more in small cities

With the pandemic, this is possible for many more workers who’ve gone remote

Exchange rates can also be your friend

Living 181+ days in another country can also help you avoid U.S. income taxes

Citizenship is obviously a big hurdle in certain countries

Some countries give residency based on wealth or homeownership

Geo-arbitrage can save you 50% or more

Slow Travel

Often we look at travel as short spurts (1 – 2 weeks at a time)

This leads to trying to pack in as much as possible

You end up so tired, you need a vacation when you get back

Slow travel is the idea of spreading that over 3-6months

This allows you to spread out costs of flights

It also lets you book apartments vs hotel rooms

Bob goes over how much more enjoyable it is and affordable

He also talks about the benefits of having a home base when traveling

Three weddings under $7000

Bob got married three times….

Remember that his wife was from Denmark

This meant they both had families abroad

His first wedding was mostly his family

Bob’s wife made the cake and her dress!

Of course, they used a coupon after the wedding to eat

A month later they had a wedding with friends and her family

They hired a friend who would go on to go to culinary school

And their photographer was just starting out

His wife actually altered her own wedding dress for the second wedding

A year later they decided to do a wedding actually in Denmark

This time it was at a small-town school and his picture did photographs

Bob even took some of the photos

Rounding out the Episode

Bob talks about how he could retire now if he wanted

He’s happy with his job currently

Their home is also very valuable in the crazy Vancouver market

But life is good and his kids have a friend group

Key Takeaways

Slow down: Bob breaks down the power of slow travel which this show is a big fan of

You have options: Don’t think that just because you live or were born in a certain area that you have to stay there.

Call to Action

Look at your next planned vacation or one you’ve done in the past, compare those numbers with the slow travel version of it. How much per day does a six day vacation compare to a six month?

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Bob’s Information

Website: Tawcan

Twitter: Tawcan

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By Cody Berman and Justin Taylor

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