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Working From “Home” as a Nomad

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When I was working full time I usually had an office at school, where I could be productive without intruding on home family time.  For example, I wrote a big chunk of my dissertation in my office at Lady Bird Johnson Middle School from 5:30-7:00 before the demands of the school day started up.

Now that I am retired and no longer have a separate work location, even though a lot of my part time consulting work happens face-to-face with clients, there is still plenty to do before and after those visits. Reports have to be written, presentations prepared, interviews organized, emails answered, and expense reports submitted. When we owned a house, most of that happened in my home office. I had a comfortable chair, bookshelves full of resources, good lighting, a green screen for Zoom calls, and everything else I needed within reach.

As we travel around the country, duplicating that setup in every temporary home isn’t really feasible. Instead, I’ve found that my workspace generally falls into three categories, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.

Working in the Rental

The most obvious option is simply working wherever we’re living.  In our tiny condo in Myrtle Beach, this was a challenge.  Clearing off the one table we had and plopping my work in the middle of what was basically one long room was an annoyance to Katie at times.

Sometimes this works really well, though. Our Santa Fe apartment has a second bedroom with an adjustable desk. At 6’6″, I appreciate being able to raise the desk instead of spending several hours hunched over furniture designed for normal-sized humans. It also improves the camera angle for Zoom calls. Add dependable internet and easy access to beverages and snacks, and it’s a pretty good setup.

Of course, easy access to everything at home can also be a distraction. Sometimes I find it hard to concentrate on work when I could be going for a hike, exploring Santa Fe, or using the apartment complex amenities we’re already paying for.

As I mentioned earlier, working from home can also be a distraction for everyone else. Our son Drew has claimed that when Katie or I are on a Zoom call, he can hear us so clearly from the other side of the house that the client probably doesn’t need the internet. 🙂 There is also something that just feels wrong about sitting at a desk all day when one of the reasons we’re living in different places is to actually experience them.

Working From the Road

The second option is getting work done while I’m already traveling for a consulting job.

The advantage is that I don’t feel like I’m missing much. At this point, I’m pretty jaded about spending evenings in low-level business hotels. If I can finish a report when I am alone in a Fairfield Inn in Clovis instead of spending Saturday morning doing it in Santa Fe when I could be spending time with Katie, that’s a win.

One problem is that most hotel rooms aren’t particularly good offices. Lighting can be terrible, chairs uncomfortable, and desks an afterthought. More importantly, after spending an entire day being “on” while visiting schools, interviewing people, and driving, I don’t always have the mental energy to write reports or prepare presentations. God forbid I try to do something creative.

It gets even more complicated if Katie is traveling with me. The types of hotel rooms I stay in are small, and to put it mildly, Katie and I have different sleep schedules. Typing away on a laptop or participating in a Zoom call while your spouse is trying to sleep isn’t ideal for either person.

Still, hotel time is time I’ve already given to work travel, so when I have the energy, I try to use it.

Finding a Home Away From Home

The third option may be becoming my favorite: finding somewhere near our rental that I can designate as a place to work.  I used to chuckle at the people I saw in public places “working” on their laptops.  I thought it was a cry for attention like “look at me being busy and important while I sit in Starbucks being oh so serious on my laptop!”  Those people might have been on to something , though…

Omaha was perfect for this. The downtown library was about a block from our apartment and had study rooms I could reserve. I could walk two minutes, shut myself in a quiet room, get a couple of hours of focused work done, and then walk home. It gave me some of the separation between work and home that I used to get from having a dedicated office.

I haven’t found an equivalent in Santa Fe yet. The closest library is in a busy tourist area, parking can be challenging, and there aren’t private study rooms. The common areas also seem to serve a lot of different community needs (like shelter for the unhoused population), so it didn’t seem conducive to concentrated work. Santa Fe’s does have a new Barnes & Noble. I love bookstores and this one is new and airy with quite a bit of workspace and a cafĂ© where I can grab a hot drink. There aren’t private rooms, but there is at least a general expectation of quiet. I’ve worked there once already, and I suspect I’ll go back again.

Part of moving somewhere new is figuring out these little pieces of daily life. Where do we exercise? Where do we buy groceries? Where can I sit with a laptop for a couple of hours and actually accomplish something?

The Portable Office

One thing I’ve learned from this experiment is that leaving a traditional house doesn’t eliminate the boring parts of life. Even without work, there are still bills to pay, insurance to deal with, banking to manage.  Add in the back side of consulting work like writing summary reports, creating presentations, and filling out expense reports (that somehow refuse to magically complete themselves) and it takes up more time than you would think. Sadly, living in an interesting place doesn’t mean that every Tuesday afternoon can be spent hiking.

What has changed is that I no longer have one permanent place where all of that happens. My office might be a spare bedroom in Santa Fe this month, a hotel desk in Carlsbad next week, or a library study room in whatever city comes next. I’m still experimenting with the right balance. Sometimes I want the comfort and convenience of working from the apartment. Sometimes I’d rather use otherwise boring hotel time. And sometimes I need to physically leave “home” and go somewhere that tells my brain, “Focus, dummy!  You’re here to work.”

Working from home is a little different when “home” changes every few months.  Apparently, my commute does too. 🙂

How Much Did Our First 24 Hours in Santa Fe Cost?

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Last year, I broke down what our first 24 hours cost in Omaha, Nebraska. A few months later, we ran the numbers again after moving into our condo in Myrtle Beach. Now we’ve moved into stop number three: Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Same experiment. Different city. And I’m not sure, but maybe we’re actually getting better at this. 🙂

Lodging

In Omaha, we paid $1,500 per month for a furnished two-bedroom apartment with utilities included, or about $50 per day.

Myrtle Beach was also $1,500, but a 7% tax brought the actual cost to $1,605, or about $53.50 per day.

Santa Fe is a definite step up at $2,000 per month, or about $67 per day.

We intentionally paid a little more this time because the apartment checked more of our boxes. It has a full-size kitchen, is well furnished, and has a really nice workout room, pool, and hot tub area. After two previous stops, we’re getting a better idea of which amenities we actually use and which ones just look good in a rental listing.

Exercise

This has been different in every city.  In Omaha, we joined the downtown YMCA almost immediately. It was inexpensive, within walking distance, and had a lap pool. In Myrtle Beach, we initially skipped the gym and walked on the beach. We eventually pieced together a combination of the condo fitness room, local recreation centers, and outdoor exercise.

Santa Fe may be the easiest solution yet because we’re already paying for it.

The apartment has a good fitness room and pool, and we’re planning to combine those with frequent hikes. There is also a well-reviewed recreation center with a larger pool that I may use occasionally for lap swimming, but it was closed for annual maintenance when we arrived.  We will explore that later…

For day one, at least, exercise cost us $0 beyond what was already included in our rent.

Library

The library became part of our routine almost immediately in Omaha because we could walk to it. We didn’t use the library nearly as much in Myrtle Beach because it wasn’t as convenient, and I suspect Santa Fe may be similar.

There are several library options that I plan to explore, but none is particularly close to our apartment. After a couple of moves, we’ve learned that everything doesn’t need to be figured out during the first 24 hours.

Cost so far: $0.

Household Goods & Groceries

This is where I’m really beginning to see the benefit of experience and of intentional spending.

Our Omaha apartment was pretty well equipped, but we still bought some basics. Myrtle Beach was clearly designed for short-term vacation rentals, so we spent $59 just adding things like a pantry shelf, shoe rack, and floor mat.

Santa Fe is easily the best-equipped apartment of the three.

Our landlord has been awesome and very hands-on, and we haven’t found ourselves making repeated trips to the store for shower rings, shelves, doorstops, kitchen equipment, and all the other little things that add up when you’re trying to turn a vacation rental into a home.

Our one significant household purchase was a $50 mattress topper. The bed was a little softer than we prefer, and since we’re going to sleep on it every night for the next few months, $50 seemed like a reasonable investment in sleep quality. 🙂

Groceries were a different story. $278

Seems like a lot, but we intentionally spent more stocking the refrigerator and pantry because one of our goals for Santa Fe is to cook at home more often.

We ate out A LOT in Myrtle Beach. We could blame the tiny kitchen, and it certainly didn’t help, but eating at a restaurant once a day isn’t particularly good for either your pocketbook or your waistline. Our Santa Fe apartment has a full-size, well-equipped kitchen, so we’re trying something different. Instead of spending money buying equipment to make the apartment functional, we spent it filling the kitchen with food so we’ll actually use it.

I’m not sure all of that should count as a travel expense. We’d be buying groceries if we never left our traditional house. Still, stocking an empty refrigerator and pantry makes that first grocery trip considerably more expensive than a normal week.

Dinner

Despite our grand plans to cook more, we didn’t start on night one. 🙂

After moving in, unpacking, and shopping, we were tired. We found a local restaurant about a mile from the apartment and near the Plaza, largely because it had a patio and we could sit outside.

In August.

Coming from Texas, that still feels like a luxury.

Katie had the fried chicken special, I had a local beef burger, and dinner was $45.

We’ll be back.

Santa Fe Day One Total

So far, our first-day expenses look like this:

OmahaMyrtle BeachSanta Fe
Lodging, daily equivalent$50$53.50$67
Household goods$121$59$50
Groceries$52$72$278
Exercise$75$0$0
Library$0$0$0
Dinner$37$24$45
Total$345$203.50$440

The numbers aren’t completely apples-to-apples, particularly since groceries and dinner are expenses we’d have anywhere, but that’s also part of what makes tracking this interesting.

What Are We Learning?

After three moves, I think we’re becoming better shoppers for our temporary homes.

In Omaha, location and walkability were huge advantages. We could walk to the YMCA and library and had plenty of space.

Myrtle Beach gave us an oceanfront lifestyle, but the condo was designed more for a week’s vacation than several months of normal living. We had to create storage, improvise in the kitchen, and drive more often.

Santa Fe costs more, but we’re paying for things that will actually reduce other expenses over time. A good fitness room and pool reduce the need for a gym membership. A full-size kitchen should make eating at home easier. Better furnishings mean fewer trips to Walmart to solve little problems.

That may be the biggest lesson from our third move.

The cheapest apartment isn’t necessarily the cheapest place to live.

We’re also getting better at recognizing the difference between aspirational amenities and things that actually support the way we live. A fancy amenity that we never use isn’t worth much. A decent kitchen, comfortable bed, and convenient place to exercise affect us almost every day.

Omaha taught us the value of walkability.

Myrtle Beach taught us how much the design of an apartment can shape our habits.

Santa Fe may teach us that paying a little more for the right place can actually be money well spent.

Three cities in, we’re still collecting data, but at least we don’t have to buy another shoe rack. 🙂

Flying to the Movies?

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Last week I flew from Dallas to Colorado Springs to… see a movie.

I’ll start by acknowledging the privilege and frivolity involved here. The idea of flying to another state, spending the night, watching a movie, and then turning around and flying home sounds pretty ridiculous on its face.

So why did I do it?

Chasing Another Companion Pass

The Southwest Companion Pass has been called one of the best deals in the travel hacking world, and for Katie and me it has certainly lived up to that reputation. One or the other of us has had a pass for most of the past ten years, and we have probably gotten more than 100 free flights from it.

I’ve never tried very hard to calculate how much money we “saved” because that isn’t really how we used it. Many of those were trips we never would have taken if we had needed to buy a second ticket. The Companion Pass gave us the freedom to take more trips, add a weekend somewhere, or have Katie tag along when I was already traveling for work.

Looking ahead, though, I’m not sure it will continue to be as valuable for us. I’m flying less for work, which means fewer opportunities to bring Katie along on a reimbursed ticket, and changes to Southwest and the associated Chase credit card programs have made earning the pass more difficult and using it less attractive.

That made a recent Southwest promotion interesting. The rules were pretty simple. Register for the promotion, book a qualifying round trip or two one-way flights by August 6, and complete the travel by November 18. In return, I could earn a promotional Companion Pass valid from January 5 through March 3, 2027.

The math seemed pretty straightforward. If I could complete a relatively inexpensive trip now and save more than that amount on Katie’s flights next year, I would come out ahead.

We already have several trips in mind for early 2027, including Hawaii, so finding more than $200 of value from the pass shouldn’t be difficult.

Now I just needed somewhere to go.

The Mileage Run

I started by looking for a simple mileage run from Dallas Love Field. Houston? Austin? Lubbock? Fly somewhere, turn around, and come home.

Unfortunately, last-minute fares on the shortest routes were higher than I expected.

Then I found Colorado Springs.

I could fly there for about $250 and come straight home, but if I stayed overnight and returned the next day, the airfare dropped to about $200. Normally the cost of a hotel would wipe out the savings, but I had a free-night certificate that was about to expire anyway.

Suddenly, I had an overnight trip to Colorado Springs.

Now I just needed something to do.

Wait… There’s an IMAX Theater?

Katie and I had just visited Colorado Springs, so I wasn’t particularly interested in repeating the tourist stops we had done a few weeks earlier. It was also really hot, and with less than a day to acclimate to the altitude, a long hike didn’t sound particularly appealing.

Then I remembered something a local had told me during our previous visit.

Colorado Springs has one of only 26 theaters in the United States capable of showing movies in 70mm IMAX. Dallas has one too, but tickets for The Odyssey had been sold out for months. Our son managed to get one, but he was sitting in the corner of the front row for a 2:30 AM showing!

On a whim, I checked Colorado Springs. Plenty of seats. Apparently, when you live next to mountains, hiking trails, and the Garden of the Gods, sitting inside a movie theater isn’t quite as exciting. 🙂

For my purposes, though, it was perfect.

So What Did This Actually Cost?

Here was the damage:

  • Round-trip flight from Dallas to Colorado Springs: $200
  • Hotel: free with an expiring certificate
  • Lyft between the airport, hotel, and theater: $39, minus a $10 Sapphire Reserve credit
  • Movie ticket: $25

That put my out-of-pocket cost at about $254.

In exchange, I earned a promotional Companion Pass that I should be able to use for several flights during the first two months of 2027. Based on the trips we are considering, I estimate that Katie’s tickets during that period could easily cost $1,500 to $1,800.

Of course, that doesn’t mean I “made” $1,500 by going to a movie. We have to actually take those flights for the savings to be real, and there was still a very real $254 charged to our credit  card this week.

But I like my odds. 🙂

Was This Really About Saving Money?

I am certainly not recommending that everyone start flying to other states to see movies in the name of financial responsibility.

There were other factors at play.

It is August in Texas. Temperatures are routinely over 100 degrees, school has started again, and even our local pool has reduced its hours. I had been home for a while and was getting restless waiting for our Fall travels to start.

So I spent $254, got a quick adventure, used a hotel certificate before it expired, saw a movie in a format I couldn’t easily see at home, and potentially unlocked $1,500 or more of future travel.

That seems like a pretty good trade to me.

It also illustrates a few things I enjoy about financial independence and travel hacking. One is simple arbitrage. Sometimes spending a little money today creates an opportunity to save considerably more later. Another is learning how the programs you use actually work and looking for opportunities around the edges. Promotions, points, credits, certificates, and loyalty programs can be stacked together in ways that create some pretty interesting possibilities.

Most importantly, though, financial independence has given us the freedom to occasionally do something just because it sounds fun.

Years ago, taking a random overnight trip in the middle of the week would have required vacation days, schedule juggling, and probably more justification than I was willing to give it. Today, I can see an interesting opportunity, do the math, check my calendar, and occasionally say, “Why not?”

Was flying to Colorado Springs to see a movie necessary?

Absolutely not.

Was it the most efficient possible use of $254?

Probably not that either.

But I had a great little adventure, and if Katie ends up flying to Hawaii for free because of it, I suspect I’ll feel even better about the decision. 🙂

Why We’re Still Choosing to Rent

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Too often, when people think about housing costs, they only look at the mortgage payment. In reality, the cost of owning a home is much broader. It includes principal and interest, property taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance and repairs, HOA fees, and the opportunity cost of having so much money tied up in a single asset.

On a typical $300,000 home, those annual carrying costs can easily be more than $50,000 and look something like this:

CategoryAnnual Cost
Mortgage (Principal & Interest)$18,000
Property Taxes$5,000
Homeowners Insurance$2,500
Utilities$8,400
Maintenance & Repairs$6,000
HOA Fees$1,200
Opportunity Cost of Equity~$12,000

(For the purpose of looking at our own situation, I’m going to ignore the opportunity cost. Yes, our house has almost doubled in value since we bought it, but we purchased it back in 2001. Once inflation is taken into account, the appreciation is barely keeping up with inflation.) Anyway, here are our actual monthly housing costs from when we chose to pay off the house to last year..

Category20192025
Mortgage & Interest$950$0
Property Taxes$400$600
Insurance$150$300
Utilities$400$700
Maintenance & Repairs$300$600
Total$2,200$2,200

After paying off our mortgage, our housing costs were…

…exactly the same.

Within five years, increases in taxes, insurance, utilities, and maintenance have completely absorbed the savings from the eliminating principal and interest payment. The “cost to carry” a house just keeps climbing and there is no relief in sight. 

Now, if we wanted to stay in the same four-bedroom suburban Dallas house forever, ownership would almost certainly still beat renting. Landlords want to make a profit, after all. But that’s not the comparison we’re making.  It is not apples to apples, but apples to grapes. We’re comparing a house we no longer need with a lifestyle we actually want.

Katie and I don’t need four bedrooms. We don’t need a yard to maintain, proximity to schools, or a garage full of stuff. We don’t even need (or want) to stay in the same place year-round. By downsizing, taking advantage of geographic arbitrage, and remaining flexible enough to move when rents rise or our interests change, we’ve been able to build a lifestyle that costs less while giving us experiences we value more.

Some people push back on our decision to rent, and I get it.  For many, homeownership represents stability, permanence, and security. Some of our best friends are perfectly happy to nest in the same house they’ve lived in for decades, surrounded by memories and possessions, until they are wheeled out (hopefully many years from now).

There’s nothing wrong with that.  For them.

For us, though, the opportunity to wake up overlooking downtown Omaha one season and the Atlantic Ocean the next isn’t a compromise or a way to save money. It’s exactly what we were hoping for. Having the freedom to explore different communities and different ways of living isn’t a bug in our plan. It’s one of its biggest features. 🙂

The Takeaway

I think homeownership is often oversold as a path to wealth.. It can be a good tool for forced savings, but it isn’t the only path to financial success, and it isn’t automatically the right answer for every stage of life.

Our priorities have changed. We value flexibility over permanence, experiences over square footage, and optionality over accumulation. Renting while we slow travel lets us experiment with different communities, avoid unexpected maintenance headaches, and adjust our plans whenever life changes.

Will we own another home someday? Maybe. But after this first year on the road, we’re more convinced than ever that renting isn’t a temporary compromise while we figure things out.  For us, it’s exactly the lifestyle we’ve been trying to buy all along.

yellow bicycles

Urban Biking & Slow Travel: My New Favorite FI-Friendly Habit

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A lot of people in the FIRE community are passionate about biking.  Some even go as far as replacing one (or both!) of their cars with a bicycle. While I admire that level of commitment, I’ll be honest: I’m not quite that gung-ho. Our slow-travel lifestyle isn’t exactly conducive to hauling a personal bike across the country, and I’m definitely not strapping one to a plane 🙂 

But here’s what has surprised me: using urban bike-share programs has become one of my favorite ways to explore a city. It’s the perfect “middle ground” for someone like me that is interested in the FI mindset, but also trying to live practically while bouncing from Honolulu to Kansas City to Omaha to Boston. This Fall alone, I’ve used bike shares in every one of those cities, and each experience has reinforced how useful (and fun!) they can be.

It expands your reach.
Walking a city is great, but it can limit your radius to a few miles. With bike share, suddenly the entire waterfront, the next neighborhood over, or that park you’ve been meaning to visit becomes accessible without giving up the pedestrian feel of truly experiencing a place. It’s slower and more immersive than driving, but infinitely faster than walking. A perfect sweet spot.  One thing I like to do is to grab a rental bike and go 4-5 miles in one direction to get a feel for an area, park the bike, then work my way back on foot.

It saves money.
Bike share programs are shockingly affordable. A few dollars unlocks a full day of mobility with no gas, no parking fees, no rideshares, etc.  In Omaha, for example, the Heartland month pass got me unlimited access to bikes throughout the metro area for around $20.  And while I’m not trying to replace a car with biking anytime soon, even occasional use can offset Uber rides or rental car time. For travel, especially slow travel, those savings add up.

It’s good for the environment.
One less car trip means fewer emissions. It’s a small thing, but choosing bikes over short car rides is exactly the kind of low-friction habit that makes the FI lifestyle more sustainable both financially and environmentally.

And honestly… riding a bike is just fun.
There’s something childlike and joyful about pedaling through a new part of the city. No agenda. No stress. Just moving your body, noticing small details, and feeling connected to the place you’re exploring.

As I continue this slow-travel journey, bike-share programs have quietly become one of my favorite tools. They let me explore more, spend less, and stay present in the spaces I’m temporarily calling home.

If you haven’t tried urban biking yet, especially while traveling I encourage you to give it a shot. Start with a short ride along a river, a downtown loop, or a neighborhood you’ve never visited. You might find, like I did, that it’s one of the simplest ways to make a city feel more accessible, more affordable, and a whole lot more fun.

CampFI: Four Ideas That Changed the Way We Think About Financial Independence

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Earlier this month, Katie and I had the opportunity to present at CampFI Rocky Mountain (week 2.5) about our journey after reaching financial independence. We talked about our experiment with “slomadic” living, spending several months at a time in different parts of the country while trying to figure out what we want this next phase of life to look like.

Typically, people ask us about the logistics. How do we find housing? What do we do about mail? How do we handle healthcare, taxes, or travel rewards?  Those are interesting questions, but they aren’t really the biggest lessons we’ve learned. For this presentation we decided to focus on four themes that kept showing up over and over again throughout our journey. They have influenced almost every major decision we’ve made this year.

More Than One Right Answer

I love the Financial Independence movement, but the focus on optimization can lead to analysis paralysis.  Plus, as teachers, Katie and I are well aware of the multiple choice mentality that has conditioned many of us to believe that every question just has one correct answer.

Luckily, life doesn’t work that way. Should you pay off your house or invest? Retire early or keep working? Move across the country or stay close to family? The answer is often, “Yes :)”  

One of the most freeing ideas we’ve embraced is that decisions are rarely binary.  There are usually several good choices. We can be happy choosing A, B, OR C.  Once we accept that, decision-making becomes much easier.  We spend a lot less time trying to optimize every single variable and more time asking whether a choice fits the life that we are trying to build.

Freedom Is Better Than Wealth

This may be the biggest surprise of our FI journey. Looking back, many of our best financial decisions weren’t really about maximizing money. They were about maximizing options.

Katie left a higher-paying corporate career because education gave us work we enjoyed and schedules that fit our family. Later, side hustles, teaching online, and consulting gave us even more flexibility. Instead of making one giant leap into retirement, we gradually reduced the work we no longer enjoyed while keeping the parts that were still meaningful.  

The crazy thing?  In chasing freedom, the money followed naturally.  Financial independence didn’t simply increase our net worth. It increased our ability to say yes to opportunities (and our ability to say no). That has turned out to be far more valuable than just chasing dollars.

Simple Is Better Than Complex

If you’ve followed this blog for very long, you’ve probably noticed this theme already.

Simple investments. Simple travel. Simple spending. Simple housing.

I enjoy reading about complicated financial strategies just as much as the next FI nerd, but I’ve learned that complexity often creates more opportunities for mistakes. The same has been true in our personal lives. I can understand the appeal of real estate investment or the concept of RV travel, but the devil is in the details.  In both cases there are just too many variables and opportunities for friction for us right now.  We’ve realized we don’t need a large house, multiple properties, elaborate travel plans, or a complicated investment portfolio to be happy.

Simple systems free up mental energy for the things that actually matter.

Zero-Based Thinking

This has probably become our favorite mental model. Every once in a while, we like to ask ourselves a simple question:

“Knowing what we know today, would we make the same decision again?”

Sometimes the answer is yes, but sometimes it isn’t.

I really enjoyed teaching at the university, but after COVID permanently shifted the bulk of the teaching online, it no longer fit what I wanted to do. The four bedroom house by the elementary school and across the street from the community pool was perfect while raising kids, but isn’t the house two empty nesters need today.  The dependable sedan was great for commuting in city traffic, but not ideal for cross country moves.

Even our current experiment with slow travel is really just one long exercise in zero-based thinking. Instead of assuming we know where we want to spend retirement, we’re intentionally testing different possibilities before making another long-term commitment.

Looking Ahead

When we accepted CampFI’s invitation to speak, my first draft had us spending most of our time talking about geo-arbitrage, budgeting, and logistics.  Instead, we found ourselves talking about philosophy. How do you make decisions? How do you define success? What kind of life are you actually trying to build?

I hope the presentation was helpful for the people who attended, but I also hope these four ideas are useful for anyone pursuing financial independence, whether retirement is five years away or fifty.  After all, FI isn’t just about accumulating enough money to stop working. It’s about building a life that gives you the freedom to make the choices that matter most.

Lessons From the First Year: Geography Does Not Automatically Change You

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We just finished our first year of “slomadic” living, trying out different parts of the country and different styles of life with urban living in Omaha, Nebraska and beachside living in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Along the way we learned a lot, but one of the biggest lessons has been surprisingly simple:

No matter where you go… there you are.

It is a cliche, but changing locations does not automatically create a different life or identity.

I think many people, especially those dreaming about retirement or relocation, just assume that a new environment will naturally transform them. Move near the beach and suddenly you become healthier, calmer, and outdoorsy. Move downtown and you become more social and cultured. Relocate to the mountains and somehow life becomes simpler and more peaceful.

Sometimes circumstances absolutely help. But our experience so far is that most of our internal habits traveled with us.I exercised about the same amount in Omaha as I did in Dallas. I was not magically better at meeting new people in South Carolina than I was in Nebraska. My personality, routines, and habits all packed themselves into the car and came with us 🙂

That realization has actually been helpful. Financially, this matters because ,in retirement, people often spend aggressively trying to solve problems that are not primarily financial:

  • burnout
  • dissatisfaction
  • loneliness
  • boredom
  • stress
  • unhealthy routines

A new house, a different city, or a dream retirement destination may improve your circumstances, but it does not automatically create personal transformation. That feels like an important counterbalance to some FIRE narratives. Financial independence creates capacity for change, but not automatic change itself.

FU money can remove constraints. It can buy flexibility, autonomy, and time. It can allow you to leave situations that are making you miserable. Those are incredibly valuable things. But money alone cannot independently create:

  • meaning
  • structure
  • relationships
  • discipline
  • purpose
  • community

Those things still require intentional effort, regardless of location.

In some ways, slow travel has actually highlighted this lesson more clearly for us because each move acts like a little reset button. You quickly discover which parts of your life were truly tied to location and circumstance and which parts were really tied to you. For me, one of the biggest lessons from year one has been realizing that while geography can support growth, it cannot substitute for it.

The encouraging side of that realization is that happiness may be more portable than we sometimes think. If you already enjoy simple routines, movement, exploration, reading, or spending time with people you care about, those things can travel with you almost anywhere.

The challenging side is that unresolved issues tend to travel too 🙂  

Lessons From the First Year: Every Major Life Upgrade Has Hidden Tradeoffs

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We just finished our first year of “slomadic” living, trying out different parts of the country and different styles of life with urban living in a small big city in Omaha, Nebraska and beachside living in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. One of the lessons we have learned is the importance of looking at both sides of every major life change.

It is very easy to focus on what we are gaining.  Everything from an oceanfront view and easy beach access to walkability and access to cultural activities. Those benefits are real, and they matter. But one of the biggest lessons from this year is that the more important question is often not just “What am I gaining?” but also “What am I giving up?”

People often evaluate life changes by focusing almost entirely on the positives:

  • better weather
  • Tax advantages
  • nicer scenery
  • slower pace of life
  • more free time
  • lower housing costs

But lifestyle decisions are rarely one-dimensional optimization problems. Every move introduces tradeoffs.  Even positive changes can come with losses:

  • distance from relationships
  • disruption of routines
  • social isolation
  • healthcare disruptions
  • reduced community connection
  • loss of identity tied to previous work or location

Some of those costs are financial. Many are emotional or social, which makes them much harder to measure and quantify.

That is one reason I think retirement and FI discussions sometimes become overly simplistic. Spreadsheets are great at modeling taxes, housing costs, investment returns, and withdrawal rates, but they struggle to capture things like loneliness, boredom, lack of purpose, or the stabilizing value of community and routine.

We have been trying to evaluate decisions more holistically during this process. Instead of asking only:
“Is this cheaper?” or  “Is this more beautiful?” We are also asking:  “How does daily life actually feel here?” and “What parts of our current life would we miss?”

For example, beach living in Myrtle Beach has been wonderful in many ways. We loved the scenery, the ability to walk on the beach regularly, and the slower pace. But it also came with tradeoffs:

  • smaller living space (and no real kitchen)
  • distance from family and long-term friends
  • a more transient social environment
  • Not walkable to stores and restaurants
  • tourist crowds at certain times of year

Similarly, urban living in Omaha gave us walkability, interesting neighborhoods, and a surprisingly vibrant downtown lifestyle, but it also came with weather realities and distance from many of the places and people we know best.

None of those tradeoffs automatically make a decision bad. They just make it more complicated than a simple “upgrade.”

I think this is especially important for early retirees and location-independent workers because freedom creates the ability to move frequently, but movement itself also has costs. Stability, routine, and community provided more emotional value (especially for Katie) than we realized while we still had them. One of the biggest lessons from our first year is that there may not be a perfect place or perfect lifestyle. There are simply different bundles of tradeoffs.

The goal is not to eliminate tradeoffs entirely, but to choose the ones that fit us best.  And to keep in mind that there is no one correct answer, but many choices that may be right for us 🙂 

Lessons From the First Year: Lifestyle Inflation Has a Hedonic Ceiling

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We just finished our first year of “slomadic” living, trying out different parts of the country and different styles of life with urban living in Omaha, Nebraska and beachside living in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. One of the lessons we have learned has been to be careful about making long-term decisions based on things that feel amazing in the short term but quickly become routine.

The ChooseFI community talks a lot about “hedonic adaptation” as one of the biggest hidden obstacles to financial independence. The basic idea is that people quickly adjust to improvements in lifestyle, income, possessions, or comfort. What initially feels luxurious slowly becomes normal, and the emotional boost fades much faster than the bill.

That idea connects directly to lifestyle inflation. As income rises, spending tends to quietly rise along with it. Bigger houses, newer cars, nicer hotels, upgraded neighborhoods, subscriptions, dining out, and premium experiences all start to feel justified because they are now “affordable.” The danger is that expenses expand just as fast as earnings, delaying financial independence indefinitely.

For most of our journey toward FI, Katie and I worked hard to avoid that trap. We tried to frame spending decisions around buying freedom instead of accumulating “stuff.” We were never particularly interested in keeping up with the Joneses, and we scratched our itch for luxury experiences without permanently inflating our lifestyle was through travel hacking using points and miles rather than higher spending.

It gets tougher in a nomadic life, though.  Instead of making one decision to buy a cheer house and then benefiting for years, every relocation gives us another opportunity to overspend.  So our challenge keeps resetting itself every time we move.

When you arrive somewhere new, it is very easy to convince yourself that certain upgrades are absolutely worth it. A slightly nicer neighborhood. A better beach view. A more walkable location. A premium gym. Better weather. More restaurants nearby. And honestly, some of those things really do improve quality of life.

The problem is that emotional adaptation happens quickly.

The ocean view that feels magical the first week may become the thing you barely notice while washing dishes. The rooftop lounge becomes background scenery. The upgraded apartment starts to feel normal instead of special. Financially, that matters because recurring lifestyle costs persist while emotional returns decay.

That does not mean upgrades are bad. Some improvements absolutely create durable satisfaction. Better health, lower stress, walkability, proximity to friends, and environments that align with your values can all be worth paying for. The key lesson for us has simply been to become more intentional about distinguishing between upgrades that create lasting value and upgrades that mainly create temporary excitement.

I think this becomes especially important in retirement and FI planning because permanent fixed expenses compound risk over time. Things like second homes, timeshares, boats, RVs, luxury neighborhoods, and high-maintenance lifestyles may sound exciting initially, but they also create ongoing financial obligations long after the novelty wears off.

Ironically, one of the things we are learning is that flexibility often produces more happiness than permanent escalation.

Temporary access to desirable experiences can outperform ownership both financially and psychologically. Spending a few months living near the beach may deliver much of the same joy as owning beachfront property, but without the taxes, insurance, maintenance, and long-term commitment. Visiting interesting places, rather than permanently upgrading every aspect of life, may actually preserve more appreciation and excitement over time.

At least for me, that has been one of the biggest lessons from year one. Sometimes the sweet spot is not maximizing luxury. It is creating enough flexibility that life continues to feel interesting before adaptation quietly turns everything back into normal

Lessons From the First Year: The Value of Temporary Living

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We just finished our first year of “slomadic” living, trying out different parts of the country and different styles of life. So far that has included urban living in Omaha, Nebraska and beachside living in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Along the way, we have learned a lot, but one of the biggest lessons is that there are real advantages to medium-term stays and temporary living arrangements.

One of the big benefits of snowbirding, slow travel, sabbaticals, or extended rentals is that they allow you to test a future life before committing your capital to it. That may sound obvious, but I think many people underestimate how different a place can feel when you are actually living there instead of simply visiting.

That is the real financial insight for me: experience can be more valuable than ownership.

At first glance, renting for a few months may seem financially inefficient compared to buying. After all, you are paying rent without building equity. Because we still own our home in Texas, you could certainly argue that paying for temporary housing in another location at the same time is not the most optimized use of our money.

And mathematically, that is fair.

But when I compare a few months of rent to the potential cost of making a major relocation mistake, the equation changes pretty quickly. 

  • Buying in the wrong area
  • overestimating how often you will use a second property
  • Purchasing a “money pit” timeshare, RV, or boat that you won;t use enough
  • Misjudging the climate or pace of life
  • Locking yourself into a lifestyle you only liked in theory or in the short term

All of these can become enormously expensive lessons. In comparison, a few months of rent feels like cheap insurance 🙂

One thing we have learned repeatedly is that visiting a place and living in a place are completely different experiences. Vacations tend to highlight scenery, attractions, restaurants, and novelty. Daily life highlights grocery stores, traffic patterns, workout options, healthcare access, weather, and whether the rhythms of the place actually fit your personality. Those ordinary Tuesday factors matter a lot more than most people realize.

I think this idea is especially powerful for people pursuing financial independence or retirement. Many people spend years optimizing for a future life they have never actually tested. They dream about living in an RV, sailing around the world, relocating to the mountains, moving to a beach town, or settling into downtown urban life, but then commit large amounts of money before figuring out whether they truly enjoy the reality of those lifestyles.

Short-term trials create clarity. They reduce the odds of making expensive permanent decisions based on fantasy instead of experience. That may be one of the biggest lessons from our first year. Sometimes flexibility is more valuable than optimization, especially while we are still figuring out what kind of life we actually want to build.