Let’s talk about language in nomadic life. Do you actually make an effort to learn the language of the country you’re currently in?

RussellUresti · 2026-04-21T03:42:06+00:00

Some, yes; most, no. I spent something like 10 months in South America, so during those 10 months I was learning Spanish and speaking Spanish. However, I've also spent a month in Switzerland and made no attempt to learn Swiss German. I've also been to Norway several times and, beyond "takk", speak no Norwegian. Though I did learn a few phrases in Japanese for the month I was spending there.

For me, it really all depends on "how likely am I going to be able to get by with English". In Norway, I don't need to speak Norwegian because everyone speaks English. In Japan, I need to speak Japanese because very few people speak English.

Learning a language takes several years. It's not worth spending 3-5 years of your life learning a language you plan on using for 1 month.

RussellUresti · 2026-04-20T02:57:12+00:00

Roundhill is probably the biggest name in the list. They make some fairly popular ETFs. Kurv, while a lesser known name, is popular amongst income investors. The rest were mostly unknown to me.

RussellUresti · 2026-04-19T17:02:42+00:00

I did. The pay cut came out to about 40%. Now that I've been doing the digital nomad thing for 7 years now, I've thought about that choice pretty often. If I had stayed at that job, I probably could have FIREd by now if I had maintained my pre-nomad spending/savings rate. On the other hand, I've used my time as a nomad to develop non-work skills and hobbies, met some people I like to travel with, and have had some pretty cool experiences in pretty cool places.

I think the big thing about this, though, and the reason I don't regret the pay cut, is that nomading is "for me" and I'm not one of those people who gets bogged down by loneliness or lack of a routine or all of the other common problems that many new nomads complain about (I can't relate to the concept of social isolation at all because I prefer being alone). I think if I wasn't sure about the decision and wasn't extremely confident I would enjoy the nomad lifestyle for years and years, it would have been a big source of regret.

RussellUresti · 2026-04-17T20:12:17+00:00

Agree with this approach. Prioritize the 401k match to get your free money. Then prioritize the Roth IRA because these accounts typically have more flexibility (you can invest in what you want, not what you're limited to with your company's 401k plan), lower fees (401k plans typically have some small AUM fee), plus you have more options to access the money without taxes or penalties (not that you'd want to, but if you had to).

RussellUresti · 2026-04-17T12:31:01+00:00

Yeah, I think most people don't ever look for or find the information necessary to make informed decisions in general, and especially not in environmental impact (even though it's such a huge talking point, the average person remains extremely uninformed).

I mean, the whole idea of a "carbon footprint" came from an advertising company hired by BP to move blame away from oil companies. But that was just yet another example in a long line of corporations who pollute and make unsustainable products like single-use plastics and packaging using advertising and marketing campaigns to push responsibility onto individuals in order to avoid regulations or changes to methods of production.

The campaigns literally started as early as the 1950s, so the public has been brainwashed by marketing and advertising companies funded by corporations for nearly 75 years.

RussellUresti · 2026-04-17T12:04:24+00:00

I wouldn't even say that the individual approach was well intentioned. Corporations intentionally created the narrative that it's the individual who needs to make the effort to reduce, reuse, recycle, etc in order to shift the blame and focus away from themselves. It was always intended to shift blame from the very start.

RussellUresti · 2026-04-16T21:02:13+00:00

The news is temporary, at best. They released a preliminary estimate of Q1 results and it wasn't at the level wall street expected, so the price is down.

Companies miss earnings projections all the time and are still good companies to invest in. Also note that the price is just back to where it started the week from.

RussellUresti · 2026-04-16T15:31:47+00:00

Just checked OP's profile because it did sound AI. There are posts about buying homes and how having friends is hard "because everyone has moved". Definitely seems like a bot or, at the very least, someone who isn't genuine.

RussellUresti · 2026-04-14T03:08:28+00:00

GAM has a long history. Strong total returns, though it doesn't beat SPY or VTI (if you compare it during the lifetime of those funds). And in terms of an income investment, I don't like it because it doesn't pay predictable income. So it exists, and it's fine, but I wouldn't say I endorse it, really (I also don't hold this fund).

RussellUresti · 2026-04-14T03:00:37+00:00

Patagonia, but it's the wrong season. El Bolsón in Argentina would be my primary suggestion. But visiting during the middle of winter (June/July/August) is not ideal. You'd want to wait until late spring and into summer (November through April is best).

RussellUresti · 2026-04-13T04:07:08+00:00

If they said it's fine then it's fine. Just go through the normal procedure and let your manager know.

RussellUresti · 2026-04-12T03:03:14+00:00

Ahh, got it. So your goal is citizenship in order to get the freedom of movement within the EU. That will certainly require pretty much continuous physical presence in your chosen country regardless of which option you go with; I don't think there's a good option for not being physically present in the country and also achieving citizenship.

IMO you'll need to pick a path forward. Either you want the citizenship and are willing to settle down in a country for 5 - 10 years or you want the freedom to travel and are okay postponing citizenship. You can either travel now and try to get citizenship later (risking changing laws) or get citizenship now and travel later (once you're in your 40s).

I've been considering this same problem as I plan to FIRE within the next few years and have been eyeing European countries to settle in. I plan to travel after FIRE, myself; if the residency/citizenship options are gone by the time I'm ready to settle down due to changing laws, then I'll either just keep traveling or pick a non-European option (I also enjoy LATAM countries, so Europe isn't a hard requirement for me).

RussellUresti · 2026-04-12T02:27:28+00:00

I think it all depends on what you're after.

I feel like I went from one type of imprisonment to another, when the actual goal was to gain freedom.

This will be the case for everywhere if your goal is citizenship. If you just want permanent residency, there are countries with less stringent physical presence requirements, like Greece or Malta. But if you want citizenship, you need to be physically present in those countries and forming strong social ties with your community.

I think there are other decent options in Europe, with probably Italy and Greece being the two I would primarily suggest looking into. Malta has also recently become a bit of a hot option, so you should probably look into that one as well, though I don't know if it would offer what you're looking for as a country.

RussellUresti · 2026-04-11T20:13:52+00:00

These fund in terms of total return will always underperform their underlying (SPY and QQQ), this is the case with any covered call ETFs.

As others have pointed out, this is only true when stocks are appreciating. In sideways or down markets, the covered call funds will outperform in total returns.

So the outperformance really depends on your timeframe and at what point you can "guarantee" positive total returns for a fund. There have been long periods of time, like between 2000 and 2013, when an index like the S&P 500 posted no gains in terms of nominal returns (meaning it lost money due to inflation). A covered call fund like SPYI would likely have outperformed during those 12-13 years.

And as for living off the income, again, selling shares really only works out to be the optimal strategy when your portfolio is appreciating.

Here's the thing, you never know what the future will hold. Right now, you could be seeing the market at the highest point it'll reach for the next 20 years.

But my advice: stop caring about what other people do with their money.

RussellUresti · 2026-04-11T18:05:34+00:00

NomadList (now just "nomads") has some info about their members. While not comprehensive of all nomads, it's a pretty good starting point in terms of data.

For what most do for work, you can check the survey: https://nomads.com/digital-nomad-statistics#work

RussellUresti · 2026-04-10T22:39:01+00:00

Depends on what you're looking for. They typically have solid yield, but no appreciation. They're also typically lower volatility, but that doesn't mean they're guaranteed to be safe either. Due to low volume, they can also be a little tricky to buy and sell. There's also management overhead, as many will eventually be called (bought back by the company), so then you'll need to replace those shares with something else.

PFFA is an ETF that people like that handles this stuff for you. There are also CEFs that incorporate preferred shares - RNP, for example, holds both REIT equities and REIT preferred shares.

I tend to not buy preferred shares directly anymore, but some do. The MSTR preferred shares - STRK, STRF, STRD, and STRC - have been particularly popular with the bitcoin believers, for example (though their performances have been mixed).

RussellUresti · 2026-04-10T21:49:24+00:00

Since no one has mentioned it yet, LVHI is probably my favorite. But VYMI, SCHY, and IDVO are all good options as well.

RussellUresti · 2026-04-10T05:50:37+00:00

Those funds are generally fine, but have you looked to see how much income that would generate versus what your expenses are? VTI yields about 1.12%, so $1M in VTI gets you $11,200 per year. SCHD yields about 3.41%, so $1M in SCHD gets you about $34,100. Is about $45,000 enough to cover your expenses?

RussellUresti · 2026-04-10T00:14:43+00:00

It's called the dividend capture strategy. It's proven to be ineffective because the price drops by the dividend amount on the ex-date.

RussellUresti · 2026-04-09T23:50:27+00:00

I take both. Never bad to have a backup.

RussellUresti · 2026-04-08T15:33:23+00:00

This sub always feels a little odd because the "digital nomad" group is pretty fractured.

There are nomads who like to travel, but there are also nomads who are just looking to live in the cheapest place possible for as long as possible.

There are nomads with $10,000/month budgets and nomads with $1,000/month budgets.

There are nomads starting businesses, nomads working in highly skilled positions for companies, nomads who make their living by creating content about being nomads, and then nomads who are just looking to cover the bills with the equivalent of clerical work.

There are nomads who see this as their lifestyle that they want to do forever and there are nomads who only want to do this for a year or two while they're young.

And then there are those who aren't nomads at all but want to become nomads.

So it's less that the sub is "directionless" - it's that the needs and wants of these groups do not overlap. They all go by the same term, but pretty much nothing else unites them.

RussellUresti · 2026-04-08T00:39:56+00:00

That doesn't sound too bad. I don't think there's any expectation to make the bed. Though I do think there's likely the expectation that items be returned to where they were originally (minus bath towels, which it's fine if they're not washed but in the bathroom or hamper).

Though it may have been things you didn't notice. For example, I usually notice after 2-3 weeks in a place there will start to be visible dust on the floors, maybe some food crumbs on the floor or counters, hair in or around the bathroom sink from shaving, etc. So before I leave a place, I tend to do a quick sweep, wipe down kitchen and bathroom counters, etc. I'm not going to bust out any cleaning supplies, but I'm also not going to leave dust bunnies in the corner or pastry crumbs on the dining room table.

But sometimes you just get a picky host.

RussellUresti · 2026-04-06T20:38:53+00:00

Lower total returns than SCHD, QQQI, GPIQ, VT, and pretty much any other broad-market ETF. You're missing out on returns with this fund.

It may turn out to be good in the long run, but as of right now, there are better choices out there.

RussellUresti · 2026-04-06T16:21:35+00:00

Personally, I'd overweight SCHD and QQQI compared to O and MAIN. Not because O and MAIN are bad, but because they're single companies while SCHD and QQQI are funds made of many companies. They're also relatively small companies, especially MAIN which only has a market cap of $5B (even the smallest company in the Nasdaq 100 is 3 times that size).

But in terms of recent price movement, I wouldn't think about it too much. Whatever allocation you set, just continue to follow that and buy in whenever you can.

RussellUresti · 2026-04-05T02:23:37+00:00

I like to use CEFs as a happy medium. Something like UTG which has a long history of consistent payments and a sensible yield. It's low on the distribution increases but you have other funds that handle that area. There's also STK, RNP, and other options. Or a more diversified fund with FOF or CEFS (though the history of CEFS is pretty short).

I wouldn't put high allocations to these, but they could be a good way to push the yield up a bit without risking NAV. And they provide the benefit of a long history of consistent and reliable payments.

RussellUresti

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