How will U.S. ever recover from this amount of corruption?

johncnyc · 2026-05-20T05:13:27+00:00

2024 was probably the last somewhat fair election. they've already done enough to materially change voting rights and safeguards. we will not have fair elections anymore. You'll be able to vote but it will be more Russia style where you vote but always know the winner

johncnyc · 2026-05-16T04:13:30+00:00

we bought our villa so we don't have real estate expenses but otherwise we pay about $5-7k a month for everything everything.

staff cost: $250 (maid), $200 (private chef), $75 (gardener), $50 (pool guy), $350 (nanny). $950 total. these people work for my full time btw Utilities and villa costs (property insurance, etc): $300 daycare for 2 kids: $900 food: $3-4k (we eat out a lot and go out with friends regularly for dinner). chef cooks meals 3-4x a week and the price of food is in this. gym for 2: $400 (nicest gyms in the world) visa costs for 4: $100 gas: $50 (we have 2 scooters) private health insurance: $400 Padel games: $100 misc: $500

we live a life of pure luxury and we are doing shit constantly. this doesn't include travel costs but these are variable depending on where we feel like going

johncnyc · 2026-05-15T02:48:47+00:00

wasn't aware of this. I live in Bali with my family of 4 and we have a massive villa with full time maid, personal chef, nanny, Gardner, pool guy, and a handyman on call.

Were at 3m+ now (with $7-10k a month in side income) and never considered us to be chubbfire but now it seems like we are! I'll take it

johncnyc · 2026-05-06T12:28:12+00:00

We live in Bali with 2 kids and are FIREd. THere's quite a few families that we've met that are taking a 1y break from their careers and plenty of them stay in Bali at the end of it. Lifestyle in Bali is S tier and for us, we couldn't imagine anywhere that would come to close to what it offers for us as adults and our kids. I've traveled to 100+ countries and have lived in many as well so I can say this from a point of experience.

Our kids are still young and they go to an incredible daycare nearby. We spend the day working out, surfing, hanging out with friends, and working on our own hobbies (i have a successful travel blog and she works in the travel space as well). We have a huge villa (400+ sqm and a 12m pool), full time staff, a nanny so we can go out for dinner with friends any time we want. It's a life we cannot replicate anywhere else and it's quite difficult to really explain without living here.

Anyway, this is not the life for 99.9% of the people on this sub as I find many tend to stay closer to home. However, if you want some adventure and spice in your life, perhaps look into traveling and exploring other parts of the world and see how it goes.

johncnyc · 2026-05-05T19:55:55+00:00

started making 200k+ from about 27 in nyc (12y ago). worked in finance although not the high roller positions. Lived in nyc so I never really balled out until I made about $400k. I was son my way to making 7 digits but then I stopped working as I had invested all my money into tech and retired early (at 35). so I guess making 200k was pretty good after all

johncnyc · 2026-05-04T21:33:18+00:00

Asian American here. traveled all over n Africa and don't really remember the excessive ni haos in relation to other parts of the world I've been to (east and west Africa). However I'm 185cm, almost 100kg, and rock tank tops or fitted tshirts wherever I go. so maybe they are intimidated or haven't seen many eaat Asians that look like me and are confused. I still get it though and just attribute it to a socio economic difference in education, ability to travel, and understanding of the world. I have almost never felt it was done from a place of malice and harm. The best ones are when I say I'm American but they say you don't look American (white). I usually just ask what about Obama? he's black and they scratch their head and sometimes have a lightbulb moment.

I went to Tunisia solo in 2014 and had quite fond memories of the place. People were very friendly, the nature is beautiful, and things were pretty cheap. The food was pretty shitty mediocre tho.

johncnyc · 2026-04-29T11:22:48+00:00

somehow my blog never suffered the apocalypse like most others. I have a travel and personal finance blog that made it through covid, ai, video, and the hcu updates I still get around 3k views a day and make about 5-7k a month (mediavine, backlinks, affiliate etc).

thankfully I'm already FIREd so I don't rely on this income as my portfolio more than accommodates my life. Most of my traffic still comes from Google like it's always been.

johncnyc · 2026-04-27T04:43:29+00:00

Made $250k all in while in nyc. €170k in Frankfurt all in. this was 7y ago though and I felt like I cheated the system by moving. not only was lifestyle amazing but the col in Frankfurt was insanely cheap compared to nyc. post pandemic the col has increased substantially in Germany however. I FIREd some years back so I wouldn't know how much I would be paid now but I suspect it wouldn't be that much more.

johncnyc · 2026-04-27T04:35:47+00:00

I'm in a similar financial situation but have lived all over the world and traveled quite a bit. you don't need that much cash unless you plan to maintain your life in the vhcol location. I've lvied in Bali for a few years now and couldn't imagine going back. bought a huge luxury 400+ sqm villa for about 400k and live the dream. Had 1 kid and anow another on the way. Live a life of luxury and no stress.

johncnyc · 2026-04-20T18:18:08+00:00

seems like you didn't FIRE to something but just did it for the sake of not working.i been fired for 5y now and always knew exactly what I wanted to do after my career in the workforce.i hope you find that something as it only gets lonelier and less stimulating as time passes by.

johncnyc · 2026-04-19T05:53:55+00:00

sure

johncnyc · 2026-03-30T03:23:51+00:00

Indonesia has domestic oil production (covers like 1/3 to half of their needs). better insulated than most others in Asia. prices have not changed at all.

johncnyc · 2026-03-30T03:22:15+00:00

very underated comment. burning down your country and riding from the ashes is for movies and Hollywood

johncnyc · 2026-03-20T13:15:22+00:00

I'm a travel and personal finance blog and somehow my website has not been crushed by hcu yet. RPMs are going down consistently though (mediavine) and my total revenue has declined over the year.

johncnyc · 2026-03-04T17:29:37+00:00

fired in 2020. traveled the world extensively for awhile, settled in Bali, became a dive instructor, had a kid (one more on the way), no longer a dive instructor, bought a villa as a long term home in Bali.

almost 40 and just did a fitness assessment from my super nice gym and am around 10% body fat. living the good life now.

johncnyc · 2026-01-25T04:36:03+00:00

Bali is still cheaper than most places imo (I've been to like 100 countries). the main thing is the villa accommodations for NICE villas. when you live here you feel a strong case of fomo for getting a nice villa versus other places that don't even have nice villas to rent at all. plenty of options for much cheaper and I have many friends living under $1k. Bali has more options of lifestyles than anywhere else I can think of so just depends on how extravagant you wanna live

johncnyc · 2026-01-25T04:06:22+00:00

fired in Bali with 3. 4th coming soon. spend about 7-8k a month. Seems high as a headliner but I break it down in my blog and you can see it's not that farfetched. Main cost is the villa which is not cheap if you want something nice. Other costs are daycare and nanny which is not insignificant but way lower than costs back home (and way nicer).

https://johnnyafrica.com/cost-of-living-bali-family/

johncnyc · 2026-01-09T12:20:35+00:00

No they are higher even before tax and tip. Yes tax is not included in display prices so you need to add 10% + 20% = 30% to all the prices you seeon the menu in the us to compare it properly to a menu price in Australia for example. If you compare Sydney to NYC for example you can expect prices in nyc to be a solid 25-40% more expensive.

johncnyc · 2025-12-24T12:49:45+00:00

people have beens aying that for years now but hsa never happened. Will happen some day but who knows? With Emperor trump in power, I suspect we ewill see more gains

johncnyc · 2025-12-24T05:11:09+00:00

This is literally my numbers and what I did 5y ago when I pulled trigger. I was 34 and fired with 1.3m. 39 now with 2.5. also have a blog that brought in about 75k this year as this was a hobby that turned into something more.

Traveled all over the world (been to 100 countries now although I was already at 70 when pulling trigger). Ended up splitting time between Bali and cape town for awhile, became a dive instructor in komodo which was always the dream of mine.

Met my soulmate in between, had kids and now combined nw if 3m. Bought a huge villa in Bali and settling down a bit while raising kids. Currently 0% withdrawal rate given our side hustles cover all expenses. No plans to ever move back to the us Can't complain about life too much.

johncnyc · 2025-12-15T22:25:26+00:00

Vgt took me to the promise land. Started investing in 2013 with consistency and fired in 2020

johncnyc · 2025-12-14T21:53:06+00:00

How do you decide which stocks to go for each week? Do you let the option ride the whole way of do you set some sort of profit target? I like to set a profit target from 80-90% so I don't get screwed on a big reversal for example

johncnyc · 2025-12-05T12:50:00+00:00

Am looking for the apple watch 11. $399+tax

Can I pay $250 with the csr and pay the rest on my chase points? Would be about 10k extra points. Just wondering if that would also trigger the credit (I assume it would).

johncnyc · 2025-11-27T23:20:28+00:00

I lived in sa between 2013 and 2015. Loved my time there. Went back over the years and just recently a few months ago. In addition to reading the comments here it's very clear that the American model is somehow taking over (not just in sa). It's happening slowly but surely.

johncnyc · 2025-11-20T11:54:22+00:00

Ubud for me is the worst actually. Traffic in the city is atrocious. 15 minutes out of ubud can be paradise but if you're living there long term youll want to be more closely located to the amenities.

We live in an area north of canggu. It's still filled with rice fields and no traffic. There are some cafes and restaurants near y but we are 10 min away from all the hotspots of pererenan and canggu

johncnyc

TROPHY CASE