My latest MoneySense Retired Money column expands on a blog written by Devin Partida on my site while we were away in Malta and Italy. In there you can see three photos from our trip, including the one shown here.
For MoneySense, I reached out through Linked In and Featured.com to bounce this idea off various Retirement Experts and Business Owners in North America.
The full Retired Money column can be accessed by clicking this hyperlink: Financial Independence and Travel: Can you have both? The column runs a normal 1200 words or so but the actual responses ran about five times that long, which you can find by clicking on this link also on Findependence Hub. (It ran over the weekend, as did the MoneySense summary of it).
Naturally, I agree with Devin’s original topline conclusion: that “maintaining Financial Independence while traveling is entirely possible with a proper strategy.” As some of the sources indicate, technology and the Internet means most professionals or so-called “Knowledge Workers” can really practice their craft most anywhere in the world that has Web access.
Digital Nomads
The colourful term “Digital Nomad” is often used to describe such globe-trotting workers. Of course, travelling the world by Baby Boomers like myself is relatively straightforward if you spent decades building up pensions and a Retirement nest egg. Ideally at the end of 30 or 40 years of “working for the man (or woman)”, you end up with the lovely combination of relatively endless time and sufficient financial resources to indulge your globe-trotting desires.
Leisure
But the MoneySense column also passes on several tips that can be used by those who are only semi-retired, or even decades from Retirement but who have embraced the so-called FIRE movement: Financial Independence Retire Early. There’s even a term I hadn’t encountered until I researched this piece: Bleisure, which is of course a contraction of the words Business and Pleasure. Continue Reading…
That blog inspired me to reach out to multiple financial experts and business owners, with the assistance of Linked In and Featured.com, which has been supplying this site with quality content for several years.
Here’s how we posed the question:
Can you pursue Financial Independence (or Retirement or Semi-Retirement) without giving up Travel? See this blog for one opinion on this topic:
Malta: where we spent most of February this year. Photo by J. Chevreau
This particular topic attracted 84 comments by the April 20th deadline: this blog presents 25 or so that I selected. It’s long so I’ve summarized the main points with subheadings.
Note also that my latest MoneySense Retired Money column summarizes some of the main points, more succinctly as there is limited space for that column (about 1300 words, compared to the nearly 6,000 words that appear in the particular blog you are now reading).
To ease the reading burden, I’ve added subheads, some of which include:
Geoarbitrage: Live where cost of Living is lower
Renting RVs for Extended Travel Stretches
Make Travel a regular fixed expense you plan on incurring every month
Treat Travel as a budget category, not a luxury to eliminate
Embrace slow travel, house-sitting, points travel hacking and off-season destinations
Buy property in tourist spots to fund Travel
Majority of Professionals can now work remotely
The “goal isn’t to eliminate travel, but rather to make it more intentional.”
“Bleisure”: Let your career fund your transit
As President of Safe Harbors Travel Group, I’ve spent decades helping organizations use strategic logistics and “Bleisure” to explore the world without draining the bottom line. You can reach Financial Independence by letting your career fund your transit; we often help clients integrate vacation days into business trips to eliminate personal airfare and lodging costs.
A key strategy for the budget-conscious traveler is utilizing “humanitarian airfares,” a specialized airline product Safe Harbors provides that offers significant savings for anyone doing charitable, religious, or mission-based work. These fares are a powerful hack for those pursuing a purpose-driven life while keeping their personal travel expenses at a minimum.
By leveraging our elite tech partnerships for data-driven booking, you can ensure “duty of care” and response speed that prevents the costly emergencies often associated with unmanaged travel. This structured approach allows you to focus on wealth building while Safe Harbors handles the complexities of your global footprint. — Jay Ellenby, President, Safe Harbors
Build Travel into the system, not just a later Reward
Yes: you can chase FI or semi-retirement and keep travelling if you build travel into the system instead of treating it like a reward you “earn later.” I’ve run logistics/transportation businesses for years and now my wife and I host 15 furnished units in Detroit/Chicago, so I’m used to designing operations that still run when I’m not physically there.
What made it work for us is shifting travel from “big expensive trips” to “repeatable, planned mobility.” We use our Detroit-focused blog as a planning engine: when we travel, we test neighborhoods, transit (Q-Line/SMART/MoGo), and local routines the same way a guest would: then we bake that learning back into listings and guest guides so travel time also improves the business.
The practical FI move is making your income less dependent on your daily presence. Guest reviews told us people wanted clearer walkthroughs, so we added walkthrough videos to each property page and saw a 15% increase in booking conversions: less back-and-forth, fewer preventable questions, more freedom to be away while keeping standards consistent.
If you want one tactic you can copy: record a 5-8 minute “first night in the unit” walkthrough (lockbox – thermostat – Wi-Fi – parking – trash) and reuse it forever. That single asset cuts support load while you’re on the road, and it’s the difference between “I can travel” and “travel breaks my cashflow.” — Sean Swain, Company Owner, Detroit Furnished Rentals LLC
Geoarbitrage: Live where cost of Living is lower
Geoarbitrage allows you to live in an area with a lower cost of living for your family while allowing your investment portfolio to grow. The combination of using travel rewards on credit cards and traveling during less expensive times reduces your travel costs. This approach to finding money saving ways to see the world makes international exploration a viable way to maintain your lifestyle versus making it a luxury. — Zack Moorin, Founder, Zack Buys Houses
Geoarbitrage and the Second Act Advantage
In The Second Act Advantage, I show how geoarbitrage lets anyone achieve financial independence without sacrificing travel: in fact, it makes travel the strategy. By earning in strong currencies while living and exploring more affordable parts of the world, everyone can enjoy a richer, more adventurous life while actually spending less. The book teaches readers how to design a life where freedom, fulfillment, and financial efficiency all work together. — Jay Samit, Bestselling Author, The Second Act Advantage
Transitioning from Vacationing to Geo-arbitrage
The Travel-First Strategy: Designing FI Without Sacrifice
A common misconception in the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) community is that travel is a luxury to be deferred until the finish line. However, in my experience advising lifestyle-focused entrepreneurs, pursuing financial independence without giving up travel isn’t just possible it’s often a more sustainable strategy for preventing burnout.
Shifting from Consumer to Global Resident
The key is transitioning from vacationing to Geo-arbitrage. Traditional travel involves paying retail prices for short-term stays, which can cripple a savings rate. A strategic traveler focusing on FI prioritizes medium-term stays in regions where the cost of living is lower than their home base. By spending months in hubs like Portugal, Mexico, or Southeast Asia, you can often live a high-quality lifestyle for 40% less than in major Western cities. In this model, travel actually accelerates your path to financial independence by lowering your monthly burn rate.
Leveraging Credit Strategy as an Asset Class
From a PR and financial positioning standpoint, we should treat travel rewards not as points, but as a shadow asset class. A sophisticated FI seeker uses strategic credit card optimization to ensure that their transportation and lodging line items remain near zero. When flights and hotels are covered by systemic spending, travel stops being a drain on investment capital and becomes a tool for lifestyle maintenance.
The Semi-Retirement Pivot
The all-or-nothing approach to retirement is becoming obsolete. We are seeing a rise in Coast FIRE, where individuals reach a baseline of savings and then transition into remote-first or consulting roles. This allows for perpetual travel while the core nest egg continues to compound undisturbed. By integrating travel into the pursuit of FI rather than viewing it as a reward for the end of it, you create a life you don’t feel the need to escape from. This ensures that when you finally reach full independence, you already possess the global literacy to enjoy it. — James Tech, SEO Marketer, TripFrog
58% of Millennials and GenZ prioritize Travel over Material Accumulation
Financial Independence and travel are not mutually exclusive; in fact, they increasingly reinforce each other when approached strategically. A growing body of research highlights the rise of “geo-arbitrage,” where professionals leverage remote work or location flexibility to reduce living costs while continuing to explore new destinations.
According to a 2024 report by Deloitte, nearly 58% of Gen Z and millennials prioritize experiences like travel over material accumulation, reshaping traditional financial planning models. At the same time, the World Tourism Organization notes a steady increase in long-stay and work-from-anywhere travel patterns, indicating that travel is no longer viewed as a luxury pause but as an integrated lifestyle choice.
From a workforce perspective, continuous upskilling and digital proficiency — particularly in areas like project management, agile practices, and cybersecurity — enable professionals to maintain income streams while remaining location-independent.
Financial independence, therefore, is less about restriction and more about intentional design: aligning income strategies, skill development, and lifestyle priorities in a way that sustains both economic security and personal fulfillment. — Arvind Rongala, CEO, Invensis Learning
Renting RVs for Extended Travel Stretches
Absolutely yes: and I’ll tell you why from an angle most people overlook: your cost of living on the road can actually shrink dramatically while you’re building toward FI.
I run DFW RV Rentals, placing travel trailers for displaced families and insurance claims. What I see constantly is people discovering — often during the worst moments of their lives — that a well-equipped travel trailer is genuinely livable, comfortable, and cheap compared to a mortgage or apartment lease.
Here’s the FI angle nobody talks about: renting an RV for an extended travel stretch eliminates storage fees, maintenance headaches, depreciation, and insurance costs that crush RV owners. I’ve watched people romanticize ownership, buy a unit, and watch it become a financial anchor: whereas someone renting strategically keeps capital free and mobile.
If you’re pursuing FI and want travel woven in, think of RV rental as a variable living expense you control, not a lifestyle luxury. A few months on the road in a rented trailer can cost less than your fixed housing back home: and that gap is real money compounding toward independence. — Jonathan Dies, Owner, DFW RV Rentals
Maintenance-free Retirement communities
As Executive Director of The Village at Mint Spring and Stuarts Draft Retirement Community for over 16 years, I’ve guided hundreds toward maintenance-free retirement living that supports financial goals without homeownership burdens.
Yes, financial independence or semi-retirement pairs perfectly with travel when you eliminate upkeep costs like repairs, lawn care, snow removal, and property taxes: freeing budget and time for trips.
Our residents use the shuttle for local outings while traveling afar, knowing onsite care partners like Visiting Angels handle needs back home.
Fall incentives like up to $3,500 moving allowance make the shift easier, letting you lock in FI sooner and explore without stress. — David Brenneman, Owner, The Village at Mint Spring
Adopt a “Cash Rules Everything” mindset
As an advisor to business owners earning $400K+, I’ve found that financial independence is about aligning your strategy with your personal values rather than following generic industry models. I build plans for my clients that prioritize clarity and lifestyle flexibility, ensuring travel is a core component of the strategy rather than a sacrifice.
When the April 2025 market volatility caused equities to waver due to new tariffs, clients with high-liquidity strategies avoided the “dash for cash” and kept their travel plans intact. I focus on a “cash rules everything” mindset during periods of uncertainty to ensure market jitters don’t interrupt your personal milestones or global adventures.
I use the Altruist platform to give my clients a technology-driven, transparent view of their wealth from any location. This allows entrepreneurs to monitor their progress toward retirement and make confident decisions via mobile tools without being tethered to an office.
True financial guidance starts with understanding your long-term vision so your portfolio serves your life, not the other way around. By creating a practical action plan focused on stability and growth, you can pursue financial freedom while maintaining the lifestyle you have already worked to build. — Daniel Delaney, Owner, Seek & Find Financial
Make Travel a regular fixed expense you plan on incurring every month
Many people misunderstand the idea of being financially independent as a way to have nothing but austerity during their time of independence; however, the reality is that it’s just about allocating your money in a conscious manner. Too often, people will make travel an ‘additional’ expense that must be eliminated in order to achieve their savings goals: this can lead to burn out and a living arrangement that does not continue.
The problem is that travel is often treated as an item that has been paid for with ‘loose change’ after all of the other ‘necessary’ expenses have been paid each month; therefore when budgeting, travel should be included as a regular fixed expense you plan on incurring every month.
To have travel as part of your work-life balance, you will need to establish your savings plan with this in mind. Business places do this as well; you do not build a business just by lowering your cost structure, you have to build a company based on what gives you the highest return on your investment for the long-term. The same should be true for any travel related goal that you desire to achieve. One of the pitfalls that many individuals fall into when comparing their way of saving to the ways that people in the ‘lifestyle’ mode of saving demonstrate is that they fail to establish their own pace and their definition of ‘enough.’
Finding that work-life balance about not simply doing the math correctly, but making certain to build a lifestyle in which you would prefer to ‘Get up and do it!’ every single day. — Abhishek Pareek, Founder & Director, Coders.dev Continue Reading…
On Tuesday, I attended the Toronto instalment of BMO ETFs’ Spring Road Tour, the first of a 10-city Canadian tour that extends into early May.
The title is We’ve got you covered, which is a sly allusion to one of the main themes of the series: Covered Call ETFs.
Aimed primarily at financial advisors, the sessions are roughly an hour long, coinciding either with breakfast or lunch, depending on the city. There are three main segments:
Bipan Rai, Head of ETFs & Alternatives Strategy, provides insights into BMO’s current macroeconomic outlook, including positioning across asset classes and risk models
Jimmy Xu, Head, Liquid Alts and Non linear ETFs, manager of BMO’s flagship Covered Call ETFs, discusss these innovative solutions designed to help clients meet their cash flow needs while maximizing long term growth.
The road show ends with an introduction to BMO’s new Portfolio Consulting Services, designed to help advisors navigate an increasingly complex investment landscape. Senior Portfolio Consultant, Hilly Cutler shares how BMO supports advisors in optimizing their model portfolios—reducing costs, enhancing diversification, and managing risk as CRM3 approaches.
As the chart below summarizes, the road shows ends in Burlington on May 7th:
Except the Toronto event, which was a breakfast session, the other sessions all begin at either 12 pm or 1 pm. Below we reproduce some of the slides presented at the show.
Current Market outlook and Positioning by Bipan Rai
Bipan Rai, BMO ETFs
The sessions kick off with a current market outlook delivered by Bipan Rai, who focused on the impacts of the ongoing Iran war, which began at the end of February. He confessed to having a few sleepless nights about the closing of the Hormuz Strait. Not surprisingly most investors suffered negative returns in both stocks and bonds during March. Hormuz matters for the macroeconomic picture, not just because of oil, but also because of Liquid Natural Gas, fertilizers and Helium: the latter helps cool AI systems. (shown below).
Rai also showed the following two charts, which illustrate how the Consumer Price Index changes the longer the price of oil stays higher. The longer the Strait is closed or traffic severely constrained, the more it will create inflation and create risks to economic growth.
If the price of Oil does stay higher for longer, Rai commented that investors may want to take a more defensive tilt to equities, emphasize quality and low volatility as factors, diversify with Treasury Inflation Protected Securities and embrace broad commodities. BMO has of course ETFs for all of these: such as ZTIP (BMO Short-term US TIPS Index ETF) or the new ZCOM for broad commodity exposure.
Rai’s “big takeaway” is that while Commodities are the “source of the shock,” they also “benefit from supply constraints, fiscal demand and de-globalization.”
Knowing that Inflation risks are “to the upside” and “growth risks are to the downside” Rai concludes that “We are most likely migrating from a ‘reflation’ to ‘mild stagflation.’ ”
He says we are likely in a transition from Strong Growth and High Inflation to Slower Growth and High Inflation, while North American banks are “likely to keep rates on hold.”
As a result, as shown below, BMO is neutral to overweight Equities, underweight Fixed Income, and overweight Alternatives:
Jimmy Xu on the Benefits of Covered Call ETFs
Jimmy Xu, CFA, BMO ETFs
The second talk is by Jimmy Xu, Head of Liquid Alts and Non linear ETFs. His focus was on Covered Call ETFs, which BMO has pioneered in the Canadian market. While investors often buy covered call ETFs just for yield, yield is not the most important consideration, Xu said. “Chasing yield is the quickest way to have unstable income, capital erosion and unhappy clients.” Continue Reading…
I’ve noticed a flurry of articles recently about how investors, including nearing or in the Retirement Risk Zone, might consider moving beyond the traditional 60/40 balanced portfolio of stocks and bonds to consider multiple alternative asset classes.
Indeed, here at FindependenceHub.com we have in the past week run two blogs on specific alternative assets classes: Gold and Bitcoin.
Click on the following headlines to read them if you missed them the first time around:
Admittedly both blogs have a strong point of view that comes from the respective authors. It happens that these two bloggers don’t think much of Gold and Bitcoin respectively. I value their opinion and felt it was worth passing along to readers, who can make their own judgements. Personally, I’ve always believed 5% in Gold or Precious Metals bullion and/or mining stocks is a risk worth taking. I’m a little more skeptical about cryptocurrency but have written in the past that for those inclined to take a flyer on Bitcoin, a 1 or 2% position could work. That 1% could soar and become 10% or more of a total portfolio but it’s also possible that it might indeed descend to zero.
The rest of this blog canvases a baker’s dozen of financial experts and business owners and you’ll see that several of them take a stance on gold and bitcoin, both positively and negatively, as well as numerous other asset classes, such as real estate, private equity, hedge funds and many more.
With the assistance of Featured.com, which has been supplying Findependence Hub with quality content for several years, we recently polled a number of these experts on LinkedIn, as you can see by clicking on their profiles below.
Here’s how we posed the question:
Beyond traditional stocks and bonds, represented in Balanced ETFs, what, if any, alternative asset classes do you recommend, and in what proportions? For example: precious metals (gold or silver bullion or related stocks, or ETFs holding the same), commodities in general, Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies, real estate held directly or via REITs or certain publicly traded stocks, or any other alternatives not mentioned here, such as Private Equity or Hedge Funds.
1. I recommend gold primarily as geopolitical and inflation insurance, not as a growth asset. Allocate 5-10% of your portfolio to gold via ETFs like GLD or physical bullion if you have secure storage. Silver is more volatile and industrial, so treat it as a smaller speculative position (2-3%) if at all. Gold doesn’t pay dividends or interest, so it’s dead weight in a bull market, but it’s the ultimate “crisis hedge” when currencies or governments misbehave.
2. Direct real estate ownership is capital-intensive and illiquid, so for most investors, publicly traded REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts) are the smarter play. They provide exposure to commercial, residential, or industrial property with daily liquidity and mandatory dividend payouts. I prefer diversified REIT ETFs like VNQ. This gives you inflation protection (rents rise with prices) and income generation without the headache of being a landlord. Avoid over-concentration here; real estate correlates heavily with the broader economy during downturns.
3. Crypto is not an investment; it’s a volatility lottery ticket with a philosophical thesis. I recommend limiting exposure to 2-5% of your portfolio, and only in the “blue chips” (Bitcoin and Ethereum). Treat this as venture capital: money you can afford to lose entirely. Do not buy crypto with debt, and do not FOMO into altcoins. Store it in a hardware wallet (Ledger, Trezor) if you hold significant amounts; exchanges are not banks. This allocation satisfies your urge to participate in the “future of finance” without risking your retirement if it all goes to zero.
4. Commodities (oil, natural gas, agricultural products) via ETFs like DBC provide inflation protection and diversification, but they are mean-reverting and volatile. Allocate 3-5% as a tactical hedge, especially during inflationary periods. Avoid direct futures contracts unless you are a professional; the contango and rollover costs will eat you alive.
5. Unless you are an accredited investor with $10M+ in liquid net worth, private equity and hedge funds are legally and financially inaccessible or impractical. They charge egregious fees (2% management + 20% performance), lock up your capital for years, and studies show most underperform public markets after fees. If you insist, access them via interval funds or publicly traded BDCs (Business Development Companies), but understand you are paying for illiquidity and complexity, not guaranteed outperformance. — Lyle Solomon, Principal Attorney, Oak View Law Group
Alternative investments should represent twenty per cent of an investor’s total portfolio. In terms of specific allocations, I recommend ten percent in physical gold as a hedge against loss or theft, five percent in real estate investment trusts (REITs) for income generation and three percent in Bitcoin for growth opportunities. Finally, I suggest two per cent be allocated to private equity for both capital gains and diversification purposes. A combination of these types of alternative investments will help protect investors from future inflationary pressures and contribute greatly to their long term performance. Geremy Yamamoto, Founder, Eazy House Sale
Put the most money into things you understand best
My bigger principle is this: Put the most money into the things you understand best.
In my case, that has always been real estate and housing because I know how value gets created there. I know what distress looks like. I know where the discount comes from. I know how people get in trouble. That matters. The more removed an asset is from your real-world understanding, the smaller it should probably be.
And one more thing. Liquidity matters. A lot. People forget that. An investment may look great on paper until you need cash and cannot get to it without taking a beating. That is why I like keeping things simple and staying out of anything that locks you up unless the reward is clearly worth it. — Don Wede, CEO, Heartland Funding Inc.
I’ll break the answer into two parts depending on what your goals are. Growing your assets is one thing, turning your capital into a lifetime income that never runs out is another and that is the #1 financial concern of the 50+ age group.
Purchasing Power Protection is the new Growth strategy:
Historically we used to achieve stable growth by balancing a risk-on asset class (equities) with a risk-off asset class (bonds). In good times the equities flew and the bonds did little; in bad times the bond performance offset declines in equities.
The problem is that in inflationary times, both fall. Inflation undermines the economics of established businesses which have to compete for limited resources that are increasing in price. Positioning for scarcity can insulate you against these circumstances. Gold, Silver and even Bitcoin are the most liquid scarce assets on the planet but they don’t move uniformly. Backing a portfolio with a scarce risk-on asset such as Silver or Bitcoin — while having the majority in a reliable, but occasionally boring, asset like gold — now gives you balance over the longer term. A 30/70 split seems to be the sweet spot.
Assets run out, Lifetime Income is forever:
70% of savers worry about one thing above all others. Can I afford my ideal lifestyle now at the risk of poverty if I live 25+ years? Not everyone will live 25+ years but if I spend now then I am betting against my own longevity. Insurers capitalize on this risk by pooling lives together and promising annuitants a fixed income for life. But fixed incomes lock in the loss of purchasing power. Your lifestyle is going to degrade over time.
It wasn’t always this way. Just over a century ago, 50% of U.S. households joined a longevity risk-sharing arrangement called a Tontine. Recent legislation has enabled modern Tontine Trusts which can be backed by assets that can resist inflation. The Tontine Trusts use your preferred assets to pay you a monthly income for life. When a member dies, their leftover assets top-up the trusts of survivors, typically enabling their monthly income to increase.
So the question the reader really needs to decide upon is: What matters most? The balance of the account or the lifestyle that I always want to enjoy. For generations past, the answer was not to play the markets but rather to invest in yourself.
[Potentially there is a far larger article here, contact us if you want to offer readers a $250 bonus and a similar reward for yourself] — Dean McClelland, Founder/CEO, Tontine Trust Europe KB Continue Reading…
My latest MoneySense Retired Money column looks at the Iran conflict that erupted suddenly late in February: you can find the full column here: How Retirees should respond to the Iran Crisis.
On Tuesday, the day after Trump TACO’d over his threat to attack Iran’s oil infrastructure (a 5-day reprieve that calmed stock markets at least for the week ending March 27th) Findependence Hub ran a blog that collected input from 14 financial advisors and business owners based largely in the United States. Those sources were collected via a partnership with long-time contributor Featured.com, which works with Linked In to select input. You can find the resulting column here: Financial Experts and Business Owners on what if any moves Retirees should consider if Iran War drags on.
You can get the gist of the messages those experts sent by quickly scrolling down through an admittedly long blog and reading the subheadings highlighted in Blue in the original post. Below I append my favourites, some of which I flagged on social media. If you find the headline summaries intriguing, you’ll find the accompanying observations useful, if not actionable:
Avoid Knee-jerk Liquidation
This is more of a rebalance-and-defend moment than a reason to overhaul the portfolio
Put Capital Preservation over Aggressive Growth
Seek Robust diversification across asset classes and sectors
Rebalance toward defense, yes. Blow up your entire strategy? No.
Make sure existing Allocation is suitably Defensive and Liquid
Don’t over-rotate into a single ‘safe’ bet that can whipsaw when the narrative changes
Remain diversified enough to absorb uncertainty
Reduce volatile individual Growth Names but maintain Diversified Index Funds
Move from Sector Rotation to Structural Resilience
Canadian perspective, with CUSMA renewal looming
The MoneySense column focuses more on the Canadian situation, with input from Toronto-based advisors like John De Goey, Matthew Ardrey and Steve Lowrie, all of which should be familiar to readers of this site and the Retired Money column.
See also a recent blog on Stagflation penned by Dale Roberts of the Retirement Club and cutthecrap investing. Among his many suggestions, the most valuable may be his emphasis on maintaining an “All-Weather Portfolio” catering to all four possible economic quadrants: Inflationary Growth, Disinflationary Growth, Stagflation and Deflation/Recession. Continue Reading…
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