Be Financially Sufficient Today and Live Better Than A Billionaire with Andrew Hallam

Host Liam Leonard talks about the completely, financially self-sufficient and exciting life of modern day nomad Andrew Hallam on this episode of The Prosperity Perspective Podcast. Andrew has been writing from locations across the globe, spending time adventuring from Singapore to Mexico. His financial stability began with investments at age 17 and has continued from there, where he now is busy acting as weekly speaker where he has now given speeches in 90 different places in 14 countries.

If you’re looking for advice on how to become financially independent and stable, how to create the life you want to live without sacrificing “retirement funds,” or even on how to gain greater life satisfaction today, you won’t want to miss this episode.

3 Key Takeaways:

Why you need to look at a backwards design to properly predict your stock financial freedom number
Why you may need to challenge yourself to get rid of your own “state points” and retire early
Why life is like a dark hourglass

Show Notes:

[0:40] Andrew Introduces himself

Teaching and writing for newspaper articles
Moving to Singapore
Taking a year off for a break
Traveling and writing
Speaking globally about personal finance

[3:50] Speaking at 90 different places in 14 different countries

The catalyst for his new book, Balance

[4:44] What modern day nomadism looks like for Andrew

Writing down the things that they wanted
Buying a Winnabego camping van
Spending 17 months in it
Spending 10 months in Mexico
Speaking at events and fueling others’ lifestyle

[8:27] Questioning what people genuinely strive for

“Many people end up pursuing money and careers at the expense of other factors that are so much more important.” -Andrew Dallam
“If you’re writing happiness for money, you’re going to be disappointed.” -Liam Leonard

[10:15] The downward trend in life satisfaction

“Life satisfaction happiness is very relative. It depends on who you are.” -Andrew Hallam

[12:37] How Andrew set himself up financially to be able to travel

Meeting a self-made millionaire at age 17
Investing in the stock market at age 19
Learning early on that material things don’t boost life satisfaction
Being financially independent at mid-thirties
Buying his parents a Mercedes RV
Relying on his weekly writing

[17:20] How his stock market/financial strategy evolved over time

Figuring out the long-term, third year period
Buying individual stocks
Buying PTS
Finding financial freedom through consistently investing
It’s good enough to stay in the 90th percentile!

[21:10] 3-4% return; how he found this was the right target number in order to be financially independent

What he noticed from the stock market crashes in the past
“What does that return look like to live on if I had no other income?” -Andrew Hallam
Adjusting for inflation by looking at a backwards design
Focusing on what you can control
“The idea that we can continue to earn money in Country A but spend time in Country B is incredible.” -Andrew Hallam

[26:02] Andrew’s advice to listeners looking to reach financial freedom

Warren Buffet as an example
Never fully quit; keep your hand in something
Get life satisfaction by keeping your mind active
“Keep one eye on today and the other eye on tomorrow, because tomorrow may never come.” -Andrew Hallam
Life is like a dark hourglass

About Andrew Hallam:

When Andrew Hallam isn’t fighting off mosquitoes in tropical jungles, cycling up a mountain with his wife during a downpour or trying to drive to Argentina in a van, he’s speaking and writing about happiness and personal finance. The former high school teacher wrote the international best-selling books, Millionaire Teacher and Millionaire Expat. His latest book is Balance: How To Invest and Spend for Happiness, Health and Wealth. Profiled on such media as CNBC and The Wall Street Journal, he’s the first person to have a #1 selling finance book on Amazon USA, Amazon Canada and Amazon UAE. He has written columns for The Globe and Mail, Canadian Business, MoneySense, Swissquote and AssetBuilder. You can access his website at andrewhallam.com