| My suggestion is a form of arbitrage and it's really quite doable. If you live in a cheap country and earn money in a more affluent one, you don't need to work as many hours. If you choose to earn money in the local market, you'll end up replacing one 40 hour work week for another. Your Brazilian buddies likely work locally which is why they have similar time constraints as someone living and working in NYC would do. You also don't keep a homebase in your country of origin because that increases your expenses! It really requires getting over the mentality that the country you were born in has to be your home; it doesn't. I live in the center of Prague right now. I used to live in London. My expenses all tolled come to around 22,000Kč/month, although I could do it on less. That's roughly £600/US$850/€800. The number of billable hours required to maintain this lifestyle isn't much. I'm also vastly happier here than I was in London. My suggestion is a method of abandoning a full time job if that full time job is getting in the way of more important goals and aspirations. Something has to give, of course, and cutting expenses in a way that isn't detrimental to happiness is one way to do it. I acknowledge this advice isn't for everyone. It's like going to the gym: some people don't want to do it, some people can't do it, and some people won't do it despite good intentions. Also, not everybody can do it at the same time! |