Surviving and propering in our world, as it is, or despite the bad things happening

 

Its easy to be negative or not optimistic when you see the world as it is, especially the United States  

Despite the current war in the Middle East and Ukraine, its considered the best of times and the worst of times.

Or as others have said we live in a K shaped economy. If your in the top ten persent your world has never been better. If your on the bottom of the K shape its seems like the end of the world despite all the junk food you can buy and abundance of entry level wages.

If I say you just need to save 20% to 50% of your wages for five years or less and you can basically retire to a lifestyle your Grand Parents would envy, I know ill get push back, despite all the regions of the US or world where an dividend check of 1000,00 would pay all your basic expenses for the month, especially in Asia, or Latin America. 

Its never been easier to start an ERISA account(401k) and have asset protection against creditors and other bad characters. A ROTH is almost as good too.

Yet most single men and women wont do that. They may persue college and the debt that goes with it and then persue low wage work without the option of home ownership or children, which is sad.

One way to get ahead of these issues, is to persue a way of life when your young and healthy and can manage risk easy and with lowcost.

I have worked jobs where all my badic expenses were provided for and could save money through the company provided 401k and the rest put into a ROTH, where I bought income ETFs that throw off monthly income, all which has badic asset protection, if your worried about those things, not to mention tax relief  

If you persue that lifestyle and get six figuers into saving, its enough to pay basic expenses if you want to live in Cambodia or Philippines or just on a boat in the South Pacific, and then when you want to persue employment again go back to the States, or just work online on your own projects.

Often times if you have a basic income from dividends and nothing else the tax is zero and it pays your expenses while you build up an offline or online income. 

Not to mention the interesting people you meet.

I recognize this lifestyle isnt for most people and its why it works so well..

As more people become unemployed I can see more people doing this. I saw it all over Asia,  from Russians I met to Filipinos I met to living outside there country if birth 

As people tire of the traditional economy, and the healthcare and food options it provides I can see people wanting a differeny lifewhere your in nature more with a lower cost of living where you can manage risk more oppriately 

Despite all I have written many people will not choose liberty and prosperity and because of this there isnt much competition to live this lifestyle. 

Good luck.

High yield investing. I like it.

 

I first started getting interest in high yiels investing/dividend yield investing when I was young. I first remember the eighties where putting money in offshore, Swiss banking was popular and almost anyoneone could deposit money into an Austrian bank, or Swiss bank or even Sark or Isle of Mann.

Anyway you could deposit dollars and buy gold coins, use the gold coins as collateral and get low interest loans and invest in foreign currency deposits that paid higher yields and sometimes the currency rose against the USD or gold.

The banks in Denmark were famous for those kind of loans, borrow in Yen or Euro or Dollar for 3% or less and buy a foreign currency that paid 5% or higher, sometimes 10% or more and the currency would rise 15% or more against the Euro, Yen or Dollar.

Just for the record  https://www.simplify.us/ has an ETF FOXY that does this. It has an excellent carry trade element to it. So no need to deposit assets offshore anymore, although still a good idea if your wealthy. 

Anyhow sense I was young I have always liked getting dividend yields in the 8% or higher range and just compound the yields for part of my capital. 

Another ETF company https://www.cambriafunds.com/index does similiar.  They have a quant way of buying value shares, and similiar for high yield shares that includes buybacks.

Now that im older I look at yield and dividends to get back part of my profits to apply to my income needs and also to reinvest into other things.

For growth of capital I like trend following.  Both those asset management companies have managed future ETFs that can include shares and commodity and currency and managed futures on almost anything trending up or down. I like strategies that are both long and short 

.

I suppose I like yield investing because of the compounding and for the incentive it gives me to stay the course.

I have always had a bias against Tech/growth investing so prefer trend flowing to get that component. 

Or I just buy Tech ETFs in small amounts and just forget about them.

Thanks for reading. 

General observations on Asia, why I like it.

 

The biggest reason I like Asia is because its cheap. I mean airfares inside P,Thailand, Japan, are a few hundered bucks or less, often a one way flight is under a hundred.  I had a flight from Philippines to Malaysia for under 30 Dollars 

In some parts of Asia you can still get train tickets for twenty dollars a ticket to get across a country and see stuff and be comfortable. 

The biggest thing is cheap rent in Philippines, often under a hundred if your in the province or 120 and up in the bigger cities, its especially cheap in Cambodia. Then add in cheap eaterys and or wet markets, you can eat for under a couple hundered bucks a month.

I like that because you can live cheap enjoy yourself and build up your business and then relax without stress of worrying about bills especially medical bills.

While you are doing all that you can go out at night to bars night clubs for entertainment like comedy clubs, music clubs and enjoy the nightlife with your girlfriend or by yourself or just with friends. 

In Asia if you have a wife or girlfriend irs easy to be a part of the community if you want by going to church or doing other things like that. It just costs you time.

Its also generally speaking safe. If your a foreigner in Asia its pretty safe. Nowdays many people speak English so its easy to do banking and visa stuff without much trouble  

Another thing I like is your not exactly part of society, as I said before your an outsider looking in. Many foreigners dont like that. I like it myself and dont want to be another equal in Asia, your expat advantage will dissappear fast once your like everyone else 

So low cost of living, wasy access to affordable healthcare, same with food and rent, makes it easy to live their.

Thanks for reading .

I lived in Siem Reap, Cambodia, and enjoyed it

 In the last few years I lived in Asia,  mostly Siem Reap, Cambodia 

I spent more than six months in Siem Reap, and moved twice while I was their. I saw apartments drom 50 USD a month to 250,.00 amonth.

I settled on one place near the city center, for 250,.00 a month and electric 20 to 50 dollars a month. Mostly it was AC that kept the bill high, the water was 5 bucks a month and not to much.

I lived in a four or five story building.  It was nice and I think it had two swimming pools. My place was pretty nice but small, the bathroom was big, the kitchen small and the living room average.  It came with TV and fridge and stove and washing machine.

It was close to markets and a coffee shop and mall. Although Siem Reap isnt to big it can be a chore walking to place so the taxis are cheap .50to a buck or more, so I used them a lot.

For a small city it was nice. Theres a river that runs through it, and on the riverside there are many stalls to eat from for two or three bucks. There are sandwiches you can get for over a buck that were pretty good too. Same with a bowl of noodles.

I rented a bike some days to go bike riding, and the car traffic was easy to deal with so enjoyed biking all over the place. It was the same taking long walks on the riverside.

Stopping in a beer cafe and getting beers for ,50 to a buck was nice and cheap. Speaking of food, theres a lot of small grocery store to buy imported food from or hard to get stuff that wasnt to expensive.  I think its partly because tax is low their. 

I spent a lot of time in coffee shops their, coffee is cheap and sometimes comes with a free tea. Its nice. Thailands coffee chains are their and its no problem ordering whatever you like.

Theres mant foreigners their, retirees, young people starting businesses,  and just regular tourists from China, Philippines ect.

I even got acupuncture their, it didnt cost much, the Chinese lady was very kind.

They even have nice gardens you can visit, one even had a coffee bar in it. Unfortunately i was stung by a bee or bug but survived. 

The cost of living is as cheap as you want, I even ran across people living on a few hunded bucks a month. The dollar is used their. Easy to get 500or more a day out of the cash machines. 

I bet i spent five hundred to eight hundred a month living their. The hospital s were cheap, theres a Thai and Japanese hospital their that most people use. If your really sick you will need to leave the country to Thailand. 

The visa at least last year was easy and cheap to get and as far as I know still is. It maybe more difficult to start a business but I dont think so.

If you have a proper visa, easy to open a bank account,  the Singapore banks are best in my opinion but each to their own.

At least for now its a good plan B for some people but you have to live with the Chinese influence their, I mean the CCP.

If you can live with that its a great place to live and deposit some money and run your online affairs. I liked it.

I still prefer Philippines but that place isnt perfect either.  Sometimes you can just meet Filipinas their,if thats a preference.  

Anyhow, thanks for reading.

I like the Philippines

 I like the Philippines, I have lived their off and on for years. The last time I was their was almost two years ago.

I started visiting the Philippines in my thirties. The first time I went their, I flew out of Mexico City, I had bought a ticket when I was in Mazatlan.

I still remember I paid 2,000 USD for the ticket.I flew from El D.F to Vancouver, Canada,  then Japan, and finally Manila. 

I had no guidebook, and some cash, and travelers checks, that was 25 years ago I think.

Anyways, thats back in the days before internet was popular and all the online websites we have now. I stayed ib the Pearl Of the Orient, a nice hotel with buffet.

Anyways I eventually got married and lived in Manila, and the province (Samar) Calbayog. My rent in the province was 80 dollars, i think that was 3,500.oo Pesos. 

Things really haven't changed much as far as proces in USD, in Pesos terms things have gone up but the Dollar has strengthened as had the Pound, Euro, Aussie dollar ect.

The last time I was their I still got a hotel for a month for maybe 200,.00 a month.

You have many YTers complain on the prices but one reason for their complaints is they transfer there western lifestyle so it is expensive but still cheaper than North America  

Another reason western expats have a high cost of living is because they tend to support there wifes family and or buy and build houses 

If you have boundaries and your girlfriend doesnt live with you it still can be cheap. In 2026 I know two western guys who live in the Philippines with their girlfriend's and live on less than 400,.00 a month. They live cheap while they build up their online business. 

Ones a pretty yound guy the other my age, mid fifties.  There really are nice women educated in the West who will live frugally while you build a business.  Of course theres women from the province who are similar  

My last girlfriend was like that. Nice family, we lived in Bulacan, the province is near Manila, two very nice malls, rent was 3,500.00 pesos and still hasnt gone up much, in a middle class development, safe and near clinics, malls,wet markets, barbecue at night in the neighborhood  

I didnt live much in the province except when I was married.

It was in Calbayog, Samar. A very nice town. Clean low cost safe and on the water. Me and my wife would take the boat to Tagapul an the island she grew up on. I remember they had power two hours a day.

Maybe there was an eatery open a few hours a day and a few Sari Sari stores and not much else. Anyway we would visit their and stay a few days.

For me the province was quiet and clean and the food always fresh. The other thing I realized was that it didnt have the best medical care and malls for activities.  So ultimately I like living near Manila. 

I do like the province for vacations, going to the beach for picnics ect. For schools and learning and activities I like Manila.  In any case Manila ot Cebu or the province both can be affordable if you have access to foreign currency or any online job or business. 

You dont need much. If you can get 500 to 1000,.00 a month and build the income up overtime and keep the capital offshore youll be fine 

More and more earning money online in North America or Europe is more the norm now.

Anyhow if the Philippines isnt for you there is always Cambodia, or Thailand. 

I like both places, although the culture is similar, the culture in Philippines is easier for me to adjust too. Its also nice for my family to visit, the culture can be a hard thing to adjust too. It seems like your always an outsider looking in, which doesnt bother me as much as it bothers others. In fact if you can accept it, it can work to your advantage, and your kids if you have any their.

Before I end this post I want to mention the nature their. It can be nice swimming in the sea/ocean, I still remember the sea horses and other tropical fish I saw while swimming in the province, Samar.

Thanks for reading.

Alamogordo, coffee ship./Catalunas/

 

Im sitting in Catalinas coffee shop in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Its a wonderful coffee shop, they have great dark roast coffee, and homemade pastries, and not as expensive as Clear Lake, Iowa. 

Ive been coming here for years, e everytime I visit my Mom. Its a locals place and nice place to hang out.

Youll run across van dwellers, influencers making video/content for their YT channel. 

Today im sitting next to sone socialists of America type chaps. They seem older than me but a bit naive. They want to make America great again through voting for the opposite of liberty, maybe they want some kind of slavery I dont understand. 

From listening to their conversation most of our ills come from regulations, tax, debt and now money printing, which I doubt will be voted against. 

These chaps are from California, so I understand why they want higher minimum wage, and lower rents but I dont think California voters will vote for liberty so the solution for some is to move.

As North Americans we are lucky we can move almost anywhere for better taxes, weather ect. Many have moved to Puerto Rico, which can get your taxes near zero. A better solution for some could be Saipan,  a territory of the US. Taxes aren't zero but half as much as the States. The weather is nice much like Philippines, nice people, and easy to fly to Japan or Korea, or Malaysia,  or Philippines for medical or dental. 

The food prices can be high but they have their own island for cattle, so at least you get good beef and seafood.  They import a lot of food from Asia and some from North America so it can be high cost.

The upside is you can have things sent from America through the US postal service for first class prices. Amazon works well. You can even buy and sell gold coins through the US postal service. 

Of course theres no perfect place to live. They are going through the clean up of the latest bagio/cyclone. I understand it could take six months to get electricity and water back up to what it was, which is longer than the last bagio/cyclone, which took 4 months to clean up.

Those kind of down side I like. The people are independent, tough, and helpful people, the kind of men and women I like being around, resourceful,  I mean. 

Being in the middle of nowhere, where rent is cheap and you can buy cheap supplies in the wet market is pretty nice. Its a different version of the Philippines, anyhow not for everyone. 

I forgot to mention its not easy to get a high paying job their, but if your willing to work online you can earn enough to live their and save for your retirement  

The other thing is as a non local you cant own land which I like and doesnt really bother me but theres a few loophole s to get around that, much like the Chinese do in Thailand. 

Anyhow enough for this morning. Thanks for reading. 

Thailand

 

I 

I just got my latest update to Escape Thailand now. Go here https://www.escape-to-thailand.com/ JC has his latest update on the high inflation and how its affecting Thailand and the world. The most interesting thing he commented on is the bad behavior of tourists and expats in Thailand. 

I have seen some of the videos of expats/tourists behaving badly and now the consequences of how Thailand is kicking people out of the country and in some cases puting them in jail and departing them.

I have heard Thailand is giving tourists less time in Thailand for visa extensions which is sad.

I visited their almost two year ago and enjoyed the beaches and malls and cheap eateries.  It was nice. I even liked the train rides their 

Very similar things are happening in Philippines, one of my favorite countries to live in. Many foreigners dont understand the culture their and become persona non grata and end up in prison and getting deported from the country.

Many foreigners dont understand they dont have the same rights as North Americans do or Europeans and so casuse people to lose face and then suffer the consequences, sometimes even getting killed.

I still like Asia, Philippines, Cambodia, Thailand are maybe my favorites. Despite the inflation of those countries its still affordable to live their, and I still think more people from the West will move their to avoid the decline of the West.

I want to write more about Saipan so will do that soon.

Theres more homeless now and they make videos on YouTube

I 

 I see more and more people posting videos now of there homelessness and its sad to see. It seems to go with the rise in inflation. 

Whats more interesting is the people posting videos of there volunteering homelessness. Theres an older gentleman who works online in the mornings from what he says for two different companies and earns enough to support himself and bike all over California and orher states. 

He even travels overseas for his lifestyle and seems to be getting ready to travel again to South America  

Its interesting to see his lifestyle, living in a tent wild camping, sometimes staying in campsites and hotels.

Its a locost lifestyle and more people seem to be adopting it. He even has a few sheds to store stuff and camp out in. I understand he will soon buy some land and put up a few sheds to have his own place.

Theres another gentleman who used to have a YouTube channel but stopped it. He did similiar, hed hike on private land and public land and live in it and grow his own food and hide supplies on his friends land.

I talk about this because as the cost of living goes up more and more people are coming up with more lifestyle choices to get by and work a lot less 

People are living off grid, in their cars, living overseas and starting there own online and offline businesses to beat working for corporations and not to mention the high cost of healthcare in the US. 

It seems like most western nations are going through high inflation and tax and regulation so more and more people are moving to where they are treated best. Where the regulation is less or not enforced, taxes are less and rent is low.

In my case a few years ago I was in Cambodia and saw apartments for 50usd a month. I ultimately chose one for 250,00 which is still cheap, with AC and close to everything. 

I prefer life in the Philippines and have rented for 80,00 to 120,00 usd a month and electric 50,00 or less, quite a bit less usually 20,00 water was five bucks a month in both Philippines and Cambodia. Healthcare is better in Philippines if your in or near Manila, even better when you can fly to Malaysia or Thailand. The hospital s in Cambodia are either Thai or Japanese and of course the local ones.

Anyways the point of this article is theres always an option or choice in how to live no matter your income or budget and with the internet and social media more people are learning this.

Good luck out their 

Why I like Alaska.

 

Would I go back to Alaska?

I have thought about that a lot over the months. I grew up in Seattle and Baltimore but have spent a lot of time in Minnesota and Iowa so I haven't thought about Alaska much.

Having worked their, Seward, Alaska, I now have a better idea about the place. Its on the coast so not to hot or to cold. Theres not much to do accept work and enjoy the outdoors, hiking, biking or surfing. 

Now that im older I like being in nature and enjoyed my time working in a fish processing plant. It included room and board, which was taken out of my check so you can save a lot unless you drink at the bar.

There are many hotels, bars, brewery and other places where they provide room and board so if your single and want to save money and meet people from around the world its nice.

For me its not a bad way to live. Some of my co workers left for Asia at the end of the contract and just return when the season starts.

The work may be better than what you do in the lower 48 but its not for anyone.

I still remember the men I worked with from Hawaii, California, Seattle ect. And the ladies too, all nice.

Its definitely a different experience from Minnesota or Iowa, it reminded me a lot of growing up in Seattle.

If you want more of an adventure and meet different people from all walks of life its worth going.

I worked in a fish processing plant in Seward, Alaska.

 

Last year I worked in Seward, Alaska in a fish processing plant, processing Halibut, Black Cod and other fish.

The company I worked for paid for my flight their and back. After my contract was finished they flew me back to where I came from, no issues.

The first day their was interesting. I arrived in Anchorage, Alaska and arrived one hour late and missed my shuttle to the bunk house. I was lucky and made arrangements to leave the airport three or four hours latter and arrived in Seward, at midnight or latter.

Their was no one to meet me or anyone to call. I was afraid of the shuttle leaving me their with no accommodation so banged on a door until someone let me me in. I was lucky they let me sleep on the couch and make arrangements the next day for somewhere else to sleep.

The actual work in the plant was not difficult or hard. Most days we worked less than eight hours a day which left me with low pay, and they take out deductions for room and board, whish left me with not much.

Luckily over the month things sped up and we got to work everyday twelve to sixteen hours a day, and little sleep and no days off, which in a two week pay period after tax deductions and room and board equaled a check of over 2,000.00 but in six months of working their I only received two checks like that, so wasn't able to save much.

One of the bad things that happened was I got hurt on the job and wasn't able to get all my medical bills paid through work mans comp. I got a few paid but the last bill was not and it was substantial.

Just for the record my bosses and office bosses were very nice and no issue their. I had a few problems with other workers but it was mostly cultural misunderstandings that I could not do much about.

One of the bosses even came downstairs into the plant to cut fish and work with us tell things were done, you don't see leadership like that much anymore.

The actual living conditions weren't as bad as people say but they weren't great either. If you cant live with other people who's culture can be different than yours you may not like it.

I forgot to mention I did this in my fifties so even at that age I could work the long hours.

If I were younger I might do it again but for now probably wont. As for Seward Alaska its really a beautiful place, not to mention you can buy weed anywhere if that's your thing. I don't smoke or drink so I had an easy time of it. On our time off I went hiking in the mountains and saw pretty big salmon in the rivers, I didn't see any black bears or Bigfoot but was always on the lookout for them.

Alaska is a beautiful place at least Seward was. I could live their despite it being a small town. Its pretty busy in the summer with all the tourists. Lots of tourists jobs with room and board at hotels, brewerys ect. 

If you can get a chance to do it I would. 

The war in Iran.

 

I have been thinking about Iran and the war their and what it means for North Americans. So far I haven't decided accept to say the price of goods will keep rising and keep going up for the next year or so.

generally speaking its difficult to get unbiased information on what's really happening their and what the ultimate war means.

Some say the U.S. is losing the empire and China and Russia are rising and maybe Turkey too. I dont know but it does seem the U.S. isn't winning like the U.S Government keeps saying.

I'm not sure what to think anymore accept to keep investing in commodities and gold and other assets that are trending. I also think it would be wise to have a plan B somewhere else, for me it might be the territory of the US, Saipan or someplace in Asia although South America maybe better. As I have relative's in Japan and Philippines I am partial to those places.

This is meant to be a small post to get me back to posting online.

Cargo Theft, Economy Crumbling, Police Ignore Dock Theft and More- Craig...

A really fascinating interview on Michael Farris channel on YouTube. I believe he was interviewed on Hedgeye  , a very interesting interview.

How I Escaped Poverty in the U.S. by Leaving