Episode 083 – Financial Independence While living In The Developing World | Paul From Cutting Through Chaos
Hello FI people! Today Alvar will talk with Paul from Cutting Through Chaos, a blog about family and finance: so many topics have been discussed that there will be two episodes. In this first part Paul tells how he went from a corporate job in Scotland to moving with his family to Africa, how the FI community helped him and much more. Enjoy!
We also talk about:
- Working with NGOs
- Cost of living in Zambia
- The FI community as an aid for expats
- Investing in the developing world
- Getting relatives involved in FI
- Taking a year off
Don’t forget to subscribe our podcast on Itunes, Android or Spotify. Direct download here.
A couple of reasons to move to Africa
Paul is from Ireland but grew up in Latin America, and his wife is a Zimbabwean whose family emigrated to Scotland. After 9 years of marriage and with a kid, they decided to leave their corporate careers in Scotland and move to Zambia: they were motivated by the will to have more free time for the family and use their skills to help other people in the NGO sector. Paul explains the dynamics of this move and how it was not as easy as expected.
Is living in Africa positive for financial independence?
Counter-intuitive as it is, for the first couple of years the family spent significantly more than what it saved: finding the right home, the right services, in general they needed to invest more than expected in order to settle on a situation that ensured the quality of life they were looking for. A quick growth in the number of family members also contributed to it!
The importance of community for the FI movement
One of the key steps for Paul in getting into the FI movement has been his presence at the Chautauqua 2019 conference: he talks with us about the importance of making the step from blog posts, spreadsheets and all the information-related aspect of the movement and getting to know the people who are behind it, getting inspired by them, their stories and experiences in order to find our own way through life.
Let us know what you think about the Interview in the comments or our Facebook Group or in the comments below.
One thought on “Episode 083 – Financial Independence While living In The Developing World | Paul From Cutting Through Chaos”