D
Deleted78083
Guest
Ok I read the book "Nomad Capitalist" from the guy which has the blog with the same name.
Find below a review, a summary, and notes.
Review:
Don't read this book. It will be a waste of time. I don't really know what the author had in mind when he wrote it tbh.
First thing, the author does not explain how to build businesses, nor talks extensively about the various businesses he created, bought, and sold. But he does quote Tim Ferriss' the 4h ww quite often, going as far as calling his own Nomad Capitalist lifestyle the "4 hour workweek 2.0".
So, this is a book made for people that already have a business and want to pay less taxes legally while spending less money for equal services.
The only problem is that the info given is so basic that everyone already knows about it. Like, did you know that Romania was cheaper than California? Yes, I swear it is!! What the hell.
This book is to entrepreneurs what a book about running would be to Usain Bolt: it teaches you something you're likely to know already.
The author seems to brag about the fact he got multiple passports but won't tell you from where, nor will tell you how it is done. Rather, the entire book is him telling you to "pay people that know how it is done". It's screaming content marketing from chapter 3 onward. And everything is like this: "I bought a house in Georgia, another one in Montenegro, it's great!"
Cool, dude.
The author pretends he went to more than a hundred countries, but the ones he talks about are always the same, namely:
Georgia, Montenegro, Singapore, Hong-Kong, Malaysia, Belize, Cambodia, Laos. And the United States (btw the only thing he said about Belgium...was wrong, so I can't vouch for the rest of the content, but this outlines a poor research process anyway).
Half of the book is dedicated to bashing the United States. And that's my biggest problem with the book. The author spends considerable efforts convincing you of something you're already convinced of: California has high taxes, your high-school town is boring, the government want people to slowlane their life away.... Duh. Why is he writing this? The reader likely already knows all of this. They wouldn't have opened the book otherwise.
Imagine if the millionaire fastlane started by saying how nice it is to be a millionaire without ever telling you how to become one. Well, in essence, that's what "Nomad Capitalist" does: it tells you how good of a time the author has, but "you need to do your own research" if you want to become one as well. All he'll tell you is that private hospitals in Thailand are great!
So, don't read this book, unless you want to waste your time. Rather extraordinarily, the guy's website is much more valuable than his book.
Here's a summary of the book, by chapter. I'm sorry if I sound bitter, I kinda am, this book was a huge disappointment.
Summary:
Chapter 1: My Five Magic Words: his five magic words are "go where you are treated best". Omg no one ever thought about immigrating before, thank you so much!! BTW, it's not even 5 words, but 6.
His idea is that Western governments no longer care about their people nor their country, and hike taxes to fund war projects or refund dumb debt no one desires. As such, you should leave.
Chapter 2: How to be a nomad capitalist: go on google flight, buy a ticket, board the plane, become a tax resident.
Chapter 3: The location independent lifestyle: ever heard of THE INTERNET? OMG, dude, it's going to change your life! Now, you can actually earn money from anywhere in the world if you use the Internet!! And since some places tax you more than others, why don't you go to these places???
Chapter 4: Second passports: you should get a second passport especially if you are from the US, because USA and Eritrea, are the only two countries that tax residents based on their nationalities and not on their tax residency. I am not a US citizen and I don't care, and I assume all US citizens smart enough to move abroad already know that (but I may be wrong...). If your second passport is good, you should simply abandon the US one. Unless you plan on getting kidnapped.
Chapter 5: Birth, love, and children: did you know dating was easier when you are a foreigner? Me neither.
Chapter 6: Nomad Healthcare: no need to pay for healthcare in cheap countries because the price is so low you'd lose money paying for insurance. Also the service is better.
Chapter 7: offshore banking. You can open bank accounts in many business-friendly countries just by showing up, like Romania. You should have several bank accounts so if one bank fails you do not lose all your money.
Chapter 8: offshore companies and tax savings. Open your company in a low-taxed country and have it taxed there. Some countries will not even tax it at all.
Chapter 9: foreign asset storage: sometimes you earn money, and apparently, it is better to invest it. To...what? In...v...e...s...t? Never heard of this before. Some countries will enable you to buy gold stored in secured vaults, like Austria and Singapore.
Chapter 10: Overseas investment: Same as chapter 9 but with real estate.Jeez louise, I didn't know you could invest and earn money through real estate.
Chapter 11: Frontier market entrepreneurship: the only interesting chapter. Technically, you have more chance to succeed at business in a country where there is NOTHING and people are poor than in a country where there is everything and people are rich.
Chapter 12: Conquering dogma: do not follow the herd, do your thing, that thing YOU want to do, nothing else.
From experience, the more someone is telling me to do MY OWN THING, the more they actually want me to do what they want me to do.
Chapter 13: the nomad mindset: the author brags about how his life is so much better than everyone else's, and that you should be flexible and open-minded.
Chapter 14: how to get started: you need to have a purpose, and take action.
Notes: here's what I learned, or wish to remember:
a. live overseas
b. get a second passport\
c. host websites overseas
d. date/socialize overseas
Keep more of your money
a. personal tax reduction
b. offshore banking: protect your money and enjoy higher interest rates
c. corporate tax reduction
Grow your money
a. Frontier market: start a business in a less competitive/crowded market
b. Foreign real estate: get better RE deals
c. Foreign currencies: earn higher rates by holding foreign currencies
Voila.
Best,
m.
@CryptoCurt @Kak
Find below a review, a summary, and notes.
Review:
Don't read this book. It will be a waste of time. I don't really know what the author had in mind when he wrote it tbh.
First thing, the author does not explain how to build businesses, nor talks extensively about the various businesses he created, bought, and sold. But he does quote Tim Ferriss' the 4h ww quite often, going as far as calling his own Nomad Capitalist lifestyle the "4 hour workweek 2.0".
So, this is a book made for people that already have a business and want to pay less taxes legally while spending less money for equal services.
The only problem is that the info given is so basic that everyone already knows about it. Like, did you know that Romania was cheaper than California? Yes, I swear it is!! What the hell.
This book is to entrepreneurs what a book about running would be to Usain Bolt: it teaches you something you're likely to know already.
The author seems to brag about the fact he got multiple passports but won't tell you from where, nor will tell you how it is done. Rather, the entire book is him telling you to "pay people that know how it is done". It's screaming content marketing from chapter 3 onward. And everything is like this: "I bought a house in Georgia, another one in Montenegro, it's great!"
Cool, dude.
The author pretends he went to more than a hundred countries, but the ones he talks about are always the same, namely:
Georgia, Montenegro, Singapore, Hong-Kong, Malaysia, Belize, Cambodia, Laos. And the United States (btw the only thing he said about Belgium...was wrong, so I can't vouch for the rest of the content, but this outlines a poor research process anyway).
Half of the book is dedicated to bashing the United States. And that's my biggest problem with the book. The author spends considerable efforts convincing you of something you're already convinced of: California has high taxes, your high-school town is boring, the government want people to slowlane their life away.... Duh. Why is he writing this? The reader likely already knows all of this. They wouldn't have opened the book otherwise.
Imagine if the millionaire fastlane started by saying how nice it is to be a millionaire without ever telling you how to become one. Well, in essence, that's what "Nomad Capitalist" does: it tells you how good of a time the author has, but "you need to do your own research" if you want to become one as well. All he'll tell you is that private hospitals in Thailand are great!
So, don't read this book, unless you want to waste your time. Rather extraordinarily, the guy's website is much more valuable than his book.
Here's a summary of the book, by chapter. I'm sorry if I sound bitter, I kinda am, this book was a huge disappointment.
Summary:
Chapter 1: My Five Magic Words: his five magic words are "go where you are treated best". Omg no one ever thought about immigrating before, thank you so much!! BTW, it's not even 5 words, but 6.
His idea is that Western governments no longer care about their people nor their country, and hike taxes to fund war projects or refund dumb debt no one desires. As such, you should leave.
Chapter 2: How to be a nomad capitalist: go on google flight, buy a ticket, board the plane, become a tax resident.
Chapter 3: The location independent lifestyle: ever heard of THE INTERNET? OMG, dude, it's going to change your life! Now, you can actually earn money from anywhere in the world if you use the Internet!! And since some places tax you more than others, why don't you go to these places???
Chapter 4: Second passports: you should get a second passport especially if you are from the US, because USA and Eritrea, are the only two countries that tax residents based on their nationalities and not on their tax residency. I am not a US citizen and I don't care, and I assume all US citizens smart enough to move abroad already know that (but I may be wrong...). If your second passport is good, you should simply abandon the US one. Unless you plan on getting kidnapped.
Chapter 5: Birth, love, and children: did you know dating was easier when you are a foreigner? Me neither.
Chapter 6: Nomad Healthcare: no need to pay for healthcare in cheap countries because the price is so low you'd lose money paying for insurance. Also the service is better.
Chapter 7: offshore banking. You can open bank accounts in many business-friendly countries just by showing up, like Romania. You should have several bank accounts so if one bank fails you do not lose all your money.
Chapter 8: offshore companies and tax savings. Open your company in a low-taxed country and have it taxed there. Some countries will not even tax it at all.
Chapter 9: foreign asset storage: sometimes you earn money, and apparently, it is better to invest it. To...what? In...v...e...s...t? Never heard of this before. Some countries will enable you to buy gold stored in secured vaults, like Austria and Singapore.
Chapter 10: Overseas investment: Same as chapter 9 but with real estate.Jeez louise, I didn't know you could invest and earn money through real estate.
Chapter 11: Frontier market entrepreneurship: the only interesting chapter. Technically, you have more chance to succeed at business in a country where there is NOTHING and people are poor than in a country where there is everything and people are rich.
Chapter 12: Conquering dogma: do not follow the herd, do your thing, that thing YOU want to do, nothing else.
From experience, the more someone is telling me to do MY OWN THING, the more they actually want me to do what they want me to do.
Chapter 13: the nomad mindset: the author brags about how his life is so much better than everyone else's, and that you should be flexible and open-minded.
Chapter 14: how to get started: you need to have a purpose, and take action.
Notes: here's what I learned, or wish to remember:
- Borders are imaginary lines that can influence the way you are treated. Those who are badly treated leave. Or not.
- You have been conditioned to love your country and stay there. Technically, you don't need to and are free to leave.
- The art of the Nomad Capitalist is to take the best part of each country. Eg: put your money in Singapore, do business in the US and live in Thailand.
- The three flags theory. Getting service in a foreign country is planting a flag. To be completely free, you need to plant three flags:
- Get citizenship in a place that does not tax income earned outside of the country (or tax it at a low rate).
- Have businesses and investments in stable, low or no tax countries. These are business havens.
- Live as a tourist in countries that support your values. These are the lifetime havens, or playgrounds. It's always better to be a tourist cuz the police and government leave you alone (I can confirm).
- The EKG theory: Enhance, Keep, Grow
a. live overseas
b. get a second passport\
c. host websites overseas
d. date/socialize overseas
Keep more of your money
a. personal tax reduction
b. offshore banking: protect your money and enjoy higher interest rates
c. corporate tax reduction
Grow your money
a. Frontier market: start a business in a less competitive/crowded market
b. Foreign real estate: get better RE deals
c. Foreign currencies: earn higher rates by holding foreign currencies
- There are two countries in the world where you have to pay taxes because you are of that nationality: Eritrea, and the US (lmao).
- The NC lifestyle is about doing what you want. Becoming a nomad to get drunk in Ubud like everyone else is dumb. Unless it is really what you want.
- Practice crisis investing: invest where there is a crisis cuz chances are everything is cheaper.
- Know why you invest into something.
- Dont develop companies in developed or emerging markets, go where the market has not emerged yet and you will have less competition and huge growth potential.
- How to get to know people anywhere:
- Hire a lawyer.
- Overpay them.
- Get them to introduce you to everyone else (RE agents, developers, government officials, etc).
- A lawyer can become an "everything guy".
- Avoid the middle: get the smelly backpackers hostel, or the Shangri-la Ultimate Royal Suite Premium. Don't go for the middle, average option.
- Don't say yes. Say "hell yeah", or no (from Derek Sivers).
- Everyday you do nothing, there is a cost. It is up to you to determine what that cost is.
- Uncertainty is where the magic happens.
Voila.
Best,
m.
@CryptoCurt @Kak
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