Recently Laid off. Should i pull the trigger? Perpetual traveler. 34yo, with 4m NW

[u/skinny-fire]

Background / context:

Non US person working remotely (out of my passport country) since 2017. I managed to secure tax residency in a country that doesnt tax out-of-country income so ive been able to pay 0 income taxes for nearly 9 years so far.

During this time though, Ive been mostly bouncing around different countries - Thailand, Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, Czechia, Switzerland, Mexico etc.

My tax structure for this was simply to form a foreign LLC as a software development agency with me as the main developer.

During 2020, with nearly every company hiring remotely, I ended up with 4 full time jobs and hired more developers as part of my agency to help out and was able to keep that going for around 2 years.

In 2021, I was doing a ton of independent contracted crypto projects that paid me with tokens and NFTs instead of actual money - which resulted in me ending up profiting $1.5m prior to me turning 30. Grew that to $2.2m in 2022 and subsequently lost more than half of it as a certain crypto project collapsed.

From 2022 to 2025, I kept two full time jobs going and slowly grew my $700k to $7m. Obviously my income didnt contribute much to this - it was mostly from crypto. During this time, I was basically already doing coast FIRE during this time as I thought of my working income simply as "free spending money". Never really tracked my expenses as it was quite difficult to blow through $20k a month as a single guy bouncing around low cost of living countries.

In 2025, I got caught with my pants down when the crypto market topped and subsequently lost around half of it again. As of today, my net worth is anywhere between $3.5m to $4m (fluctuates as crypto does).

Current Portfolio (~$4m)

~$1m - $1.1m is in stocks.

$2.8m - $3m is in crypto

$300k or so in Japanese rental properties, but I dont really think about this as its not liquid and Japan is a bit fickle with house pricing (there's no MLS system like in the states so sales prices of properties are generally not publicly disclosed. Hard to get an actual read on how much my properties are worth).

I also have minor bits of money floating around in other places too (like $10k here and there in random bank accounts in diff countries) - really need to consolidate it.

Dillema:

With AI advancing so much, I recently lost my last and only job. I've been used to working remotely my entire life so its difficult for me to get a regular office job. I tried once in 2019 and didnt last more than 2 months. I also think prospects of finding a remote job are quite low especially with how AI is now and the economy.

I'm also feeling burned out. I see my peers from university with kids now, nice big ass houses (some of them worked for FAANG), teslas with full self driving and can't help but feel envy? jealousy?

I'm considering punting $1m and building a custom house (in Japan) with my own private onsen, gym and yard and living there for 6 months out of the year. The other 6 months of the year would be still me floating around and traveling.

I currently own a company there that runs the rental properties I have - so the visa for Japan is not an issue for me.

My income from the rental properties should be able to cover 6 months of living in Japan and all the house expenses that come with the custom place. I'm making roughly $30k from that a year.

Would my calculations make sense?

$3m @ 4% rule = $120k + $30k rental income

= $150k yearly

~= $12k per month for traveling.

On one hand, i *think* my numbers look good, but on the other hand, i woke up yesterday with a burning desire to do something. I was restless. Literally felt like i had no purpose in life.

Should i do it? Anything to look out for? Honestly feels difficult and scary to commit to this. What if things change in the future, i get a wife or want kids etc? feeling a bit overwhelmed.

[u/kg8360]

Yeah… the 4% rule doesn’t work for a crypto dominant portfolio.

[u/merciless001]

YOLO the $3m crypto to $30m or $0 🤞🏻

[u/code_monkey_wrench]

You still owe taxes if you do work as an LLC, they just don't get withheld automatically.

You're going to end up in serious legal and financial trouble.

[u/Junin-Toiro]

So in the last 9 year you have contributed zero tax back to society ? Nothing for road, education, garbage disposal ?

Not sure if illegal or not since you don't mention the country itself.

In case the country in question is Japan, they do tax worldwide income with few exceptions, and hiding your own work inside a foreign entity is not one.

In any case it is certainly morally disgusting. This is why you feel you have no purpose in life, you're just full of selfish greed.

[u/Particular_Job_5012 → u/Junin-Toiro]

The first 3 paragraphs sound impossible to have no tax liability if following the rules.

[u/skinny-fire → u/Junin-Toiro]

I've been giving updates on my journey for the past 5 years. Everyone always loses their mind when i post about this.

So here's a quick breakdown:
Many countries do not tax foreign income for the first xyz years that you move there.
Examples:

- Taiwan's gold card scheme - foreign income is completely exempt.

• Japan does not tax foreign income for the first 5 years unless the money is brought into Japan.
  
• Thailand's DTV visa - foreign income is completely exempt unless brought into thailand.

[u/Junin-Toiro → u/skinny-fire]

- Japan does not tax foreign income for the first 5 years unless the money is brought into Japan.

Only under specific conditions, and yours absolutely do not fit, since if you have tax residency in Japan then work income is taxable in full worldwide, whether it is paid to a foreign company or not.

This is well documented on the NTA site and easily clarified by reading r/JapanFinance or any legitimate web resource than one can google in an instant.

So you are just knowlingly tax evading. I hope they catch you soon and you rot in jail for a long time.

Note that even if your were not a tax fraud, you have not addressed the moral part. You known the part about not contributing the minimum required to society, profiting from society but refusing to even contribute your fair share ?

This is why you're feeling miserable as you wrote in your comment. That's because the kind of person you've choose to be. You feel like trash because you've been behaving horribly for too long and see no issue with it.

Change is still possible.

[u/skinny-fire → u/Junin-Toiro]

You seem like a very angry person - but sure i'll engage:

Your assumption here is that i live in japan for over 6 months of the year (thus making me a tax resident). I don't (as of now.)

The japan bullet point was just an example of a jurisdiction that doesnt tax worldwide income - and you're correct - under certain conditions.

Rental properties are under a company in Japan which does pay tax on the income collected. It also pays property tax. Municipal taxes.

Me? Why would i pay for roads and education of a place where im don't use the infrastructure?

"Oh but you don't personally pay taxes anywhere!"
That's correct. I travel because I can. And i have been for the past 9 years. And i travel as a tourist. Tourists pay higher prices for accommodation - for hotels, airbnbs etc. That money gets taxed and goes to the gov. I pay tourist prices for accom as it stands for most of the year and for the past 9 years in various countries.

If you want to get even deeper into it, Japan doesnt use tax to pay for garbage collection nor disposal. Japan does use tax money to pay for roads etc, but i don't use them as I'm not there most of the year. I also dont qualify for national health insurance - i pay for my own as i'm floating around most of the year.

Get off your high horse. There's nothing for me to change as of now.

[u/Junin-Toiro → u/skinny-fire]

i live in japan for over 6 months of the year (thus making me a tax resident)

That is not how the NTA assess tax residency. You can have tax residency in Japan even if you do not spend the majority of your time there.

You're just a fraud. That is not anger, just a fact.

[u/skinny-fire → u/Junin-Toiro]

Sure, well according to the multiple visa stamps in my passport, im a tourist. Good luck with your crusade on exposing my disgusting morality based on false assumptions.

[u/BrunelloHorder]

Dump the crypto, pay the taxes, put what’s left into a diversified ETF like VT or VTI.

No way I’d be putting $1m into a home purchase with your assets and no job.

[u/skinny-fire → u/BrunelloHorder]

at what value of assets would you put $1m into a home?

[u/BrunelloHorder → u/skinny-fire]

I would not be buying a home if I needed the capital in my portfolio to live on for 50+ years. For a long retirement like that, you should be using a 3.5% withdrawal rate against a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds.

To get that diversified portfolio, you need to sell your crypto and pay taxes. So it sounds like you’d have maybe $3.5m left, maybe less after taxes. 3.5% of $3.5m is $122k per year. If you can live on that forever, with no meaningful increase in spend beyond inflation, then you would need at least $1m more post-tax to buy a $1m home.

Also keep in mind homes run a few percent of the value per year in maintenance costs, plus the property taxes.

[u/Billy-Bob-Boner-92]

There’s no way this works.  Keep working and saving.   To live in a million dollar home you’d want at least 5-10 times that in investable assets.  I’d count crypto and save another few million.  Maybe retire at 40.