Money Abroad

As a fresh grad, I gave up my Google job offer to join a Series A startup in San Francisco. I started out with a ~$57k salary. Living in one of the most expensive cities in the US, I lived a pretty no-frills lifestyle. Over the next 5 years, however, I tripled my income. How did I do this? Yes, it helped I relocated to a thriving tech hub. But this alone wasn’t enough. The best investment I made was in myself. I spent a healthy chunk of my time (and money) on personal growth through courses, building relationships, mentoring, interviewing, and side projects. These experiences taught me heaps about myself, my strengths, interests, and how to amplify my market value. (Hint: it starts with contributing more value.) Could I have saved more money in my early 20’s? Absolutely. However, I don’t regret this choice. This investment accelerated my earning potential far beyond what simple savings could have achieved. Yes, saving (and investing) are important. But don’t be afraid to spend on yourself. This might be the best investment you ever make. ____ P.S. Aside from investing in self-development, learning how to negotiate was crucial to 3X'ing my income. Here are the strategies I used: https://lnkd.in/enBSyhpN

Why I stopped chasing early retirement (and what I do instead): I have friends who obsess about this dream. Wouldn't it be amazing to say goodbye to your 9-5 forever, live off your investments, and do whatever the h*ll you want? While I started my career with the goal of retiring early, what I learned along the way is this doesn't have to be 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔. Let's compare two popular strategies: 𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗘 (𝗘𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁): • Full financial independence by 30's to 50's • Investment withdrawals cover your expenses • No longer working for income (work optional) • Typically requires extreme saving and investing 𝗖𝗼𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗘 (𝗦𝗲𝗺𝗶-𝗥𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁): • Partial financial freedom sooner • Investments grow to cover your future retirement • Flexibility to pursue meaningful work • Still requires income to cover expenses 𝗪𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂? FIRE is a good fit if 100% financial freedom is important to you. Perhaps, you're a high-earner who is on track to hit your goal without making too many life sacrifices. And you have a clear plan for what you want to be doing post-retirement. Coast FIRE is a solid alternative if your goal isn't to retire early, but rather to create a lifestyle you don't need to retire from. Maybe you enjoy working, but want more flexibility or desire a career change. You want to spend more time with your kids, switch to a lower-paying but more enjoyable job, or experiment with business ideas. It's not all or nothing. Even if I'm not going to retire by 40, I appreciate the flexibility offered by the middle approach. Want to uncover what's right for you? Here is my Ultimate Guide to Semi-Retirement: https://lnkd.in/edMtckwm

After years of traveling for the holidays, we're celebrating at home in Mexico City. In 2024, my wife and I made a leap across the Atlantic. We left the comfort of Singapore for this vibrant economic hub of Latin America. Many friends thought we were crazy. The only news they heard about Mexico? Not so rosy (sadly this is common in Asia). After arriving, I got the chance to: • Consult with LATAM scale-ups & national bank • Launch a cohort to 90 students in 10+ countries • Immerse myself in daily Spanish practice • Build a close community of friends ... and last but not least, secure my temporary residency card! 🎉 Right on time for the holidays. At 33, this move has been very rewarding. Here's my 2024 reflection question for you: If you've been postponing a life dream, what's holding you back? It's easy to say "if I just have more money" or "once I get a promotion, then I'll pull the trigger." I've been there. But let's be honest. Sometimes the real culprit is fear. Fear of failure. Fear of being judged. Fear of being called an imposter. So if you get to the root cause... Do you really need to make more money or get promoted before pursing the life goal? Or can you make it happen now?

The end of 2024 is the perfect time to take stock of your financial health. Every year, I run through a financial checklist, so I don’t forget what’s missing. Here are a few items that were on my list this year: 1/ Review 2024 savings and investment contributions 📊 In the past, I auto-invested and saved 40%+ of my income. This year has fluctuated depending on the month (self-employment life), but I analyzed my contributions and planned to top up if I was saving and investing under 30%. 2/ Plan contributions for kids education and sinking funds 🔖 My wife and I wanted to tuck more away in our future kids education (529) and family sinking funds. We calculated our fund goals by end-of-2025. 3/ Rebalance investment portfolio I reviewed my asset allocation, what assets to top-up (if needed), and if I wanted to sell any assets for tax loss harvesting purposes. 4/ Analyze last-minute tax scenarios 🏦 I’m reviewing things like my US expat tax exclusions, S-Corp payroll, Roth conversions, and tax-deductible account contributions. My goal is to estimate my tax bill and identify overlooked benefits. 5/ Research life insurance 👨👩👧 This has been on the backburner for a while, but I aim to finally research and execute in 2025. If you've never done it, an EOY financial review is an illuminating exercise. I've gained a lot of clarity by running the numbers. And the best part is anyone can run through the checklist at home. P.S. Liked this? Here are my 2024 year-end money moves (+ downloadable checklist): https://lnkd.in/gJn2iJUJ

I'm going to get hate for this but... growing your tech career isn't about working 10x harder. It's about getting 10x leverage. 📈 Everyone talks about grinding harder. Working more hours. Making work everything. But they're missing the point. Here is what nobody wants to admit: • Most "productivity hacks" aren't effective • Working long hours repeatedly risks burnout • Making work your life risks breeding resentment • You'll taste success, but eventually hit a limit The real 10X workers I know: • Focus intensely on fewer, high-leverage activities • Say "no" to most projects and tasks • Use tools/AI to create more leverage on time • Carve out time for rest & personal growth In other words: Growing your career is important, but don't run yourself into the ground either. Evaluate the tasks you're working on. Find opportunities to do less, but with more leverage. (Shreyas' LNO framework is useful for this) Take Sundays to recharge, learn new skills, and reflect on your long-term direction. After all, what's the point of sacrificing all your time if it doesn't translate to meaningful results? ____ I write about portfolio careers and money at Money Abroad. Join 7k high-performers from companies like Google, Amazon, and Stripe: https://lnkd.in/eXGJE78q

If you’re starting a portfolio career, avoid these mistakes: I've interviewed dozens of successful portfolio careerists for Money Abroad including a former bank MD, ex-Netflix talent director, and founder of the world's largest fractional community. Here are a few common mistakes: 1️⃣ 𝗤𝘂𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 Don't underestimate how long it takes to build new income streams. Instead, follow the 1-2 Rule: • 1 year of living expenses saved • 2x of your expenses covered from your business 2️⃣ 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝟮+ 𝗷𝗼𝗯𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲 Grinding 80-hour weeks is a recipe for burnout. Try this: • Limit side hustle to 10 hours/week • Focus on leveraging your time effectively 3️⃣ 𝗕𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿 With 7+ years of experience, you've got valuable skills. To capitalize: • Discover your superpowers • Validate your niche in the market 4️⃣ 𝗢𝗯𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗲𝗯𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲 Your fancy site won't close clients. Instead: • Sell without a website first • Only build when clients request more info 5️⃣ 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝘀 Multiple offers confuse clients. Focus on: • Nailing 1 offer for 1 ideal client profile • Aligning all messaging towards this offer What mistakes have you seen (or made) when building multiple income streams? ____ P.S. Liked this? Uncover key mistakes to avoid when starting a portfolio career: https://lnkd.in/eaWxapDQ

Dancing into the week with this reader’s note 🔥 Last year, I felt frustrated by the lack of content for high-performers pursuing alternative paths, e.g. building portfolio careers. There are plenty of newsletters out there for 9-to-5 tech workers, startup founders, or even consultants/freelancers. But still very few for folks building a portfolio of income streams. As I get deeper into my own portfolio career, I get it. It’s hard. It's nascent. It’s scary for most people to venture into the unknown. But the rewards are also great: Flexibility. Leverage. Working on your own terms. Does this resonate with you? Every Sunday, I send a 5-minute deep dive to 7k portfolio careerists. You'll get real case studies on how people like a former Netflix talent director, ex-banking MD, and Ali Abdaal's head of content built portfolio careers. Subscribe now (and receive our top 10 resources from 2024): https://lnkd.in/eXGJE78q

Chasing money without this factor is a recipe for misery. Early in my career, I was gunning for financial freedom. I thought a six-figure salary and a cushy tech job would be the answer to all my problems. However, a decade of experience taught me this lesson: A comfortable salary doesn't guarantee fulfillment. My Journey: Initially: ✅ High-paying job in SF/Singapore ✅ Climbing the tech career ladder ❌ Long, in-office work hours ❌ Limited time for non-work activities In 2023, I decided to experiment with a portfolio career. What happened: ✅ 2x’ed my hourly rate ✅ Continued growing my net worth ✅ Flexible, remote work ✅ Time for side projects and learning What I learned: True wealth isn't just about taking money to the bank. It's about having the freedom to choose how you spend your time. Trade-offs are inevitable, but I have also seen how alternative paths are possible thanks to leverage. If time freedom resonates with you, then you’ll enjoy my newsletter on money and portfolio careers. Join 7k high-achievers working at companies like Google, Amazon, and Stripe: https://lnkd.in/eXGJE78q

Over the last 10 years, I negotiated my tech salary multiple times across 2 continents (and helped dozens do the same). I went from a meek 22-year-old not knowing how to negotiate to becoming a hiring manager on the other side of the table in my 30's. Here is what I have observed separates first-timer vs pro negotiators: First-timer: • Accepts first offer immediately • Throws out the first number • Makes emotional decisions • Focuses only on base salary • Wings the conversation Pro: • Takes time to evaluate offers • Let's employer anchor first • Makes data-driven decisions • Negotiates total compensation • Prepares extensively The biggest realization I had: Your $10k salary bump might not seem like much, but compounding is magical. If you were to invest an additional $10k annually into public equity, assuming a 5% real interest rate, your contributions would compound to over $707k after 30 years. That's compounding at work. Want to learn how to negotiate a $10k raise? I've broken down the exact strategies I used in my recent newsletter: https://lnkd.in/enBSyhpN

13 lessons I learned in 2024: 🧠 1/ True wealth is about living life on your own terms. Financial freedom is one element of wealth, but so is time freedom and clarity on how you convert time and money into your desired lifestyle. 2/ Approach life with youthful curiosity. The people I admire in their 40’s and 50’s are still eternally curious, passionate about learning new things, and constantly pushing their own comfort zone. 3/ Make the most of scarce time with loved ones. It’s a grim truth that any trip you take to visit a loved one—especially elderly—may be the last time you see or speak to them. 4/ The best friendships are the ones that grow with you. It’s rare to experience multiple life seasons together with the same friends, but when you do—it feels remarkable. 5/ Quality sleep is a superpower. Out of all healthy habits, prioritizing 7+ hours of sleep at night is the single biggest contributor to your overall learning, creativity, mood, and energy level. 6/ Master learning how to learn. Whether it’s for Spanish, bouldering, or other skills, use tried-and-true techniques like choose the right structures, drill your weakest points, use active recall, seek feedback, and proper rest. 7/ Having the flexibility to attend friends’ destination weddings is a blessing. 2024 reaffirmed my decision to build a remote business that allows me to work on my own terms. 8/ Play long-term games. In money and business, the success you’re after is typically the culmination of not 10 days or 10 months—but 10+ years of consistent effort. 9/ Leverage your time through delegation, automation, and task selection. The best entrepreneurs are masters of identifying high-value tasks, allocating their limited time towards them, and offloading the rest to others. 10/ Break down all goals into daily or weekly habits. While it’s difficult to predict the outcomes, the good news is you completely control your inputs. 11/ Online education is fundamentally a marketing business. While it’s important to deliver a world-class student experience, it’s just as a crucial to build the engine for positioning, promoting, and distributing your products. 12/ You only need to nail 1 thing. It’s tempting to jump to the next shiny object, but in reality, that’s a distraction. Focus and do tons more of what’s already working. 13/ Monetization reflects the value you generate. Your income is a direct measure of how much value you're creating for your clients—not vanity metrics like followers or growth. So that's my list. What lessons emerged for you in 2024? ——— These lessons bubbled to the surface while writing my 2024 review. Join 7k high-performers receiving the full edition in their inbox: https://lnkd.in/gQaQyyc6