The right way to earn a living while traveling? Trading is ideal job, says nomad

Patrick Schulte said he desired to be a trader since he was 15.

He said he saw an excerpt from the New York Stock Exchange on the nightly news and thought, “That’s what I’m going to do.”

He learned the fundamentals near home on the Minneapolis Grain Exchange before moving to Chicago, where he began trading options on corn, wheat and soybeans, gold, Dow futures – “somewhat little bit of every part,” he said.

He said he was tremendous and life was good. Soon his friends began having children and moving to the suburbs.

But Schulte said he and his wife Ali “weren’t ready for it.”

So they sold their possessions, bought a ship and set off on a cruise world wide, although that they had no sailing experience in any respect, he says.

The couple left Chicago in 2003 and have been on the road ever since.

They sailed the world for 4 years, visiting 45 countries and learning to sail on the fly, he said. Soon they were “hooked on the approach to life,” said Schulte, who worked during their trip.

He called trading the “ideal” job for full-time travel because “all I want is a laptop, an online connection, and I could be anywhere on this planet.”

They eventually sold their boat and acquired a restored 1958 The Volkswagen bus they lived in for nearly two years traveled from Alaska to South America and later to Europe, Schulte said.

Then Ali got pregnant. So they went back to Minnesota.

Schulte said his family was confident the infant would make them calm down. Instead, they took a vintage 1965 Porsche that had been in his family for many years and drove to Mexico.

They had a daughter in Puerto Vallarta, then bought a second boat before having one other child and moving the family to an RV for a couple of years, Schulte said.

But he said the ocean called again, and so they spent five years – including the pandemic years – exploring the Caribbean and Central America.

He said that the couple recently bought one other boat – a fourth – a catamaran, during which they intend to sail world wide.

“The kids are the proper age,” he said, adding that they at the moment are teenagers.

Living a full-time travel life can seem expensive, but Schulte said his family spends less money on travel than when living in a single place.

They don’t own much, he said, preferring to live a life that focuses more on experiences than possessions.

Besides, they haven’t got access to them AmazonStarbucks and other places that “eat up your funds,” he said.

On his first round-the-world trip, Schulte said he and his wife kept track of each dollar they spent, which averaged out to about $3,100 a month. He said their biggest expenses were food, entertainment and fuel.

But that does not include a significant boat repair they paid for on the trip, which cost over 33 thousand.

The boats are usually not low-cost to purchase or maintain, but owners can save on other costs, Schulte said.

With his sailboat, “fuel expenses were low. Most of the time, we were anchored at no cost on the places we were visiting, so there have been no accommodation or camping costs,” he said.

Schulte said he paid $157,000 for his first boat, which he sold 4 years later for $140,000. But Schulte said he made money from other boats he bought and sold.

“After all, it’s kind of of laundry,” he said.

Schulte said many individuals have asked him about his career and lifestyle through the years, a lot in order that he teamed up with a friend to jot down book titled “Live on the margins”.

But that is all you’ll be able to learn in a book, he said. In 2016, he published a post on his blog entitled Misunderstandingoffering to learn options trading.

“I used to be amazed at how many individuals jumped at the chance,” he told CNBC Travel.

Eventually he began an organization Financial Wandererto show people about investing, including complete beginners, he said. He also posts his trades live for people to follow.

But perhaps the most important attraction – and one he enjoys essentially the most – is the day by day live chat he runs before the market opens.

He said it also cured considered one of the toughest parts of being a solo trader – loneliness.

“It’s nice to have a gaggle and give you the option to bounce things off one another,” he said. “Also, there’s not at all times something to do – we do not trade daily… so there’s a variety of speak about life and travel.”

Schulte said most individuals who contact him need to learn the right way to trade in an effort to travel full-time.

“Either they have already got this lifestyle, just like mine – they live somewhere on a ship or somewhere in an RV – or they strive for it,” he said.

One thing is obvious to him: newcomers must have realistic expectations.

“It’s an amazing strategy to make a living,” he said. But “I do not think anyone has turned $1,000 into $1 million. I’m not going to pretend that you may just magically make huge sums of cash.”

His advice to those all for trying it out: Don’t wait until it’s too late.

He said many individuals are focused on pursuing their dreams after retirement. But “parents are getting old…your hip goes [out]… there’s simply no guarantee.”

Schulte said that is why he likes “mini pensions” or “pre-retirements”.

“Go and do that good thing. Take a 12 months, take two years, do something big that you’ve got at all times desired to do,” he said. “Don’t put it off without end.”

Something else?

“Learn to live simply,” he said. “When you embrace it, all types of possibilities will open up.”