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050 | Domestic GeoArbitrage | Freedom is Groovy

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In this podcast we discuss domestic geographic arbitrage with Mr. Groovy from Freedom is Groovy.

In today’s Choose FI we cover:

  • A conversation with Mr. Groovy from Freedom is Groovy to discuss domestic geographic arbitrage
  • How Brad made a similar decision to Mr. Groovy to move from Long Island to a lower cost of living area
  • How Mr. Groovy was a “financial moron” until he was in his 40s until Mrs. Groovy found Dave Ramsey
  • What did their financial lives look like before finding Dave Ramsey and the concept of an emergency fund
  • How creating a budget and putting it on paper was a game changer for them
  • What changes did they make after creating a budget?
  • Their debt situation: They had about $30,000 in consumer debt
  • How they created a “transition fund” to help them move off of Long Island to a lower cost of living area
  • They managed to pay off debt and save $80,000 in cash for this transition fund by 2008
  • Their families were supportive of their move off of Long Island
  • The peculiarities of living on Long Island and getting off the island
  • How Mr. Groovy’s cost of living shaped up on Long Island and how the property tax burden is significant there
  • What other costs are smaller when moving out of a high cost of living area besides mortgage and property taxes?
  • How the Groovy family bought a $70,000 condo in Long Beach in 1997 and sold it for $340,000 in 2006
  • They decided to move to North Carolina and happened upon Charlotte where they ultimately purchased
  • They bought a condo for $88,000 in cash in Charlotte and banked nearly $250,000 from the sale of their home
  • Their dollar cost averaging strategy to enter the stock market
  • How Mr. Money Mustache’s article The Shockingly Simple Math Behind Early Retirement change their outlook on life
  • In 2014 they were basically at the 25x expenses definition of Financial Independence
  • Even though the housing situation helped them significantly, they still would have hit FI by moving to a lower cost of living area just because of lowered expenses
  • Takeaways and advice from the geographic arbitrage decision
  • How Mr. Groovy’s family wound up following him to Charlotte
  • How Brad’s brother did both US and international geographic arbitrage
  • Did Mr. Groovy and Brad have “freak out moments” after making the move?
  • Hot Seat Questions

Links from the show:

Books Mentioned in the Show:

Choose FI has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Choose FI and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. American Express is a ChooseFI advertiser. Disclosures.
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