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Comment by milkshakeyeah | Hacker News Reader

If you are rich you are the Nomad, if you are broke you are a hobo.

The Nomad can quit at any time, the Hobo can't.

Which is he? He looks broke/hobo. But some pics seem like there is apartment, and that he travels some. So does he have some money and is nomad? (some nest egg? he doesn't look like millionaire).

He worked for Nokia until 1990, theoretically if he held onto some stock for 10 years it could have been quite the windfall.

What does a millionaire look like?

A million dollars ain't what it used to be.

There are lots of millionaires which are not stereotypical rich people.

I would say most, most of the millionaires I've met are in this bucket

A 4% return (which is pretty easy to get, even after tax) on $1 million nets you $40k per year.

It's not a lot of money, but you could live off it if you were frugal.

I think you have no idea what it costs to live in most parts of the world.

In most parts of the world? A lot less, but also in those parts of the world it's probably hard to get $1million in the first place.

Indeed,but it's easy for a person to move around the globe these days. It's conceivable and even common for people to work their careers in a high cost part of the world and then retire in a low cost part. I.E. the entire state of Florida

You can live rather comfortably at $40k per year in Europe.

Living off of investments means you’re less tied to geographies. And frugal means you choose among the cheaper locales.

$40k USD is a fine amount of live off of is you are living in Carbondale, IL. But less so Chicago.

It's a pretty decent way to live in Belize or Costa Rica. Good luck in the UK. Germany, probably not, but Czech Republic may well be fine.

It depends on where you want to live. One of the factors which makes a huge difference is how old you are - the older you are the better healthcare you're going to need. Some of those low cost destinations don't have that great of healthcare - but some do!

Especially if you own your home and things like vehicles.

(Reminder that the median income in the US is $44k a year). So lots and lots of people make that work...

I don't know, that is why I was asking.

The parent post was making distinction between rich/poor and nomad/hobo. I can't tell which this guy is and was asking for more background.

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