107. What is Argentina's Blue Dollar & How Does It Work?

Hello, and welcome back to the work wealth and to travel podcast. I am your host, Nicole, and this is another one of my Monday solo episodes. I have so much fun doing these. I will either pull questions from usually my DM, sometimes my comments as well on YouTube. Or I will chat about something that is on my mind when it comes to traveling and being a digital nomad. All of the things that we talk about here and today, I heard a few different things on my mind and it can kind of all come together into one episode that I am now recording. I'm going to be chatting about what you need to have in order before leaving to become either a digital nomad or a traveler for a longer period of time. This doesn't really apply. If you are going on a. Short trip or a vacation or just one or two months. But if you are really embarking on a different lifestyle for yourself, and this is going to be a travel nomad lifestyle, then here's the things that you are going to want to make sure you have an order. Prior to leaving your home country. I have in one way or another, had to get all of these in order and it can be a little bit intimidating. I won't lie. So I would recommend to start a little bit before you are going to be leaving it, don't leave it till the last month or two months. So let's dive right in. Now, the first thing that you should have, and. Hopefully you have, regardless of if you're traveling or not. But this is a well, and this can look different for everyone. Maybe a trust is better for you if you do have a lot of assets, but just some way to protect yourself, protect. Everything that you have worked for and that you have in your life. And to ensure that that can be given to somebody if something does happen. In the nomad space, this is something that isn't talked about enough because. We obviously and rightfully so see the amazing side of being a nomad, but there are things that can go wrong and not even in, just in nomad life in general life. There are so many things I can go wrong, although they usually don't happen, which is always for the best. You know, you never know when something will happen. So I remember before I left for China, it was probably like seven years at this point, before I left for China, I was like, I don't know what is waiting for me over there. Now it's so funny to look back and think of, but that was really my thought process at the time. And I didn't know what it was going to be. Like. I had no idea what to expect. And so I went to my lawyer, my family, lawyer, and I got a well-made and I still have that will to this day. It's just a nice insurance and backup that if something were to ever happen, I know that I have something to fall back on, so I will trust whatever is going to work better. In your specific situation, just ensuring you have something in your home country that a lawyer has in writing. If anything were to go wrong. All right now, the next one I'm going to list is very self-explanatory. And I know you have thought of this. If you are looking to become a nomad, a traveler, and that is some type of insurance, however, there is a big asterisk to this. I just recorded an episode with an insurance broker for nomad.

Oh my gosh. It was so, so insightful. I can't really say too much about what we chatted about. I'm hoping in a year's time, we'll be able to have another podcast recording about some of the things that we chatted about. Off-air because. Really mindblowing really crazy, really interesting, but that episode will be coming out within coming months. So keep an eye out for it. However, what I learned was that there is a very big difference between travel insurance and health insurance travel insurance is when you are going for a shorter period of time. And you have coverage in your home country. So the travel insurance covers you pretty short-term if. Something were to happen during your one or two week vacation. And then you want to ensure that you have something that you will go home once they maybe airlift you home, or you're able to go home. And then the travel insurance is not going to continue covering you in your home country. And that's why most travel insurances

won't cover you in your home country, whereas a health insurance, which is typically, you know, 1, 2, 3, $400 per month, depending on your situation, it's much more than travel insurance. But that is more comprehensive. That is the true health insurance. And I think a lot of us don't know this and it was a very interesting episode. So I will be releasing that soon. But if you are planning on being a longer-term nomad, then health insurance might be the thing that you want. Travel insurance may not protect you as much as. They make it seem like it will protect you, which I found very interesting because I also fell into this trap of not really knowing and understanding the difference. And you better believe I am looking into health insurance now, so that will be out soon. I highly highly recommend actually speaking to him as a broker. He even goes into how he makes his commission to the fees. And it's all really interesting. So that episode will be out soon, but think about if you want travel insurance or if this is going to be a lifestyle for you, health insurance might be the better way to go. So on the note of medical health insurance. The next kind of item that you should have an order before embarking on your nomad lifestyle. Adventure is life insurance. Now I'm no longer a resident of the country that I was born, but. I do have life insurance there. I've had life insurance. My parents got me on it when I was, I don't know. Probably like 15, 20 years ago at this point, I was pretty young as I've been paying into that every year. And so one thing I had to ensure before I became a non-resident of Canada was that my life insurance would cover me as a resident of anywhere in the world and as a non-resident of Canada. So I did have to email them and make sure that that was the case. But if you are looking to start traveling, ensure that you have a good life insurance that can maybe be from a family members. Leanne that you are added onto, which is how it works for me. But again, kind of going back to the whale, if anything does go wrong, you want to make sure that there is some sort of insurance. And for me, you know, what I pay annually is basically nothing for the peace of mind of having a life insurance. But I do know if you get life insurance through family, parents, then you will likely get a better rate than just starting your own policy from scratch. So that's how it worked for me, highly recommend in whatever province, state country you are in to look into some life insurance before you go as well. Okay. So these are all kind of the three things in terms of medical health. Now moving into a different category. The next one I have is a VPN. So I think we all know at this point what a VPN is and how important it is. But if you don't know, it is a cult, a virtual private network, a VPN, and essentially it will mask where you are your IP address for whatever device that you are using the VPN on.

And it will make it look like you are using that device from somewhere else in the world, a different country likely. And if anyone's trying to. To hack into your devices, your system. It will make that a lot more difficult for them. I don't believe VPNs are the solution to absolutely everything. If you're a hacker, I'm sure you can get around it. But if you are working in cafes, like I do a lot of the time. And I don't have a home, so I am using people's wifi. Every month, you know, we're in a new Airbnb, a new hotel, whatever it is. And so none of these are my wifi. These are people's pre-installed wifi as to their apartments. Or hotels. So I am pretty good about using my VPN. I personally use Nord VPN. I know Nord and express are two. Really big ones. When I was in China. China is a different story. I will say for VPNs, if you are using a VPN and the rest of the world versus China, it will take much, oh my gosh. So much longer to connect than it will in the rest of the world. For me here, it's like half a second to connect in China.

It will take some time. Sometimes it would take one to two minutes and then it just wouldn't even connect at all. Sometimes because the firewall there is of course, much more intense than here in Argentina. Tina, for example, where there's nothing like most of the world. So it's a different story in China. And that's the reason I don't use express because it didn't work very well for me. After about six months of using it. I would change VPNs a lot in China too, because after using them for six months to a year, they would just stop working as well. And yeah, it's a whole different story in China, but I personally use Nord. I've used it for years. I love it. I do have an affiliate link if you want. I think three months for free. Which is a pretty good deal. So you can message me on Instagram or on my website, if you are interested in that. But yeah, I really recommend it. I think that that's a good VPN. There's a lot of options out there. I know there's surf shark. Of course. There's express. Okay. Panda, like, I dunno, there's a bunch out there. You definitely have options. But the price point for VPNs are all around the same and they're pretty affordable. I'd say it's about a hundred dollars per year is around. Maybe give and take a little bit more, a little bit less, but that's around the cost of the BPN per year. And then I know for me with with Nord, I got three years for like $150 when I signed up. Like, it was pretty crazy. They have really great deals sometimes. Okay. So the next one that we have is going to be an emergency fund. Now, I guess this kind of goes back to money and. Really ensuring that you are set up to live a nomadic travel lifestyle, but if you don't have something to fall back on, trust me, I've seen it in other nomads before. It can be really, really difficult. Maybe your work lets you go. If you're working remotely or if you are working with clients, which likely you will be, if you decide to kind of go the freelance or starting your own business route, if you're working with clients. They could drop you. You really have to ensure that you have enough of an emergency fund built up, that you feel safe to probably do arbitrage. If you are. You know, not in the best financial situation, you'll go to a country where your money will go a little bit further. Southeast Asia, south America. But you want to make sure you have something to fall back on and you have, I would say for me, at least I feel comfortable having five to six months of living expenses. I know others who are comfortable having two to three months. Really just depends on the risk that you are willing to take, but I would definitely recommend having at least two to three months. I don't even think I could do two to three months to be totally honest, but at least two to three months of emergency fund. And you know, that number can look different for everybody. But I would say have like $10,000 saved up. You can easily spend. One to $2,000 in Southeast Asia, south America, or even less than that per month, but you never know what the situation, the circumstances are going to be. You never know. How far in advance or how not as far in advance, you're going to be booking accommodation. Like for us as an example, sometimes we are so busy. We just don't get around to booking accommodation until two to three weeks before we're going to be homeless again. And then accommodation prices have definitely gone up.

So you really have to plan out longer term. If you do want to get some good deals, you could find great deals on Airbnb. But really you have to be booking. I would say anywhere from like two to six months out to really find great deals. So it's good to have that emergency fund because you never know. Especially, if you are a freelancer, a business owner working with clients, you never know what will happen. Of course, you know, we could talk about the whole business model. That's a whole different story. But having some sort of emergency fund for me is just a great, great peace of mind. Okay. So kind of going into that one, the next thing that you really need to have before embarking on a nomad lifestyle is a skill sets. And this again looks totally different for everybody, but you want to ensure you have something that will allow you to make money. For most nomads, it's going to be making money online for some nomads, perhaps you're traveling and volunteering or working in different locations. So it can look different for everybody, but you want to make sure you have some sort of skill set that you can fall back on that you know, that you can monetize in the online space or in person in these countries for a short period of time before leaving and moving onto the next country.

You want to make sure that you have something that is monetized. I truly. Truly believe that you can monetize essentially anything. Even if you have, you know, maybe you have been a therapist. Well, that could be working online as a therapist doing coaching. There's so many different things, but. It's not only having the skillset, having the skillset is the very first piece of the puzzle, but there are so many more steps that come after that you need to figure out how can you monetize that? And then how are you going to attract people? And what are you going to do to market your product, your service, whatever it may be to people so that you can commoditize it or make money off of it somehow.

So really having that skillset is the very first step, but by no means the last. Step. At all, but you do have to have, start with something that you can make money from while traveling.

All right, we have two more left. So the next one again, I would say pretty self-explanatory you have to have a passport. And I would say you have it valid for at least a few years. If your passport is not valid for six months up until it expires. So let's say it's January. And my passport expires in July. I likely will not be able to use that passport to travel to other countries, your passport. It has to be valid for at least six months. So that's important to keep in mind for most countries. And ideally it's good to have it valid at four. I know most passports you can renew for five to 10 years, so have it for at least a few years, if possible. And it's also important when talking about passports to consider how often you're going to be traveling, how many visas you're going to need, because this can depend. The amount of visas you're going to need, or how often you're going to be traveling. How many stamps you're going to get in your passport? Could determine if you're going to need a new passport sooner or later. So an example is for me, before I left China, I had quite a few pages in my passport, but I knew that I would be traveling enough that having, I think it was like four or five pages, wasn't going to be enough. And my passport wasn't going to expire for another three years. So the expire date, wasn't the problem. What was the problem was the fact that I knew I wouldn't have enough pages to last me for three years. So I ended up just renewing it before I left, because I was going to Turkey. I knew, you know, I, I can, I've had my passport renewed in different places in the world, different countries. But it's easier, you know, I knew how to renew it in China. It wasn't so difficult. So I just did it there. And of course, if you do find yourself in that situation, you can in any country renew your passport, but it may take longer. You may need to stay in that country for a few months to wait to get your passport.

And then if you are on a visa or you're just traveling as a tourist, your time in that country may expire. So things can get a little bit dicey. It's easier just to ensure that you have the passport with the right amount of pages for the right. Validity of time before you leave your home country. And the last one I want to note is I would say a little bit more expert mode for nomads, but it is something important to consider in your nomadic travel journey. And that is if you want to make. Your nomad life, a longterm lifestyle for yourself. And not just a few years of traveling, which I know a lot of nomads. Do you really want traveling to be something that is a part of their life forever. Then getting a new residency, a second citizenship, all of these things that I have personally done to optimize my nomadic situation. Maybe something to start considering. And the first step to start considering that is what do you need to leave your home country officially? What does that look like to no longer be a resident or if you're American, maybe you will have to give up citizenship. So that is a whole nother conversation.

Definitely something more serious, but. That's why you see a lot less Americans who have left their home country. But yeah, it is important to kind of start to think about once you have been doing this travel nomad lifestyle for a year or two, three years. Is this something that you really want to incorporate into your life full time? And for me, the answer was, yes. I never saw myself and I still don't. I don't think I ever will. That's why I left. See myself being part of the Canadian system. Again, living in Canada, working in Canada, like all of the things in Canada, I left Canada for a reason six years ago. And I don't see myself going back to any part of Canada of what Canada offered me. So I knew that I wanted to get out of that system.

I left as a resident, I got residency elsewhere. I opened bank accounts in any country. I kind of, which is increasingly more difficult, but that's a topic for another time. But I think I have six or seven bank accounts in different countries around the world out. I have two passports. I would love to get to four or five passports. At some point would be the most ideal with multiple residencies. I don't want, I have my business in a different country, you know, registered in a different country. So I just really don't want one government, one system, one. Country to have claims on everything that I own. And I definitely don't want Canada to have that either. So if you are thinking about having a more longterm nomad life, then that could be a consideration for you as well. I know I've talked to many people who have either started or gone through the process as I have, and it's so exciting to talk to those people.

We're so on the same page. So if that's you then definitely hit me up. I would love to chat on Instagram on. Wherever you are most active. I am on all of the platforms. So feel free to message me. I would love to chat. I love meeting other nomads when we travel as well. So. These are all of the things that I have compiled, of course they're the list could go on and on. But for me, these are the most important things to ensure that you have an order before leaving your home country to embark on a Gnomon adventure. So. To recap, those things are your will. Your travel slash health insurance, life insurance. VPN a skill set that you can monetize. An emergency fund. Passport with a few pages and a few years of validity, at least. And optimizing your situation, whether that be residency second passports, whatever that looks like to live a long term nomad lifestyle. So thank you for listening this has been the work wealth and travel podcast i'm your host nicole aka and nomad Meeks, and feel free to reach out if you have any questions i'm on like i said on all of the platforms And i release new episodes on the podcast three times per week now which is so wild but i love i love love love making this type of long form content so monday is my solo episode wednesday is a guest interview and friday is the digital nomad digest segment with myself and my cohost tammy who is also a digital nomad from a different walk of life with a very different nomad perspective so it's really interesting to hear both. both. of our takes on the topics that we talk about within the nomad realm thank you for listening and i will see you in the next episode