Vlog #01: Sold the house, leaving my job, 6 months of travel [TPP#56]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WO3k6JYUGsA?rel=0]

This week I’ll be completing my final few days of full-time employment as a Mortgage Adviser at iRefi. It’s a bittersweet sort of feeling; it’s sad to be leaving such an awesome group of guys but exciting to be embarking on new adventures. I’ve had a fantastic time working at iRefi and learned an incredible amount (I would never have thought in a million years that I’d ever be accredited as a Mortgage Adviser). It’s a shame to be leaving, but I’m all about growth and it’s time to start the next chapter of my life.

Listen to this video on the Productivity Podcast:

In January, my wife, Hayley, and I will be starting 6 months of travel. We’ll be starting in Bali, Indonesia, then moving on to Cambodia, Vietnam, Japan and Sri Lanka. The entire trip is due to last about 6 months and it’s going to be a great opportunity to explore new countries and grow as individuals. The thing I’m looking forward to the most is getting out of our current “daily grind” routine. It’s so each to get caught up in day to day busyness and I’m looking forward to getting out of my comfortable routine and slowing down for a bit.

We’re funding the trip in a few different ways. Along the way, I’ll be doing some part-time marketing work for the company to keep some cash coming into the account. We’ll be generating some income from our rental property back in Auckland and I’ll also be spending more time growing my own business (this site) so that when I return I can (hopefully) continue working full-time for myself.

Leading up to the trip, we made the decision to sell our house. Again, it was a very bitter sweet feeling when the sale was finalised a few weeks ago. We thought about renting the house out while we were away, but decided against this for a few reasons. Firstly, the Auckland housing market has experienced enormous growth over the last few years and my personal opinion is that the market is going to cool down (it’s already started). There may even be a correction in house prices and now is a very good time to cash out. Besides this, we didn’t want to go to go travelling with such a huge financial burden over our heads. With the rental property as well, we were mortgaged up to our eyeballs and thought it would be wise to de-risk before the trip. This way we can work less and travel more without constantly worrying about paying two mortgages back home. By paying down the mortgage on the other property, we’re now able to generate a modest income from the rent on that property.

It’s going to be interesting to live a more minimal life for a prolonged period of time. We’re literally only taking a few clothes, computers, phones and a few other accessories. When we packed up our house a few weeks ago it was nice to declutter and throw away a lot of the junk and clutter that we’ve collected over the years. We’ve squeezed everything that remains into a small storage container ready for when we return. Decluttering has lifted a big mental weight off our shoulders and we’re looking forward to more of this while we travel next year.

There are just of a couple of weeks left until we leave. I literally can’t wait. Stay tuned for more travel updates coming soon…

You can keep up to date with our travel adventure by subscribing to my YouTube channel and following me on Twitter and Instagram.