Why You Should Retire In Reverse

I discuss why, if you are in your 20s or 30s, you should retire in reverse - or in other words - retire NOW.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is Next Level with World Proven, where we talk about some of the most insane things that can happen during travel. These next level situations that can only happen in some of the most obscure, most difficult to reach, and craziest countries on the planet. I've been to 123 countries and some of the most dangerous locations on the planet. Countries and cities currently at war, and just some of the most difficult to reach, remote locations the planet has to offer. Countries including North Korea, Afghanistan, Somalia, Burkina Faso, Iraq, Iran, and Haiti. I've also been into hundreds of abandoned buildings and some in the most dangerous areas of the most dangerous cities in the United States. I've also been to some of the most haunted locations on the planet and I've communicated with the dead. There are two ways to absorb this material. I do have audio podcasts on Spotify and Apple, among others.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

For this one, I want to talk about why you should retire in reverse. And I'll explain what I mean. This is related to what a lot of folks do once they retire, and that's travel. The kids are grown, the money's made, hopefully you've set some apart for retirement, and now it's time to see the world. I feel like that's a common, the most common track. There's two, I think, common tracks for travel extensive or maybe just a few countries. And the first would be like a gap year type thing or a study abroad thing. You know, you go to Morocco, and you know, it's crazy, and holy smokes, everything's different, and the smells and the people, the landscape, you know, everything everything. Everything is just upside down. The the second track is is when you retire. Now it's time to see the world. I do want to be clear. When I talk about retirement in reverse, I'm not talking about your study abroad program. Those are great. I think it's a getting your feet wet as to some concept of the world outside of your own country. It's not it's not the the constant or near constant seeking of, you know, covering the earth's surface. Your semester in s in Spain or whatever is is not what I'm talking about. That's not that's not retirement in reverse. That that's just that's you know, a few months in another country. And I'm and I'm not putting that position down. I think that's really important for people to experience. I don't think that should be overemphasized though. I th I I feel like some people they go to Europe and they go to three or four countries and they now suddenly are worldly and and they carry that with their whole life thinking that they've done all sorts of travel and it's like you haven't. And I think that's an error that can happen to folks that do get their feet wet. From personal experience, I I came back from Europe feeling very worldly. And I, you know, I was a gap year, gap two years. You know, I went to six or seven countries, and I just felt, you know, extremely worldly. Like anytime travel came up, I had an opinion. And you know, how much did I really know? Not that much, if I'm, you know, gonna be really honest. So I'm talking about sustained travel near constant that you would see in retirement. Something when you're going somewhere just about every year. Every year you choose a location. I mean, it's not always, you know, Monaco or it's it's it's it's not always, you know, Dubai or Italy. You know, you're you're deliberately seeking out corners of of this world to fill your knowledge of what our world really is like. And I think that's the difference between, you know, your semester in Spain or wherever, and you're the the more deliberate every year we're gonna go to a new location on this planet and we're gonna experience culture. So so here's my argument for why I think that's a broken idea. And I'm gonna make the argument that you should actually retire in reverse. The first thing I'll kind of bring up uh for support is you're gonna have a younger mind, right? Your brain changes as you age. You know, your brain's not even fully fully developed if you're male until you're like 25. I think until you're like 35, 35. But you're gonna have a younger mind. Why is that beneficial? That's beneficial because I think that travel will have a more profound impact on you. And I think that your younger mind is going to be more open to different theories, different people, and different experiences. I think as we get older we get conservative and uh we kind of get stuck in our ways, right? So if you are a younger human being in India or you know, Bhutan, if you're lucky enough to get there, or Laos, you're gonna be more open to some of the things that you're hearing and seeing. As a s as just a kind of a small example, because I just mentioned Laos. Laos in Laos in Luampabong. Luampabong is one of my favorite small towns in the world. In fact, I did a whole podcast on small towns and my favorite small towns in the world, and and Luampabong made that list. It's a French concession, so it used to be owned by the French, and it's just a very cool little town. They've got great food and the atmosphere is is very interesting because it's it's a very devout, it's a very Buddhist town, which is not necessarily unique to Lao. Lao is pretty devout country, but Luampabong is special. The monks uh, you know, they dress in their orange garb and they walk through the town and you can see the locals uh go up to the the monks and they pray. They'll they'll pray before the monks and maybe give the monks some food. And they have something called the morning alms. People in the village line up and they give the monks food. So when you're younger, I think you see this in a positive light, and I think you can absorb it in a more profound way. Like I had a really positive experience when I went to the morning alms and when I was in the Wampabong. It didn't change my life, you know, it didn't change my entire DNA, but it affected me. And I remember I was I was traveling in Switzerland and I this I met this older couple, and they had been traveling the world for like five years, and I was kind of in the same boat. We were at very different parts in our lives. I was in my early 30s and they were in their 70s, and we got talking about Laos and we got talking about the morning alms, and they were just really bitter about it. They were like, oh, I was like, wasn't that great? Like the morning alms, and like, oh, you know, it's all just rotten food. That that whole town is just rotten food. I just kind of looked at it and I'm like, that's a that's a terrible takeaway to have about Luang Pabong. Luang Pabong is actually amazing. The temples, the streets, uh, the food is great. I don't know what they're talking about, rotten food. But uh the gent had mentioned that he had read an article that somebody had written, so it must be true. Anyways, he he had read an article that the the locals were feeding the monks rotten food. Okay, even even if they are, even if 60% of the food that the monks is getting is rotten. This is Laos. Laos does not have a lot of money, it's a very impoverished country. It's hard to be in Vientian. I I Vientian is one of my least favorite capitals. It's very hard to be in Laos. So they're giving what they can, right? I I just think that's a really bitter outlook on what was going on. That that's just a small example. I think I could use hundreds about how a younger, more optimistic mind views things compared to an elder. I I think older minds can find faults and can be more apt to already be stuck in their way, already be stuck in their beliefs. And you know, this could be a pro and a con as well. You don't you don't necessarily want to be the easiest sway guy on the or girl on the planet, right? You do want to be knowledgeable about, you know, protecting yourself and you know the scams out there and stuff. But I think when you're younger, you're more willing to talk to random people, to inquire about more things. I think you're more curious. The temples at Bagan is a good example. So if you go to Bagin, Myanmar, there's a bunch of temples, and I was just so curious about these temples. And I asked just a million questions to the guides that I had. And I remember seeing another couple just sort of going through the motions, right? They were in Bagan and they were just sort of, you know, they take a picture of a temple here or there, and then you know, off they are. And you you might as well just go to Disneyland if you're just gonna take a few photos of some, you know, cool-looking watts, and then not ask any questions and just merrily breeze on. So, you know, a couple of small examples. The second one I want to talk about is really self-evident, and that's you you have a younger body, you're more able, you can withstand much more, and you can continue going with very little rest or sleep or worldly comforts, I guess is I would put it. I I was lucky in that I went to over a hundred countries before I turned 40. So I I was very physically able, and that served me well. Mount Eijen is a really good example. It's it's it's it's an arduous hike down. If you're at Mount Egen in Indonesia, you start the tour around midnight, which uh already throws you off, right? Because it's too early to have slept, it's too late to be still be up. Well, I don't know, some people are up till 2, 3 in the morning, but it's just that weird time to start a tour. I remember I had, you know, hardly slept. And you've got to climb down to the blue flay. The, you know, Mount Egen is all about the blue fleet, and you arrive around the blue flame around three in the morning, and it's it's a strenuous hike down. You know, it's not technical, you're not, you don't need a carabiner or um ropes or anything like that, but you've got to be able. Even for me, you know, I was in very good shape when I went to Mount Egen. And I mean, I I I didn't have any issue. And I think that's my point. I think on that older body, if you make it there, you're not gonna enjoy it as much because you're gonna be in pain. The way up's even worse. I think to fully enjoy a lot of these things in the in our world, you you've got to be in a clear mind. And if you're in a lot of pain, you don't have the bandwidth to enjoy what you're looking at. You don't. There is adrenaline that can mask some of the pain, but I don't know. I mean, like the Inca Trail and all that kind of stuff, you know, these famous places that um are not necessarily the easiest to get to. It is very beneficial to have a young body. I did, I did, and I wouldn't advise this. I did 37 countries in 60 days. For me, it was can I do this? Like, can I physically, am I physically capable of doing this? Because I remember on one day I had breakfast in West Africa, I had lunch in Europe, and I had dinner in South America. I was gone from Senegal, I had a layover in Paris, and then I ended in Rio de Janeiro. This was within 24 hours. And if you're in advanced age, that's gonna be a challenge, and you might need a full day to recover from that. I didn't, you know, I I landed in Rio de Janeiro with, you know, almost no sleep, and I was, you know, able to see Christ the Redeemer and and you know, I I was operating off, you know, 30 minutes of sleep for two days almost. That's not that's maybe an extreme example, but I really pushed myself to the limit, and I would not have been able to push myself as hard as I pushed if I had done it as an older man. I did it at a time when I was very, very capable. You're gonna play it safe when you're older. I didn't play it safe, and I think there's an advantage to that to be exposed to some of the poverty and some of the crime and some of the things that people are capable of doing on this planet. I think that's something that has served me well. And if you're advanced in age, I think you take less risks, and I think risks are good in travel because you can go places and see things that you'd only see in movies. Maybe you wouldn't even see them in movies. I mean, a good example would be Sunnyside in Petroia, right? So Pretoria is really a dangerous city, and the most dangerous area of Pretoria is a place called Sunnyside. And I ended up getting mugged that night pretty violently. But I wouldn't have taken that risk maybe if I was 65 years old. You know, why why go to Petroia? There's nothing there, you know. I went to make a most dangerous video. I was making the most dangerous areas of Pretoria was was the video I was making. And I took risks and I paid the price. But I saw, you know, an underbelly of humanity and what we're capable of in dire situations. The you know, these these live with me still. I get uh, you know, I even get chills thinking about it now. But you you see an underbelly that we we can't we can't shut our eyes and pretend things don't exist because then we can't change the things that exist. If we think behavior X is not happening and we shut our eyes every time it comes near, we can't address behavior X. So I think more people need to be exposed to some of these terrible things. I think it also keeps you humble. I think it also sort of helps your moral compass. And I think it also you you stop sweating some of the materialistic things that behaviors that humans can have. I work in a bar and um it's it's a wealthy bar, the drinks are expensive, and I remember we ran out of wine glasses. I gave this woman, because all we had at that point was was plastic, and this is a faux pas. 20-year-old Adam, I would have just been humiliated to hand a glass of wine in plastic. But the you know, the the over a hundred countries me, you know, I'm like, you're getting you're still gonna get the wine. What does it matter? It's in a plastic cup, yay! Like you're still gonna enjoy the wine. But, anyways, so hand the wine, and she just gave me this look like I had just killed her dog, and she she pushed it with like her fingernails, and she's like, I'm not drinking that. And I just remember my head went back to something in um the Ivory Coast. I don't know why I went there, but there's this road in the Ivory Coast that I took, and it was horrible. It was, yeah, the level of child poverty on that street was anyways, and I'm and I'm looking at this woman with just disgust that at how I'm disgusted at how disgusted she is. You know, like I try and keep myself in check and not judge anybody though. You know, I don't know her background, I'm I'm not in a position to judge this woman, but it put things in perspective for me a little bit. Like, this is what you're gonna complain about, this is what you have an issue with when you know so much of the world is the way it is. So I think it keeps you grounded and I think it it allows you to enjoy the little things. I remember when I first got back from a very long trip, Oceania, and I had been in Oceania for about six months, and I came home, and I was sleeping in a tent, and I came home and I had a uh a double bed. It wasn't like a queen or a king, just a double bed with like fresh sheets and a fleece bucket, and I just thought it was the greatest thing that had ever existed. I mean, I was absolutely in heaven. I was in a tiny apartment in you know tiny Portland, Maine, very little on the walls. It was just so not special, but everything about it was just amazing to me. And it was just a bed with sheets and a $10 fleece blanket. And I think there's something to be said about that. If you can have that level of appreciation for something so every day, I think that will suit you for your entire life. Third thing I want to talk about is you might never go. That's the truth. So many folks will say, when I get this, when I have this, when the kids grow up, when whatever, fill in the blank. And that that time never comes. I always remember in the movie Up, it's kind of that sad beginning, right? The guy and his his wife are saving, you know, for their adventure. They're saving in this little jar, and you know, something keeps coming up, right? Like they need to repair the house or costs come up, and it's the you know, it's the whole I will when I theory, you know, that that often in life we just don't get to it. And international travel, in my opinion, is just too important. If if you have the means. I I need to even mention this in this podcast. So we've got almost nine billion in the world, right? Seven billion of them don't have the means to travel for leisure, to have that option to see the world that we live in and all of its beauty, all of its greatness, and all of its loneliness, happiness, corrupt, right, wrong, good, bad, helpful, evil, caring, uncaring world. And it was just important to me to see the terrible as it was to see.