Three Reasons Why Being a 'Digital Nomad' is Good for Business with Andrew Henderson

I think my biggest challenge in the businesses in the US was not taking enough risks, being too much of a scarcity-minded or fear-minded person, too much of a preservationist and not going on offense enough and growing things. You know, so I would probably do more of that. I would probably have tried to grow faster. And I think that, you know, if I would have made bigger mistakes, Probably would have learned a lot faster.

Okay everyone, today I am super excited to bring you Andrew Henderson, who is the founder of Nomad Capitalist, which is a company that helps successful entrepreneurs legally reduce their taxes, get second passports, and create wealth faster. Tell us a little bit about how you started this business in the first place, because we're going to jump around. We're going to talk about the business, but then I want to talk about some practical advice for people as well.

Well, the business started, you know, I was sitting around in my living room back in 2012. I've told this story probably in fragments to different people. I'll try and give you the whole story. In 2012, I'm sitting in my living room. I'm in the process of selling my last business in the United States. I started a couple different businesses. And I said, you know, now I'm gonna do full-time travel all around the world. I've been traveling the majority of the time. But, you know, what do I wanna be called? I kinda wanted to become like a media creature. I figured, all right, let me just develop this persona. I can interview some idols of mine and I can, you know, kind of create this new media persona. And I was thinking Nomad Capitalist and it just kind of came together, Nomad Capitalist. And initially it was a blog. It was just me writing and sharing the ideas of traveling overseas, following what are our 5 magic words, go where you're treated best. My father told me that when I was 12 years old, don't feel you gotta stay in one place if they're not treating you well. Go where you're treated best. And so I was traveling all around the world. I left the US for good, uh, and I was writing about it. And, um, I think as with many great businesses, this was probably the most organically successful because there wasn't so much effort into what are we gonna sell. It was just sharing information. Here's what I'm seeing. Here's an interesting thing to do in the Philippines. Here's a residence program. Here's a banking thing I saw. And over time developed into a structured business that people, you know, ask us for help with that stuff.

That's awesome. And so did you— I mean, you're very content heavy. Did you start with the blog first and then the YouTube and then all the other stuff? Or I guess I'm wondering what that strategy looks like, because I'm assuming you get a lot of inbound.

It's all inbound pretty much. You know, it was a blog at first. I've been— even before I wanted to be an entrepreneur at 12, before that I wanted to be a writer. And so the opportunity to kind of reconnect with that lifelong love of writing that had kind of gone away, being involved in businesses that had nothing to do with writing was fun. And again, when I wasn't pushing it to be monetized, it was just— I just got to sit down leisurely and write blogs and share ideas.

Got it. And so how does the business work today? How do you guys make money?

So for the most part, outside of a live event that we're hosting with Robert Kiyosaki and some other folks, It's been pushed to 2021. We are a boutique advisory firm that basically serves as what I call a general contractor, where you live in the United States, for example, you want to incorporate your company somewhere to save on tax, but you don't want to live in that place, right? Maybe you don't want to live in Hong Kong and the UAE or the Cayman Islands. So you kind of want to coordinate US tax, which is going to follow you no matter where you go if you're a US citizen. that's not gonna just leave when you leave the country. You know, where's the company based? Where are you living? Maybe you're living in multiple places. Do you, you know, where do you buy a home there? You know, we're basically the one-stop shop that coordinates with all the vendors I've met along the 13 years that we've put through the sniff test too. And basically we understand all of it. So unlike a guy in the US who might be good at US tax, he probably doesn't understand the Hong Kong tax. And what they probably also don't understand is the human element of, No, you don't want to move to Belarus to save an extra 1% in tax. And what does the tax guy do? How do we reduce it as much as possible? It's like, well, you know, maybe you want to pay an extra 2% and enjoy your life. They don't get that. We, we try to understand that because I'm living this. I have the multiple passports. I've, I've reduced the tax myself, so I get it. And that's what we do. We charge a fee for that and we help create the plan and then we execute the plan.

Uh, one thing that— one video that you put together talks about the trifecta. So I'm just curious, you know, You know, what is the trifecta, A, and then, you know, what's in your playbook there, right? You know, where do you kind of move around? Because for me, you know, you mentioned Singapore a little earlier, like, okay, if I'm making $20 million a year, maybe I don't just want to stick in Singapore the whole time. Maybe I want the tax benefits, but maybe Singapore is not the most fun place.

So— Well, yeah, and you don't have to make $20 million, but yeah, that was my example. So, the trifecta idea is that you split your time up. Now, you can modify this to where it's not exactly a trifecta, but basically, it's 4 months per year. in 3 different places. And so that came from my idea where I like to have attributes of different places. It's been a little tougher this year, but I love Kuala Lumpur. I love Asia. I love the food. I love the multiculturalism. I love the consumer conveniences. I think Asia is the future. It's great. You know, I like a little bit of taste of Europe. For me, it's probably not 4 months a year, but I have, you know, homes in Belgrade and also in Montenegro. So I like to go there. I like to get that European flavor. And I have a teams in that part of the world and do that. But then, you know, coming from the United States, I was in Mexico for a couple months last year. I love Mexico City. It has that taste of home. I love Colombia. And so it's just that kind of American, not US American, just the Americas that for me feels comfortable and it's vibrant and it's sexy and it's fun. And so it's hard for me to pick, you know, which one do I want? And so I have the trifecta and I can split my time accordingly. And so it's also not a bad tax strategy because you're not, generally speaking, unless one of your trifecta is France, they might come after you after 4 months. But, you know, you can buy homes in these places. They're decent investments. 4 months will generally not get you on the tax radar in these places. And so you may need to have a tax residence somewhere where you are paying your taxes or just, you know, paying nothing, but that's your tax home. But basically, you can live in these places and not have to pay tax. You're also going to be out of your home country long enough to do that. And you get a taste of everything that's, that's out there. You don't have to be stuck to one place because you're right. I mean, everyone in California brags about that. By the way, you know, Chile has the same. Georgia, the beaches aren't as good, but they have, you know, a similar kind of thing. You can see different topographies in very short order. I think a lot of countries actually have that. Um, Probably with better beaches, maybe, dare I say, you know, better looking women. Um, I know that, you know, nobody in California wants to believe that, right? But I mean, I think that there's better opportunities out there. And if you can't just settle for one, that's why the trifecta is involved. Yeah, you might— you get bored in one place potentially.

You know, what are, what are his thoughts on COVID? How long will it stay around and how is he adjusting to it?

So, well, I'm not a great prognosticator. I mean, I think, uh, what we're seeing, I think a lot of people are seeing, is You know, the government's not your friend. I mean, look at whether they're now— they're now using this as the backdrop to unveil a wealth tax in California, and not only a wealth tax, but a retroactive wealth tax. So they're going to use this to take advantage of a lot of things. I mean, they're going to run up a big debt. Deficits are higher than ever. It's going to eventually, you know, come out in higher taxes. You see Joe Biden's running for president. I mean, his tax plan, he wants to raise your taxes. I'm not a political animal. I'm not pro-Trump or anti-Trump or pro-Biden. I mean, I don't really care. It's not my circus anymore. But what I do know is I think it's going to be a great opportunity to grab power and to grab wealth, and you're going to see things you've never seen before. As a non-doom and gloom guy, it kind of pains me to say that, that you're going to see some wealth grabs like the wealth tax. Possibly your retirement accounts will be subject to God knows what. But I think that, you know, I'm stuck in a very friendly country in terms of the people, lots of consumer conveniences. The government did a pretty good job. Things are pretty much back to normal. I'm traveling around, I'm taking vacations within the country. Financially, it's good in that it's not a tax burden. Certainly some countries like the US are making exceptions for people who are already expats and have got stuck coming back, but that's somewhat limited. And so I think that what it says to me is you want to have your options. I'm increasingly seeing that even if you're an entrepreneur and you just want to move overseas and save tax, having a couple different places where you can go and be welcomed. If I wanted to come back to Malaysia after leaving, there's a procedure for me to do that, unlike tourists. Um, I think it's important because you don't want to be stuck, as I have some people who are stuck in the US, their businesses is now at risk. And, um, I think, I mean, you know, I'm, I'm having a conference in Mexico in May of 2021, and I've got some You know, Robert Kiyosaki and President Saakashvili from Georgia and others coming. Um, so, you know, I'm kind of invested in, in things are going to get better. And I do think people aren't going to tolerate this forever, but I think that it won't be the last time they try and do something like this.

One important thing too, the— for any, you know, people are like, oh, I don't have time to watch YouTube. Andrew's videos are clutch because when I eat lunch, I eat in like 5 to 10 minutes. And so his videos are 5 to 10 minutes. So I get a video done, I learn something. Oh, oh, okay, great. And then I move on and go on with my day, right? So, uh, guys, go check out Nomad Capitalist. Andrew, thanks so much for doing this.

Hey, it's great to be with you. I really appreciate your having me.