So, sometimes I call myself a "Slowmad"
There is only one way to be a resident of a single place. You are a resident and usually a citizen of one country. However, there are many ways to be a resident or visitor of many places
Polymaths are meant to be thought leaders. That can come in many stripes from Newsletter producers, such as I, to book writers, to vloggers, to researchers, to Board Members, etc. As there are many ways to be a Polymath, there are also many ways to be a ‘Nomad’. The common image is a young person, who dons a backpack and frenetically travels around the world as an influencer, affiliate, etc. That is well known and these ‘Digital Nomads’ were sort of the start of it. But, it has definitely expanded.
Andrew Henderson, the Nomad Capitalist, has publicized his ‘Trifecta Method’, though he hasn’t pushed it much of late. The notion is that you choose three countries that have relatively lax tax policies that not only don’t tax people who spend less than six months per year in country, but also are not aggressive in applying ‘center of life’ policies. In other words, some countries (Germany is often mentioned), if you either own or lease a property, perhaps own a car, maintain a local bank account and don’t have a ‘tax residence’ elsewhere, they will determine you to be taxable, even if you spend less than six months per year there.
Many wealthy people around the world qualify for the Trifecta tax shelter, whether or not they avail themselves of it. For example, it is not uncommon for wealthy Brits to spend their winters in Dubai, a portion of the rest of their year in Costa del Sol, U.K. and, perhaps, have a ski chalet in the Alps. Not surprisingly, many Muscovites flee Moscow in the winter, having a condo in Miami, a villa in Dubai, etc. These people, likely, don’t even consider themselves to be ‘Nomads’. Multiple homes in multiple countries is, to them, simply a usual perquisite of wealth.
I call myself, at times, a ‘slowmad’ because I do move around, but I do not do so frenetically. I lived for two years in Brest, Belarus, and while my wife and I maintain a residence there, my primary country of residence, currently is in Tirana, Albania. At present, my circumstances make it a particularly advantageous primary residence. That, however, could change and, perhaps, as I did with Belarus, I may move my primary residence elsewhere. That could happen if Albania joins the EU or if my income comes to exceed the tax sheltered limit of about a quarter million USD per year. Or, I may conform more rigorously to the Trifecta model and have a winter home, a summer home and a regional home. The main point is that, while I don’t have a permanent home, my nomadic practices move in slow motion. Ergo, I am a ‘slowmad’.
My career model is to produce this Newsletter, write books, perhaps do an intermittent podcast, and, should I be sufficiently successful, to buy more than 5% of a few companies that I think are high potential and sit on their Board of Directors so that I may shepherd my investment. All of these pastimes are compatible with my Nomadic lifestyle.
Being a ‘Slowmad’ is somewhat akin to having long term romantic relationships, but never getting married. There is a commitment, but it is more conditional in the normal course of affairs, nor is it lifelong by its very nature. As I said, Albania works for me right now. However, if my income were to surge to, say, seven figures USD (there are several Substack Newsletters in that range), using Albania as my primary residence would become problematical. With that income range, I would likely need to acquire two or three CBI (citizenship by investment) passports and renounce my U.S. citizenship. I also would need to limit my annual time in Albania to under six months per year. Recently, Italy has instituted a tax of 100K Euros on foreign income (with a whole bunch of restrictions). The top ten Substack Newsletters have an average income of two million USD which would make Italian tax residence an obligation of 5%. Depending upon lifestyle preferences, that might be a viable option.
I recognize that being a nomad of pretty much any variety violates the moral principle of the Categorical Imperative. “The categorical imperative is a moral principle which denotes that you should “act only in accordance with that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it become a universal law”, meaning that you should act a certain way only if you’re willing to have everyone else act the same way too.” In other words, the world wouldn’t work if everyone was nomadic. I have criticisms of the Categorical Imperative, though it is an important principle of Western moral philosophy.
Just the same, it is fixable. Western countries use graduated income taxes as method by which the poor of a country are subsidized by the rich of the country. Nomads have not bought into that ‘Social Contract’. They are visitors and while they should pay for the government services that they use, the notion of ‘giving back to society’ doesn’t apply to them. By switching to consumption taxes from income taxes many of the violations of the Categorical Imperative would be rendered moot. For example, Albania has a 20% VAT which really is sufficient to fund normal government services. It actually means that I provide more tax support than the average Albanian. So, while a world with close to 100% nomads would be a very different world, I think it could work. However, I think it is extraordinarily unlikely that it will ever happen.