Today I was reviewing historical returns on my Fundrise investments and realized they have done pretty well since I first started in 2016. For those that don’t know, Fundrise is a leading real estate crowdfunding platform for non-accredited and accredited investors. Founded in 2012, Fundrise pioneered the eREIT asset, a private diversified real estate investment trust that lets virtually anyone invest in real estate with as little as $500.
Reviewing my account performance, I saw overall returns were around 10% a year and the annual cashflow was a bit over 6%. A 6% cash flow return on their eREITS is what a competent but non-genius landlord property investor might expect to get with actual rental property.
Reading this made me realize that investing in real estate this way is a much easier way to diversify into property investment than actually dealing with being a landlord. But it got me thinking that someone could semi-retire and travel the world on much less than you might think if you’re willing to do a little bit of freelancing with your free time.
How To Semi Retire on $200,000
This is just hypothetical and for entertainment purposes but I think it’s realistic and could work. Here’s how it might be done.
Asset | Investment | Annual Income | Monthly Income |
Crowdsourced REIT (Like Fundrise) | $150,000 | $9000 | $750 |
Three-Fund Portfolio | $50,000 | $2000 | $166 |
Total | $200,000 | $11,000 | $911 |
So the above table shows how you might invest $200,000 to generate a monthly income of a bit over $900. Now if you’re interested in world travel, there are many places in the world where you can rent a nice apartment for $300 to $500. Research areas like Chiang Mai Thailand, Medellin Colombia, Pnohm Phen Cambodia, Philippines, and more.

Living in many parts of the world, a monthly budget might look something like this:
Expense Category | Amount |
Rent | $450 |
Food | $300 |
Cell | $30 |
International Health Insurance | $30 |
Entertainment | $200 |
Transportation (use subways, trains, Uber) | $100 |
Misc | $100 |
Total | $1,200 |
What About The Gap?
So if you’re a bit observant and paying attention, you’ll notice that the monthly investment income is about $300 short of covering all your expenses. Well you may have also noticed that I said semi-retire. If you put in some effort, it shouldn’t be hard to generate $300 a month freelancing on sites like Fiverr, or Upwork, or in many parts of the world you could earn $300 a month being an English tutor for less than 5 hours a week.
Ok fine I got Starbucks.
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Hey Dev,
I tried to sign up for the teaching English in Asia guide and nothing. No emails confirmed I signed up. No Email with the guide. A whole lotta nada. Is this website dead? Are you dead? Hoping optimistically here.
The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated. Although my time tending to the blog is a bit limited these days. I’ll send you a link to the copy of the guide shortly. Thanks for reading.