Today I was reviewing the 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. Get $50 when you sign up by clicking on my affiliate link with Fundrise.
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.
UPDATE: Since I originally wrote this post Fundrise has remained strong. Returns were rather weak in 2022 but beat pretty much every other asset class with the S&P losing over 15%. Here’s an update of my returns.
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 paying attention, you may have noticed that the monthly investment income is about $900 and I just created a monthly budget of $1,200 in expense leaving us about $300 short. Well then my astute ready you may have also noticed that the title of this was post was how to “semi-retire”. If you put in some effort, it shouldn’t be too difficult 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.
This post contains affiliate links, if clicked may provide new accounts a $50 credit for signing up as well as give me a $50 referral bonus. Thanks in advance! And now the obligatory, I’m not a financial advisor so check with your financial advisor before making any investments in anything.
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.
Hi Good sir. The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated. I have somewhat abandoned the blog but as of recently, I’ve been considering rebooting things. In the mean time, let me get that guide out to you.