Lifestyle Design – the new American Dream
The world is changing, and so is the idea of the American Dream. Before, you could work hard, climb the career ladder, buy a nice home, start your family, and then work until your golden years, where you could then travel and enjoy the life you worked so hard to build.
That may have been true for our grandparents – maybe even our parents – but it is no longer a guarantee for the rest of us. Gen X, Gen Y – we don’t want to wait until we are old to enjoy a good life, and we know from the headlines around the world that we cannot really count on that anyway.
Enter Warren and Betsy Talbot, who spent 25 months amassing enough cash to fund a 5-year trip around the world. They went from corporate worker bees to backpacking vagabonds, curiously earning the envy and admiration of everyone around them as they bucked the system, chose a different path, and set off to explore their dreams 20 years ahead of retirement schedule.
They write about the path from a ho-hum life to “Living the Good Life” on their blog, Married with Luggage, and they advocate regularly trying new things as a means to enriching life through their Do New Stuff! ezine. They have been very open about the money side of big life changes, penning their first guide called Dream Save Do: A Step-by-Step Guide to Amass the Cash to Live Your Dream as well as publishing a monthly expense report of their round-the-world trip spending at RTW Expenses so other people can find out what it costs to travel the world (less than you think!).
Betsy and Warren are seasoned media personalities who frequently produce their own videos, appear on radio and online video programs, and provide online interviews.
They talk about a variety of subjects related to Living the Good Life:
- Getting your money to work on your life instead of spending your life as a slave to making money
- Eliminating the crap from your life – possessions, people, and activities that are holding you down
- Surrounding yourself with great people
- Contributing your expertise and help to the world around you
- Challenging yourself with new ideas, activities, and experiences to continue your journey of personal growth
