60 Seconds to FIRE Newsletter 26
Using Charlie Munger’s Mental Models to Choose the Right Country
Happy New Year Geo-Arbitrageurs 🎉
If 2026 is the year you stop thinking about change and actually make a move, this one’s for you.
To kick things off, I revisited Poor Charlie’s Almanack. A true mental upgrade!
Charlie Munger was Warren Buffett’s long-time business partner and smart as hell. There’s a reason he’s considered one of the greatest investors of all time.
This book doesn’t tell you what to buy or where to live. It teaches you how to think so you don’t screw it up.
Charlie thinks like a machine but talks like a no-nonsense grandpa who has seen every mistake before and has zero patience for excuses. He calls a spade a spade.
It’s not light reading.
But if you’re serious about geo-arbitrage, low-tax living, and early retirement, it’s worth your time.
Three ideas worth stealing (via Charlie Munger)
1. Invert the problem
“All I want to know is where I’m going to die, so I’ll never go there.”
What Charlie meant:
Stop chasing perfect outcomes. Start by avoiding obvious failure.
Geo-arbitrage example:
Instead of asking “Where’s the cheapest country?”, ask “Where do people quietly blow up their finances?”
Usually it’s places with:
Fixed costs you can’t escape
Taxes above 30 to 40 percent
Murky residency rules
Health costs that explode with age
A country can feel cheap and still kill your runway.
Real leverage lives where low cost meets low tax (around 15 percent or less).
2. One good move beats endless optimisation
“The big money is not in the buying and selling, but in the waiting.”
What Charlie meant:
Most results come from a few correct decisions. Constant tweaking just adds noise.
Geo-arbitrage example:
Geo-arbitrage attracts over-thinkers. Visa hopping. Spreadsheet Olympics.
In reality, one good move does most of the work.
Moving from a high-cost, high-tax country to a low-cost, low-tax one can:
Cut your burn rate by 40 to 60 percent
Drop your FIRE number fast
Turn just-enough income into surplus
You don’t need ten moves.
You need one correct one.
3. Behaviour beats strategy
“It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people get by trying to be consistently not stupid.”
What Charlie meant:
Most failures come from bad behaviour, not bad strategy.
Geo-arbitrage example:
People recreate their old lifestyle abroad, ignore tax rules, sit in expat bubbles, then say geo-arbitrage doesn’t work.
It works when:
Costs stay low
Taxes stay predictable
Lifestyle creep stays under control
Simple.
Not easy.
Very effective.
Final thought
“Take a simple idea and take it seriously.”
You don’t need the cheapest country.
You need a durable, low-tax one.
Low costs.
Clear residency rules.
Taxes around 15 percent or less.
Get that right and early retirement stops being aspirational.
It becomes logistical.
Quick note
If you’re not ready to pull the pin permanently, a mini-retirement is the smartest way to test this lifestyle without burning bridges.
That’s exactly why I wrote The Ultimate Mini-Retirement Guide.
It shows you how to take 3 to 12 months abroad, lower your costs, test geo-arbitrage properly, and figure out whether this life actually fits you before making anything permanent.
This is where we split.
Paid members, keep going.
Free crew, upgrade to see where geo-arbitrage actually works in 2026.
