How I've earned over a million credit card points to travel the world
This is an installment of CNBC Make It's Millennial Money series, which profiles people across the globe and details how they earn, spend and save their money.
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CNBC
12 hours ago
- CNBC
29-year-old American lives on roughly $1,463 a month in Turkey: 'It really is the perfect place for what I'm doing'
As a college student, Doug Barnard took a trip with his mom to India in 2017. It was so impactful it eventually inspired him to become a full-time traveler — a path he didn't think was possible for him. Fast forward to 2020, Barnard was working in e-commerce at Walmart while trying to launch a YouTube channel dedicated to his travels. "Going to India was an eye-opening experience for me. It was the first time I'd been to some place so foreign, so stimulating, and for me it was this epiphany that I needed to experience more," Barnard tells CNBC Make It. "The most exciting part was talking to the people and seeing how things work. The immersion was what really got me." At the time, he was earning about $60,000 a year working in the e-commerce sector, and although he didn't dislike his job, it certainly wasn't his passion. "I think a part of me was looking for more meaning in my work," he says. The first trip Barnard featured on his YouTube channel was a visit to Saudi Arabia in 2020. Later that same year, Barnard was laid off from Walmart because of the Covid-19 pandemic. While others might have been nervous about being unemployed, Barnard saw it as an opportunity to bet on himself. "My dream was to go travel full-time, live abroad, immerse myself in these foreign places and make a living from YouTube," he says. About three months after being laid off, Barnard booked a one-way ticket out of the U.S. In January 2021, he arrived in Serbia and then traveled for two years before settling in Istanbul, Turkey, as his home base in 2023. "Growing up in Connecticut, I never would have imagined that I'd ever end up living in a place like Istanbul or traveling to all the places that I've been lucky enough to travel to," Barnard says. "I found myself coming back to Istanbul again and again. It really is the perfect place for what I'm doing. It is pretty much the center of the world. I love the language, I love the culture, I love the history." When Barnard first moved to Istanbul, he lived alone in a one-bedroom apartment and payed approximately 16,000 Turkish Lira in rent, which at the time was equivalent to about $850 USD. Because of the fluctuating currency exchange rate, by the time he moved out, Barnard's rent had decreased to about $500 USD. After meeting his girlfriend, İlkay, the couple moved into a furnished two-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom duplex apartment in the Kadıköy neighborhood of Istanbul. They pay 55,000 Turkish Lira or $1,368.91 USD a month in rent. "I always describe it to people as kind of like the Brooklyn of Istanbul. It has a lot of thrift shops, coffee shops, bars and that kind of hipster vibe," Barnard says. "It's one of the best neighborhoods in the city, especially for younger people." Barnard and İlkay live on the Asian side of Istanbul. The Turkish city is situated on the border between two continents: Europe and Asia. For Barnard, it was important to live on the Asian side because it's less touristy. "All of the historical stuff is on the European side, so tourists almost all stay over there and people tend to speak a bit more English, too," Barnard says. "I really wanted to focus on learning the language. This neighborhood is very well-connected, and it's also one of the most secular neighborhoods in Istanbul, whereas other neighborhoods can be much more conservative." The couple's additional monthly expenses average about 3,761 Turkish Lira, or $94 USD. That includes bills like water, gas, electricity, internet and a building maintenance fee. While Barnard and his girlfriend don't yet know if they will stay in Turkey, the couple has decided that if they do, they'll likely sign another one-year lease for the duplex. Barnard's time abroad inspired him to start a boutique tourism company called Doug Barnard Travel. They take small groups of 8 to 10 people on cultural immersion tours of places like Iraq, Syria, and Pakistan. Barnard offers private tours as well. The group tours start at $2,700 per person and what's included in that all-inclusive package can vary country to country. Flights are not included. "It is truly authentic travel. I mean it is as real as it gets. Places like Egypt and India are amazing, but they have mass tourism industries and a place like Iraq is so new to tourism that you get a really authentic experience," Barnard says. "The people are excited to have you. The hospitality is out of this world and everything you're seeing is unparalleled." Since he has been living in Istanbul for over two years now, Barnard says the Turkish city is the perfect location for him because a significant portion of his business is in the Middle East. It's one of the main reasons why he doesn't see himself moving back to the U.S. right now. "The more time I spend living in Istanbul and the more people I meet and the better I get at the language, the more it feels like home," he says.
CNBC
5 days ago
- CNBC
Croatia just revised its digital nomad visa to last up to 3 years: 'Digital nomadism is here to stay,' expert says
The digital nomad movement experienced a surge after the covid-19 pandemic. Years later, workers are still seeking alternatives to being glued to a desk in the company office, says Dr. Laura Madrid Sartoretto, research lead at the Global Citizens Solutions Global Intelligence Unit. Growth rates have slowed down compared to the pandemic peak, but the total number of digital nomads is still 150% higher than in 2019, according to Global Citizens Solutions. "Remote work is steadily growing, so we think digital nomadism is something that is here to stay. It's not going to grow as it grew during the pandemic, but we see that people like millennials and Gen Zers are more likely to travel and keep traveling and with their families now too," Madrid Sartoretto tells CNBC Make It. "People are thinking about education for their kids when they are in this digital nomad life." A digital nomad visa is a short-term permit that allows individuals to stay in a country for an extended period and work remotely. The length of time a nomad can stay varies from place to place but most countries allow for six months to a year—unless you have your eye on Croatia. Recently, the Balkan country announced it an update its digital nomad visa, which will allow non-EU residents to stay for up to three years. The visa also permits close family members of a digital nomad to join them. Croatia's digital nomad visa website states that close family members also include partners or non-married couples who have been together for longer than three years without children, or for less time if they do have children together. Madrid Sartoretto believes that Croatia's expansion of its digital nomad program is a sign that the country is trying to attract more talent and compete with neighboring countries and their offerings. "I think they are competing with other countries that are in the same region, like Estonia and Romania, that also attract a lot of digital nomads. If you give more benefits to people to come to your country, then you attract more talent. It's all about competition now," she adds. For those looking to apply for Croatia's digital nomad visa, Dr. Madrid Sartoretto says the country offers a low cost of living but still needs to improve its infrastructure, like more reliable internet speeds. "If you compare internet speed and reliability to countries like Romania, which has one of the fastest speeds in the world, Croatia needs to improve its infrastructure," she adds. To apply for Croatia's digital nomad visa online, applicants must provide proof that they work outside of Croatia. Additionally, they must provide a copy of a valid travel document, proof of health insurance, proof of address in Croatia, and a minimum monthly income of 3,295 euros or $3,855 USD. For proof of income, applicants can submit a bank statement showing the total amount required, a bank statement demonstrating regular income, or pay slips for at least six months. Applicants must also send evidence that they have not been convicted of criminal offences in their home country or the country in which they have resided for more than a year immediately before arriving in Croatia.
CNBC
12-08-2025
- CNBC
30-year-old worth $700,000 shares 4 spending habits she avoided in her early 20s: 'I don't have any regrets'
Personal finance consultant Michela Allocca made some financial sacrifices in her 20s, and she has no regrets. At age 30, Allocca has a net worth of more than $700,000 according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. In her experience, you sometimes need to make temporary sacrifices to stay grounded financially, even when it feels like everyone else is spending, she says. "We act like not having these things in our early 20s means we're never going to have them," says Allocca, the Chicago-based author of "Own Your Money." But often, "they're status signal things," rather than things people "genuinely and sincerely care about," she tells CNBC Make It. Holding off on certain expenses early in her career helped her stay on track financially, Allocca wrote in a recent LinkedIn post that detailed four financial habits she avoided in her own early 20s. Here are those habits, and what she did instead: The social pressure to travel in your 20s can be strong, whether to become more worldly or simply because it seems like everyone else is doing it, says Allocca. Many young people take big trips right after college, often with little thought about whether it's affordable because they believe, "well, money will always come," she notes. Even a budget-conscious trip can cost $1,000 to $2,000, an expense that's particularly hard to justify early in your career when you're earning a low salary, says Allocca. A single trip can cost as much as an entire month's rent: Gen Z spends an average of $1,600 per month on rent, according to data published in January by credit firm Allocca was 22 and earning $60,000 per year in Boston, flights in particular felt expensive relative to her income, so she focused on taking affordable, domestic trips, she says. While she began taking bigger trips by her late 20s — including a recent visit to Japan — she says they were planned and budgeted for well in advance. While she now travels on her own terms, she says it's "both normal and OK" for people in their 20s to hold off until they can afford the expense. "If I am going to go on a vacation, it has to be something that I actually want to go on, not because I'm feeling pressured to go somewhere," she says. Whether it was sharing one bathroom with three other roommates or moving back in with her parents during the Covid-19 pandemic, Allocca chose not to live alone for most of her 20s. "I was able to continue to save, on average, about $1,000 a month because I wasn't dumping all my money into rent. And that actually really helped me get ahead" on investments, she says. Social media can create unrealistic expectations for what early-career earners can afford, says Allocca. In large cities like San Francisco or New York, residents need to earn more than $100,000 annually to keep rent below the commonly recommended 30% of their budget, according to a Zillow report published in May. "I feel bad for Gen Z, because their perception of what's normal at their age is so warped," she says. "There's all this [online] pressure for young people to live in a high-rise or live alone in these major cities, and it's just not reasonable." At age 27, Allocca finally decided to live alone in a nicer apartment with more space and amenities. She needed a home office, and by that point, knew her income could support a roughly $1,000-per-month rent increase without derailing her financial goals, she says. Allocca took a minimalist approach to her wardrobe in her early 20s, often buying the same pieces in different colors and sticking to a few signature shades so everything was easy to mix and match, she says. She shopped mostly at inexpensive stores like Primark and Old Navy, she adds. "When you have a general color scheme, you can match your clothes easier," says Allocca. "It also helps eliminate the paradox of choice." Her approach kept her clothing costs low. "I wasn't prioritizing shopping as part of my budget," Allocca says. "If I did need to buy something, I was going to those really inexpensive stores so I could get the least expensive version possible." Today, she uses the same principles for what she calls a capsule wardrobe of "elevated basics" — versatile pieces that work with most of what she already owns, she says. She's now more willing to spend money on better quality that she knows will last for years, she adds — like a roughly $450 cashmere sweater that's currently the most expensive item in her closet. In her 20s, Allocca avoided spending on things she could easily do herself. When her walk to work was about 30 minutes, she'd make the trip on foot rather than paying for a ride or public transit, she says. "I didn't take any unnecessary Ubers, I never ordered delivery," she wrote on LinkedIn. Many people justify convenience purchases by thinking "my time is so valuable." Allocca didn't see it that way, she says: "The time that I was saving, I wasn't doing anything valuable with it. So what difference does it make if I spend the 10 extra minutes to go walk and pick up my dinner?" She only ordered out from restaurants within walking distance, she notes. "If I'm not willing to go pick it up, then I'm not ordering it out, I'm cooking at home" she says. "To me, it's creating some parameters around, 'Is this reasonable?'" Even today, Allocca rarely allows herself to pay for convenience, and only in "extenuating circumstances," she says — like paying for delivered groceries after coming home from a long trip. By consistently avoiding most convenience costs, from rides to delivery fees, she says she's freed up around $200 per month. When paired with her low rent, that money "made a big difference" in her ability to save in her 20s, she says. And while she sacrificed some comfort in her 20s, "when I look back at all of these things, I don't have any regrets," she says.
