Traveling allows you to grow: how travel drives your financial success

As we will see in today’s article, traveling not only enriches you on a personal level, but it is also a powerful strategy for driving financial success through global networks, international investments, and tax optimization.

For more than a decade, the internet has been filled with travel blogs and vlogs that take us to the most beautiful and exciting places in the world.

However, traveling is more than just a hobby or an emotional luxury: it can be a strategic and valuable investment in your own future and career, a big step toward financial freedom. In a globalized world, traveling opens up economic, professional, and personal opportunities that often don’t exist in your home country. In addition to the “emotional” reasons often cited to justify travel (“endless experiences,” “unforgettable adventures,” etc.), in this article we want to get down to the hard facts and show you why, from a purely rational and financial point of view, it’s worth leaving your country, embarking on a journey, and throwing yourself into the unknown. Get out there!

Traveling isn’t just fun

First things first: we don’t want to downplay the countless reasons why traveling is worthwhile on an emotional level. However, since these have already been analyzed ad nauseam by countless travel bloggers, denationalize.me wants to change perspective today and also highlight the financial advantages of traveling.

International networks and global business environments act as catalysts for success

Let’s take a look at the books and see what the research says on the subject: a study by Harvard Business School shows, for example, that people with a wider international network have more professional opportunities and greater career progression (Ibarra, 2016). These networks not only lead to direct business deals, but also open up new perspectives on markets and technologies that may be less familiar in the home country. For many sectors, from technology to education, travel offers a considerable advantage in terms of knowledge that can always be translated into future economic benefits.

In Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader (2016), Herminia Ibarra emphasizes that internationalization and global networking are essential for professional success. She argues that people who maintain international contacts not only have access to new markets and business opportunities, but also develop a broader view of challenges and solutions to problems. According to her, travel and international experiences improve the ability to understand cultural differences and to act successfully in multicultural environments. This is invaluable in a globalized world, as almost all prominent figures in the business world increasingly have to operate in different countries and cultures.

Consequently, international networks and travel opportunities lead to better career opportunities and faster career development. Those who travel or work regularly in other countries not only expand their professional network, but also foster their adaptability and flexibility, qualities that are indispensable for success in a global business environment. The connection between internationalization and career advancement lies in the fact that travel allows you to step outside your local comfort zone and gain new perspectives that are essential for innovative leadership and growth.

Why inspiration is so important for professional success and why travel can be the greatest source of inspiration

But let’s leave theory aside and move on to practice with some concrete examples: the best example of inspiration from travel is probably the entrepreneur Dietrich Mateschitz (considered the richest Austrian of his time), who during a trip to Thailand noticed the energy drink “Krating Daeng” (in English: “red bull”), produced by T. C. Pharmaceuticals, and decided to acquire the licensing rights to distribute the brand outside Asia. Shortly afterwards, he founded the well-known company “Red Bull,” which, after adapting the recipe of the original Thai drink and developing an innovative marketing approach, was launched on the market for the first time in Austria in 1987. In the following years, “Red Bull” became the world leader in the energy drink sector. A success story that would never have been possible without travel.

Two other examples are Uber and Dropbox. The story of Uber began when its two founders, Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp, were stuck in Paris during a snowstorm because they couldn’t find a taxi. They wondered what would happen if you could order a taxi by mobile phone, exactly from where you are. A revolutionary idea at the time, it now saves people from running through the streets looking for a taxi and has led to a multi-billion dollar company.

The unexpected and unpleasant as inspiration for business success

Dropbox also arose from a need that became apparent during a trip: when its founder Drew Houston was traveling and realized he had left his USB stick with important files at home. Frustrated by the unreliability of physical media and the constant problem of synchronizing files across different devices, he came up with the idea of developing a cloud-based solution that would make files available anytime, anywhere. Without Drew Houston’s experience during his trip, the idea behind Dropbox and the multi-million dollar company behind it might never have seen the light of day.

Therefore, it is not only “unexpected” inspiration, the coincidence of situations that give rise to ideas, but often also uncomfortable situations, abandoning the usual and the familiar, that allow new ideas to develop and new markets to open up. Or, according to the examples of Uber and Dropbox, also from a need and the idea of how life can be made easier for oneself and others with that small change.

Travel inspires new business ideas. By experiencing other cultures, consumer behaviors, and technologies, market niches or concepts that do not yet exist in the home country are often discovered. This can be a huge opportunity to create a successful business by importing these ideas and adapting them to the local market. Many successful companies have been inspired by such travel experiences.

Personality development and increased personal value through cultural intelligence

Another study by INSEAD Business School (Lee and Sukoco, 2010) shows that people who live and work abroad develop significantly greater leadership skills than those who spend their entire career in one country. These leadership skills often lead to better career advancement opportunities and job flexibility, as companies increasingly seek employees with international experience.

The study by Lee and Sukoco (2010) examines how international experiences influence the performance of expatriates and demonstrates that cultural intelligence (CQ) plays a key role in this. Cultural intelligence is the ability to function effectively in culturally different environments and interact with people from other cultures. The researchers found that people with higher cultural intelligence perform better abroad, especially if they have already gained international work experience. These experiences train an understanding of cultural differences and foster adaptability.

International experience therefore not only improves intercultural skills, but also strengthens leadership skills. Managers who have worked in different cultural contexts are more flexible, creative, and capable of leading diverse teams. This translates into greater effectiveness in leadership positions and better career development in a globalized job market. And cultural intelligence cannot be learned in your own country or in your own cultural environment.

Building wealth through global investments

And it turns out that traveling also shows you opportunities to invest in emerging markets that are not so accessible from your home country. Especially when it comes to real estate, travelers can invest in countries where prices are still moderate and benefit from long-term value appreciation.

In addition, many countries offer promising opportunities in the technology or commodity trading sectors, opportunities that are not available in the home country or are already saturated. For example, countries such as Portugal and Thailand offer interesting real estate markets, while regions such as Southeast Asia and Africa are proving promising for technology investments. At denationalize.me, we show you countless opportunities not only to obtain a second or third citizenship through investment, but also to accumulate or secure your wealth through smart international investments, regardless of whether they are real estate or not.

The classic: tax optimization and flag theory

Traveling, of course, also gives you the advantage, well known to readers and followers of denationalize.me, of being able to apply flag theory and avoid paying taxes by choosing the right residence or, better yet, becoming a perpetual tourist.

By not having permanent tax residence in a single country and/or specifically selecting countries with low or no income, corporate, or wealth taxes for your residence, perpetual travelers and users of the flag theory can drastically reduce their tax burden. In this way, with every decision, you consciously take advantage of the benefits offered by a particular country and, through your travels, free yourself from the tax burden (as well as the bureaucracy and regulations) of your country of origin, which is by far the most effective tool for achieving financial freedom and economic growth.

This includes not only choosing the location of your company, but also choosing the right banks, managing and protecting your assets, choosing places of residence, and, of course, nationalities. As a result, saying goodbye to a permanent residence and dedicating yourself to traveling permanently makes a lot of sense from a financial standpoint.

Of course, if you wish, at denationalize.me we can advise you on all these issues, so that nothing is left to chance in this important decision.

We see that traveling not only fosters the development of important skills that are increasingly in demand in the modern business world, but also broadens professional horizons. By establishing global networks and working in different cultural contexts, career opportunities are improved and new professional fields are accessed that seemed unattainable but can be decisive for personal growth.

In addition, traveling also opens doors to emerging markets and investment opportunities that may not be available in your home country. Those who consciously take advantage of the many economic benefits of traveling can benefit in the long term, both personally and financially, and thus lay a solid foundation for their future. As always, what is needed is determination, courage, and decisiveness. As has been proven, from a financial point of view, the right decisions are very likely to pay off. It is therefore worth taking the plunge, not only for the usual reasons such as gastronomy, unforgettable experiences, landscapes, etc., but also for financial and economic reasons.