How to survive as a ghost (4 and final)

I want to wrap up this series by sharing my final resource, the one I’ll turn to if everything else fails. And since it’s all connected, I’ll tie my personal plan to what I believe the future holds for the world.

(Begin the series here)

A few years back, I bought a small seaside apartment. The price was absurdly low due to the circumstances of the sale and its (disastrous) condition, and everything aligned perfectly to secure incredibly favorable bank financing, making the purchase possible.

For the next two and a half years, I poured every spare moment into renovations, armed with just two tools: my hands and YouTube tutorials. With zero prior knowledge or experience, I overhauled the place from top to bottom—masonry, plumbing, full electrical rewiring, a new kitchen, a new bathroom, new flooring, paint, and furniture. It was an exhausting grind, but the result was a modern, cozy Nordic-style apartment. The location is nothing short of spectacular, a truly unique spot. I still can’t believe the cosmic alignment that let me live in a place like that, but it happened. I lived there for just over a year before deciding to sell and embark on my new life plan.

The apartment is on the market now, and thanks to the upgrades and a local real estate boom, its value has nearly quadrupled. It’s likely to sell in the coming months, and after covering all fees and taxes, I should be left with a substantial net sum. It’s not enough to retire and do nothing forever, but if I just spent it without doing anything else, it could sustain me for about five years in my country, living minimally but with all basic expenses covered.

Of course, the moment I decided to become a ghost, everything in my life became subordinate to that plan. This money is my last-resort resource, to be touched only if all else fails or if I somehow achieve total financial security and no longer need a backup.

Any long-term investment is a bet on how you think things will be. I believe the coming decades—perhaps in my final years—will be shaped by two forces: collapsing birth rates and the replacement of human labor with machines (AI and robots). I think a clash between young workers and aging pensioners is inevitable, as is economic decline for large swaths of society (at least until a new balance emerges). It’s clear to me that at some point in the medium-to-long term, we’ll face significant tension and uncertainty. A new era is coming, and whether it’s better or worse, the transition will be turbulent until things settle.

My life plan isn’t just about the next few years. My ability to maneuver at, say, 80 will be nonexistent, so I need to build the tools now to sustain myself then. I don’t know which countries will be the best or safest to live in, what my personal situation will be, or even where I’ll be. Thirty years ago, the world was vastly different, and thirty years from now, it could change even more.

My solution is flexible, highly diversified, easily accessible from anywhere in the world, entirely independent of governments or their laws, and requires zero effort on my part as it grows on its own while I focus on my life. Naturally, I’ve considered factors like stability and profitability, but my future needs are so specific that I’ve prioritized features that serve my plan over other important but less critical ones. Becoming a ghost changes everything—it opens some doors and closes others.