31-year-old moved from the US to Portugal and only works 20 hours a week: ‘I’m much happier in Lisbon’

Lisbon: Roughly 10 years ago, Kaitlin Wichmann’s life looked great on paper: The Kansas native had just graduated from college, was living in Los Angeles, had a full-time marketing job and enjoyed beautiful ocean views while working from her office in Santa Monica.

But she wasn’t happy.

“Every day going into my job, parking in the same spot, going to the same desk, staring at the same wall — I was just like, ‘There has to be more to life than this,’” Wichmann, now 31, tells CNBC Make It.

It was a wakeup call that she was ready to ditch LA, and the U.S. for that matter, to become her own boss and travel the world.

Now, Wichmann’s days are very different: She lives Lisbon, Portugal, and is a freelance digital marketer helping American and Portuguese clients with their online advertising. She sets her own schedule (about 20 hours per week) and often works alongside friends at co-working spaces.

Wichmann earns about $7,000 USD in a typical month, though her income can vary from $2,400 to $12,000 in a month. She says she earns more freelancing today than she did working for an agency in LA.

She spends her free time playing tennis and padel (which is similar to tennis and squash), taking Portuguese lessons, going to the beach and traveling.

“I definitely feel happier and more at peace here,” Wichmann says.

Here’s how she made the leap.

Wichmann’s interest in living abroad started when she was younger. She grew up in Manhattan, Kansas, with her parents and three siblings, and her family often hosted international exchange students. When Wichmann turned 18, she traveled overseas for the first time and stayed with former exchange students in Europe.

She moved to LA for college and started her career there, until she realized she didn’t want to work a 9-to-5 job at all.

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“When you’re just working that much, it just wasn’t enjoyable for me,” she says. “And I realized if I wanted to take a jump and leave a full-time job, I wouldn’t be able to do that in Los Angeles.”

Wichmann started taking freelance marketing work while working full-time at an agency until she eventually had enough clients to make a modest living.

Kaitlin Wichmann works about 20 hours per week as a freelance digital marketer for several U.S. and Portuguese clients.

Kaitlin Wichmann works about 20 hours per week as a freelance digital marketer for several U.S. and Portuguese clients.Katy Rustrick and Eugene Booysen | CNBC Make It

With her own client book, she traded LA for digital nomad life and prioritized places with lower costs of living. She first moved to Bali, Indonesia, in 2019; then went on to Chiang Mai, Thailand; spent a few weeks in Vietnam; and then another two months in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

She moved back to the U.S. and stayed in Kansas City during the Covid-19 pandemic, but by 2021 was ready to keep things moving again.

Wichmann was researching places she wanted to live more long-term when she remembered a previous trip to Madeira, an island off the coast of Portugal. She decided Lisbon checked off the boxes of what she wanted in a new home: good weather, proximity to a beach, a large international community and a walkable city that centered healthy activity.

Around the same time, Portugal was seeing a swell of digital nomads moving in, including from the U.S. More than 714,000 foreigners made up 7% of Portugal’s population in 2021, a new high, according to the Portuguese Immigration and Borders Service.

Kaitlin Wichmann quit her job in LA in 2019 to travel the world as a digital nomad. She spent time in Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Argentina before landing in Portugal.

Kaitlin Wichmann quit her job in LA in 2019 to travel the world as a digital nomad. She spent time in Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and

Wichmann completed the application for her D7 passive income visa remotely under strict Covid guidelines: She submitted her fingerprints, opened a Portuguese bank account with 10,000 euros (about $11,600), got a tax number and signed a lease on an apartment.

The visa allowed her four months to get started in Portugal, and once she arrived, she applied for residency for a two-year stay. Wichmann renewed her visa in 2023, giving her another three years of residency. (Portugal launched a separate D8 visa for digital nomads in October 2022.)

Wichmann’s housing arrangements have run the gamut in Lisbon: First, she stayed in a co-living space, then she subleased short-term rooms in different apartments before she found an apartment of her own. She signed a three-year lease.

The biggest culture shock was learning the local language. “I immediately took classes at a university to learn Portuguese,” Wichmann says, then started taking private lessons and now works one-on-one with a teacher. She books packs of five 60-minute lessons for about $71, or five 30-minute lessons for $50 as needed.

“I feel like that’s what’s really helped me improve and what’s made me a lot more confident in my speaking skills,” she says.

Wichmann says she chose the neighborhood she lives in because it’s walkable and not too far from the downtown area of Lisbon, which has plenty of restaurants, cafes and other activities.

She typically uses public transit and buys a monthly unlimited pass for 30 euros, or about $35, but opted to go a la carte in June since she was away traveling.

Wichmann spent time in England in June visiting her boyfriend, Henry Breheny, 31, whom she met in college in LA. They trade off visiting one another every month or so and also travel around the world together.

Most of Wichmann’s June discretionary spending went toward her England trip, as well as booking future travel and treating herself to a pool cabana to celebrate her birthday. She typically pays about $34 per month for about 10 hours of time at co-working spaces, but in June booked herself a three-day pass at a new place for just under $100.

As a freelancer with unpredictable income, Wichmann aims to pay herself $3,000 a month, enough to cover her basic expenses, before dedicating the rest to her student loan payments, savings and investments. She has a six-month emergency fund and over $200,000 in retirement and other investment accounts.

Wichmann is intentional with her work schedule so she has ample time and energy to enrich her personal life.

“A lot of people are like, ‘Wow, you have so much free time!’ But I really fill those other hours with passion projects,” she says.

She’s recently taken up tennis again after playing it when she was younger, and dedicates a portion of her budget to spending on gear, lessons and a club membership. Wichmann also plays padel for extra activity and social time.

Wichmann says getting involved in recreational sports has been a big boost to her social life. She’s made friends through Meetup, Facebook groups and different sports clubs.

“Everyone that I’ve met here is very healthy, very outdoorsy,” Wichmann says. “People just want to live a very active and fulfilled life, and I find that very inspiring.”

If there’s one thing Wichmann misses about the comforts of home in the U.S., “it’s how quickly you can get anything that you want delivered to your doorstep,” she says.

But it’s a small adjustment she’s happy to make. Ultimately, she sees herself in Portugal for the long-term.

Over 714,000 foreigners made up 7% of Portugal’s population in 2021.

“When I moved to Lisbon, Portugal, my plan was to live here at least five years and then decide where I wanted to go after that,” Wichmann says. But for now, “I don’t see myself moving anywhere else, at least outside of Portugal. I just really like it here.”

She says her financial goals are modest: She wants to be able to pay her bills and maybe one day buy a house in Portugal with her boyfriend.

As for her career, Wichmann sees her job as a means to living a more fulfilling life. “When I was living in Los Angeles, pretty much my life revolved around work,” she says. Now, “my life revolves around my life with work scattered in.”

“I want to show people that there’s a way of working that isn’t a traditional 9-to-5,” she says, “and to inspire people that they can live life to the fullest.”