Given that all our online behavior is tracked, I must be tagged as a cynic, pessimist or doomsday thinker because several posts about the negative aspects of the FIRE (financial independence, retire early) movement were suggested to me: Fortune wrote about early retirees feeling lost and unfulfilled. Gobankingrates.com was even more to the point with their take: I Retired Early And Regret It (subtitle: Why I Went Back To Work [...]
According to a press release from the Independent Publisher Book Awards (known as the IPPYs), 500,000 new books are published each year in the US alone, with millions of new titles worldwide. The pitch I received also highlighted that 80% of people have considered writing a book! 80% seems really high, given that Statista calculates the mean number of books read in the US at just over one per month [...]
Two towns in Italy – Santa Fiora in Tuscany and Rieti in Lazio -- will subsidize 50% of your rent if you work from there. You would need to be a digital nomad because authorization to work in Italy isn’t included in the deal. These towns are so small there likely wouldn’t be work awaiting you anyway. Or, if you’d rather stay Stateside, Zillow has named Jacksonville, FL (pictured above) [...]
My FIRE challenge right now is actually the RE part. We are absolutely in a financial place to officially retire (my husband already is), but I'm holding on due to, well, fear. I have a very good job with excellent benefits working with great people that isn't hard but doesn't fulfill me at all. Quitting would put strain on some of those great coworkers so I'm battling with that guilt as [...]
The Sunshine Blogger Award is a peer-recognition award, given to those who inspire you, motivate you, or otherwise add “sunshine” to your day. There’s no formal, nomination process nor awarding ceremony but it’s a chance to be spotlighted by peers and then to pass on the sunshine to others – as you’ll see in the Award Rules. When you are nominated for the Sunshine Blogger Award, you must follow these [...]
When we signed the closing paperwork last year to sell our entire Indy rental portfolio, I happened to be speaking at a business conference. When my colleagues figured out that I was dashing in and out from my presenting duties to take care of a closing, I was met with several high-fives and other forms of congratulations, since for many people, a real estate transaction is a major milestone. Unfortunately, [...]
I was recently speaking at a pan-Asian media conference (supposed to be hosted in Singapore in March but unfortunately moved to a June virtual event due to the pandemic), and listening to the keynote by Maria Ressa. She is the founder and editor of Rappler, but also recently convicted in a Philippine court for cyber libel. Her talk really made me appreciate the freedom of the press that we have [...]
Even though I left a lucrative corporate career in my mid-30’s for the unknown of going into business for myself, I’m actually a risk-averse person. My risk aversion just means that I don’t like taking risks – I still take risks, as long as I can manage them. Going into business for myself was a manageable risk because I was making money from something I already knew. I had been [...]
This COVID-19 pandemic, with its widespread and uncertain fallout, is giving me flashbacks to the Great Financial Crisis of 2008, when the big banks were subject to stress tests to ensure they had enough reserves. I was doing HR consulting for a big global bank that had their stress test deadline coming up. In better times, they probably would have assumed they were too big to fail, except that Lehman [...]
It has been a tumultuous few weeks, with the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak officially declared a pandemic, global stocks in bear market territory, and companies and schools changing to remote processes. Three of my work projects so far are affected: I was supposed to coach at a pan-Asian media conference in Singapore this week – that has been postponed till July. A half-day training assignment scheduled for next week has been [...]
