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 in HR and was starting a career consulting business -- essentially in the same area as before, but this time working for myself. Making money from what you already know [...]
Our business income (mainly income from my HR consulting activities) is the first money we tap to fund our day-to-day living expenses. Other streams include our long-term rentals in the US, vacation rentals in Costa Rica and our paper assets. However, with the stock market volatility, Costa Rica border closures and a slowing economy potentially impacting our tenants, we see the business income as our most reliable income stream right now. Using that to float us also lets our other investments grow (or recover) in the background. Click to pin me! However, some of my consulting work involves speaking at [...]
We recently received a reader question asking if now is the time to buy real estate in Costa Rica: Do you think that based on everything that is happening right now, it may be a good time to buy? Are there more properties on the market now in light of the pandemic? I know that this is a broad and likely unanswerable question, just wondering your thoughts on the timing.- John Yes, the question is broad, and it’s unanswerable because an important investment decision, like real estate (or stocks or any other type of investment), needs to be customized to your [...]
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 had already failed so why not them. My client was weeks away from their deadline, but the employees were already freaking out because the process was not widely shared (they [...]
One of the linchpins of our FIRE plan is that we’re not relying on just one pool of money to get there. I have always been fascinated by multiple streams of income – it made sense to me, so it was an easy beacon to follow. The four pillars of our FIRE plan, and how they have been affected by COVID-19, are: 1) rental real estate – the effects are still unknown because the wild card is whether our tenants will keep paying rent, and those results will come later as the recession extends 2) Costa Rica investments -- borders [...]
I had written before about how the coronavirus pandemic has affected our FIRE plans, and this was before a continued spike in cases worldwide and Costa Rica closing its borders. Costa Rica indicated the border closings were through April 12, but the pandemic appears far from abating. Estimates for a vaccine are 12-18 months away. Who knows if the border closure will be extended? Even if Costa Rica does reopen its borders, who knows when travel will return to normal to our area, or anywhere in the world? In the meantime, we are carrying the expenses on three rental properties, [...]
Recently, I bumped into a colleague at one of my clients and discovered we had more in common than just working at the same place. Like me, she had an international vacation rental business, only this time in the Dominican Republic (DR), and she’s only 27! Of course, I had to know more about how this New York City millennial balances a full-time job with real estate. Meet Manuela Rodriguez and get inspired to set up your own side hustle in paradise: I attended Fordham University for my undergrad degree in Sociology and Psychology. I also completed my MBA at [...]
I am a member of a personal finance forum, and a spirited discussion has erupted this week among the participants – of course, the global markets are in freefall. There were many signs pointing to a market downturn – e.g., high P/E ratios unsupported by underlying economics, low and even negative interest rates. The moderator was emphasizing these signs (he’s big on taking a risk managed approach), but since he’s not a financial advisor, couldn’t directly recommend to Sell or Buy. I became a member of this forum, in particular, because I took a course designed and led by the [...]
*** As we write and publish this, the Coronavirus pandemic is literally sweeping the world. Our own life and work has already been impacted, but we publish this in an effort to share our recent experiences, and in the spirit of hoping that in the coming months things recover and get back to normal. ========== After almost 30 years of not visiting the Philippines, I have been back three times in the last four years! Our trip in 2017 was the first time to see the Philippines for Scott and our oldest daughter, and then Scott and I returned in [...]
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 postponed indefinitely – my client contact is worried for her own job.A longtime client (6 years and counting) that organized a leadership program every April has postponed till August. Even [...]
