2019 will be a major transition year for us. After 23 years of raising two kids, our younger child goes off to college in August. Caroline and I have had the year 2019 circled on our proverbial calendar for a loooong time. We've always been interested in travel but never really had the luxury of doing it, partially because my full time corporate career didn't leave a lot of room for taking vacations, and partially because we've spent the last 15 years building our real estate portfolio, prioritizing the use of our money to fund real estate investments. Over the [...]
A few years ago, I read the book, “One Word That Will Change Your Life” by Dan Britton, Jimmy Page and Jon Gordon The premise is alluringly simple, yet powerful: instead of a long list of goals and resolutions for the year, pick one word that captures the essence of what you want. Your One Word gives you focus when you need to prioritize day-to-day and make longer-term decisions. It also serves as inspiration and a reminder of what’s important for the year. My first One Word was Joy, and that was very useful in pivoting me from my natural [...]
If you want to live a more spontaneous, FIRE lifestyle even while you still have a job, then you need to negotiate for more flexibility at work. Companies will give workers more flexibility, especially when the worker fulfills a critical need. If you’re indispensable, you’re more likely to get what you ask for. Indispensability is a key trait to develop if you want flexibility at work – so you can do a digital nomad test run or stay right where you are but work from home or on a different schedule. One of my consulting clients has been with me [...]
UPDATE: The 2019 report is out, and Costa Rica remains a full democracy! It moved up in the rankings from #20 to #19 (out of 167 countries), and the total score is up to 8.13, from 8.07. Another great honor, on top of recently being named a Champion of the Earth! ====== We enjoy reading about the characteristics of Costa Rica that make it an attractive location for us to spend time in retirement, including how it has had no military for the last 70 years, and how it is consistently named as a top retirement destination. We also haven't [...]
Interested in a blank canvas commercial space for co-working or pop-up shop rentals? How about a small complex of four apartments that could make a boutique AirBNB? A breakfast café or comfort food casual eatery? These are just some of the businesses that came across my radar recently, getting my imagination spinning on brick-and-mortar business ideas in Costa Rica. Even though we’re not looking to add to our current portfolio of three vacation properties in the Tamarindo/ Langosta area, I regularly check the real estate listings (it’s nice to know what’s going on). And even though we’re planning on the [...]
Costa Rica is again on several lists as a top retirement destination: #2 by International Living #5 by Money/Time top 24 by Forbes (Forbes did not rank the 24 places against each other). In naming Costa Rica as the #2 retirement destination (behind Panama), International Living cited Costa Rica’s healthcare accessibility, abundance of outdoor activities and stable democracy. Indeed, Costa Rica abolished its military 70 years ago. …with a dozen microclimates, there is someplace for everyone to fit your personal weather preferences. Many people love the temperate “eternal spring” climate of San Jose, the capital and all the surrounding Central Valley. [...]
Like others that keep a spending diary or a food diary, I keep a time diary. I have kept a time diary for over 20 years! I started doing it because I was working in the professional services field where you had to track your time to bill your clients. You also had to calculate how much of your time was billable to clients versus non-billable (and billability was an important factor in performance reviews!). I realized how useful the time-tracking was to the company and figured it would be just as useful for my own personal business, and it [...]
I recently caught up with a friend who left his job in the spring and has been traveling for almost six months, including to Tamarindo, Costa Rica for surfing camp! His expertise is in eCommerce, so his skills and experience would match perfectly with a digital nomad career that blends travel and work. Yet, he elected a travel sabbatical – all play, no work. A travel sabbatical isn’t something just anyone can do. You need money to fund your travels. You need flexibility to incorporate your plans into other responsibilities. You need some level of confidence that you can take [...]
The 2018 edition of the Miss Universe competition was held this past weekend. While Caroline and I didn't watch it, I did see in one of my news feeds that Miss Philippines was the winner. Given that Caroline's heritage is the Philippines and we love travelling there, I of course mentioned it to her, and she recalled that this isn't the first time recently that Miss Philippines won. In fact, Miss Philippines was the winner in 2015 when Steve Harvey famously misread the information in the envelope and incorrectly named Miss Colombia the winner instead of first runner up. https://youtu.be/3DKDaSd-4nY [...]
I juggle a lot of different projects – writing, teaching, consulting, speaking -- but the one thing they all have in common is being advice-related. Earlier this year, I did a talk on work/life balance in Philadelphia, and an attendee asked for advice on what to do about perfectionism. I also get questions on what to invest in (is Costa Rica a good market for real estate?), what industries are hiring, or some variation on what is the best next step. I love questions – both questions I get and the ones I ask. The questions I get inspire many [...]
