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| A little hut in the neighborhood managed by a woman and her daughter where they sell SIM cards for data and phones and a few other products. |
“Sightings on the Beach in Bali”
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| This large rock formation has formed on the beach visible only at low tide. |
After Tom read yesterday’s post, he said, “You’re wrong, Sweetie. We do gamble, big time.”
I thought for a moment trying to jog my memory over the past many years when we were in a casino and played a few games. I couldn’t recall a single occasion.
He laughed and said, “We gamble every day playing the stock market! Isn’t that gambling when all is said and done?”
“You’re absolutely right, Honey,” I replied nodding my head in agreement.
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| Sunset view and reflection in the infinity pool. |
I didn’t want to hear when it wasn’t going well so he stayed mum to keep me from worrying. But, as his expertise and desires for diversity have grown and we’ve made our way to the plus side at the moment, my interest has peaked. Over this past year, I’ve taken a greater interest while Tom makes all the moves.
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| Some mornings humidity, fog, and smoke from local fires create a fuzzy scene on the beach. |
Sure, with stocks, options, longs/shorts, and a wide array of other financial products, one is taking an enormous risk. We see this each week when, for example, we go online after 9:30 pm (Indonesia time) five nights a week when the stock market opens in the US.
Based on this huge time difference the US market closes at 4 am when we’re sleeping. But, it’s not entirely unusual for either of us to be awake during the night or very early in the morning unable to avoid firing up Tom’s laptop to see what’s going on.
The ups and downs are not for the faint of heart. We’ve both had to learn to avoid letting the downs become upsetting. I suppose it is gambling, after all, except in a much bigger way than putting a few dollars on a blackjack table, poker table, or in a slot machine. One may be “gambling” with their life savings.
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| Another larger shop in the neighborhood carrying many tourist-type needs, beverages, and snacks. |
Also, we had no desire to turn this process over to a “financial advisor” paying fees and commissions while allowing someone else to make decisions on our behalf. For many, this is their only option when they have investible funds but little education, time, or interest in handling it on their own.
Over these past 44 months of world travel, Tom has had all of the time and interest necessary to further educate himself to a point of feeling confident in making important decisions.
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| Flowers blooming from a small tree. |
Tom’s favorite source of education has been with Bob Rinear on this website. Bob’s information and education have provided valuable information. Tom followed Bob’s website and free newsletter long before we retired.
About one year before Tom retired in 2012, he paid for Bob’s annual yearly subscription, “The Insiders Club” which has ultimately served us well. Tom also participated in the comprehensive training course, again proving to be a valuable tool. (In no manner are we involved in any revenue or proceeds from Bob’s website. We’re simply subscribers as are many others throughout the world).
Since I’m way more frugal than he is, it’s best I continue to stay out of the day-to-day decisions, although he shares details of every transaction with me prior to making any changes. In the process, I too, am getting an education through my savvy partner.
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| Why did the chicken cross the road? |
We won’t draw any money out from these funds until after Tom turns 70.5 years old (7 years) at which point US tax laws require annual minimum withdrawals be made along with the payment of required federal tax (and state taxes, if applicable). If we lost it all, we could still survive and continue to travel the world.
It’s only under these circumstances that we feel comfortable taking the risks. If one wouldn’t be able to cover living expenses if they lost it all in a stock market crash, which may be likely at some point, they shouldn’t be investing. (We’ve also decided it’s wise to secure some of one’s investments into less vulnerable assets).
The stress of potentially losing everything could be unbearable making the later years of one’s life, less than enjoyable. We’re not offering any investment advice here. We’re explaining how we perceive “gambling” in our lives.
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| A modest well cared for Hindu home in the neighborhood. |
The excitement of it all is certainly comparable to winning at a casino and the disappointment perhaps even more devastating than when losing at a poker table.
With a tough hide, diligent attention to market fluctuations, world affairs and a degree of knowledge and expertise and, an enormous amount of interest and desire to make it work, its an exciting area of our lives we seldom, if ever, mention here.
No, we don’t sit around all day playing games on our phones. Even on those sunny outdoors-all-day days, the wheels are always in motion as we continually reach for safety, security, and peace of mind achievable in many ways in our lives of travel.
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| In Bali, it’s common to see trash fires burning along the road or in yards. |
One more point, we use a VPN, a virtual private network, to further secure our access to financial websites (which are supposedly secure) but this added measure of security provides us with further peace of mind.
Without a doubt, life is a gamble in many ways for every one of us; our health, our well-being, our sense of security, our financial health, basically all aspects. The degree to which we proactively pursue enhancing each of these areas is entirely up to us.
May your day provide you with an opportunity for peace of mind.
Photo from one year ago today, June 20, 2015:
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| This is the noisy night bird, the bush stone-curlew (Burhinus grallarius) that kept us awake the first week in Trinity Beach, Australia after which we became used to it, sleeping through the noise. It’s a nocturnal, ground-dwelling bird that makes its home in Australia’s open forests, grasslands, mangroves, and salt marshes. (Not our photo). We never saw one during the day. For more details please click here. |