NotePD Roundup
This idea for a list is a good way explore other peoples' thoughts, figure where you agree or disagree and develop how you think about things.
1. Living abroad
@brawndo's reply to living on $2000/mo looked at living outside the US to make this work. I've written a lot of blog posts about retiring to another country so the point resonated. An approach to retiring overseas that I don't see other people talking about is to plan to just go somewhere for just a few years like between 65 and 70 as sort of an adventure. The context is for people who are a little undersaved. Basically, keep your mortgage-free house, rent it out and live off that cash flow while allowing your retirement savings and Social Security payout to both grow. Not selling your house creates an income stream for however you are away and gives the optionality of coming back without being priced out of your town.
https://notepd.com/idea/living-abroad-buying-real-estate-overseas-part-1-0152p
2. What new skills have you learned/improved over the past two years?
This was a status update from @Job.
While I hope I've learned/improved on many fronts, when I read this, the first thing that came to mind was EMT skills.
In the field, you don't really have diagnostic equipment other than a heart monitor. Being an EMT is usually a combination of asking questions and treating what you see. A couple of calls standout for figuring out what the likely problem the patient was having pretty quickly by asking the right questions. Based on followup, the assessments turned out to be correct.
https://notepd.com/idea/what-new-skills-have-you-learnedimproved-over-the-past-two-years-s97wv
3. What are the different lengths of time you experience
From @JDB. Two things here.
I believe time speeds up as we get older. A year of your life at 20 is 5% of your life. A year at 50 is 2% of your life. This creates the effect of time moving faster.
We don't have kids. This tends to cause time to blur together. We don't have the various, normal milestones from our kids that mark time for people who do have kids.
https://notepd.com/idea/what-are-the-different-lengths-of-time-you-experience-and-what-cla5l
4. What change do you want to make (even if it scares you)?
Provocative question from @MrOTG. Personally I don't have anything about our life that I would want to change. The first thing I thought of is what not to change. An important thing to consider when you're still trying to move up in the world is to recognize when the grass may not be greener on the other side of the hill. Not every new job is better, not every new house is better or car and so on. Saying no is a real skills that we should have in our arsenal.
5. 10 Things I Learned from the July Altucher Newsletter
By @Ignite. Good stuff about Bitcoin and Ether, I have exposure to both trying to capture the potential asymmetric return.
More interesting was a point made about having a Roth IRA. It is important to have both traditional and Roth accounts. Something about Roths that I don't see other people talking about is that when you take money out of a traditional IRA to purchase something big, taking it from a traditional IRA essentially makes the item 20% more expensive. As an example a few years ago a client wanted to buy a new pickup truck that cost $40,000. The gross distribution had to be $50,000 to cover his taxes.
Taking your regular retirement income from savings is different, I believe. You've been paying tax on income (from working) your entire life.
https://notepd.com/idea/10-things-i-learned-from-the-july-altucher-newsletter-lv5kh
6. 10 reasons why I avoid motivational speakers
From @sheeraz. I spend a lot of my time trying to motivate/help people. Make sure people are walking the walk. All talk with no action is probably not worth listening to. Also be aware of what they are selling. I am selling nothing. Not even being an investment advisor. There'd be no way to take on everyone who reads my blog content, my readership is tiny and it would still be too many.
https://notepd.com/idea/10-reasons-why-i-avoid-motivational-speakers-f7zlr
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