If I could summarize the human meet and greet ritual in a single phrase, it would be:
Hi… So, what do you do?
It’s an interesting question. What is it that we who no longer have jobs do? How can we answer this question in a way that helps us connect with others? What happens when we are completely honest with our new friends?
Over the years I’ve experienced this inquiry in numerous countries, languages, and cultures. Here are a few of the more entertaining interactions.
People add gold to their investment portfolio for all kinds of reasons… it’s pretty, they accidentally read Zero Hedge, their Mom suggested it, or they plan on trading it for food after the apocalypse.
Those are all obviously terrible reasons.
This is true in part because there is really only one good reason to own any gold at all. Dentistry.
This week I’m going into the GCC Inbox to answer a question I’ve received several times over the years.
GCC
Thanks to your blog my wife and I will be retiring early next year. We are Americans and want to move abroad for a few years, in part for the adventure but also to minimize our taxes in the early years. This should help with sequence of return risk. Most of our retirement income will come from qualified dividends and long term capital gains, same as you.
We like the idea of being in one place most of the time. Are there any countries you think would be good to use as a base?
To live an unconventional life you have to do unconventional things, which leads to unconventional conversations.
Which is why I enjoy meeting fellow early retirees and aspirees so much. There is so much more to build on than with more traditional thinkers: “Early retirement? Oh my…. I just don’t know what I would do with myself all day.”
So recently I had coffee with a reader who was passing through Taipei while doing nontraditional things, and we had a traditional conversation. This included riffing on that stereotypical question: “What would you do if you had $10 million?”