the goose

I should really read the rest of the Four Hour Work Week. Since getting about mid way through I was so filled with enthusiasm that I pretty much threw everything else aside and started re-organising my life. Chief motivation for this was my darling belle. Me being a bit old and world-weary and her been a young slip of a thing – there had always been a certain tension in our relationship. She was keen to see the world and I was more interested in building a ‘business’.

It wasn’t until I read the 4HWW that I realised that I was wrong and she was right. I didn’t really want to hire anyone, do tax returns, network and sell my time for the rest of my life. What I wanted instead was to lead as interesting and rewarding an experience as possible. Something Tim Ferris seems to personify.

I digress.

Key to Tim’s world view is that it is crazy to work forty odd years of your life in the hope that you will be around to enjoy 5 – 10 years of useful retirement. ‘Useful’ in this case refers to a retirement where you don’t need 3 nurses to help you keep the colostomy bag fresh.

Instead he posits that you should practice your retirement. That is what we are about to do. Last year we spent 3 months in South Africa largely subsidised by the generosity of Priscilla’s parents in putting us up. As the recession looms, rather than take refuge in my usual bolt hole (whoaring myself as a java contractor) we have identified a year long ‘retirement’.

Most retirees have to make do with less money. We are no exception. We haven’t built up the online businesses to afford the same level of lifestyle we’ve become accustomed to in Dublin. Instead we started looking around for places where we could survive (while not giving up our red wine and steak habit) on less. That place turned out to be Argentina- or at least we hope it will.

There is a lot of uncertainty about this whole experiement.

1. Will our existing customers abandon us now that we’re living it up in Buenos Aires?
2. Has our modest success been as automated as we think it has?
3. Will it turn out to be more expensive than projected?

These are all concerns. We are however willing to give it a go. Our plan is to go for a year.