Work From Anywhere

This morning I got up and headed to the gym before work. Now it just happens that my gym is Snowbird Ski Resort and I skied for an hour. Ski resorts are great places to work out as you pretty much social distance and have the benefit of being outdoors. I did take a bit of a risk though and rode a chairlift with a stranger. Don't worry, we wore our face coverings and sat on opposite sides of a 4-person chair.

I usually ask where someone is from and this morning's guest is from the Boston area. He confessed that he hasn't spent much time there though because of COVID-19. Instead he is taking advantage of being able to travel and work from anywhere. This week he is here in Utah and next week he will head up to Big Sky, Montana. I don't think he wants to go back to the way things used to be before this pandemic.

My wife was talking with one of her close friends this evening and the conversation turned to one of the neighborhood kids who recently graduated from college and landed a job in the Los Angeles area. Since he can work from home, he and his wife boarded a plane and are living in Hawaii until he needs to go back to work. He is someone else enjoying the ability to work from anywhere.

My wife's friend asked me where I would like to visit as I am also working from home and have the luxury of going anywhere. I confessed that I am exactly where I want to be and enjoy my morning workouts on the ski hill. Normally I would have been in the Bay Area if not for COVID-19. I hope I don't have to go back to the office as much as I did before the pandemic.

So this brings up the question for you. Do you have the ability to work from home and where would you be? Think about it, you can easily put your home on AirBnB and rent it out while you go live somewhere else. It could be for a short time or it could be longer. You just have to ask yourself if you are where you want to be right now. If not, do something about it.

Online Stock Trading

Many years ago I worked on the personal management merit badge as a Boy Scout. One of the things I remembered is answering the question of what to do with $100 or some similar amount of money. I had to describe the various places to put that money and the expected outcome. The two choices that stood out most at the time were keeping it under your mattress or putting it in a savings account. The idea was to get the young boy to think about interest and that putting money in the bank is much better than putting it under a mattress. Last year I looked at my bank statement and noticed that I am not getting very much interest on my savings account and so one of my New Year's resolutions is to take a more active role in investing my money. There are lots of places to put your money and I remember them from my Boy Scout days.

My merit badge counselor was a life insurance salesman and he extolled the virtues of various life insurance products. I took his advice right after getting married and I have a great policy that allows me to borrow against the cash value in the event I need some extra money. I also have life insurance through my employer and so I don't want to transfer my savings into more life insurance.

I have toyed with the idea of purchasing a vacation home and renting it out on AirBnB or VRBO when I am not using it. Unfortunately I don't think I am quite ready for that. In looking at the various places I want a second home, I realize the giant commitment it would take and know I would soon become a slave to the vacation home. I might be able to handle that after I retire but not right now.

Ultimately I decided that I have had significant luck in the stock market and it is time for me to re-enter the world of online stock trading. Now the first thing anyone will ask you about investing is, "What are your goals?" I really don't want to actively monitor my stock portfolio and trade frequently. I really just want to put a little extra money out of each paycheck into something and let it grow over time. I don't want to lose any of that money and so I want to invest in solid companies that will be around for years to come. Sure I may miss out on some huge potential growth but I also don't want to worry about equally high risk.

My oldest son suggested that I set up a Webull account. One of the selling points is that they immediately give you 4 shares of random stocks: 2 when you create your account and 2 more when you put at least $100 into it. My son also received several shares of free stock just by referring me. If you click on the link above and create your own account, I will also get referral stock shares and so I really want a lot of people to create accounts for themselves. Don't worry, I won't feel bad if you don't. It would be nice though.

The real reason I created my Webull account is because there are zero commissions on purchases and sales. I can buy and sell stock at will and as long as I follow specific rules, I don't have to pay any fees. One of the rules is that I can't deposit or withdraw more than $50,000 in a single day. I can only hope that it becomes an issue in the future but for now, that is way more than I need to deposit or take out. Should I need to pull out $100,000, I will just have to plan ahead and spread the transaction across 2 days instead of 1.

There are many strategies for investing in the stock market and I don't pretend to know them all. I also don't want to give anyone ideas about where to invest as this is something I am doing to make more than the annual 10 cents per thousand dollars in my savings account that I currently am getting. Already I am up 10 dollars per thousand after only 2 days. No it is not enough to quit my day job but it significantly beats everything I earned last year in my savings account.

I must make one final note about online stock trading. I am not guaranteed to make money. I could do worse than my savings account. If you need money in the next several months, it is best to keep it in your savings. Only invest with money that you don't need for a year or more.

Uber at Disney World

My wife and I took a trip to Disney World last week so we could do some research for a potential future family trip. We found a great place to stay on AirBnB that was supposedly on the Disney World property. One advantage of staying on property is that you can use Disney's excellent transportation between your hotel and the different parks.

We arrived in Orlando on Monday and took Uber to the hotel. During our check-in, we asked about getting to the park and were told that a rideshare was the least expensive way to get there. At that moment I realized that any cost savings by inexpensive accommodations could easily be negated by trips back and forth. Fortunately my wife and I could leave the hotel in the morning and not have to return until the evening. Anyone with small children requiring naps would require two round-trips instead of our one.

Ultimately we had a great visit but were glad that we hadn't brought the entire family. We did have our youngest daughter with us but could all fit in a single car. With small grand-kids and ten adults we would have spent a fortune with Uber or Lyft.