TRAVELLING ABROAD TEACHES US SOME VALUABLE LESSONS
Financial planning can secure your future, but only you can choose to live fully. The message is clear: don’t wait to start ticking off your bucket list.
My wife and I just returned from a month-long holiday during which we spent time in and travelled across Europe. The majority of our journey was by motorcycle, and we joined 20 other motorcyclists on the adventure.
Our journey took us from the sophisticated first-world west, starting in Germany, to the historical USSR-influenced and dominated east, including Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and crisscrossing Romania, before returning to Germany, covering almost 4 830km.
The contrast between Germany and Austria, compared to Romania and the adjacent areas, is immense. The disparities are not just between the developed, sophisticated countries and their poorer neighbours; there are also internal disparities in every country, as far as status, wealth and general well-being are concerned.
Why Romania? The Transylvania area is engulfed by mountains and beauty, and Romania has some of the best mountain passes in the world. It also hosts beautiful castles, including Bran’s Castle – better known as Dracula’s birthplace.
Why by motorcycle? For the same reasons mentioned above. The Carpathian Mountains and Transylvanian Alps offer some of the best mountain passes in the world, including the Transalpina and the Transfǎgǎrǎsan (voted by Top Gear as the best road in the world).
They are on every true motorcyclist’s bucket list – I can now add these passes to the Italian Dolomites and Stelvio Pass with various other passes within the Alps.
What has my motorcycle trip got to do with life planning? Well, lots. I would like to highlight a few:
Life is both a choice and a combination of luck and destiny.
Don’t delay emptying your bucket list.
Sound financial planning may ensure financial independence, but it does not guarantee quality of life.
Even the poor can experience a good quality of life. Even the rich can be miserable and unhappy. Money does not guarantee happiness.
When you reach retirement, your chances of creating more wealth reduce. However, the freedom you gain to make life choices increases, and not all choices require loads of money.
Live life fully now, you don’t know what tomorrow brings.
Life is both a choice and a combination of luck and destiny
We can choose how to live our lives. We decide to study or not, we choose our careers, where we live, what we own and how much we allocate towards building wealth.
However, many of our choices are determined by affordability and whether we choose to live the high life at a young age and retire with limited funds or living a more humble life and retire with more resources and enjoy the nice things in life at a later stage of life.
The challenge is to find a balance and experience a good life as well as accumulate sufficient funds to carry this experience into retirement.
It may mean fewer but better quality holidays while younger. It may mean a more modest vehicle for the first fifteen years of your working life. It remains your choice.
There is no right or wrong, but the choice is up to each individual. Looking back, everyone can pinpoint where they could have made a different choice that would have altered their path in life.
During our travels, we crossed many ex-Russian/communist-influenced areas. It was noticeable how some thrived after the fall of communism in 1983, while other parts seemed stuck in the old regime.
Hungary has notably advanced much further than some parts of Romania. After the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, the Czech Republic clearly maintained a higher standard of living than Slovakia.
We must, however, accept that some countries did have more industrial and economic advantages than others, and Slovakia is a perfect example of choosing to improve its situation. They have closed the gap with the Czech Republic and their GDP per capita has improved remarkably and continues to do so while closing the gap with Czechia.
Romania still has many reminders of the Russian influence and dominance in the rural areas. Many of their suburbs border on ruins, and the people look poor and depressed. There aren’t many fancy cars, and horse-drawn carts are a regular sight.
Stray dogs were everywhere, and they often posed a threat to us, motorcyclists. (I’m not sure why they don’t like motorbikes).
In some places, tar roads deteriorated to gravel.
Bucharest, on the other hand, has all the makings of a modern, developed city with well-developed infrastructure and sophisticated, reliable tech and mobile services. The difference is like day and night.
Interesting, we did not notice many young people in rural Romania. It seems like the younger generations have made the decision to move on to greener pastures. While destiny provided a nasty blow to the older folk, it does seem like the younger ones are bound to change this.
The more we travelled back west, the more wealth and welfare improved. Newer cars became evident, people were active and excited, people laughed and were more friendly.
On this note, a message to rural Romania and its surroundings, if you want to improve your hospitality industry and attract more tourists and their money, at least try to be more friendly and be better hosts. Good service in rural Romania is few and far between.
Where we had to contend with stray dogs in Romania, we had to contend with dogs (obviously cherished pets) that were booked into the hotels in Austria and Germany. Quite a contrast…The Autobahn was also welcomed by all.
Don’t delay emptying your bucket list
I want to return to the importance of balance. Making provision for retirement is important. However, living a full life and enjoying the things on your bucket list while you can is equally important.
Don’t add climbing Mount Everest to your bucket list for retirement.
Chances are you won’t be able to do it. If it is on your bucket list, do it sooner rather than later. With proper planning, you may be able to start crossing off “want-to-dos” on your bucket list sooner.
Many of the people on our trip were well into their 60s, and some were over seventy. We had only one person under 30, and he works in the family business and accompanied his dad on the trip.
I couldn’t help but wonder how many of us will be able to take more trips like this, where we spend more than eight hours on the bikes some days. Next year is Northern Italy, Croatia and Montenegro.
Sound financial planning may ensure financial independence, but it does not guarantee quality of life
There is no manual for quality of life. We all have our preferences, likes and dislikes. What works for one may not appeal to another. For the sake of this article, I am going to stay with our merry band of motorcyclists.
Not everyone appreciates or even likes motorcycles. I get it. But this article is not about trying to convince you to like bikes. It’s about choosing to do something you love, commit to it and give it a full go, but at the same time, to realise this too will come to an end when you can no longer do what you love.
I can think of at least two couples in our group who should probably not attempt another similar trip. Their fragility makes it unsafe for them and fellow riders, and pushing the limit for too long can end in disaster.
Often, outsiders can identify potential challenges and problems before the individual does. The challenge is to find something you can do to replace what you love when it’s time to bid farewell to your favourite activity. Everybody will face these challenges. Think about it.
When will you agree that you can no longer drive? What needs to happen for you to agree to hang up your keys? This may sound trivial, but it is a life-changing event and one that must be taken seriously. We often hear: “My mother still drives at 88.” That’s fantastic! The question is, should she still be driving at 88? Some can, some definitely should not.
It is important to identify and develop interests that can replace those that would simply not be possible at an advanced age or after a health setback.
It does not have to cost money to experience a quality life
Our trip was not cheap. Frankly, it was quite expensive, which means that the individuals on our trip were all financially well off. What intrigued and impressed me, was the diverse interests of the individuals in our group.
Among the group were retired CEOs, retired business owners, retired engineers, current business owners, IT specialists, and a semi-retired mathematician (he is also a well-respected fund manager).
The group’s interests included taking cold-water morning swims in the ocean, meditating, hiking in the mountains, photography, dog training and walking their dogs, teaching students, offering Airbnb services, cooking, painting/art, and the list goes on.
Although our trip was considered expensive, most individuals had hobbies and interests that cost little or no money. Most had balanced, high-quality lives. Not bad for a bunch of bikers!
I have mentioned in the past that we always emphasise the importance of accumulating sufficient wealth to ensure your future financial independence. However, money cannot buy happiness. There are many examples of extremely wealthy individuals with broken families who lead miserable lives.
Start ticking items off your bucket list. Work out what makes you and your loved ones happy, and make an effort to spend more time doing it. Don’t reach retirement without interests and purpose.
No one has a crystal ball to predict what tomorrow will bring. Be sensible. Pay yourself first, make provision for retirement, and set aside enough to enjoy life. Don’t be the one who, one day, has a bucket list with nothing crossed off.
In closing, we again realised that, all things considered, our homeland remains one of the best places on earth, with good food, raw beauty and friendly people. When we can no longer challenge the world-renowned mountain passes, I am sure we will find plenty to do locally, as we have in the past.
Have fun and start working on your bucket list.
