I finally got a chance to talk to my sister for a few minutes and she mentioned something I have written off long ago - my Australian Superannuation - which is the compulsory contribution while working for retirement. While I didn't work that long in Australia (until 23) and only full time for about 4 of those years, there should be something in there - unless fees have eaten it all away. I actually suspect that fees have decimated what little I did have there, as I have read stories over the years of people losing it all, even though they are paying into them.
What a brilliant compulsory system they have set up!
My sister is going to have a look into it for me anyway and I said to her, if there is anything in there, buy crypto with it. I am sure they would love that.
Due to what has been going on for the last week or so, I haven't been able to do much by way of trading, though I did manage to buy some HIVE in the 5-600s and sell at over 900 - now I am just waiting for a buyback point to trigger. The amounts aren't huge, but it is always nice to have something bubbling along in the background, so I don't feel completely left out of it.
This year was meant to be the year I "may" not have to worry about money again, but it isn't shaping up that way, since there are several unforseen certainties that have arrived on the doorstep. Yeah, the markets themselves are one thing to consider, but I have put myself in a DeFi position that will deliver a ticking over of income that might not replace a job, but can provide a little bit of support if needed, but more importantly, some potential to take advantage of depressed prices if they arrive. I should have been more cautious and collected more stables earlier, but something is better than nothing.
The things that have more direct impact is on my work-life, as I am going to immediately suffer a financial setback from my own business, as there is no insurance and I can't hold sessions at the moment. I have sent messages out to my key contacts, but they are under no obligation to keep my services, so I have to hope that I have built strong enough relationships with them.
While it might not be what I want to be thinking about at the moment, I have been forced to run through an inventory of income streams and try to calculate various scenarios under different conditions and timeframes. I am in the currently fortunate position to not be wholly reliant on one income and also, not be the only earner in the family, but we are definitely not high-end earners and do not have much back-up, if things do go further south.
My wife is getting tired and frustrated with things not "going our way" and while I completely understand her and where she is coming from, unfortunately, this is just the way things go in our life together. I am not quite sure why as we haven't done anything particularly wrong, it is just the way it has panned out for us, with a fair bit of unusual and rare circumstances clustering together around us. In many ways, it is like a soap opera, where everything weird happens in the one tiny community of our family, while the families around us seem to be able to sit back and watch, glad it isn't happening to them.
One thing that I am glad about though is that we tend to deal with these things relatively well, as while they consume us and our energy, we are yet to just give in and give up at anything so far. If anything, we have been able to take on more activity than what we might have otherwise, as when things are going okay, "normal" seems pretty easy. Of course, when things turn again as they are currently, normal adds to the challenge.
I think not doing things just in case conditions change is an attractive option, but I feel that it would lead me into not doing much at all. There is always risk, and I think the risk of "doing nothing" is far greater than the risk of doing something. Doing something at least gives a person agency, while doing nothing leaves them a victim of circumstance and at the mercy of the world. I reckon it is easy to look at people try and fail and criticize the attempt or take the approach of "better to not try" and live a life of relative victimhood, still a failure.
Very rarely do human engineered circumstances improve without intervention, as they are not natural systems and the code is not self correcting. When things are going wrong, doing nothing will often lead to more wrong, because it is like a computer error that will keep breaking, no matter how many times it is run. While some will win the lottery, most people's financial situation will not improve "naturally", meaning it will take work of some kind, even if luck also plays a part.
While my body can heal somewhat naturally and my head will improve as the weeks go on, the level of improvement is going to be heavily dependent on whether I push myself to improve. If I want mental opportunity, I have to lay the foundation and build the resources I require. This is much the same as having financial availability, where sitting back and crossing fingers in hope will unlikely lead to having the economic resources and processes in place when needed.
This is all pretty obvious for most people perhaps, yet most people are also struggling in various ways and feeling they are suffering from limited opportunity. Irrespective of how obvious it is, without activity, knowing it is useless, other than as a reminder of what was possible once upon a time.
Even though it is sometimes difficult to feel like never having stability, one of the benefits of constant disruption means that there are always new things to consider from different perspectives. Yes, I would like a little more certainty at these times and it would be great to have far more economic availability so I could concentrate on other things, but it isn't the worst thing to spend time thinking about either and it could lead me to making some discoveries I wouldn't have found otherwise.
There is value in taking the journey for improved independence and I think for those who really are looking to provide for themselves more, rather than just survive this life, there is a lot of personal return. It might not work out, it might be a constant struggle and life can deliver unsurmountable hurdles - but that is what makes the journey meaningful.
If life was guaranteed good, I do not think we would appreciate it much. And if everyone was going to survive, I do not think we would appreciate each other either. It is the uncertainty and risk that keeps us moving, not the finding of stability.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
