I still remember the very first conversation I had with Verica about investing in the stock market like it was yesterday. Fast forward to present day, I’m happy to hear that she and her husband have been active investors for over two years now.
Knowing how I feel about investing in general, I couldn’t resist but to follow up with Verica and ask her to share her story with us.
Life And Money Adventures
Reading your Blog inspired me to be more interested in investments and how to put my savings to work for me. I like your approach to life and the importance to spend quality time with your family and friends.
Spending a year traveling around the US and exploring the beauty of nature is the best gift that husband and father can give in a difficult time when most of us were closed in our homes.
My name is Verica, a Macedonian fifty-something year old woman, married to Eddy, an Indonesian, and living in Munich Germany. Everyone that meets us is intrigued by our story and how we met. Long story short, we met many years ago when I first went to the US to work on a Cruise Ship.
Life was full of excitement, but also very hard work. We worked 6 to 9 months, ten hours a day, with no day off. That was a big commitment that we were ready to accept, as was our only chance to travel, make and save money. The first few years were very difficult because I had to adjust to the new culture and new ways of making money.
Interacting with guests, most of them successful and financially strong people, I started to learn more about money. In the process, I have met very interesting people and they kindly shared their life stories with me. Thanks to their good will, these priceless conversations opened a new view for me towards life, money, and family.
Then I realized that having a lot of money is not as important as knowing what to do with it once you acquire it.
At one point during our travel retired around the world, we met a retired English couple; who happen to own a small pub on one of the Greek islands, where they spend their summers. They ran the pub during the summer months and hung out with English tourists who were visiting the island. In winter, they would go on a cruise and spend time with their kids in the UK.
The idea to be able to have such flexibility and travel at peril stuck with me, and from that moment on, I have decided that whatever I do moving forward would be one step closer to achieving that goal and have the freedom to do the same.
Luckily for me, my husband is very frugal when it comes to spending money. He is the one who taught me not to buy impulsively, and only focus on things I really need. That is how we managed to save and buy property in Macedonia and renovate his house in Indonesia, plain and simple!
We believe in paying with cash and never entertained the idea of taking a loan or mortgage. This approach gives us the freedom to travel and change jobs if a better opportunity presented itself.
Currently, we reside in Munich, Germany. For the past few years, it has been nothing short of a positive experience for us. I love to challenge my husband and myself with this life.
After few months of research, I stumble upon TradeRepublic and Scalable. These are the two platform that help me to invest in the stock market in Germany and finally to put our money to work. As of now, we are investing a portion of our income in a Vanguard S&P 500 Index Fund, which has the lowest expense ratio.
Our long-term goal is to invest as much as we can in the stock market and create an income stream for retirement. A second income stream we are working on is to have our properties in Macedonia and Indonesia rented out for a consistent cash flow.
Come retirement, we are planning to purchase a small piece of land or a house in the Mediterranean, by leveraging rental income and stock market income.
I must say, things are changing and the only thing that is certain is change. Looking at the younger generation nowadays and the resources they have at their disposal, it’s so easy to take matters in their own hands (e.g. from financial stand point), some are just few clicks away.
Growing up, we were not privileged to such information and I regret not being able to understand money management early on in our lives. Either way, that shouldn’t be the reason not to start, no matter how old you are.
Life is an adventure and we never know what awaits us around the next the corner!
Thank you Verica for sharing your story with us. It is stories like this take gives me the most joy and fulfillment. The fact that Verica has taken the initiative and actually started investing is huge. Not to mention that the road to riches is through saving and investing, so way to go Verica!
