This STEEMIT thing is kinda addictive!

Greeting I guess this is my second, but more 'real' intro post ;)

Thanks a million to @hgmsilvergold for organising this community - herding cats might be easier. Hopefully Steemit brings in the dedicated community features as per their road map. In any case, @steemsilvergold - I have stumbled upon a good thing here!

Please allow me to indulge and tell you a bit of a story...

Superficially, people describe me as well travelled. I've been to 64 countries, several quite extensively and a few multiple times. Lived and worked in five; Canada. Honduras. Ireland. Germany. And now the UK. Along the way learned a thing or two about buying, selling and travelling with physical gold.

(Getting tooth extracted in Marrakesh 2004)

Born and raised in Dublin until my late teens when my parents decided that it was best to up-root us all and emigrate to Canada. Just part of an ancient Irish tradition of leaving for any old reason.

For my 14th birthday I got a Sinclair ZX Spectrum computer. Somehow I wrangled an old colour TV as well. I simply couldn't get enough of this gizmo. Amazing! I could tap away in this BASIC language creating miniature worlds and adventures. And games too! Imagine the shock and escape from stifling early 80s Ireland, now I had endless virtual worlds explorable from inside the computer.

(Most underrated Spectrum game ever - Tir Na nOg)

I never lost interest in computing, but when time came for university I decided money was more important than following a passion. Accountancy was a bridge too far. Law, too shy. So I enrolled in economics. Six years and a masters degree later having learned nothing practical - mainstream university economics is politics masquerading as science - I entered the workforce.

By 1996 myself and my girlfriend at the time were living out in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It was cool. Great weed. Great salary from an easy job and cheap rent. Beautiful nature and adventures with people who have since become lifelong friends.

Life was grand.

(Screw the bus I'm flying! Cuba 2006)

My first taste that something wasn't quite right with the money system was the internet bubble 1999-2000. Lost pretty much everything and then some. Depressed after a break up, bored with my job and down to my last few saving I said screw this. I fucked off to Honduras (Utila, Roatan Islands) where I trained and worked as a dive master. Then I managed a hotel in Playa del Coco, Costa RIca.

Central America was fun, but eventually I decided hadn't quite milked the 'economist' gig completely. Besides I was still only 32... I need to get rich.

(Angkor Wat, Easter 2008)

Living and working in Dublin 2003-2009 was a massive turning point in my de-programming. The experience of living through a mania changed my outlook on the world fundamentally. I remember talking to a girl in a pub circa 2004 telling me about her two apartments, was working on her third and wouldn't date a guy who 'only rented'. I did a lot of travelling too (thanks Ryanair) and so had numerous conversations with Dublin airport taxi drivers about their huge Bulgarian apartment empire. At work, people were practically hostile to the fact I was 'only renting' and my refusal to submit to a humungous mortgage. It somehow insulted them. I was afterall 'only renting', as they said.

One day, I was asked by a very senior person at my company, someone who had a say in how the company pension scheme was managed, on my views about assets for the fund. The fund was heavily invested in Irish and international property, bonds and some equities. I suggested gold. I might as well said dog shit. I wasn't asked again.

Shortly after, my first batch of gold 1oz Krugerrands and Sovereigns arrived. I left Dublin 2009 and did some more travelling.

(Part of my "Joshua Tree" tour 2014)

Ok lets cut to the chase. In 2012, after 18 years pretending to be an economist, exhausted, bit overweight, but significantly better off financially I finally said enough. Time for a change.

I bought "Android Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide", quit the well-paid corporate prison and haven't looked back. Returning to programming, albeit older wiser and with a measure of some financial security, ranks up there with the best decisions of my life.

Yes no more BMW. No more crazy weekends in eastern europe. But I get up most days with a drive and enthusiasim for life that has been missing for years, maybe ever. Life is my work and work is my life.

Now I'm a (struggling) appreneur and investor, or is that speculator? hmm

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Hey thanks for reading and hope it was mildly interesting! Really looking forward to contributing, growing and learning from everyone on @steemsilvergold :)

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Check out my apps here:
Android - Silver Coin Valuer PRO and Gold Coin Valuer PRO
iOS - Silver Coin Valuer PRO and Gold Coin Valuer PRO