How to Live to 100+, Dive Mysteries & Against All Odds
This week I have been thinking more about travelling and trying to get my fix of seeing amazing parts of the world. In this edition, I’ll show you some of the ways I done just that.
TED Talk I’ve Been Inspired By
In ‘How to Live to 100+’ Dan Buettner studies the world's "Blue Zones," (communities whose elders live with vim and vigour to a record-breaking age) and looks to find the path to a long, healthy life. In his talk, Buettner shares the 9 common diet and lifestyle habits that keep thee Blue Zone communities spry past age 100, whether they live in Sardinia, Japan or Loma Linda California. You can watch it here.
What I’ve Been Watching
One of the things I love about travelling is exploring our underwater world. This was taken to a whole new level when we took the girls diving in Thailand last October, something I’d been waiting to do as a family since Ffion was born over 13 years ago. Fortunately, the girls loved it as much as I did, so we have started watching Monty Halls' ‘Dive Mysteries’ together. Having dived ‘The Blue Hole’ in Dahab many years ago, apparently the most dangerous dive site in the world, the first episode in particular was fascinating for me. You can watch it on Amazon here.
What I’ve Been Reading
One of the things I loved about doing Ironman Italy last year was the excuse to explore a part of Italy I probably would never have otherwise visited. For me, the travel element of that experience was just as memorable as the physical challenge.
I recently read ‘Against the Odds’ by John Pendergrass. What I loved about it was, whilst it is a book about a guy trying to complete 6 Ironman’s on 6 different continents in his 60’s, and about the lure of the Ironman challenge, it is also a book on travelling to remote places like Taupo, New Zealand and Florianopolis in Brazil, which for me is part of the magic. You can read this funny and fascinating book here.
App I’ve Found Useful
Whilst we can’t go and travel the globe at present, with a cheap Virtual Reality headset you can still take a step into another world. The App ‘VR Showcase’ allows you to travel the world to see places and events. Personally, I resisted seeing places I hadn’t visited yet like Machu Pichu, so as not to spoil it when I do, but it did allow me to revisit flying above NYC in a helicopter and wandering around Vatican City and Rome. You can try it here or here.
Quote
“The journey not the arrival matters.” –T.S. Eliot
Finance Theme I’ve Been Considering
When the markets are at a low, you are presented with an opportunity to do certain things that you might not otherwise have been able to achieve. Other than the obvious opportunity to invest at a low point of the market, there are a couple of ways of making the most of your investments being (hopefully temporarily) worth less than they once were.
The first is to move money that ideally you would have moved previously, but because it was pregnant with gains, you didn’t want to due to the tax consequences. Now is the opportune moment to make that move.
The second is for those people who have exceeded the pension Lifetime Allowance. If you are over 55, crystallising the pension at a market low allows you to minimise the tax bill. If either situation applies to you, and you’d like advice on making the most of this opportunity, just ask. We’re here to help.
Stay happy and healthy and enjoy the sunshine if you can safely.
