I did read you whole post, and it just doesn't ring true to me.
Which bits do you have an issue with?
Index investing?
Me doing well in a really obscure martial art (like not enough people even know about it to be that good at it)?
Me being in Attack of the Clones (which got me a reference on wikipedia, every nerds dream and, in IT, it is cool to have on your resume, guaranteed to make interview phase hehehe)
Me liking to learn skills such as blacksmithing, brewing, cooking, painting and wanting to get more like electricals, plumbing and carpentry?
I have done a bunch of other things too, simply because I like to learn stuff.
I think you will find it is not that uncommon. I know people that do way more cool things than me (I have a long term relationship which also requires some of my time
. When you are old you have had time to pick up tons of skills. As I approach 40 I only intend on trying to expand my "mediocre skills".
I don't know how I could prove them to you. If you have suggestions I will gladly accommodate where I can.
and I am assuming that the bit in red was yours as well. Could be wrong. Anyhow:
You say it is unlikely, but you plan on spending five years becomeing a sparkie. Why can others not multi-skill as well?
Oh no I am not saying they can't, I think everyone should. One of the sensei I really really respect came out openly stating that your naginata will never be any good if you can't cook or make a cup of tea (it was kind of controversial when she did that). She was pointing out that you must learn many things to become a real person. If you focus only on one thing you may become good at it but you will not be an interesting person and she considers that important.
What I am saying is that I am pretty crap at most of the things I do outside of my speciality. I do these things for fun and to have in my back pocket for future eventualities. I do not compare my skills outside of my primary occupation to be particularly useful for planning my foreseeable financial situation.
For example, I have a pretty specific job type currently. It is conceivable that this skill could become redundant and I would be out of a job and need to pursue a different path. When evaluating whether to become a landlord and attempt to maintain even close to my current income I would assume (ignoring capital gains) that I would need on the order of 10 reasonable places to be rented out (assuming say 400 / week / property). I would assume that with that many properties maintenance would no longer be a once a year thing but quite a regular occurrence.
If I were to consider this option a significant factor would be my tradesman bills I should think that it would be handy to know that I am a crap plumber / carpenter / electrician and could probably ramp the skills up significantly if I were to follow this path rather than to be completely unaware of the whether I could do this stuff or not.
In the meantime of course it is cool just to know the basics of various skills. I can cook, it is unlikely I would ever be a good chef but it good to be able to cook. Same for most skills.
I realise my replies are probably taking this thread wayyyyyy off the initial topic and, if anyone is really upset just pm me to stop replying and I will.
