"Don' t put your eggs all in one basket."  Sage advice.  But essentially, that is what a risk reversal does.  It puts a lot of eggs in one basket.   And that's what I have done...twice.

When I was a bachelor, life was simple.  It was all about me.  I did what I wanted, when I wanted, where I wanted.  Or, I didn't do what I didn't want.  What I earned was what I could choose to spend.  Simple.

Fast-forward to getting married...then a bit more when my first baby came.  Ah, the miracle of life...and with it came responsibility.  Suddenly, I was looking at life insurance and pension plans.  That's when I did my first risk reversal.  Financial stability above all. 

I threw myself at my work and tested the limits of frugality.  The 14-hour workdays took their toll.  Weekday family time was all but non-existent.  Saturdays were my rest days ("Sssshh....  Let Daddy sleep.") and Sundays were left as "family days."  But my career and nest egg benefited.

Fast-forward to 10 years and 2 more children later....the nest had a bit more eggs now.  I was a manager now.  And I have probably aged double the average of my peers...high cholesterol, poorer eyesight, chronic lumbago, frequent headaches, and worst, my hairline receded dramatically.

One infrequent morning about 2 years ago, my then 4-year old son happened to be awake when I was about to go to work.  So I hugged him good-bye and said I'd see him later.  He replied in the most matter-of-fact tone, "Bye.  Come again."  It was one of those things you kind of knew all along but never really got to confront until something triggered it:  I was a stranger in my own house.  That was when I decided to do the next risk reversal...the other way.  Family above all.

I quit my job and said goodbye to the Tokyo rat race and moved my family to Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Well, it wasn't really as simple as that but essentially, that's what I did.  And that's where this blog starts...