Calculated Risk-Taking & Moving Across the World with Jim Corfield

My guest is James Corfield, who goes by Jim.

Most James’ do.

I’ll admit, I’ve never understood why. Maybe it has significant meaning. But when I don’t understand something of the sort, I’ll ask myself: Is it “worth a google?”

Normally, this Jim / James dilemma would qualify [as worthy of a google]. After all, what’s more important than relationships and names.

Let’s say you wanted to build the former (relationships) using the latter (names). Well, your not-so-humble host felt so strongly about its importance that I emphasized it as a guest on Bigger Pockets—a show which focuses almost exclusively on wealth-building via real estate investing.

I trusted viewers would connect the dots.

My dilemma stems from trying to get these show notes done by the time baby wakes from her nap. I find myself asking: WWJDD (What would “Joe Dirt” do?)

Here’s what I decided. Jot on the legal pad next to me what needs to be looked up later and keep on keepin’ on. Besides, speculating is frequently funner and faster.

Damnit, do I want to lookup whether “funner” is a word, or risk looking like a dope. Again, WWJDD

He’d rhyme “dope” with “nope.” Plus, way I see it, the benefits of alliteration on the reader’s ear outweigh whether “funner” is the “real deal Holy-field. And now you hookers & hoes know how I feel.”

Rhyming has a similar effect. But neither will mean much if you don’t resonate, reminisce or request Nuthin’ But a G Thang searched on Spotify sometime soon. And unless you’re married to me, the odds you”re serenaded with Snoop on a Sunday stroll are slim.

Best this this blogger can do is sympathize with those from another era, and try to compensate them with additional alliteration.

Let’s get back to our shortening tendencies, naming conventions and informalizing of nearly everything. In the past hundred years or so, informality has become so ingrained in the culture that when someone says, “Good Evening,” it’s weird. But it happens. In fact, there’s a high-rise apartment in Houston where employees are required to say “Good Evening!” when people walk in at night.

I’m not a fan. But I also don’t like hearing how pleasurable it is for someone to hand me a napkin at Chick-fil-A. They do many things right there. Don’t get me wrong. But when you ask how I’m doing with your head down, let’s just say I’d be doing better if you didn’t ask at all.

Readers: Please stop answering these people or it’ll continue.

Employers: If you’re going to instruct employees precisely & uniformly how to greet guests, at least give them options. Nothing says, “I’m going to automate you out-of-a job soon,” like, “Here’s exactly what to say to everyone you encounter.”

Promise I’ll tell you more about “Jim” in a hot minute (shorter than a regular minute). But let’s explore this topic of shortening & informalizing further.

I still remember the day I learned “Trey” meant the third male born into the family with the same name. Not in the Balinese sense (more on that later). But with Trey (no one specific by the way), I remember thinking That seems cheap & informal: “Trey”

Plus, it deprives mom & dad of picking a baby name, which I would’ve thought at that age to be the coolest thing ever. Clearly this was before I knew how to put two dots atop the “i” in “naïve.” But sadly, if not hypocritically, it was probably the same year my own name switched from Bradley to “Brad,” after going by a more formal, Bradley, the first 14 years of my life.

Re Jim, 9 times out of 10, I’d say, “It’s worth a ‘google,'” but I really want to get thru these show notes before Baby O wakes from her nap.

Here’s a fun-ish exercise worth making time for: How much was shortened in that last sentence Re Jim? Hint: I’ll nitpick and count the contraction: “It is.” But feel free to go back and read the sentence as much as you like before scrolling down (up?) for the answer below.

Ready?

If you said six (6), congrats (congratulations)! If not, see what you missed:

Re (regarding); Jim (James); It’s (It is); 9 (zero through nine, the word should be written, whereas numerals should be used beyond nine i.e. 10, 11, 12, etc.; thru (through); “Baby O” (Baby Overseas). All were cut to save 8 seconds—which is an eternity on a bull and time stolen from us on the Internet.

One thing that takes considerable time is dressing more formal. Ever see a crowd photo from Yankee Stadium a century ago?

Every man is dressed like he’s going to a job interview in 2022. Not to mention he’s wearing a hat that more resembles Lincoln’s topper than a ball cap indicating which team he’s pulling for.

But in his defense—besides deodorant (because you know that dude was sweating bullets in the Bronx summer heat)—he was closer to Honest Abe’s era than the flip-flops and muffin tops we see on airplanes today. Americans dressed more formal on planes & trains back in the dizzay.

Nobody likes ties, in baseball or around the neck, so let’s call this an equivalence: I’ll bet going to see Babe Ruth play in the house he built sans suit of clothes would be like going to a job interview today the same way.

Let’s get back to names. My dad is John Dantonio. So was his dad. But since his dad went by “Fats,” I was confused as to whether he was a junior or not—he was, in fact, a “junior.” He was kind enough to send an email this morning to correct the record. Because I didn’t think my dad was a “junior.” He added, and I’ll paraphrase: “I’m still Junior for Social Security [purposes], voting, etc. But if following cemetery etiquette, Junior can be dropped when Senior heads to the Gates which are Pearly.”

I’m coming to you this week from Guatemala. Here most people have two middle names, giving them four names total.

In 2015 when I met my wife, she said she didn’t have a middle name at all.

I said, “That’s weird.”

She said, “It’s great, actually. I’ve never needed it (a middle name). And think of all the time I’ve saved filling out paperwork.”

Five years later, a nurse with a clipboard interrupted us loving on Baby O to say, “Have we thought about a middle name for the baby?”

My wife said, “She’s not gonna have one.”

“Really?” (she seemed anxious to write on her clipboard).

My wife said, “It’s true, we’re not giving her a middle name. I actually don’t have one either.”

When Lady O & I were teaching in Bali, Indonesia, it seemed every other kid had the same name. Wayan, Kutut, Nyoman, etc. Admittedly, the urge most teachers feel to learn their students’ names wasn’t there. I felt like if their parents didn’t care for the uniqueness of their kid’s name, why should I?

We soon learned their name was based on birth order. Thus, if your name was Wayan, you were first born in the family. Whereas Kutut was 4th.

Thinking back, I can’t believe how many Kutut’s we met. They make lots of babies on that lush island. It’ll make more sense if you visit:)

Back to Jim. He’s one of those guys you don’t meet everyday. We were chatting at the hotel pool in Playa Del Carmen, MX, but it felt like we were on bar stools in a British pub.

I was drawn to the guy. It could’ve been his ability to tell a good story—a rare and underrated skill set today. Although I should say everyone thinks they’re a good storyteller. It’s not a lot different than asking someone, “Do you have a good sense of humor?” or “Are you better than the average driver?”

Nonetheless, five minutes chatting with Jim and I thought I’ve gotta get this Brit on the pod. He’s got “it.” Not only that, he’s a married father of three and an adept risk-taker (my kind of guy).

Quick example—six years ago he moved his family from small town Britian to Vancouver. On a whim. Now he’s living out his childhood dream, while traveling at a break-neck pace and eating it up like he’s never had a meal outside England.

We talk about getting rich slowly; buying assets in lieu of things that depreciate in value; envy & resentment for success in Britian; similarities in the underclasses of America & Britian; Vancouver being incredibly expensive; real estate investing; Jim’s grandad’s best advice; Kobe Bryant, Joe Dimaggio & Michael Jordan.

By the way, I found time to google “James-to-Jim.” So worth it. And you can bet my buddy back home will heretofore be referred to as “Jammy.” Here it is:

People wanted a shorter more familiar way to call people named James and the vowel changed because Jim sounds better than Jam.

That’s what Google said.

This was one of my Top 3 episodes all-time. Hope you’ll enjoy it like I did!

Questions asked:

Why are you here [in Playa Del Carmen]?
What would you do without your routine? [Would you be “lost?”]
Where were you living while [still] growing up in England?
Why is Birmingham famous? Is one of the Beatles from there?
How far is a train ride from London to “Brom?”
What did your dad do for a living?
Did you know you were going to be a carpenter when you were 12 [years old]?
Are you grateful now for having worked as an apprentice with your dad when you were a kid?
What did your grandfather do?
What’s the best advice your grandfather ever gave you?
Have you heard of James Clear?
What were you doing when you heard Kobe Bryant died?
What is it that you do—what would be on your business card?
[You work] 8-9 hours a day—how much of that is manual labor?
Did you have a lot to learn because of [the differences in the two countries]?
Did you make more money moving to Canada?
Why do you think they don’t teach us [how to negotiate, how to do tax returns, how mortgages work, APR percentages, etc,]?
You’re 35 years old—give me an idea how much money you make…
Does your wife work?
Have you considered a sales career?
Have you ever spent a night in jail?
Are you investing some of your money right now?
What would you say you struggle with most?
Does your marriage have an ‘equalism’ mentality where everything should be 50/50?
Have you heard of Theodore Dalrymple?
Do you know who Charlie Munger is?
Do you have an internal monologue? Does it run constantly?
How much money have you been able to save through the years?
Are you doing any other investing (other than the RSP through work)?
At what age do you plan to retire?
Prayer or meditation?
[Question to Brad] Do you know what an ocarina is?
Did you hear Jim Carrey talk about Chris Rock suing Will Smith for $200 million?
Do you know who Robert Greene is?
Are you a fan of Tim Horton’s?
What is amazing about Sweden?
What changes do you expect now that Elon Musk has a 9% stake in Twitter?
Have you ever paid for a mobile phone app?
How do you get your music?
Do you listen to the Man Overseas Podcast the same way?
Is your car payment higher or lower than average (~$600/mo.)?
Are you more comfortable with Biden having the nuclear codes [than Trump]?

Fun questions:

Social media – is it a net negative or net positive for society?
Gun to your head (or $4 million) if you get this right—was the Will Smith vs. Chris Rock thing real or fake?
Who are you taking on a dinner date: Cameron Diaz, Alicia Silverstone, or Christine Taylor?
In their prime, who are you taking on a dinner date – Heather Locklear, Kathy Ireland, or Christie Brinkley?
If you get a dinner date with Halle Berry or Scarlett Johansson, who are you taking?
If you and two of your best friends can go anywhere in the world for two weeks, where would you go?
If you’re stuck in Northern Finland by yourself and can only bring one band’s album with you, who are you taking with you?
If someone gave you $100,000 & forced you to invest it in one of three companies – Tesla, Airbnb, or Spotify – where are you putting the money?
If you were to ‘hook up’ one of your friends with Meghan Markle, what would you say about her?
You’re hosting a dinner party at your house and cost is not an issue—are you having 4, 6, or 12 guests?
At this dinner party, you ‘klink-klink’ your glass and stand because you want to thank everyone for coming—what do you say next?