Today is my first day without a job since I was in high school. I turned in all of my work equipment, said all the final goodbyes, and very anti-climactically walked out of the building on my own. It felt a little bit like a jail break because I was sure that a company the size of the one I worked for would have someone escort me out to make sure I wasn’t stealing furniture. It was more casual than I pictured. I put my stuff on a cart and someone eyeballed it and said it looked like everything, and I was free to walk away.

I heard from many people who responded to my farewell email. The kind words from them and me to them was a nice bit of closure to a great job, and possibly the end of a career.

Hi, What Do You Do?

The question of “what do you do” is not one I’ve ever been inclined to ask anyone upon meeting them. It’s a standard question though that I receive from others. I hadn’t really planned how I would respond to people on the street who ask this. I figure I could just BS my way around it if I don’t want to tell them I’m temporarily or maybe permanently retired.

There is one situation where I need a firm answer though, and that’s immigration at other countries. I have heard enough stories to know I probably don’t want to tell them I’m unemployed, and I don’t want to say something that will lead them to believe I’m making money in their country. I need to find something that is truthful but also suitable for immigration.

Individual Investor

I have decided my profession, quite literally and truthfully, is individual investor. That simply means I’m not an institution investing on behalf of other people, but rather I am investing my own money. This should make it clear that I’m operating at a small scale and I’m hoping it hits a good middle ground that doesn’t draw any attention. It won’t raise flags that I don’t have enough money to stay in a country or make my way back out of a country. It also shouldn’t raise alarms that I’m making money in their country.

I don’t exactly know how much this will turn out to matter. My worry about this is all based on anecdotal accounts of other people having issues. I have no reason not to believe them, so troubles related to my profession are a possibility in my mind. Most people are unlikely to encounter this because they are taking an international trip with time off from their job. They can just state their job and that they are there for a vacation. Our trip is slightly more suspicious with our long time horizons and one way tickets.