Everything Money Can't Buy
Joyce Maynard at her home in Guatemala.
Photo by Alex Tehrani
I work hard to take care of my health, and I do buy insurance. But to me, the best form of security doesn’t come from a six-figure portfolio; it comes from the ability to face challenges with optimism and a willingness to consider other ways of living be-sides the ones we were raised to expect.
That meant looking to Guatemala. After refinancing my home in California yet again, I bought a house on Lake Atitlán, where my greatest pleasures—the song of the birds, my dive into the lake every morning, the night sky—have nothing to do with spending money. Now I go back and forth between two worlds, renting out whichever place I’m not occupying. I find that my well-being has less to do with where I hang my hat than with who I am. And if I had not lost what I did, I doubt I’d have found the rich and interesting life I made for myself.
JOYCE MAYNARD’s new novel is Labor Day. She’ll run the Lake Atitlán Writing Workshop again this winter (joycemaynard.com). And don't miss Joyce Maynard's funny, moving essay about her breast implants
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Comments
I have never in my life ever read this type of magazine, but my wife read this story to me one night and I have read it several more times since. If you dont miss the point of the real life experience you cant help but read it more than once. Life is like a passing of the night, I will add your experience to many others I know and reflect. Keep it real - thanks Dean.
The story about the "rogue broker" doesn't make any sense, to anyone who knows anything about retail brokerage. "My broker had invested my life savings on margin—an unauthorized action for which she had been fired and was under investigation." If this was a legitimate, licensed broker, the firm would be fully liable for the misconduct, and knowing that, they would restore the account on the spot, before the regulators could jump in. Victims of fraud are also eligible for $500,000 of coverage from SIPC - the securities industry equivalent of the FDIC. Her lawyer got only 5 cents on the dollar? Any lawyer with half a brain would file for arbitration with FINRA or the NYSE seeking the full amount of the account, plus damages and legal costs. Retail brokerage is heavily regulated at multiple levels, and there are multiple remedies. If you have a sizable brokerage account, you don't just dust it off this glibly. You fight tooth-and-nail, and there are plenty of ways to do that.
