EatWalkLearn Welcomes Steve Goodfriend

Hello EatWalkLearn fans! Now that Chris and I have started our nomadic adventures, she invited me to contribute to EatWalkLearn with stories of my passion project during our nomadic life: trading currencies and the global Foreign Exchange market (ForEx). I’m Steve Goodfriend, Chris’ husband and life-adventure partner. For the past 30 years I’ve worked in the Education Technology Industry and officially retired in July.

When Chris and I met in 2009, one of our first conversations revolved around early retirement and global travel. We didn’t totally envision a full-time nomad life (read about it .here), but we did commit to making financial goals so we could get to our nomad life. It was then that I committed to using ForEx as a tool in my arsenal of investments to get me there by our nomad goal of May 2021.

Writing about ForEx fits perfectly with our vegan nomadic adventures in the “Learn” category of EatWalkLearn. I’ll be writing about the type of currency used in the countries we visit plus give historical perspectives that impact their economies and their lifestyles. In addition, my tips might help you “earn” a bit along the way. So welcome to EatWalkLearn…and Earn!

What Is ForEx?

In 2004, I fell upon ForEx. At the time, I wanted to take more control of my investing. A friend invited me to a seminar and introduced the idea of trading currencies. At the same time, I voraciously read anything I could get my hands on regarding the stock market, stock options, commodities, bonds, real estate, and other investment vehicles. But the seminar on ForEx opened my eyes to a huge market that until recently was not open to the individual investor. 

The ForEx market is risky, and you can lose a lot of money. I’m not a risk taker, and I take these warnings very seriously. Yet, the size of the ForEx market and the way currencies fluctuate in value intrigues me.

In a nutshell, the ForEx market is where currencies get their value in relationship to other currencies. For global travelers, we’re constantly looking at the value of the US dollar in relation to the local currency. We ask questions like, “How much is the Dollar worth against the Euro?” Sometimes it’s $1.18, but other days it’s $1.20. Most people don’t realize that the values are constantly fluctuating, and that fluctuation gives traders an opportunity to make a profit (or a loss.)

For more details about ForEx , I recommend this article from Investopia.com.

Forex and COVID

I have continued to learn about the ForEx market and the way global economic events affect each country. A recent example is how the COVID crisis impacted the Euro vs Dollar markets. During times of extreme uncertainty investors look to the US dollar as a stable investment. So in March 2020, as the stock market was crashing due to COVID uncertainty, the value of the US dollar spiked up against the Euro and elsewhere. 

Forex and our Travels

In our travels, I see first hand how a country’s currency can affect the day-to-day life of its citizens. I wrote this post after visiting Belfast, Northern Ireland for the day and returning to Dublin, Ireland for the evening, and I digested what it means to have two currencies competing for my spending power. I’ll give a point of view about that in my next post. For now, I want you to know that I’m thinking about how to present currency, currency history, and Forex trading to you in such a way to make it interesting and relatable without bogging down in economic formulas.

Ask Me Questions

I’m now retired from my full-time career, and I don’t want to be your typical tourist. I hope my posts help you understand the counties we visit from a different perspective. So I look forward to sharing my experiences, and I hope to hear from you with questions about Forex trading and insights about our nomadic adventure.

Cheers!