What’s Your Exit Strategy?

Any good portfolio manager knows the importance of having a sound exit strategy. In the world of finance, each investor has their own limits as to when they see it as time to sell their investment. Ideally, we would like to buy at the right time and sell at the right time, in order to minimize our losses and hopefully make a profit. However, it seems that not everyone can sell as easily as they buy, both in the finance world, and in our own personal world.

I sometimes analyze my decisions with a financial twist. I know, that sounds a little weird, but what I mean to say is that, I have taken this idea of knowing when to get out of an investment, and I have carried that idea over to one major aspect of all of our lives—relationships. When you buy a stock, you can set limits on how long you will hold on to it. For example, you can say “Ok, if the stock loses 10% of its original value, sell.” I think that when we get into a relationship, we also have these ideas in our head of what we will and will not endure, and we also have them for other people’s relationships. Like, “Oh, no way! I would never put up with that!” or “She is so stupid to be with that guy!” For some people it’s quite easy, they aren’t happy with their ‘investment’ so they get out, “You know, it’s been real fun, but it’s just not working for me.” or “I hope you find the right person for you, but it’s just not me.”

However, it seems like the longer you invest in a person (when it comes to relationships, our investment comes in way of time, energy, feelings, emotions, and, usually in my case, money as well....), the harder it is to know if/when to get out. This is when self worth walks into the door and starts screaming in your face. There must be a point that we, as human beings, know what we are worth, what we will take, and what we will not take. I think that when you realize that you are compromising any of these parts of you life, it’s time to SELL SELL SELL and get out of dodge before you forget who you are...(I can say this because I struggle with this myself.)

Now, I want to take this idea one step further, past relationships. I came to Cambodia thinking I would adjust just as quickly and easily as I did in Korea. The initial week or so, I spent taking it all in. However, little by little I was seeing my sense of freedom being replaced with fear and paranoia. Praying for my life on the back of motorbikes, carrying money in my bra so my purse doesn’t get ripped off my shoulder (usually the same time as I am praying for my life on the motorbike), being home before the sun sets so I don’t get mugged. I realized that there are many things I can do in this world and doesn’t include my freedom being stripped away. Where fear and crime thrive, there is no freedom. With that being said, I have decided it is time for me to get out of this investment, while I am still able to. Cambodia is not the place for this Ohio girl.

Let’s face girl, a girl has to know her limits—when it comes to stocks, relationships and freedoms.