This chap I know is from New Zealand, a country with more sheep than people, but has spent at least two decades in Hong Kong as a banker. Recently, he became somewhat of a celebrity in his little town back home after buying a decrepit but once-grand manor.
That place doesn’t see a lot of investment though it has plenty of cultivable land. So the sum spent by my friend on the mansion was enough to earn him a spot in the local newspaper. A lifetime in banking had taught my buddy to think ahead so he had actually snapped up the property at an astonishingly good price.
But the guy had bigger ambitions. You see, he’s now retiring from banking to move back to New Zealand, to restore the house and do some organic farming.
Now, I was never one to potter around in a garden or raise livestock, but this chap seems to have it all figured out, and is even planning on exporting his farm’s products once it’s up and running.
If his run as a banker is any indication, his venture is likely to be a money-spinner — though I’d never understand how one can live in the middle of nowhere with no quick and easy access to a fine bar. Oh well, to each his own!