Accidental Disappearance & Deliberate Invisibility

 

 

The first time I disappeared, it was an accident!

 

 

Here’s the story of how it happened and how I became invisible a 2nd time (on purpose):

 

 

Once upon a time … In a land far away … Known as Seattle …

 

My wife and I retired young and wealthy in our mid 40’s. Our early retirement at a young age came after a rewarding effort as a Realtor and Private Investor (mainly in real estate). We had planned to buy a big boat and retire to go cruising in a couple of years. We looked at a couple of boats so my wife could get an idea of what living aboard a big boat would be like. I had previously lived aboard two big boats for many years so I had already lived the lifestyle and wanted to do it again. We fell in love with one of the boats we looked at and decided we would make an offer. If accepted, we would retire right away and go cruising. Three days later, the seller accepted our offer. When the boat broker told us, we were shocked to realize we were obliged to follow through with the purchase. After I recovered my jaw from the deck, I blurted out “Oh my God … We just retired”.

 

We sold our investment properties, put our home up for sale, and moved aboard the 57-foot motor yacht that had retired us by accident.

 

A few months later, when the boat was ready and fully provisioned, we vanished over the horizon to begin a multiyear cruise of unspecified length. The cruise was to last at least five years with intent for much longer, perhaps a lifetime.

 

Like so many plans in life, the long cruise didn’t go quite as expected. So much for “The finest plans of mice and man” … “Man makes plans and God laughs at us”.

 

The journey first went north to SE Alaska via the Inside Passage, then south down the entire Pacific coast, through the Ditch (Panama Canal), north through the Caribbean and finishing in SW Florida. There were planned and unplanned zigs along the way. We had several “buddy boats” during the first year, but one and a half years into the cruise, we met another boat and crew with a 5-year plan similar to our own. Our boats crossed paths in the Sea of Cortez, Mexico. After some enjoyable times together in La Paz and elsewhere in the Sea of Cortez, the crews determined the two boats would cruise together for the next five years. My wife and I abandoned our plan to summer-over in the Sea of Cortez for hurricane season. We instead traveled with our boats new mate, south out of the Sea, then north from Cabo San Lucas, and arrived in San Diego for the second time. This was so our companion boat’s crew could sell their home ashore in San Diego and prepare for an extended cruise. The Captain of our companion boat had just retired and his younger wife was near to my wife and I in age.

 

After five months in San Diego, hurricane season was ending and we were ready to provision the boats for departure on the much-anticipated 5-year cruise. This is when the other Captain suffered a minor heart attack. A few days later, our friends decided they would sell their boat and buy a condominium in La Paz, Mexico where we had met them. My wife told me “if our friends are not joining us cruising, I don’t want to go either”. A major dilemma now separated us. My wife was willing and happy to continue living on our boat but did not want to go cruising without our friends. I wanted to continue cruising, even without our friends. I would not be happy to end the cruise and stay in San Diego. With no way for us to both be happy, we decided to settle our affairs and part friendly. I helped my wife find and furnish an apartment ashore. A couple of weeks later, much poorer and no longer a millionaire because of our agreed settlement, I headed my boat south.

 

A couple of months later, I became a millionaire again … Thanks to the “Tech Rally”.

 

The following year, I suffered horrible losses in the “Tech Crash”. After a several week period in remote parts of southern Mexico. I arrived at a mainland marina. I wandered into an Internet Café in the nearby town to see how my portfolio was doing. I was shocked to discover $880,000+ had vanished from my investment account. In the next few weeks, as I tried to save what little was left or my fortune, another $80,000+ disappeared. The balance in my account now stood at a mere $37,000 and change, which I transferred to a safe money market account!

 

A couple of years later and just over six years from the departure on my long cruise, I arrived in SW Florida. I was broke and had to borrow money from my parents to start my life over. On arrival, I was required to check-in with US Customs. After the bus ride to the airport to do so, I boarded another bus to arrive at the State Department of Children and Families. I wanted to see if I was eligible for “Welfare” or “Food Stamps”. Because I was an able-bodied single man, without dependent children, I was not eligible for public aid but they did grant me “emergency food stamps for one month”. At least I was not going to starve in the next few weeks!

 

The next bus ride took me to the Social Security office because I needed to get a replacement for my long-lost Social Security card. I needed to find a JOB (means Just Over Broke) right away so I needed to get a new Social Security Card. I was going to start my life over in my early 50’s … So much for my early retirement at age 46 after being semi-retired from age 29.

 

At the Social Security office, I discovered “Big Brother Was Watching”. It had only been about 20 minutes since I left the state offices with a Food Stamp Voucher. I had given the State of Florida the phone number and address of the marina where my boat was parked. It had been less than two hours since I left US Customs at the airport where I also gave the marina address and phone number. I told the clerk at SS that I needed to get a replacement SS card. She sent me on to another person who asked for my legal name. After inputting just my name into her computer, she asked me to give the last four digits of my SSN. This was to confirm she had found the correct account. I recited the requested numbers from memory. She checked her computer screen and asked if I lived at … “The Marina Address” … and if my phone number was “The Marina Phone Number”.

 

The FEDS already knew where I lived and what the phone number was!

 

To this day, I don’t know if they so quickly got that information from US Customs, the State of Florida, or both. Regardless, in less than two hours from giving my address and phone number to these two other agencies, Social Security had the information. I walked out of the SS office a few minutes later with a new SS card, in a daze of surprise and then … Shock set in!

 

I was out of the country for over four years since my second departure from San Diego!

 

Just 16 hours after arrival back in “Big Brother Land”, I was in both State and Federal Databases!

 

NOTE:  This was in April of 2001

 

The next morning, I went to a bank to see about applying for a loan so I could survive until I got a JOB. The friendly loan officer first ran a credit check on me. She immediately told me I would NOT be eligible for a loan. She told me that two of my credit scores were ZERO, and the third credit bureau had no record of me at all. In hindsight, I realized I had not used credit in over 15 years because I financially did not need credit as a wealthy individual. I did not exist during those 15-years as far as the Credit Bureaus were concerned because I did not use credit … I had paid cash for everything!

 

As I left the bank, I began to realize I had unintentionally “left the grid”, “disappeared under the radar”, and literally become “an invisible ghost”. I had vanished from all City, County, State, Federal, Business, and Credit databases while I was out of the country on my long cruise.

 

Then it hit me! … The day before, when I gave my address and phone number to two Federal Agencies and a State agency, I had again become visible to Big Brother. Further, all three credit bureaus now had me on their radar again with updated address and phone number. I was someone NOT creditworthy and the worst possible credit risk.

 

I HAD DISAPPEARED … BUT OVERNIGHT, I WAS AGAIN VISIBLE TO BIG BROTHER!

 

To make a long story short …

 

Three years later, thanks to the real estate boom in Florida, I was a millionaire for the third time! I had chosen SW Florida as the best prospect for real estate investment in the near future while my boat and I were in Bocas Del Toro, Panama. I had been correct in my assessment of the future and now lived in the fastest growing city in the USA. I owned a lovely waterfront home with the boat parked at my private dock, a short journey to the Gulf of Mexico.

 

And then …

 

The SW Florida real estate market collapsed in 2005.The fastest growing city in the USA quickly became the Foreclosure Capital of the USA! This real estate collapse predated the collapse of the real estate markets in the rest of the country by as much as two years.

 

Six years later, I had no choice but to let my lovely waterfront home go to a foreclosure sale for nearly a million dollar deficiency. The house sold at the foreclosure sale for 23% of my purchase price. Three days later, after a hasty move back aboard, I left aboard my yacht. I was broke again but I still owned my floating home and everything aboard her “free and clear”.

 

I disappeared again!For the second time and forever …

 

The morning my boat and I motored away from my waterfront house, I again became invisible and dropped under Big Brother’s radar. The databases out there only had the address, phone number, etc., for the house left behind.

Since my second disappearance, I have lived aboard my boat under legal Business Names (my Pen Names as an author). My boat is a moving target and I live aboard in complete anonymity, wherever she may be or may journey to in the future. My mail goes to a protected P O Box and a protected Private Mail Service. These were registered to the house address before I left. I pay monthly rent to the marina my boat is parked in by a check from a protected Business Account. I write one check a month to cover everything, including slip rental, all utilities, and even Internet service. The marina management and residents know me by a legal Business Name, which is one of my Pen Names. I am anonymous and nobody knows much about me, where I came from, or where my boat might be traveling to next. They know me as an Author and by one of my legal Pen Names. I’m one of many transient live-aboard boat owners in the marina. I’m a respected businessperson and Author to all who know me.

 

For eight months after leaving my waterfront house, I updated my books and then published my first several books. I had begun writing over nine years before, during the final year of my long cruise.

 

In the 3 years and 5 months since leaving the waterfront home behind, my boat and I have spent time in seven different marinas.

 

One fateful day … Three months after first publishing, I became a #1 Best Selling Author!

 

The next day … I became a 4-Time #1 Best Selling Author!

 

Today … As I write these words, I’m living aboard my yacht (somewhere out there), and I’m now a 14-time #1 Best Selling Author under multiple pen names.

 

The Social Security income I now collect is inadequate for me to live on. I expect that at some point in the not-too-distant future, as the bankrupt US economy continues towards collapse, my SS income will come to a sudden end.

 

Yes Virginia, I’m in my sixties now and I regard SS income as “temporary gravy”.

 

Fortunately, my Author income is greater than social security and will show-up each month to multiple and protected business accounts. This happens regardless of where my boat and I are in the world.

 

I will continue to publish self-help books for others to benefit from. I expect my income as an Author will continue to increase as I continue to publish new books. Perhaps, I will become a millionaire for the fourth time but earning money no longer motivates me. I enjoy helping people and the simple life I have living aboard my boat. I enjoy the freedom to stay or leave on any given day aboard my mobile floating home.

 

Will I ever write a longer and more detailed autobiography?

 

I’ve been encouraged to write such a book by many as I have led an interesting life.

 

Truth Be Known …

 

Fear keeps me from writing a more detailed autobiography.

 

It might become a Best Seller and some movie producer would want to abuse me by making an Epic Movie. I’d become a household name and reporters would stalk me for interviews. I’d have to go into hiding to avoid my fans rather than living openly in plain sight … YIKES! See where fear can take you!

 

I love my life the way it is. It’s not an accident that I live as I do. I’m unstressed, relaxed, happy, content, secure, protected, anonymous, fulfilled, and free to go wherever I choose, and the person I want to be. My life is a conscious act of love for self, loved ones, and my fellow humans through my books.

 

It will be easier, safer, simple, and smart to remain anonymous as exactly the person I love to be.

 

 

What About The Future? …

 

My plan shall be to enjoy life, remain anonymous, help others through my books, and “die in bed with a gorgeous redheaded woman at the age of 150”.

 

I’m so relieved for having decided!

 

I owe it all to you my dear readers

 

Thanks so much!

 

 

That’s the short version of my story … And I’m sticking to it!