C40's Journal

[spoonman]

I tried to explain that I’d have time to take care of myself, learn, be fit and healthy, pursue hobbies, help other people when I feel like it, and have flexibility to do new things. I’m not good at explaining that on the spot so they didn’t get it.

That's one of the reasons why I keep my activities on the quiet. I lack both the patience and the verbal agility to explain myself to people who don't understand what I'm trying to do.

It sounds like you've managed to get through to your dad, so congrats on that.

[GandK]

You're so close to FI now... what an exciting time for you! And it's great that your family are beginning to see the light. I don't think mine ever will. But kudos to you for saying it in a way that they began to hear!

[Tyler9000]

So – back to the baseball game conversation. I told my dad something along the lines of:
“well, as for what I’ll do, I don’t know exactly. I have a whole list of things I might do. But I know what I don’t want to do – I don’t want to spend all my time and my energy in my life working for someone else just to make WIDGETS…. You know what? I don’t give a shit about widgets. I definitely don’t want to spend all my best hours and efforts on this! …. Aren’t there better things to do?”

Amen.

I sometimes compare leaving an unsatisfactory job or career to leaving a bad relationship. Nobody will admonish you for not lining up a new significant other before leaving the old controlling one. They understand how valuable it can be to just be single for a while.

[C40]

I bought some CLX (Clorox) and MCD (McDonalds) this week.

I also considered buying BAX, MMM, SJM, JNJ, T, MAT






These are all of my dividend stocks:

[C40]

.. and now this week my mom asked me for a list of personal finance and investing books, and then tells me she's been reading MMM and sent me the name of a blog of a girl that lives & travels out of her van whom she saw recently.

[rube]

The seed you planted is growing now slowly

[FrenchGirl]

.. and now this week my mom asked me for a list of personal finance and investing books, and then tells me she's been reading MMM and sent me the name of a blog of a girl that lives & travels out of her van whom she saw recently.

That's pretty awesome! I would love to have anyone in my family on board.

[C40]

I wouldn't say any of them are on board (and I don't need them to be). But I am definitely lucky that, outside of being born into the middle class of a first-world country:
- My family are reasonable and fairly open-minded. They won't kick me out of the family or give me huge amounts of grief for going my own way in life.
- We're all pretty independent, and, while some of them spend a ton, they don't seem to be making disastrous decisions, and I don't see them asking for or expecting me to go in on ]hair-brained schemes or bail them out of money situations. (fingers still crossed though)

[spoonman]

Dude, count yourself lucky on two counts:

1) Your mom is reading MMM!!!!! I mean, how freaking awesome is that!?

2) Everyone in your family pulls their own weight.

I am ashamed to say that many people in my extended family have no idea how to handle money.

[C40]

Today, I'd slept down in Missouri, but set my clock for California

I had songs like this on the stereo today for a wonderful drive - and in my head while I sat on this rock for half an hour:

(facing the other direction of course - other than for this camera timer self-portrait)

A couple weeks ago the boss asked if I wanted to go to a factory assessment happening in XXX, California.. Yeah... YEAH!! Where is XXX again? Oh, yeah... right by all those parks? Yeah I should go to that assessment.

I flew into Fresno at noon PST, and had about an hour drive, so I took the long route - four hours of driving through Sequoia and Kings Canyon forests. Next weekend I'll get to call those areas home for 3 days. It looks every bit as good as I was hoping for; I think I'll have a great time.

Reserved an SUV for the car rental:


and guess what - the back seats fold flat!


So I'll get to test out the road trip/camping thing even earlier than I'd hoped for.

The red suitcase is full of my camping & hiking gear. YAY!!

[theanimal]

Good for you! What a beautiful area. Enjoy the weekend, I'm sure it will be great.

[spoonman]

That's an awesome opportunity, I hope you have a great time!

I look forward to hearing more about your adventure.

[C40]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
SEPTEMBER 2014
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

SPENDING - $1,740
- $540 - Home
- $520 - Transportation
- $260 - Entertainment
- $270 - Travel
- $70 - Hygeine
- $70 - Food

Transportation costs:
- $205 – Car repairs - Windshield, rearview mirror, air filter
- $280 – Registration, driver’s license, 6 months of insurance

I thought I needed to replace the windshield in order to register my car, but I realized after doing it that I didn’t actually have to do it now. St Louis has annoying safety and emissions inspections. The safety inspection includes things like your blinkers working and your windshield being free of any cracks (yes, really). The emissions test is simply a test of whether your check engine light (MIL) is on. I have a manifold pressure (sensor) fault so my light is on, and I was going to have to fix that also. After I replaced my windshield, I investigated the laws and found that I didn’t need to fix anything this year. (When you first register after moving here you don’t have to do the inspections, and also, you inspect every other year and this would be my off year anyways.. The lady I had spoken with last year had told me wrong - that I had to do the inspections then). If my windshield gets another crack between now and when I have to go to inspection next year I’ll get some good exercising trying to not get pissed off about something I cannot undo.







CHARTS



With the stock price drops in September, my net worth ended up decreasing slightly overall. This was the first month that happened for about 3 years.

I believe in you, unbounded growth! You can do it!!










INVESTING ASSET ALLOCATION
With the changes I made last month, here’s where I am:
- 54% - U.S. Stocks
- 20% - Real Estate
- 14% - Bonds / Income
- 10% - Pension

(The pension is frozen cash. I have just a small amount of un-invested cash and a few bullion coins.)

I think I might switch some of my US Stock fund in my 401k to an international stock fund. I’m thinking about making this change right now. Any thoughts on the timing? (I’m assuming that my 401k funds will follow these charts below pretty closely)



US Stocks:





International:











CAR CAMPING TEST AND HIKING – Sequoia, California

I went to the central valley of California for work, so I stayed over the weekend and spent 3 days and 3 nights in Sequoia national park, and one more night in Fresno. With my recent focus on living in a van for a while after quitting, this was perfect timing to dip my toes in the water.

I had an SUV to sleep in and a great forest to explore. I didn’t know anything about the area and didn’t do a lot of research. I camped in the Antwell Mill camping area, and that worked out well. It’s on the south side of the park – off a much less-traveled road compared to the main highway that goes through the park. I checked a 10-day forecast a ways before the trip, and looked at different altitudes. It showed highs of 65-80 and lows around 50 I believe, at pretty high altitudes (6,500 feet) and really hot days at low altitudes. The days I was looking at were actually the week preceding the weekend I’d be there, and I wasn’t aware that those temperatures were unseasonably warm, and that it’d be cooler when I was there. So it was a bit colder than I expected for a couple of the days, but that didn't stop me from having a great time.

I flew into Fresno on Monday, and took the long way to the hotel I’d stay at while I was working Tuesday through Thursday. I took a 4 hour drive through the park on the main highway. The weather was perfect.

Thursday evening, I finished up work and drove up to the campsite. I left work after 6. It was dark by the time I got to the park. The road up to my chosen campsite, Mineral King rd., was a far cry different from the well-manicured main highway in the park. It was narrow and bumpy, but it worked just fine. I got myself set up, ate a little snack, stashed my food in the bear box, and slept in reasonable comfort.

Friday morning it was beautiful outside. I used the fire pit to have a warm breakfast and took off for a hike. I went up the mountain – 4 miles to the top of the ridge I was on, and I continued a couple more miles down the other side. That place is incredible - wonderful views, crisp air, warm sunlight, a nice trail, and trees that were alive before Jesus! I spent about two hours during this hike just sitting, watching, listening, letting go of everything else... and then some thoughts of the future – which tend to come with more clarity and purpose on days like this.

The next two days it was cold and rainy. The highs were maybe 50 and the lows approaching freezing. I would’ve brought a warmer jacket and my warmer sleeping bag if I knew better (a warmer jacket and my warmer sleeping bag) but everything worked out ok. If I hadn't brought my rain gear, I would've really been kicking myself.

Day two I hiked the other direction from camp. The clouds and rain really didn’t prevent a good hike as this one had waterfalls instead of expansive views. Day three – my last day there, I packed up and drove down and hiked from 2,000 feet. It still rained for 1/3 of the hike but it was warmer.

I had to be at the Fresno airport around 8:00am for my flight, and I didn’t want to go to sleep that last night at my campsite and have to wake up at 3:00am to drive out of the park in the dark. So I drove to Fresno that evening and found a nice neighborhood to park and sleep in the SUV.

So - this little van camping test was a success. It has increased my interest in becoming a weirdo in a van. The benefits of having a vehicle set up for long-term life will make a pretty significant difference. Acclimation to sleeping in different places and getting used to the space will help as well. Being in the confines of the SUV never annoyed me, but I did find myself wondering how much I’d tire of it in the long-term. I didn’t spend a lot of time inside it, and that’s probably how it would go in the future as well. I’ll keep researching and planning.

Trips away from work, whether it’s taking a week off at home, or just 1-3 days out away from the city in wilderness, have been increasing my motivation to stop working more and more each time.


Costs: $268
- $85 - Rental car
- $49 - Food (Groceries) *
- $48 - Campsite *
- $38 - Gas
- $27 - Parking (airport parking back home)
- $11 - Food (out, Chipotle in Fresno)
- $10 - Hygiene

* I overspent on these. I didn’t know for sure what the fire situation would be so I bought a bit more than I needed to have options. Also I paid for 4 nights of the campsite when I first arrived and hadn’t yet really planned what I’d do that last night and I ended up staying at that campsite only 3 nights.

Long-term costs would be much less than this. I wouldn’t have the rental cost, parking, camp fee, less food, hygiene costs spread out over more time, etc.

Sleeping arrangement:


Campsite:


While driving through the park Monday:


Hiking the first day:


Hiking the third day:


There are some big views while driving through the park:


Hiking, first day:


Click this to see more pictures – a photo album on Flickr

[spoonman]

Absolutely stunning! Thank you for sharing so many photos.

So many beautiful hills in the distance, that seems to be one of the hallmarks of that area. I've had Sequoia on my bucket list for years, but haven't been able to go (last year we had to cancel when we decided to sell our condo).

While sleeping in the SUV, did you have to lower one of the windows for ventilation?

[theanimal]

Wow. Looks like it was a great trip. I'm looking forward to reading about your future van dwelling stories.

[steveo73]

That is a professional post. It also looks like great fun.

[learning]

Hey C40,

My GF and I did several tests of the car camping thing, including a few weekends in towns and cities around where we lived and a few-week road trip in the south of the US. One idea is to incline the front seats forward to give you more space. Some curtains for privacy. Taking bikes on a rack allows you to use the car to drive from one area to another and for sleeping in, then use the bikes for going around locally. An ice chest. Car adapters for cell phones and notebook. A fuel efficient car and only moving from place to place occasionally makes the gas cheaper. There are many free places to park, such as some 24-hr Wal-Marts informally allow people to sleep/camp in their parking lots. Check when you arrive to see if/where the other people are parked. This gets you some security, 24-hr bathroom, 24-hr shopping. Some states have security staff monitoring their highway rest stops and many people sleeping there. Many middle class residential neighborhoods and commercial areas don't really bother people at night, especially if you keep moving around from night to night. Coastal areas with beaches sometimes have beach showers and also people there all night. I started out trying to only use public wifi but then decided that a cellular hotspot was the best idea, probably from Verizon. Cell phone service is, of course, national anyway, so we just talked to everybody like normal with a StraightTalk prepaid phone. A gym membership at a nationwide chain such as 24 hour fitness or planet fitness gets you workouts, showers, and some socializing. A rooftop storage is nice to keep things out of the sleeping area. The parks, tent camping, you seem to already be on to that. I think you can mail things like books from Amazon to your name at General Delivery in the next town you're going to and pick them up at the main post office, but we never tried that.

I really liked the fact that we always had everything with us and could go to sleep or move on at any time. I didn't like the fact that when it rained it was loud and I couldn't read. I never really slept as well as in a home, but I did get to where I slept quite well. My GF slept really well because she was relying on me. Traveling around with the climate is a good idea. We found that checking in to a cheap motel about once per week was good for us psychologically.

Now, back living in an apartment, I like the fact that we could just go in the car at any time. We could sleep anywhere we are. We've never done it, but we could. Also, it would be useful in some sort of civil emergency or natural disaster for mobile evacuation. A sleep-able car is also a good last resort in some sort of financial emergency that would result in homelessness (google guide to homelessness), which, hopefully will never happen, but I prefer having a sleep-able car to a non-sleep-able car just for that extra bit of insurance. And, of course, for more trips in the future, although having done it, I'm now happy to live in a city while having the option there.

[C40]

So get this - my mom called me this weekend and told me that her and her husband are planning to rent out both of the houses they own and live in an Airstream so they can travel while still working. This will lower their spending substantially and allow them to retire in 5 years. (My mom is in her early 50s and I think her husband is a bit younger)

When she first described it, I thought she meant they would stay living as they are now, and then retire in 5 years and get the Airstream. I was asking her if she was going to rent out one of their houses right off the bat (which would speed things up). But since they work from home - and can work from anywhere, they can make the change right now! They just have to figure out a good internet setup - and they've been testing something at home for the last couple months.

I'm a bit surprised. She said that my discussions with her about saving money and my thoughts/plans on living in a van have given them things to think about more than they might have otherwise and I suppose have encouraged them to do this, or to do it sooner. She said thanks for sharing my own thoughts and actions and that it helped them - and I said "now don't blame me if you end up not enjoying it". I'm not worried that she would. I was never suggesting that she do anything herself, just sharing my own plans and reasons.

[GandK]

Good for them!

Other than surprise, did you have any thoughts about this?

[theanimal]

That's great!

You said that sharing your plans and goals helped her, is there anything else you did (explain the concepts etc.) to make her "see the light?" The reason I'm asking is I've tried to do the same with my mom who is about the same age but it has not proved successful. I've shared a bunch of MMM articles with her and she even read some of the first few pages of the ERE book. But she misses the forest for the trees: "I don't want to ride a bike everywhere." "I don't want to give up TV." etc. etc.