DutchGirl's journal

Where are you and where are you going?
DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

Time flies when you're having fun. I've been to the gym fourteen times in 31 days, or roughly once every 2 days. I am aiming for a long-term frequency of three times per week. I've seen some increase in strength, for sure. No decrease in weight just yet, but I should really start watching what I eat, again. That's the culprit.

I spent roughly 1420 euros this month, of which 100 to a holiday we'll be taking in September (we already booked the cabin). My income was 2715. So a savings rate of 48%, and 39% on average for the year. Hopefully I'll go up to 40% or more after the next month.

It looks like it's not going to be possible to get to 50% saved for this year. Possibly 45%, which is close but not quite there. On the one hand: oh, well... On the other hand, I will do my best to get it as close as possible, from now until the end of December.

Quadalupe
Posts: 268
Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2015 4:56 am
Location: the Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by Quadalupe »

Wow, good work on the fitness DutchGirl! They say it takes around 30 days or something to acquire a new habit, so I think you are (almost) there. :) I'm also glad to hear you enjoyed it (unless the time flies remark was sarcastic). Your post is a good motivation for me to also start exercising more!

DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

Hmm. I've been on a short holiday for a week. Came home today. If I hurry, I can still make it to the gym before it closes (closes at 10 PM, it's 8 PM here). Then I can go again on Sunday, then Wednesday perhaps.

I find myself investing more money this month. This was triggered by the market downturn. I'm happy with what I did (put more money in the Irish Vanguard Global Stock fund while it was down a bit), but I am deviating from my asset allocation and now have less money in savings than I should have (still enough for a decently sized emergency fund, though!). I guess I'm just impatient.

When I reach FI, I want to have 5k euros in windenergy-investments. While I was investing anyway this week, I invested 1k euros more in two windenergy-organizations, which meant I reached that target of 5k euros. Check. Done. Mission accomplished. That does feel good. Although it's not the most profitable part of my investments (profits so far 3.2% per year).

So over the next few months, I should build up my savings again (while a little bit of each paycheck also goes to investments automatically). But it's soooo boring to put money in savings :-D . Oh, well...

Finally, with this little week away from home, I have been wondering about what I'll do when I'm FI. Maybe I'll even want to switch jobs just a few years before reaching full FI? (And then switching to a job, perhaps with a lower income, probably with different challenges and tasks, and with more decent (parttime?) hours). I'm definitely not sure yet, but it's fun to think about all the options that are slowly opening up for me. (And it's a gradual thing, I definitely already have more options now, with 75k euros of savings, than I had when I had 5000 euros, and this process will continue, I'm sure of it).

Cerberusss
Posts: 15
Joined: Sat Aug 29, 2015 2:38 pm

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by Cerberusss »

vexed87 wrote:DutchGirl, regarding evading taxes, yes it's risky, but have you read "How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World"?
Wow, I've started reading this book and I have to say it's extremely interesting. Thanks for the pointer!

vexed87
Posts: 1521
Joined: Fri Feb 20, 2015 8:02 am
Location: Yorkshire, UK

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by vexed87 »

@cerberusss, I won't take credit for that, it's been mentioned many times over on the forum and may well be on the ERE reading list (wiki) :)

DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

Ha, reading this back as I feel it's the end of the month and I can post again, I see the compliment about the fitness habit and that's the kick that I needed, to go again, today. I have not been slacking, I have been going 3 x per week, and I have seen more progress too, but I was tempted to do so today, as I also will have to go to a birthday party with lots of screaming 0-4 year olds (of which four are my adorable nieces and nephew). It's hard to motivate myself to do both, but here I go.

Finance-wise things are going ok. A nice income of almost 3000 euros, and expenses of 1580 euros, so almost, almost a 50% savings rate.

This month I put some of my savings in a certificate of deposit for the next three years. The interest rate has been going down here, similar to in the US, so I'll get 1.7% per year of interest for this, but it was only 0.8% in the savings account, and I won't need this money anyway, so it's nicely locked up for a while. Now the balance in my savings account is running rather low (after all those investments I did, last month, and then the CD), so I am pretty motivated to get that balance up again.

It's getting close to that time of the year where the company announces the plans for next year, which for me is linked to how many hours of work they'll offer me. I'm still not completely sure what to hope or ask for.

It's also getting closer to the end of the year. The year in which I aimed to spend less than 18k euros (I'm at 16k already, and 2k won't be enough for the remaining three months, so that's a fail) and tried to earn more than 36k euros (I'm at almost 27k euros, so that looks attainable, especially knowing that there's a bonus in the last month of the year, too). I think in December I'll come up with a new plan for next year. This one was pretty tough, but I also learned a lot from it.

Right, time to pack things for the gym.

FrenchGirl
Posts: 53
Joined: Sun Dec 08, 2013 4:27 am
Location: France

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by FrenchGirl »

Hi DutchGirl,
Good job on the investments, if you don't anticipate à n'y interruption in revenue for thé foreseable future, you miche as well but your money to work! :) Now of course, you still need some liquid money as an emergency fund, if you do reach your 36k goal, it should be no problem at all.

Congrats on the fitness! If you're like me, think about how great you feel afterward it's a huge help when I lack motivation.

steveo73
Posts: 1733
Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2013 6:52 pm

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by steveo73 »

Well done on the savings rate and getting some investments happening. Do you have any areas where you can easily cut expenses. I find that this is the easier area to focus on in that cutting expenses often in my case didn't impact my life at all.

DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

Thanks, Frenchgirl. I indeed do not anticipate an interruption in my revenue for the foreseeable future, and I hope to have replenished my savings somewhat by December and fully by March next year. Today is another day I'll have to head towards the gym, right after finishing this post :-)

Steveo, for me it's hard to cut savings beyond a certain point, as I'm not living on my own. For some savings I would have to argue with my boyfriend, and he sometimes really can't be bothered. Like, for example: the utilities are in his name. I would want to switch to other companies to save say a total of 600 euros per year (300 euros for me, 300 for him), but he doesn't want to do all the work involved in that. He does earn more than I do, so he thinks saving 300 euros per year is not worth his effort. And because the utilities are in his name, I do need his cooperation for this. Same with groceries: I can decide that I'll spend less on groceries, but then he comes home and has done some grocery-shopping too, for double my budget most of the times. (I'll buy food for two days for 15 euros, he'll invite a friend over for dinner and spends 30 euros on ingredients for one meal, plus a bag of crisps and some sodas).

Then again, next winter my boyfriend and I are going on a skiing trip with my family. I could say no and save myself easily 300 euros of holiday expenses, but I see this as an opportunity to spend some quality time with my parents, my brother and sister, their spouses and their kids. Last year we had a really good time together, and I think we'll have a similar good time this year. So that's 300 euros I'm spending on "wants". So it's definitely not all "him" :-) .

And also, living on my own would be more expensive too. When I moved in with my boyfriend, my housing expenses decreased from 600 euros/month (for my small apartment, including utilities) to 400 euros per month (my share for our small house+utilities). I can save more now than I could before, even with the unnecessary extra expenses.

Alright, time to stop the complaining and start preparing for the gym.

I also just published my "manifesto" on my Dutch blog about that I want to become FI and (E)RE. People were asking why I was saving so much money. Now they know. Oh dear ... Preparing for the shit storm of comments. (Luckily, I can just throw away comments that are too obnoxious).

But first, gym.

Quadalupe
Posts: 268
Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2015 4:56 am
Location: the Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by Quadalupe »

Sounds like you've been going a good job for the past weeks! And I can imagine that it is sometimes hard to save when your partner has other priorities. I do not yet live together with my SO, but I foresee the same problems. I have a very frugal taste and can live on a diet of only lentils, beans and rice so to speak (thanks Jacob by the way for introducing me to lentils, I love them!). My SO on the other hands really likes to go all out in the kitchen and prepare very tasty (but expensive) meals. But I can see that it makes my SO happy, so that in turn makes me happy. :)

By the way, I'm interested in your Dutch blog! Would you be willing to share me the link (PM is also okay of course)?

steveo73
Posts: 1733
Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2013 6:52 pm

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by steveo73 »

When it comes to savings rate I think we have to compromise. I'm married with 3 kids. I could be significantly more frugal however it just wouldn't really work for the kids and also my wife. We must also be so much more frugal than the average suburban family so I just have to let it go.

There are things more important than money and increasing your savings rate. Its important but its not as important as your health and having positive social interactions. At the same time you don't need to spend a fortune on health and positive social interactions. I used to go to the pub and you can easily spend $50 per night. That is something that is easy to cut out of your life as it gives very little benefit but costs a lot.

DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

A very late October update. I spent way too much money, I especially spent more than budgeted on fun stuff; 350 euros total. I must admit I'm not too unhappy about that, as 180 euros were used to help other people out, 50 were used to pay for my library card for the next year, and another 55 to celebrate my boyfriend's birthday.

I really do need to think about my charitable projects, though. I think there should be a balance between giving and keeping some money for yourself. As I get some more money, sometimes I feel more in control of the world: I can take better care of myself, and sometimes I can also take better care of others close to me. Really make a difference for someone. Until I think about what it would cost to really make a difference in the world - then I know I'm pretty much nowhere. (Could be in money, or in power/influence, or in time). The problems in Paris are another example of something evil that I cannot fight, cure or even alleviate on my own.

On the other hand - that's the strength of a community of humans, too. I do my part, and others do theirs, and the world is a better place for it. (Sometimes).

OK, back to numbers, as they're easier :-) . Total planned expenses were 1370, total expenses turned out to be 1755, and with an income of 2970 (470 of which were from my job-on-the-side) that means a savings rate of 41%.

We had a work meeting on Friday, and a new reorganization was announced by our manager. The direct result is that our schedules will be rearranged again, and some people will have to travel further for their work, but details aren't known just yet. Some of my colleagues were pretty mad about it. I feel I can just roll with the punches. If I get less hours? That's fine, I'll just use my time elsewhere (job on the side, and my boyfriend's company), plus my savings will just continue to grow on their own, too. I have to travel more? That's fine, too, I get (more than) reimbursed, and if I travel for over half an hour, the extra traveled time is paid as work time as well. Plus I'll get to meet new people, that's often interesting, too.
It's all okay, and if things get really bad, I can even quit my job and take my time finding something else. I guess it's more annoying if you're 60 and now suddenly have to change things around, and perhaps can't quit because you wouldn't have money from age 60 until age 66ish (official retirement age in the Netherlands).

Still, the changes aren't for the better, I'm sure of that. So colleagues will be annoyed and moody and stressed out. Not a nice prospect.

I'm still going to the gym, by the way. And I'm still seeing some progress, too. So that's nice.

And my boyfriend's going to change his company from a one-person-business to a two-person-business. He'll partner up with an old friend of his who he thinks is good at his job, too. He's quite optimistic things will work out. We'll see. But a lot of preparations are happening right now. I'm participating as well, trying to get the financial side of things right, and I'll help with bookkeeping (which will be my second job-on-the-side and which will mean being strict with my boyfriend and his friend about where they left that receipt or by when I need their list of hours worked ... oi!). It's exciting. My boyfriend's keeping his previously earned money out of this particular company, so financially it isn't too risky. They are also getting professional advice (not just from me). If it doesn't work out, they can just pull the plug and both go their own merry way. But let's hope this is a fruitful partnership, instead. We'll see.

heyhey
Posts: 113
Joined: Sat Jul 19, 2014 7:17 pm
Location: Herts UK

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by heyhey »

"Obviously NL isn't the most optimal country for low cost retirement at a young age, but you don't go there because it is cheap. You go there because it is the nearest place to utopia there is on this planet. The question is, is near-utopia worth the extra expense, and/or extra years working and saving? Maybe living in NL a few months of the year while maintaining UK tax status is a more viable option."

This sounds good until you factor in global warming. You might want to think about moving to higher ground within the next 20-30 years.

I hope your boyfriend's partnership works out well. Partnerships are risky - I'm sure you know that and it sounds like he does too - but it will be best for you both if you make sure your assets are not claimable by any debts the partnership falls into. That way even if he loses everything, you will not.

DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

My assets are definitely safe, heyhey. He will form a BV, which is a kind of company here in the Netherlands with limited liability; and I'm not even going to be a part of the company; I'm just going to be paid to do the bookkeeping. His current assets are also pretty safe (of course, if the new company goes bankrupt, then he may lose money and time invested in it).

radamfi
Posts: 143
Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2014 5:46 pm

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by radamfi »

heyhey wrote:This sounds good until you factor in global warming. You might want to think about moving to higher ground within the next 20-30 years.
The Dutch are the world leaders in flood defences and have invested vast sums over many decades in mitigation measures, and they continue to do so.

Britain floods more readily than the Netherlands:

http://davidhembrow.blogspot.co.uk/2014 ... adily.html

There are some hilly areas in the Netherlands, especially Zuid-Limburg which rises to over 300 metres above sea level.

DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

Hi everyone. November was a pretty normal month. I had roughly 1600 of expenses, of which 280 euros is for the ski-trip we'll be taking in January. I had 2795 euros of income, of which 424 euros came from my job-on-the-side, so it's a nice add-on to my main income. So that is a savings rate of 43% for the month of November.

At work, things have, surprisingly perhaps, returned to normal. Our direct boss has voiced our concerns to her boss, and now we actually might see our input lead to changes in the plans. Who knows. We'll know in a few months time. I worked a lot of extra hours in November, and I noticed getting stressed out again. Now in December the schedule is back to normal, and I already feel more relaxed. For me this is a sign that I should keep working on that balance between work and private life. If working 10 extra hours per week is getting me to FI-status two years faster (out of the seven years to go), but it's causing a lot of stress-related mental and physical symptoms, that's definitely not worth it to me.

My boyfriend is developing his new business with that friend of his. Official start date will be in January. So far, a Christmas card has been made to announce the change. They still need to register the business and change the stationary and stuff like that. But that's their to do-list, not mine. My boyfriend is looking forward to it, though. That's nice to see.

December should give me a large income. The new worker's agreement (? Dutch: CAO) finally came through, and so we're getting a 1% raise which will be applied retroactively from January; this should give me roughly 300 euros of extra income in December, then the annual end-of-year bonus, which should be something like an extra salary. I worked a lot of extra hours in November too, but they won't be paid out until January, so I won't see that roughly 1000 euro of extra income until halfway through January. Ah, well.
The last paycheck of the year should come in in roughly a week, before Christmas.

Finally, I've been thinking about my investments. I put a hold on them for a while, because I had depleted my savings during the previous market "crash" in August/September. When the December paycheck comes in, I'll have 5k euros in immediately-accessible savings again, and I think after that I'll resume investing; while also still adding a bit to my savings every month. Beyond the 5k euros in the savings accounts, if shit hits the fan I also have 30k in investments which I can liquidate if necessary. So, more than enough.

I haven't visited the gym a lot in the last few weeks, also due to work and stress. I made it once per week. I should get back on track there. Now, while I'm back to normal working hours, I should be able to find some time for that again.

steveo73
Posts: 1733
Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2013 6:52 pm

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by steveo73 »

DutchGirl wrote:I haven't visited the gym a lot in the last few weeks, also due to work and stress. I made it once per week. I should get back on track there. Now, while I'm back to normal working hours, I should be able to find some time for that again.
I read this and thought that this is so similar to my situation. This is why becoming FI is so important. I'm talking to myself here as well but I think we also have to make time to do the stuff that is important in our lives even though we have to work. Exercise, time-out, eating well etc are all important even if we have to go to work.

Anyway - I hope that you get this part of your life on track.

Hankaroundtheworld
Posts: 470
Joined: Mon Feb 24, 2014 4:50 am

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by Hankaroundtheworld »

Have a great ending of this year, and with the extra bonus and upcoming skiing, not bad at all. Adding your bf new business to this as well, and it looks like 2016 will be great. Enjoy, and keep on the gym :-) (I know, also difficult for me)

DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

Hi guys. It's me again :-) . So my boss e-mailed me yesterday that she's going to order the HR department to pay me for 40 extra hours worked (in November) after all, instead of me having to use them as holiday hours in 2016. I like that, but the payment will only happen (of course) by the end of January.

Well, let's say that my income for 2015 includes this extra 1000-ish euros, then my total income for the year is: 35,600 euros of salary (after income tax) plus roughly 2000 euros (after income tax) from my job on the side. So a total of 37,600 euros. My expenses have been 20,100 euros, which is including the one-time large healthcare bill (not normal in the Netherlands, but I had to pay this one myself). So my savings rate has been 46.5% for the year. A little short of the 50% that I wanted, unfortunately. But okay, still pretty good.

For 2016 I am going to work on my health and fitness mostly. I am going to relax, just a bit, on my income and expenses. Eating healthy, losing weight, and exercising are more important for me personally. I still have set a budget, and I hope to be able to keep to it, but I'm not going to go out of my way to work extra hours anymore, or to not spend an extra euro on a healthy quick meal instead of an unhealthy one. (Yes, I will also spend some of my time on almost-always pre-preparing healthy meals and taking them with me if I need to work somewhere in the evening, but if I am out and about and need a meal, I'll try to choose the healthier one, even if it's more expensive).

My net worth is around 83k euros now. Unfortunately, the markets weren't too kind in 2015, otherwise it could have been 85k and more. Still, pretty happy about it, and onward to probably over 100k of net worth by the end of 2016.

The new business of my boyfriend is slowly taking shape. If anybody needs a software creator/engineer for high-tech software development in the Netherlands, let me know. I've got two great programmers on offer, now :-) .

In one week, we'll be in Austria for a one-week skiing trip. We won't go skiing ourselves, but we'll enjoy spending time with my family and the little kiddos, who are too young to go skiing just yet. The grandparents and their favorite aunt (me) are going to do the babysitting while their parents go off and ski. I'm not looking forward to the road trip, which will be over 10 hours one-way. But I am looking forward to a holiday and to spending time with the family.

DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

It's my birthday tomorrow. And so I'm running calculations on when I can retire :lol: .

A basic spreadsheet, assuming a 5% steady return every year over the next 10 years, suggest that if I keep working hard for the next four years, until I turn 41, and then work less hard for the 4.5 years after that (working 20 hours per week), until I turn 45.5, I'll be all set.

Of course this is just a plan. Who knows what happens. Maybe at age 41 I'd rather work for two more years or so full-time than 4.5 years parttime. Maybe the stock markets give awesome returns in the next couple of years and I reach my goal number sooner. Maybe there's a downturn and I have to work a little bit longer.

But in all cases, it seems like it's possible for me to work hard for "just" four more years and then perhaps be able to downscale. That sounds doable. Four years go by quite fast. So there we go! :-)

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