Henk's journey thru life

Where are you and where are you going?
Hankaroundtheworld
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Joined: Mon Feb 24, 2014 4:50 am

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by Hankaroundtheworld »

George the original one wrote:How does being a landlord work in a wealth-tax scenario? Are they increasing the real estate taxes or is it just brokerage/bank accounts that are getting the tax increase?
If it is not your main living location, but for rent, then they see the value of the rental house as wealth, and tax you in a similar way as the other assets. By the way, this applies to all your belongings worldwide, everything gets taxed with the fixed rates (in brackets). There is a small strange difference, if you are living abroad, the Dutch government does not tax you on your belongings/assets that you have in the Netherlands, except the rental house, somehow you still pay wealth tax on your rental house assets, even if you do not live in the Netherlands....

henrik
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Location: EE

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by henrik »

Does this mean you pay wealth tax on the assessed value of the rental house AND income tax on the rent received?

rube
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Location: Europe (NL)

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by rube »

No, no income tax on rent received (unless when you have 10 units or more and do all the work yourself, then it will be seen as a business/work and not as an investment and it is a complete different situation with regards to tax).

thrifty++
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Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by thrifty++ »

I have enjoyed reading your journal. Congratulations on hitting FI. Did you have a date set for retirement? You talked early in your journal about discovering ex pat jobs. What did you mean by ex pat jobs and do you know of a good way to access them?

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

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by Hankaroundtheworld »

thrifty++ wrote:I have enjoyed reading your journal. Congratulations on hitting FI. Did you have a date set for retirement? You talked early in your journal about discovering ex pat jobs. What did you mean by ex pat jobs and do you know of a good way to access them?
Hi, great that you enjoyed the journal! :-)
No, i did not really set the ER date as I only very late found out abt this active ER journey planning, but I was lucky to have a good job, and also being reasonable frugal. In all fairness I always had 50 in mind to stop working, but never saw it as a real target, more like an idea, and as it turns out, it has become exactly 50, coincidence?, may be, or mental programming, who knows :-)
Regarding expat job, this is about finding a job abroad, typically in a good company that is willing to host well educated persons in countries that require investment in resources, and where it is not easy to get these resources locally (or not enough). These companies tend to help you with accommodation, insurance, car and sometimes even extra money, and on top of it, even pay the tax for you. This depends on location and how difficult it is to get resources for that location. As you can imagine, this helps saving for ERE, as you only spend money on groceries and vacations, the rest is more or less paid for.
How to get these expat jobs? It is not as easy as it was before, because of globalization, and this impacted availability of well educated persons that are willing to work for lower salaries or less luxurious packages. It all depends on the needs in particular skills, like in Banking, IT, Telecom, etc..I was able to get onto this track by accepting a project abroad for a year, while there I switched company, and used this company to move from one country to another. Not automatically, you need to show results and willingness, and be flexible (not all locations are great).
I hope it inspires, and good luck!!

RealPerson
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Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2012 4:33 pm

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by RealPerson »

Hungary has been in the news a lot lately. Have you seen the refugee issues first hand?

The refugee crisis reminded me of AntIfragility. It is remarkable how quickly an environment can change. I guess we always need an exit plan. I hope things are going well for you.

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

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by Hankaroundtheworld »

RealPerson wrote:Hungary has been in the news a lot lately. Have you seen the refugee issues first hand?

The refugee crisis reminded me of AntIfragility. It is remarkable how quickly an environment can change. I guess we always need an exit plan. I hope things are going well for you.
No, I have not seen it up-close. Please note that the Media always exaggerate, if the world seems on-fire, in reality it might be just a camp-fire. Not many people live in Hungary, it is really peaceful, especially in the South, and then Budapest seems far away. Not to down-play the refugee issues, they are real, but in Hungary, it only gets into the news because the prime minister (Viktor O.) is rather controversial (he does not want Muslim foreigners....)

Hankaroundtheworld
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Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by Hankaroundtheworld »

Hi everyone,
Has been some time. Not much has changed, other than that I finally agreed with my employer on the end of Contract, which is now set-in-stone for 31 May 2016. Slightly later than anticipated, but a few Months of extra cash will come handy with starting up in Hungary. Now that the date is set for ERM, it all feels okay, my financial goals have been met (even if a stock-market crash will occur in 2016), and all the anxiety behind my decision, is now processed. There is no doubt and I am only looking forward to 1 June 2016 :-) My planning is first "slowing down", get rid of the work/life programming, and free my mind completely. I do anticipate that i will pick my hobbies and also start investigating some new tracks in life, but first "time off", work in the garden, etc..
Cheers, Hank

DutchGirl
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Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by DutchGirl »

Sounds great, Hank, congratulations. Are you already winding down on some of the activities at work? Or have you noticed that you they tell you that you don't have to come to specific meetings because you won't be involved in a specific development anymore, anyway? Or not yet? Have you told other colleagues at work, or just the boss?

And how is the house coming along?

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

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by Hankaroundtheworld »

Hi @DutchGirl, work indeed will slow down after NewYear (expectation), they wanted to keep me longer and even trying to get me to a nicer location, but I told them that I will move my stuff to Hungary no matter what. If any new location for potential work is indeed great, then I will consider this as a "contractor", not anymore as an full-time employee, but I suspect that once I am enjoying my freedom in Hungary, I will not be easy persuaded to pack my bags again, but you never know how life evolves. The house is going well, we are at phase-3 of renovations, so it will be ready by 31 May 2016.
Once I am there, as promised, I will report how ERM/ERE life could be there, and on what budget.
hope you are doing great, and I saw your "investment" adventure (from your boyfriend), sounds like a great opportunity!
cheers, Hank

Hankaroundtheworld
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Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by Hankaroundtheworld »

Small update. I know, on this forum, being ER at 50 year of age, is not considered to be a great deal, and actually it is more a different state of mind and the way you live (everyone knows here that ER is not retirement in the traditional way). Now back to the real world, this weekend I was with several expats at the beach, and most of them are between 45 and 60. Many are successful in big companies, already FI for some time and could be easily ER, but nobody considers this or even wants this, and when I announced that I am changing direction in 2016 (basically quite my job and standard career path), they all were amazed and said "this is really brave", or "why give up a good paying job", etc.. It shows again how rare this attitude to life really is, and even more if you implement this before 30 or 40 years of age.

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

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by Hankaroundtheworld »

Some reflections in the year that my ER will start!

First of all: happy new year to all that read this :-)

The year has started good on personal front (nice vacation with friends), but on investment-front, it is a different story. Who knows, I might start ER with a meltdown in stock-market .... :shock:

So, still 4.5 Months to go. My wife and I are slowly preparing by getting rid of too much stuff, so we can fit a smaller container and move to the promised land :-) Other than that, the last few Months in the cubicle are slow. I am basically learning a bit Hungarian, but concentration is not good yet, more and more I am convinced that I need time to get relaxed, my mind needs to unwind, and this will not happen over night. The last 16 years on the road were hectic (also fun and adventurous, but tough at times), and I noticed that I cannot take much anymore, it seems as if I have reached my max capacity to cope with things (I even see travel as a burden right now, while I always loved it). The only wish is now "peace", go to my quiet place in Hungary, and then slowly start rebuilding a new Life, a new route. Knowing myself, I will be active in the end with new things, but at the moment I cannot concentrate on that. So, if the body/mind says "stop", lets listen to that ! It helps that I am not alone, my wife is my best buddy in life, we always help each other to find the best way forward. So, we still organize parties, meet friends, in this way we keep these last Months alive, but deep in my heart, I already left this working life (and this country we are in).

DutchGirl
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Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by DutchGirl »

Thanks for the update. I hope time flies for you the next few months :-)

phil
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Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by phil »

Hi Hank, just read your journal. Congrats on hitting FI! Hope you will unwind soon and enjoy your retirement.

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

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by Hankaroundtheworld »

phil wrote:Hi Hank, just read your journal. Congrats on hitting FI! Hope you will unwind soon and enjoy your retirement.
Thanks for taking the time to read my scribbling's, I hope it has inspired you somehow. Do you have a journey as well?

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

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by Hankaroundtheworld »

Almost 3 Months ago, time for an update. With the end of "salaried employee" life in sight, I had a nice change of location and project since I last wrote. I was joking to my wife that somebody is testing me if I should delay my deadline because I really have a good time with this Customer, and the location is in the top-10 of expat wishlist (not sure if that is of any value, but I noticed). However, i will stick to my deadline of 31 May, I have been waiting enough. I basically see this last location/project as a nice way of ending the Salaried life. As I described before, if you like to explore other aspects of yourself and life, you need to cut the chains first, otherwise there is no space for change. I tried it, but it does not work like that (at least not for me). The working life as a Salary man drains too much energy, so when you finish work at the end of the day, there is not enough energy left to really change, and become like the "Renaissance" profile that Jacob described in his book (I do not mean this as following a guide book, but I like the idea to become more full-round as a person, explore more qualities in yourself and in relation to others, a different life, more focused on purpose & quality than money earning). Talking about money, that part is now covered, I am still 20% in cash, 25% in rental apartments and 55% in managed funds. Renting is still going well, and creates enough "basic" income, of course no guarantees for future, but for now (and that counts), it allows me the luxury to change. This feeling of freedom is growing, and I am anxious to see how I will respond to this from June onwards. My wife expects that I need at least 6 Months if not a year, to unwind myself from that working life. Let's see, 1.5 Months to go!

DutchGirl
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Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by DutchGirl »

Wonderful to read, Henk. I'm sure the new situation will need some getting used to, even if it is only your adrenal gland wondering why it doesn't have to release stress hormones that often anymore :-) . I think you'll do just fine; and I'm curious what your path will be like. But we'll have to wait. Six more weeks or so? Good luck!

(MrFireStation has just started his retirement, don't know if you know the site: https://mrfirestation.com/ . I like to read about how he feels about it, too. )

Pucheou
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Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2015 4:40 am

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by Pucheou »

Hi Henk,

Thanks for the supportive comments in my journal. Yours was one of the journals I enjoyed reading even before I took the step of recording my own journey. Best wishes for this last month as a salary man!

Pucheou

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

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by Hankaroundtheworld »

DutchGirl wrote:Wonderful to read, Henk. I'm sure the new situation will need some getting used to, even if it is only your adrenal gland wondering why it doesn't have to release stress hormones that often anymore :-) . I think you'll do just fine; and I'm curious what your path will be like. But we'll have to wait. Six more weeks or so? Good luck!

(MrFireStation has just started his retirement, don't know if you know the site: https://mrfirestation.com/ . I like to read about how he feels about it, too. )
Funny, the stress hormone response, exact same thing that my wife said. She told me "you might be addicted to the fight/stress of work, and I wonder what will happen if that stress disappears, and if you will replace that lost stress/fight with something else to compensate for that?" :-)

Well, I told her, no way, I am not going to create another "stress" situation, I hope the freedom will become an addiction!

Thanks for your comment!

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C40
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Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by C40 »

What an exciting time! I hope the last month goes well for you

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