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Re: Henk's journey thru life

Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2016 6:54 am
by rube
Hi Hank, congrats and great to read about your RE experiences!
I am JEALOUS! ;) (a bit)

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2016 8:19 am
by George the original one
Yea! One more plan has blossomed!

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2016 9:13 am
by RealPerson
Congratulations! Absolutely fantastic and well deserved after all those years. I can't wait to hear more about your experiences now that you made the jump.

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2016 9:31 am
by cmonkey
Congratulations Hank, enjoy your time beyond the cubicle. :)

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2016 4:12 pm
by DutchGirl
Good to read this, Henk. Enjoy!

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2016 5:54 am
by Hankaroundtheworld
Thanks'll, and I will report back on life in ER and also the "financials" on a regular basis, I expect 5 times a year or so

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2016 10:31 am
by SalutNounou
How come I never read this journal before :shock:

Congrats Hank! You and all the community are the proof and motivation that all of this is doable :-)

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2016 7:38 am
by Pucheou
Nicely done Hank. Do keep us updated on life on the other side, where I hope to join you one day in the not-to-distant future!

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2016 7:46 am
by FBeyer
Congratulations! Go enjoy yourself!

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2017 2:56 pm
by Hankaroundtheworld
Hello everyone, all the best for 2017.
It has been some time since last update. What happened? Well, after the ER-jump and being on the farm for several Months, my previous client called me for some support, and offered me 3 Months assignment (freelance contract). I had to think a long time about it, but I have now accepted, and will go for 3 Months back in the race. Why on earth you might think? You are not alone, I ask myself as well, perhaps I am tempted by the extra money and also the "test" if I can deal with it again for 3 Months. It is in a nice location (summer-time instead of winter in Europe), so that helps. Does this mean I want to go back to work? No way, I feel like I am a free man, and it somehow feels good to say "yes" to this short assignment and then stop again. May be I am fooling myself, it is possible, but there is no issue with that, I can always stop. Financially speaking, it is totally not needed, I have enough to live on (with my wife) till I am 100 years of age.
Anyway, it shows that it is indeed not that easy to fully embrace freedom in one go, so I allow myself this "test", and re-try in 3 Months time :-)
cheers, Henk

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2017 10:01 am
by RealPerson
Hankaroundtheworld wrote:Anyway, it shows that it is indeed not that easy to fully embrace freedom in one go
Good to hear from you Henk, and Happy New Year. Your comment caught my eye because I am coming close to that point. Finances are not the issue but other factors may be. Could you elaborate on what you mean? In my industry, coming back for a few months is not really an option, so I better find out more before pulling the plug. Thanks.

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2017 7:04 am
by Hankaroundtheworld
RealPerson wrote:
Hankaroundtheworld wrote:Anyway, it shows that it is indeed not that easy to fully embrace freedom in one go
Good to hear from you Henk, and Happy New Year. Your comment caught my eye because I am coming close to that point. Finances are not the issue but other factors may be. Could you elaborate on what you mean? In my industry, coming back for a few months is not really an option, so I better find out more before pulling the plug. Thanks.
Hi realperson, I think it might be very personal on what motivates people. In my case, it happens to be a nice customer and an interesting project, on top of this on a nice location (escaping winter in Europe). But to be honest, money also plays a role, not from the point of view that I need more, but that I would not like to "sell" my time for a low amount, so it is a nice extra. Bottom-line, there is no strong reason, other than a mix of good circumstances. If I had a clear alternative (like nice hobby or trip, study, etc..) than I would have said easily "no" to this assignment.

I did however promise my wife that this assignment is really the last one, and then focus on finding new routes in life.

Let me finish to say: it really feels great to be free, so i would encourage you to jump if there is no financial issue. There is so much more to explore in the world than your (previous) job, it only takes time to undo the chains.

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 1:35 am
by mxlr650
@Henk Congratulations on your exit, reentry and soon to be reentry-exit! I am hoping you didn’t accept this assignment because you got tired of driving and wanted that chauffeured service again :lol:

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 11:57 am
by Hankaroundtheworld
mxlr650 wrote:@Henk Congratulations on your exit, reentry and soon to be reentry-exit! I am hoping you didn’t accept this assignment because you got tired of driving and wanted that chauffeured service again :lol:
Haha, yeah, having your own driver is a luxury (just step out drunk from a bar and driver is waiting to drive you home), but to be honest, it feels great again to drive myself (had to buy a car for first time in 20 years!). This independent free feeling, no commitments, no obligations to anyone other than yourself and partner, etc... I actually started to improve relationships with family and friends that I have not seen for a while, and also helping some family-members (financially), etc.. it is a nice feeling to give without any need to get something back.

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2017 4:54 am
by fog_tree
Hello Henk. You had been working as an expat in many countries but choosed retirement in Hungary. It must have been not a blink choice. You could live in any cheap asia or south america country with front sea view and snowless winter, or any isle with steady yearly temperature 20 C but you choosed locked country without sea or mountains. Why? I live in Poland and know Hungary quite well. It has been a holidays destination for me for over 15 years. A lot of people emigrated from HU to West Europe and you can buy a house/farm for a bargain price but climate in Hungary is not so good. 35 C heat in the summer and freeze in the winter - pure continental climate. I know, you come from the NL so you hate a rain , but the same way I live in other continental climate country and hate this climate. Didn't you want to pick any mediterranean climate destination? i'm pretty aware hungarian pros : thermal bath, pick salama, paprica and magyar dinnye but .... the weather. How are you going to cope with it?

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 3:58 pm
by Cornerman
Hi Henk, congrats on the ER , thanks for writing this journal. It's nice you can now pick your projects instead of the need to work. Enjoy life on your own terms.

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2017 3:22 pm
by Hankaroundtheworld
fog_tree wrote:Hello Henk. You had been working as an expat in many countries but choosed retirement in Hungary. It must have been not a blink choice. You could live in any cheap asia or south america country with front sea view and snowless winter, or any isle with steady yearly temperature 20 C but you choosed locked country without sea or mountains. Why? I live in Poland and know Hungary quite well. It has been a holidays destination for me for over 15 years. A lot of people emigrated from HU to West Europe and you can buy a house/farm for a bargain price but climate in Hungary is not so good. 35 C heat in the summer and freeze in the winter - pure continental climate. I know, you come from the NL so you hate a rain , but the same way I live in other continental climate country and hate this climate. Didn't you want to pick any mediterranean climate destination? i'm pretty aware hungarian pros : thermal bath, pick salama, paprica and magyar dinnye but .... the weather. How are you going to cope with it?
Thanks for thinking with me. Hungary was a half-blinded "blink" decision. In general, it was one of the favorite discussions with my wife during our expat-existence "where shall we end and homebase ourselves"? It is not an easy decision. In the end, we choose the EU because of the easy VISA situation (not needed for us in EU, but in Asia - like Thailand - , you need this and renew all the time). Also investing in a House is not easy in a Country where you are depended on VISA renewal (and all kinds of regulations). Of course, we could have rented a place instead of buying, but that does not feel like a real homebase. For EU, we were thinking about a Tax-friendly country and also not much meddling by the government. We had no time to check all EU countries, so we thought about Portugal or Hungary. Portugal seems too hot in summer, so via friends, we came to Hungary, and we liked it. Now it is winter, and we like the walks in the snow, and in summer it is not too bad.

Last but not least, I do not think, it will be forever. We just needed a homebase to make our ER-move a reality. I can imagine that in a few years we might rethink the location, but we do not know yet.

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2017 3:23 pm
by Hankaroundtheworld
Cornerman wrote:Hi Henk, congrats on the ER , thanks for writing this journal. It's nice you can now pick your projects instead of the need to work. Enjoy life on your own terms.
Thanks, I agree :-)

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 12:06 pm
by fog_tree
Thanks Henk for your response.

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 3:21 pm
by radamfi
Hankaroundtheworld wrote:In the end, we choose the EU because of the easy VISA situation (not needed for us in EU, but in Asia - like Thailand - , you need this and renew all the time). Also investing in a House is not easy in a Country where you are depended on VISA renewal (and all kinds of regulations). Of course, we could have rented a place instead of buying, but that does not feel like a real homebase. For EU, we were thinking about a Tax-friendly country and also not much meddling by the government. We had no time to check all EU countries, so we thought about Portugal or Hungary. Portugal seems too hot in summer, so via friends, we came to Hungary, and we liked it. Now it is winter, and we like the walks in the snow, and in summer it is not too bad.
The Brexit voters on here should read this. Henk has chosen a EU country to retire in, because of the easy visa situation. We may not have anywhere with an easy visa situation to go if we get a "hard" Brexit. So Brits looking for a cheap country to retire in without visa problems may have their retirement plans destroyed.