Re: Henk's journey thru life
Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2016 6:54 am
Hi Hank, congrats and great to read about your RE experiences!
I am JEALOUS! (a bit)
I am JEALOUS! (a bit)
---an online community leveraging 14 years of experience in resilient post-consumerist praxis
https://forum.earlyretirementextreme.com/
https://forum.earlyretirementextreme.com/viewtopic.php?t=4891
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.Hankaroundtheworld wrote:Anyway, it shows that it is indeed not that easy to fully embrace freedom in one go
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.RealPerson wrote: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.Hankaroundtheworld wrote:Anyway, it shows that it is indeed not that easy to fully embrace freedom in one go
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.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
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.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, I agreeCornerman 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.
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.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.