Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Hello everyone. After lot's of reading I registered here and now I am starting this journal, and resurrected my website. The main goal I want to achieve is financial independence.
After that I want to travel a bit more than I do now, or a trip around the world. I have a rough plan which hasn't been fine-tuned but I figured I just start now and fine-tune along the road.

A couple of years ago I started paying off my mortgage a bit faster as my savings account wasn't doing me any favours rate wise. Then I discovered a hole in my retirement build up and decided it was about time to do something.

My income is pretty good and I am confident I can save around 50% of my monthly income, I will divide this 3 ways. 1/3 in cash as an emergency fund, 1/3 for paying off the mortgage and 1/3 investing. For now I will invest in a few ETF's and dividend paying stocks. I will track how that's going and adjust my tactics. Just taking it easy for now.

Also started selling some old books and other stuff I did not use any more. And I am eating out less and I am cooking more. That's a big expense, so that should leave me with some extra savings.

A few goals for the coming month :

- Building my website
- Learn more on investing.
- Generally reading more books.

Any tips / suggestions etc are all more than welcome.

Ok start of a new month , expenses projected :

Mortgage: 650
Utilities : 47
Insurance: 55
Health care : 125
Food, clothing , etc : 300
Internet, tv , phones : 70

Total : 1247
Income : 2375,85

Saving : 1128,85 projected. Which i will save and invest. I already made the maximum extra payment on the mortgage with some of my savings. Which were saved with an interest rate of 0,9%. Which made it a very easy decision to put some money in my house, since I am paying 5,4% interest.

I read my first book the Churchill factor.

I somehow never read a biography on Winston Churchill before. When you go to the bookstore and view the enormous amount of books about Churchill I never could pick one.

Until now, and it's been a very good choice. He writes about his success and failures. He was not very popular most of his political career and made many mistakes, mostly because of the fact he acted more than others.

Lot's of nice anecdotes are described and when you finish the book you get the feeling you know Churchill not just the facts but the person he was.

A very inspirational man and one who never gave up fighting. A must read.

Short update, I am considering moving to a place at the edges of the city centre. It will be build next year and will save me money on the mortgage since the place is cheaper and the interest is lower. Only problem is that there are only a few smaller apartments being build. I have registered as a buyer. It also cuts the need for a car, since absolutly everything is on walking distance.

I have also made the plunge into adding a few companies to the portfolio, Microsoft and General electric. I am reviewing other investments I had from the past.

Done some more reading as well and finished the website. Setting goals helps. And reading all your inspiring journals. Thanks for that.

End of June. Time for an update.

Mortgage: 650
Utilities : 47
Insurance: 55
Health care : 125
Food, clothing , etc : 300
Internet, tv , phones : 70

Total : 1247
Income : 2375,85

Saving : 1128,85 projected.

Forgot the tax return which added an extra 271 euro's to the savings, got some minor extra expenses of 75,15. The total savings for June adds up to
1399,85. Not a bad start I think. I used part of the money to buy a few stocks , Unilever, Dow Chemicals. The rest I put in a savings account for now.
Also a few dividends started coming in again , which is always nice.

Further activity I have been reading some more and finished McMafia, a book about the fall of communism, collapsing country's and the globalization in relation to organized crime. A very interesting read, well written and researched. Recommended reading. And I have been updating my website regularly. Need a bit more writing skills

I am now looking at a new house more seriously and it's a very good option indeed. Tomorrow I will get a call whether or not I can apply to one of the apartments. We'll see. Money wise it's a very good alternative. Only problem is securing one apparently.

Sounds like a good start and you are on the right track. Is your target $400,000?

I have no target yet, just trying to keep this up. It's just the first month. I haven't calculated what I need or think I need.
I also haven't figured out how everything works when I don't work for a living any more. How the taxes work, the health insurance etc.

I need to figure that out first I think.

A new month , July expenses projected :

Mortgage : 650
Utilities : 47
Insurance : 55
Health care : 125
Food, clothing , etc : 300
Internet, tv , phones : 70

Total :1247
Income :3111,75

Savings : projected. :1864,75

This month a bit of extra income, and a holiday but we already saved money for that.
This month will be light on work so I will spent my time reading , hiking and running.

And figuring out the amount of money needed for FI and Retirement.

End of July, new update. First the Numbers

Mortgage : 650
Utilities : 47
Insurance : 55
Health care : 125
Food, clothing , etc : 300
Internet, tv , phones : 70

Total :1247
Income :3111,75

Had some holiday expenses which I forgot to save for, a rental car needs Gasoline and forgot some stuff. Also spent a little extra on eating out,
Extra holiday expenses 443,27

Real savings for July :1421,48

Not bad at all, the Holiday was great. Not much ERE related stuff, I am reading a book on running, a few newspapers and general hanging around and hiking. And some running.

Haven't figured out my total amount needed for RE yet, still working the numbers. Will be working on those again next weekend.

A new month , August expenses projected, everything is the same mostly :

Mortgage : 650
Utilities : 47
Insurance : 55
Health care : 125
Food, clothing , etc : 300
Internet, tv , phones : 70

Total :1247

Income: 2645,17

Projected savings : 1398,17

So far so good, finally some progress on the new house, it looks pretty good. They don't know exactly when they will start building because of the city permits that have not yet been granted. The plans however are all approved. I can now start preparing , which is good. It's all going to be new and cheaper per month. Patience is the key.

My FI amount which I am aiming for is 395000 Euro. Which should be enough to quit my 40 hour per week job. for me that is a lot of money. I have written it down but for now I will just focus on saving as much as possible each month. As the figure seems a bit out of reach.

I also looked at my investment portfolio and bought some Unilever shares. From the past I have some Shell stock which dropped somewhat this year but they pay out a nice dividend. I will keep them for now.

Hi Cornerman, well done on the >50% savings rate!

As someone who is struggling to pin down an exact figure myself, I ask how did you come up with the FI amount you have?

395K should yield you between 12,000 and 15,800 per year, depending on how conservative you want to be. Your spending seems amazingly consistent and comes in at 15K per year, so that might be a little light as you'll also need to deduct for taxes. Not sure how taxation on capital gains works in NL.

Hi El Duderino, I took the rough and easy approach, It's actually the amount of money I think I need per year, around 15800 euro's * 25 which is 395000. Which is the number you also calculated which that amount will generate.

The reason my spending is so consistent is, most are fixed for the whole year. Only gas electricity and water can be different, when the final bill from those companies will be due. I pay an advance fee based on the usage of the year before.

And maybe the food, clothing etc bit. Which nowadays is mostly spent on food. Which is easy not to overspend. In the future this will fluctuate much more. I also left transportation out because that is all covered by my employer.

I have not exactly figured the tax part out either, since that is still pretty far away. Maybe by that time my calculation of 395000 has to be adjusted.

End of August post,

Mortgage : 650
Utilities : 47
Insurance : 55
Health care : 125
Food, clothing , etc : 300
Internet, tv , phones : 70

Total :1247
Income : 2645,17

Had some extra costs because of a few extra bills, a few broken house appliances and bike repairs , 4 flat tires in one week totalling 375,71.
Also bought a few concert tickets, 150,00 and 8 euro costs, still don't understand that. Since I do all the printing and work to get the tickets.

Real savings for July : 864,46

I will do my September projections this weekend.

Also added some stocks to my investment portfolio, some more Unilever and Coca Cola Company. Last one is a new addition to the early retirement portfolio. I am having a lot of fun reading about the economy and how to invest. I was interested in it before but never took any time for it. The more I do now the more fun and enjoyment it brings. Maybe something for a new career as well. We'll see.

4 flat tires in one week

That sucks! Try some new tires if your's are worn down or tire liners (plastic strips that go between the tube and the tire).

Thanks for the tips, Hopefully I will be set for some time now with my new shiny tires haha.

A new month , September expenses projected, again most of the expenses are stable. :

Mortgage : 650
Utilities : 47
Insurance : 55
Health care : 125
Food, clothing , etc : 300
Internet, tv , phones : 70
Rental Car : 129.75

Total :1247

Income: 2774,85

Projected savings : 1376,75

I will get some energy and water bills which I will have to pay so the projected savings will be somewhat lower. Also the new house is getting serious since the plans for the historical building are almost approved. If they are approved I will have to decide if I want one. Which means some costs for selling my current house etc. We'll see how much that will cost.

End of September post, mostly went according to plan.

Mortgage : 650
Utilities : 47
Insurance : 55
Health care : 125
Food, clothing , etc : 300
Internet, tv , phones : 70
Rental Car : 129.75
Extra water bill : 11,45
Extra Energy bill : 47,56
City Taxes : 58,23

Total :1493,99

Income: 2774,85

Savings : 1280,86

The bills were not that high so I got to saving a good amount again this month. Going to get the mortgage down some more this month and invest some more money in my investment portfolio, I am going to buy some share of the K + S Group.

All in all I am very pleased with how it is going. I mostly enjoy looking into company's too invest in. I am enjoying this so much that I am considering a career change into the financial field. I really enjoy crunching the numbers and doing this kind of work. So I am looking into it and checking the kind of jobs available. If you guys have any tips, tricks or ideas it will be much appreciated.

October forecast will follow asap.

October forecast turned into the end of the month post, after some troubles with my health. For some reason a mild flu didn't go away.
Well I am on track for this month


Mortgage : 650
Utilities : 47
Insurance : 55
Health care : 125
Food, clothing , etc : 285,25
Internet, tv , phones : 70


Total : 1232.25
Income : 2557,45

Slightly less income due to waiting days while being sick. Slightly less spending on food but had to buy some medicine as well. Put that in the category Food, clothing etc.

While being sick I had a lot of time to reflect on what it is that I want to do with my life. Well it's not working 40+ hours a week. I already knew that starting this journey, but now it really sunk in. What if I really get seriously ill ? Is this the way I want to spend my time.

Well, it's not work takes way to much time and being sick I realised that I really need to do something I am passionate about or at the very least part-time working and spending more time outside of work. I haven't yet formulated any ideas about this since I am just recovering, but it's on the to do list.

The money I saved went towards a few stocks and a mortgage payment.

The new house option is getting delayed as the developer and the city seem to differ on the concept historic. Which leaves me thinking about abandoning this altogether. The delays will result in a finished house somewhere at the end of 2016 / beginning 2017. If they start like right now.

Simply paying off this house and keep living here is not bad either.

To do list :

- Writing way more on my website.
- figuring out what i want Job wise
- More revenue from my investments.

November and December went very fast, most of the finances stayed pretty much the same.

November

Mortgage : 600
Utilities : 47
Insurance : 55
Health care : 125
Food, clothing , etc : 395.25
Internet, tv , phones : 70


Total : 1292.25
Income : 2685,27

Over : 1393.02

November

Mortgage : 600
Utilities : 47
Insurance : 55
Health care : 125
Food, clothing , etc : 217.15
Internet, tv , phones : 70

Extra doctor / insurance bills 191.25
Spending for the holidays 287.25

Total : 1592.65
Income : 2685,27

Over: 1092.62

Some extra costs but also a saving of 50 euro's on the mortgage due to payments. Overall it's a pretty decent last few months. Health wise it was a bit rocky. the flu turned into or out to be a bacteria of some sort which got worse over time. Which set me back in my plans considerably. But now everything is going better again.

The coming months I am planning one big payment towards the mortgage which hopefully save me another 100 or so Euro's a month. Which is significant. The money I save with this will be invested again, and hopefully pay some nice dividends.

As far as my to do list , the writing more has become writing less, jobwise I am still figuring out what I want to do exactly. But I narrowed it down to a few fields which helps with the focus. The revenue from my investments is up a bit , but with just 0,87% , which isn't much. So more work to do there.

To do list:

- Getting back in shape.
- Writing more on my website.
- Planning the payment for the mortgage.

Well, it has been a rocky start of 2016, a month ago I suddenly got a very high fever and was taken to the hospital. The diagnose was a virus in my brain causing a encephalitis. Lot's of antibiotics and a 2 week hospital stay. Now I am recovering with the help of a physical therapist.

Which is going slow, feeling tired very fast and experiencing difficulty reading. This experience made me more determined to reach my goal of becoming free and FI. I want to spend my time doing the things I love. Once I am back on my feet I will continue to keep you all updated on my progress.

Beterschap Richard!