ERE in Sweden

Where are you and where are you going?
Forskaren
Posts: 189
Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2015 4:04 pm

July

Post by Forskaren »

I had vacation in July, so it was some additional expenses for "entertainment". I went on two different trips, which cost money. One of the trips was a more traditional vacation with airplane travel and living in a hotel. The other trip was a long car trip to some relatives. I am getting more and more tired on traveling other countries as a tourist, so maybe I can save that expense next year.
I am considering to stop my initial attempts to make cheap tea wine at home. Even if it will be cheap, I am a bit worried about what impact that will have on my health. Cheap and almost unlimited wine can be an bad idea. I am still looking for something reasonable to do with my spare time, if I would cut down the time spent on watching TV and using the internet. Maybe I should spend more time on improving my physical fitness.
In total my savings rate was still more than 50%, which I have to consider reasonable a month like this.

Report US$
Earned income 3434

Expenses
Rent 463
Transport 0
Food 138
Entertainment 795
Other 208
Total 1603

Savings
1831
Savings rate (%)
53

Forskaren
Posts: 189
Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2015 4:04 pm

Re: ERE in Sweden

Post by Forskaren »

The tea wine was pretty ok. First it was fermanted at room temperature for one week.It became really carbonated and clear after 3 weeks in the fridge. When I opened the screw cap, the yeast moved up with the carbon dioxide bubbles and it became less clear. Taste was ok, but it smelled of baking yeast.

Forskaren
Posts: 189
Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2015 4:04 pm

Re: ERE in Sweden

Post by Forskaren »

In August, I had reasonable control over the expenses. A savings rate of 71% feels nice.
The annual tax on my car was the only transport cost this month. I did not need to refuel the car this month.
The food costs were not optimized and I bought some “TV-dinners” and pizza, which added some to the cost. I also spend some money on alcohol at the state monopoly shop.

My income was somewhat higher this month, since I got some extra salary for the vacation period. I have now been working a couple of weeks after my vacation period and it feels quite ok so far.
The company that I work for have some cash flow problems, so we expect some kind of action. Sometimes it feels good to be close to FI.

I have some problems to find good replacement activities to watching TV and playing games on my game console. I live in a rural area, so there is limitations to what activities that is available. Many alternative activities involves driving a car 160 kilometer round trip each time to the city. At least TV and games are virtually without additionally financial cost right now. I am a bit concerned about the time wasted…

Report us$

Earned income 3617

Expenses
Rent 478
Transport 181
Food 293
Entertainment 0
Other 106
Total 1058

Savings 2559
Saving rate (%) 71

oldbeyond
Posts: 338
Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2012 10:43 pm

Re: ERE in Sweden

Post by oldbeyond »

An obvious suggestion is outdoors-y stuff: hiking, cross-country skiing, hunting, fishing, survivalism etc. Perhaps growing stuff if land i relatively cheap and zoning is lenient?

If you're more drawn to more urban activities, perhaps a change of scenery is worth considering?

Forskaren
Posts: 189
Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2015 4:04 pm

Re: ERE in Sweden

Post by Forskaren »

Yes, I should explore some of the local options. I think that I should start biking more.

Forskaren
Posts: 189
Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2015 4:04 pm

Re: ERE in Sweden

Post by Forskaren »

September was a good month with a high savings rate. No exceptional expenses this month.

I decided to be TV-free the last 5 days of the month. That felt very strange.

Report US$

Earned income 3369

Expenses
Rent 468
Transport 67
Food 131
Entertainment 17
Other 215
Total 899

Savings 2470
Savings rate (%) 73

Image

Noedig
Posts: 191
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2014 10:15 pm

Re: ERE in Sweden

Post by Noedig »

Good steps my man. In these early days you have done already the most difficult part - a transition in the way you think. All follows from that.

If you get time, give us an window into your circumstances, origin and major experiences. Always good to know where people are coming from.

Forskaren
Posts: 189
Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2015 4:04 pm

Re: ERE in Sweden

Post by Forskaren »

Noedig wrote:Good steps my man. In these early days you have done already the most difficult part - a transition in the way you think. All follows from that.

If you get time, give us an window into your circumstances, origin and major experiences. Always good to know where people are coming from.
Well, I finished my PhD about 4 years ago. Right now I am working for a company with research and development. A normal working year is about 50% work behind a computer screen, 30% work in the lab, 15% meetings, 3% work in the production and 2% travel.

I am 37 years old and still single. I live in a rural area, where I rent an apartment right now. I have considered buying a house, since house prices are extremely low here. I would probably get a higher standard of housing if I bought some, but I would probably only save about 30% compared to keep renting my apartment. That saving also only exist if I work for free a lot of hours taking care of the house. The most practical would be to find a woman already owning a house.

I checked my current net worth and my costs for the first 9 months of the year. If I extrapolate that I will have the same costs for the last three months of the year, I am now at a 2.8 SWR.

Forskaren
Posts: 189
Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2015 4:04 pm

October

Post by Forskaren »

October was a decent month. Savings rate at 67% is a quite average month for me.

I will use a more detail expense report for next year. I think it is important to look closer at some expenses.

Report US$

Earned income 3006

Expenses
Rent 445
Transport 100
Food 168
Entertainment 99
Other 193
Total 1005

Savings 2001
Savings rate (%) 67

The economy of my employer is still shaky, it feels good to have some investments as backup:

US$
Stocks 550443
Car and stuff 6652
Gold 4113
Debt 33259
Net worth 527949

Retirement accounts not included.

Eureka
Posts: 340
Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2016 11:03 am

Re: ERE in Sweden

Post by Eureka »

Forskaren wrote: The most practical would be to find a woman already owning a house.
Ha ha, yes, and even more practical if the woman is a billionaire!

Forskaren
Posts: 189
Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2015 4:04 pm

Re: ERE in Sweden

Post by Forskaren »

Eureka wrote:
Ha ha, yes, and even more practical if the woman is a billionaire!
Well, most women I have meet generally got a strong opinion about what kind of house they want and where they want to live. If I would be buying a house myself, I would probably have to sell it if I meet someone special...

Eureka
Posts: 340
Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2016 11:03 am

Re: ERE in Sweden

Post by Eureka »

Fair enough.

Another option could be to rent out your house when you move into the house of the woman of your dreams and thus create passive income from the rent. If so, you should keep this in mind when you buy your house and pick one that will do well on the rental market.

Forskaren
Posts: 189
Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2015 4:04 pm

Re: ERE in Sweden

Post by Forskaren »

The economy of my employer is still shaky, I don’t know where this will end. It a bit frustrating when the main priority is cash flow, when there is a lot of things that needs to be done for the long run.


I had an outstanding buy order to buy stocks in an oil company if the stock would drop. I cancelled my buy order for stocks in the oil company and focus instead of reducing the debt I used to finance some of my other stocks.


The condition of my employer in combination with the weak Swedish currency postpone my purchase of a vacation trip for next summer. Otherwise I usually start to shop around at this time of the year. Maybe next year will be 100% vacation in Sweden.

Forskaren
Posts: 189
Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2015 4:04 pm

Re: ERE in Sweden

Post by Forskaren »

November was one of the months with the lowest expenses. My financial needs seem to be a lot lower than a lot of other people. It is still shaky financially at my employer with cash flow problems. It is probably really bad since they put a lid on it now and no longer release figures about the situation.

I accepted that TV and digital entertainment will be a part of my life. I will get a good fiber connection in my apartment within the next few months. I will likely subscribe to some digital services for games and music on my Xbox at that time point. Microsoft will likely release a new Xbox for 4k gaming at Christmas 2017. I will likely buy a 4k TV and that new Xbox in early 2018.


Report US$
Earned income 3123

Expenses
Rent 445
Transport 1
Food 141
Entertainment 0
Other 160
Total 747

Savings 2375
Savings rate (%) 76

NickHalden
Posts: 67
Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2015 3:48 am

Re: ERE in Sweden

Post by NickHalden »

Very impressive! Especially the Entertainment/food categories - they are the hardest to me.

Forskaren
Posts: 189
Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2015 4:04 pm

Re: ERE in Sweden

Post by Forskaren »

Thank you!

My breakfast is plain Oat porridge and tea each day. That cost me about 10 cent. I get one of the three daily meals for $3 per month. That is a pretty good start.

I seldom eat out and I cook my own food most of the time. Some costs are in the borderlands between food, entertainment and other. My satellite TV is included in my rent.

Forskaren
Posts: 189
Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2015 4:04 pm

Re: ERE in Sweden

Post by Forskaren »

In December the savings rate was quite average for me. I got paid some extra at work, but I also spent some extra. The spending on entertainment was especially high. I bought a trip for next year's vacation including hotel and airplane ticket. I expect to have additional expenses next year for getting to the airport at the Swedish capital and spending one night at an airport hotel. The food spending in December was a bit inflated by me buying beer.

I will make an additional post where I summarize the year 2016. Below you can see the data for December.

Report US$

Earned income 3685

Expenses
Rent 436
Transport 80
Food 233
Entertainment 362
Other 192
Total 1301

Savings 2384

Savings rate (%) 65
Last edited by Forskaren on Sat Dec 31, 2016 4:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

frihet
Posts: 217
Joined: Thu Jun 06, 2013 10:33 pm
Contact:

Re: ERE in Sweden

Post by frihet »

Nice work, so you decided on the vacation. Where are you going?

Would be interesting to see a summary of your investments and net worth. Now at year end. Plan to do one myself next time I get onshore. Spending New Years Eve on the North Sea

Happy New savings year Forskaren

Forskaren
Posts: 189
Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2015 4:04 pm

Re: ERE in Sweden

Post by Forskaren »

frihet wrote:Nice work, so you decided on the vacation. Where are you going?
I will be going to Ukraine in July.

I will be working on the stats for 2016 and update the journal when finished.

Happy new year!

Forskaren
Posts: 189
Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2015 4:04 pm

Annual update

Post by Forskaren »

For 2016 my savings rate was 67%. My expenses are shown below:
Annual
Expenses US$
Rent 5228
Transport 2070
Food 2568
Entertainment 1528
Other 2121
Total 13515

My largest cost was the rent I paid for my apartment. My second largest expense was food and the third largest expense was “other”. Transport ended up at fourth place, but that doesn’t include that I already own a car and that I someday may have to buy another.

My present investment situation is as follows (not including retirement accounts):

US$
Stocks 557236
Debt 28836
Car and stuff 6529
gold 3711
net worth 538640

I am currently at 2.51% SWR, so I can probably consider me FI for the moment. I got a quite pleasant problem of finding out if I want to increase my spending in some area, since I like my work and will continue to work despite being FI. My problem is that when it comes to taste in clothes, food, cars and housing I don’t mind simple and cheap. For example, my favorite beer is cheap cold lager beer.

Post Reply