FI - Just Visiting

[nitelight]

So finally pushed my caravan loan down below 12000 usd! Lower on savings to get there but o so worth it. Talked to the bank and got the interest rate down to just under 5% as well

[Forskaren]

It seems like an good idea to pay back the loan with 5 % interest. Good that you were able to lower the rate. Today I personally and unprofessionally think that 5% is in a tricky middle ground. Even if you are a risk taker and gambler, it is not obvious what is best. Paying back or trying to find investments. If you are normal or risk adverse, paying back is probably the obvious correct way.

[nitelight]

Haven't been very activity lately, motivation has not been great so I've been spending more money. That be said I've been working more as well so I haven't suffered to badly savings wise.

Caravan loan is now at: 9172.77 USD

[Forskaren]

Nice decrease of that loan. Do you aim at paying it back this year?

I am currently reading a book:
http://www.amazon.com/Your-Money-Life-T ... 0143115766

I think it can be helpful to think about your real motivations and how to use "life energy".

[nitelight]

Thanks for the book suggestion @Forskaren, I plan to read that book.


In other news, I've finally paid of the caravan loan!

Only loan left now is the student loan, which I plan on taking down real slow because of low interest.

[Forskaren]

Impressive repayment. How did you manage to repay that much money in so short time period?

[nitelight]

@Forskaren - Thank you ! I got my hands on some extra money - Thought a bit about what to use them on, and decided I'd kill off the loan as it felt like it was cramping my style.

[Eureka]

Hi nitelight,
I just read your journal and got curious about how it continues. Still living in the caravan and saving 80%?

[nitelight]

Hi Eureka,

Well I guess if i count paying down the caravan as saving, I'm quite high on savings rate, not sure how high.
I am still working out what I can have as a sustainable savings rate. After he first few months living in a caravan I find I spend more money than I'd like to.
I'm a creature of comfort you see ! And I found the extreme enthusiasm was hard to maintain.

Still living in the caravan though, and it's quire nice . Yes there are definitely things that are much better with living in a house/appartement. But I love that I actually own my caravan now.

I'm a bit exited to see where my monthly savings rate will land. I really admire people like the Animal who seem to consistently hit 90% or so.


With regards to living in a caravan, in a way I'm actually looking forwards to winter , the camping site where I live have a different feel in winter, less people. Yes it's cold to bicycle to work in -15 minus, but it works ok for me it seems.

It's been raining a lot lately, and Jacob is right it is like living inside a snare drum, but I don't mind, I like the sound and think it's cozy. I also find that the living space is more than enough for my needs. I live in about 10m^2, and it feels quite spacious.

Since I bicycle to work every day, I get fresh air every day, and feel like I'm forcing myself to keep in relatively good shape, which is nice. I stay mostly by myself here even though I sometimes have short chats with the other people at the camping site. I find I like being by myself very much, I don't often miss the company of others. I try to be social at work, and I get my required dose of socializing there.

What is really good with FI, is that one has a choice, even if one never uses that choice, just having it, I think the feeling of freedom to me is very important.


In other news I've started reading the culture series, quite an interesting view on society.

[Eureka]

Sounds as if you are having a good time while being on the right track. I also have this huge need not to socialize all the time so I can truly see the charm of your living arrangement.

And since your cost of living is so low, I guess you should not feel bad about paying for some little extra comfort, but allow yourself to enjoy it fully.

[nitelight]

Oh well they days sure do go fast when one is working . I'm think I'm very lucky to have a job that I enjoy and that pays reasonably well.

Caravan life is going rather good, and I even found myself looking forwards to the winter! I'm still biking to work every day and it's become a very normal mode of transport for me now.

On the money side, I'm up to about 6k USD atm in cash and investments. Looking forwards to get to 10k, it will be the first time in my life that I have that much. I still have my study loan so all in all I'm a fair amount into the negative numbers, but the interest is so low it only pays to serve it with the minimum amounts.

On my spare time I do some training, enjoy books, and more books.

I also plan on taking a vacation in not to long, so going to spend some cash on that.







other than that I've been spending a fair amount of money and I have been lazy with tracking, I've starting rectifying this.