In the beginning
It has been about six weeks since I read Jacob's book. Since then I've paid more attention to what I spend money and energy on. My first step was to get insight in my current spending habits. I decided to start at January last year and track my behavior from there on. Due to a major health related event in January this year the time period wouldn't be very realistic in terms of averages.
The figures below are based on the whole time period of January 2016 till now.
Savingsrate
It's interesting to see the savingsrates dip a lot in the second half of last year. The logic being, why do I save all this money? I worked for it, let's enjoy it. It didn't bring much lasting happiness.
FU years (Net worth/expenses)
The most simplistic possible formula to give an idea in what direction i'm heading with my savings. I'm interested to figure out how to calculate how much I could withdraw based on X years to sustain me. Next time this graph will be more complex.
Spend
Not all that many spending categories. Historical data is vague. There was a big cash withdrawal at the end of last year, and I can't recall what it was for. Yikes.
Income
It really, really surprised me how much additional income I made as part of the total. This is essentially just money that falls into my lap without pursuing it. Now that I have vague Fi goals, this is something I want to pursue more passionately. Though I might have missed out on the golden years in my niche and it not being longtime sustainable.
Personal growth
Learning
I was an avid reader, before I started studying. Slowly taking it up again based on suggestions in
this topic
How NOT to DIE by Michael Greger and Gene stone
A book on the topic of the health advantages of whole-food plant-based diets. Very interesting read. I already knew a few things about nutrition and was doing pretty good compared to the average, but I learned I still have a lot of room for improvement. Taking small incremental steps, e.g. adding flaxseeds to my oats now for example. Recommended read. Thing that stuck with mostly is that the life expectancy of the current generation could be lower than that of our parents... It would be terrible if one were to spend a lot of energy to become Fi and RE only to cut the trip short.
Disciplined minds by Jeff Schmidt
Bought it. Started to read it. Depressing... decided to read something else instead. Not the right time or right moment for me. Most interesting to me was the realization that if you spend as much time on something as you do with your work. You should try and build something great. Motivates me to improve at my job.
Rich Dad's Cashflow Quadrant by Robert T. Kiyosaki
Thick on words, thin on insights. Most interesting thing to me is how he hedged his investments to manage risk. Based on my working experience that gave me an idea for a potential extra income stream. It's an interesting enough book to read, but very much oriented at cross-selling his other products.
So good they can't ignore you by Cal Newport
Currently reading. Interesting read. Connects to many things I already thought/knew. Again motivation to improve my professional skills and my past time exploits.
suggestions are welcome. What books were transformational for you?
DIY-projects
I've decided that a standing desk would be beneficial to my health. So I plan on taking measurements and planning a DIY build. For when my health situation permits making it. I've seen some designs based on pipes and angle pieces that I might be able to put together even with my physical challenges, so I'll look into that.
Financial growth
Investing
All my money is in savings. There are many questions I first need to find the answers to before I am comfortable with investing.
- Ratio of index to bonds (and why)
- Manage the risk of entering a "boar" market
- What index funds to pick
- Figuring out the Dutch tax situation
- etc.
Literature suggestions would be very welcome!
Additional income
I've been walking around with a few money making ideas for months based on my hobbies. I pitched my ideas to a few people who are professionals in the same field (professional as in getting paid to do it, not fulltime occupation) and they see potential. Done some exploratory market research, and am moving forward with it. At worst it's an interesting learning experience that I can leverage as entrepreneurial experience. Setting it up is time and energy, no spend necessary.
Health
A little backstory, my right radialus nerve was overstretched during an operation. Feeling works fine, control however is non-existent. What does it mean? My wrist is limp and I can't extend my fingers beyond that which is controlled by other nerves.
It has been like that since mid January this year. Doctors are still hopeful it'll come back without intervention. Nerves regrow, and it wasn't severed plus the feeling works. I got a new brace that allows me to use my right hand to operate the computer mouse. So my quality of living has gone up.
Because of this injury I can't work full-time. Fortunately that's what insurances are for and I can still perform my work. The other benefit is that I had a lot of time to think about things WITH the knowledge of my first three years of working. Without the abrupt abundance of time, the physical constraints, the discovery that you can't buy happiness and the knowledge of a working life, I don't think my mind would've been open for ERE or other things that I've read since.
Imagine typing all of this with your left hand exclusively. That's what I did.
