Cornerman's road to FI

Where are you and where are you going?
Cornerman
Posts: 81
Joined: Sun May 17, 2015 1:46 am
Location: The Netherlands
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Re: Cornerman's road to FI

Post by Cornerman »

Bedankt ! McTrex

Cornerman
Posts: 81
Joined: Sun May 17, 2015 1:46 am
Location: The Netherlands
Contact:

Re: Cornerman's road to FI

Post by Cornerman »

Back again, haven't done much in the way of FI over the last few months. Lot's of revalidation takes up most of my time. This is a slow process. Luckily I am gaining more and more insight in what I can and can't do. It is all about managing your energy , making sure you don't deplete all your energy all in one activity. It's finding your balance.

I am now picking up activities, such as updating my blog and getting back into managing my finances. All in small and manageable steps. So from next month I will post here again as well. On the recovery and the road to FI.

Cornerman
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Re: Cornerman's road to FI

Post by Cornerman »

The recovery is going better every step along the way, I am now working on a system to be able to plan my energy a lot better and have a more consist feeling of energy. I did a bit too much when I was feeling good and had a few hard downturns because of it. I have at least a few more months of recovery to go. So hopefully I will make some more progress.

On the FI front It's going good, While I have experienced an income drop I don't spent less as well, so everything is staying up to par. First priority is to move closer to nature. I live in an apartment building now at the edge of the city and I would love to trade this for something closer to the forest.

With interest rates being low I hope I can actually safe some money doing it as well.

I haven't done much in the way of the figures of the last few months and for me these are not really important at the moment. I will just post on progress in life from now on.

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jennypenny
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Joined: Sun Jul 03, 2011 2:20 pm

Re: Cornerman's road to FI

Post by jennypenny »

I'm glad you're doing better. It's great that you haven't lost ground wrt FI with everything that's happened.

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

Re: Cornerman's road to FI

Post by Eureka »

I just found your journal and read the whole thing. What a scary story about your brain infection. This made me realize I must focus way more on making the most out of life here and now instead planning and saving too much for a distant future.

I am so glad to hear you are recovering - and that you were in a place where you could get the right treatment fast enough and are also taking good care of regarding rehab.

But how about all this heavy antibiotics you had to take? On top of the disease this must be very heavy on your body and digestion and moods? No wonder you are so tired.

I wish you all the best and hope you find the perfect little place in nature soon.

Cornerman
Posts: 81
Joined: Sun May 17, 2015 1:46 am
Location: The Netherlands
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Re: Cornerman's road to FI

Post by Cornerman »

Thanks Jennypenny and Eureka.

@Eureka, the antibiotics took a fair share out of me. But that was not the effects I have had the most trouble with, it's concentration, memory, and processing and reacting on information that has been affected in terms of the speed and how long I can do a complicated task, which is now slowly improving. I hope to recover as far that I can work on harder tasks for a longer time again. I remain positive.

Cornerman
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Joined: Sun May 17, 2015 1:46 am
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Re: Cornerman's road to FI

Post by Cornerman »

A short update , in order to help my recovery we decided to move to a house instead of an apartment were we live now. Its near forests and it has a nice garden. the neighborhood is also tiny and the house is semi detached. We have been looking to move before I got sick but that never materialized.
I am very much looking forward to this.

The recovery is going slow but there is progress, next week I have several appointments in the hospital to see what can be done in the coming months. Slightly nervous about this.

As far as the ERE project the move doesn't make a large impact we will be slightly going up in the monthly's but within a year we should be able to get that down to the current level.

I have not done much in the way of planning for ERE anymore as my situation only really allows me to take it one step and day at a time. Also I don't know what the future will hold for my income and work. So my ERE blog is going to be more of a recovery blog from now on.

Focus is going to be more on life and how to live it.

Cornerman
Posts: 81
Joined: Sun May 17, 2015 1:46 am
Location: The Netherlands
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Re: Cornerman's road to FI

Post by Cornerman »

I have been trying to get approval for a re integration project towards work for a few weeks now. This takes time and Friday I got the green light. Which is a very welcome prospect. As it seems contradictory to the whole ERE pursuit in a way ;) , I am very happy to be able to start this.

It will again be a slow and long term project. The revalidation team reckons it will take a year at the very least. The focus will be on getting a good idea on what I can manage and how to get there. Early next year the treatment at the centre will be finished as my day to day life is under control and I rarely have large fall backs , which is good. Although it will be a bit scary to really go without the "training wheels".

On the ERE front I have been catching up on my investments. The goal is to generate a steady passive monthly income stream. Which will allow me to pick my work on my own terms in the future.

I am trying to write a blog post every week about my progress, and subjects I find interesting. Writing helps in ordering my thoughts and for some reason relaxes me. This will be my weekly goal for now , apart from managing the daily routine.

Cornerman
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Joined: Sun May 17, 2015 1:46 am
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Re: Cornerman's road to FI

Post by Cornerman »

An new update , the move to the new house has finished and has paid off. In terms of health and surroundings. It took a lot in energy and time but it was worth it. My energy levels are improving and my concentration is better. I still need my planning a lot but in general all fronts are improving.

My re integration process got delayed a bit so it has only started 2 weeks ago, now finding a sort of internship for a couple of hours in which I can test how I react in a working environment.

The financial part has been a nice success as well, the cost of living actually dropped by a few euro's in comparison to the old place , mainly because of high estimates in energy costs. So my fear of rising costs was unfounded.

In the next few months I hopefully have a place to work again, even just for a couple of hours. Another thing I started a few weeks ago to give my life a bit more focus is a bucket list. I have large and small things on there and I have designed each goal with little baby steps in order to be able too work on them in a continuous way.

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

Re: Cornerman's road to FI

Post by Eureka »

Nice to hear everything is moving in the right direction for you. How is your investment strategy of generating a passive income stream doing?

Cornerman
Posts: 81
Joined: Sun May 17, 2015 1:46 am
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Re: Cornerman's road to FI

Post by Cornerman »

Eureka wrote:
Sat Apr 22, 2017 8:53 pm
Nice to hear everything is moving in the right direction for you. How is your investment strategy of generating a passive income stream doing?
It's mainly dividend payments so far which have increased quite well in comparison with last year , I am also moving into a strategy where I am selling options on the stocks in my portfolio to generate some extra income. I will follow this strategy and I am currently looking for a holiday let or maybe a rental property. I am still a bit cautious as I am not in a position to do a lot of work myself , and I can't afford much in the way of builders and plumbers etc.

The income stream so far is not enough to replace my normal income, but with the income from my girlfriend we will be in a good position even if my income drops to zero. But that's the worst case scenario. It sure would be nice if I keep my income.

Cornerman
Posts: 81
Joined: Sun May 17, 2015 1:46 am
Location: The Netherlands
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Re: Cornerman's road to FI

Post by Cornerman »

Another update since it's been a while. In the meantime I found a place to work a few hours a week, which is intense but good. It's nice coming in to work and have a few things to do besides the tasks I make up for myself. It's also nice to meet new people. It's a completely different working environment compared to my old jobs, which were all focussed around billable hours and targets. This is the complete opposite.

I am lucky for that, I am also taking small things off my bucket list, which also provides as a fun to do list. The Financial side is still the same , investing the same amount every month in dividend paying stocks and ETF's. One alteration I made is I stopped saving cash for the moment, the cash pile for now is big enough and yields nothing. So the cash deposit is going straight into paying off the mortgage.

The next big thing will be for me to figure out a way back to a paying job of some sorts, now it's just a internship with revalidation as the main target. Hopefully if all goes well I can work a few more hours and provide a sufficient income. The only thing I need is a new craft if you like. Being a IT consultant and project-manager is not an option any more. But I will take one step at a time.

wolf
Posts: 1102
Joined: Fri Jan 06, 2017 5:09 pm
Location: Germany

Re: Cornerman's road to FI

Post by wolf »

Cornerman wrote:
Fri Aug 18, 2017 2:40 am
The next big thing will be for me to figure out a way back to a paying job of some sorts, now it's just a internship with revalidation as the main target. Hopefully if all goes well I can work a few more hours and provide a sufficient income. The only thing I need is a new craft if you like. Being a IT consultant and project-manager is not an option any more. But I will take one step at a time.
Hi Cornerman. Thank you for sharing your story. I wish you all the best for your recovery! It taught me that life and health is precious. I think therefore we should appreciate every hour we are alive and healthy. And I hope for you, that you continue getting healthy.

I haven't known that you worked as an IT consultant and that you have project-management skills. Is it now too stressful to work in that area again? Maybe there are part-time jobs available, which are less stressful? Or maybe you can use your project-management skills as an project consultant, advisor or assistant? But, honestly I don't know about that. Just trying to raise some ideas on that.

Well, great to hear that the financial side is good. Take care!

Cornerman
Posts: 81
Joined: Sun May 17, 2015 1:46 am
Location: The Netherlands
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Re: Cornerman's road to FI

Post by Cornerman »

MDFIRE2024 wrote:
Sat Aug 19, 2017 8:15 am
Cornerman wrote:
Fri Aug 18, 2017 2:40 am
The next big thing will be for me to figure out a way back to a paying job of some sorts, now it's just a internship with revalidation as the main target. Hopefully if all goes well I can work a few more hours and provide a sufficient income. The only thing I need is a new craft if you like. Being a IT consultant and project-manager is not an option any more. But I will take one step at a time.
Hi Cornerman. Thank you for sharing your story. I wish you all the best for your recovery! It taught me that life and health is precious. I think therefore we should appreciate every hour we are alive and healthy. And I hope for you, that you continue getting healthy.

I haven't known that you worked as an IT consultant and that you have project-management skills. Is it now too stressful to work in that area again? Maybe there are part-time jobs available, which are less stressful? Or maybe you can use your project-management skills as an project consultant, advisor or assistant? But, honestly I don't know about that. Just trying to raise some ideas on that.

Well, great to hear that the financial side is good. Take care!
Thanks :) Yes health is something you can't predict. For me at the moment at least it's not an option to return to my former career, first and foremost is staying stable in my day to day activities and try to expand on that. I am now working 2 days of 2 hours on very simple tasks, and try working them out. Just to give you an idea about the amount at the moment. Which takes me about 5 hours of rest, preferably sleep afterwards to recover.

So for now I am a long way from any part time or full time job. The doctors warned me in advance not to get my hopes up. Most people will never fully recover apparently, but as always in science others say it can be done. One thing which is sure It takes a lot of time and dedication. there are examples who fully recover or at least be functional again on some degree of their former level. Which is what I am aiming for.

But this takes time and small steps , for example I am expanding my working hours with 10 minutes starting next month. There are some good examples of people at the recovery center who made the recovery almost fully. But it took them between 5 and 15 years, which can be daunting at times.

Thanks for the ideas :) Most appreciated !

wolf
Posts: 1102
Joined: Fri Jan 06, 2017 5:09 pm
Location: Germany

Re: Cornerman's road to FI

Post by wolf »

Cornerman wrote:
Mon Aug 21, 2017 7:55 am
So for now I am a long way from any part time or full time job. The doctors warned me in advance not to get my hopes up. Most people will never fully recover apparently, but as always in science others say it can be done. One thing which is sure It takes a lot of time and dedication. there are examples who fully recover or at least be functional again on some degree of their former level. Which is what I am aiming for.
Hi Cornerman. How are you? I haven't heard anything for a long time. Is your health improving?
Well, looking forward to hear from you.

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