Yesterday I was paid my last salary from this employer. I’m unequivocally unemployed. No regrets in leaving this job, or more accurately job life. My mind is not there, and hasn’t been there for a long time. Now’s the time to drop the compromise between office life and the life I want. No more being the odd quirky guy, that tries to live his life while keeping a foot in the world of approved holidays. There’s something else.
Still, there’s an uneasiness about the lack of income and the dependence on my investment business.
These last few days have been alright. Summer’s already in the air in HC and life’s going well. I’ve been spending time with my family.
A friend from NL came to visit me this week. A month after my breakup, he had his own. So we became breakup buddies. It was great to have him here in HC and see my country’s magic show him that life goes on. We went rock bouldering, which was awesome. Then we joined a chess event in two separate days. Ate good food. Wandered in the city and enjoyed the sun and the sights. Yesterday, we smoked our pipes as we were sitting on a park bench, contemplating the city’s skyline bathing in the sunset’s colors, listening to a performing artist playing for tips, observing the loving couples, the selfie tourists, the free-spirit man blowing soap bubbles to entertain kids and adults. “You know, I should come more often”, said my friend. Yah, I get that.
This week was also the first time I hosted my own theater session. After trying to join the existing ones, I saw that they aren’t what I want. So, I started my own. 7 people showed up, which is great for a new group. I announced that I’m hosting 3 sessions to teach some things I’ve learned and then we’ll see. For now it’s free of charge. I’d be willing to keep it free of charge for a while if that helped create a theater community here. I’m more afraid of freeloaders who might join than of not making money for my time. Let’s see how this plays out.
A participant left a comment on meetup:
***, thank you for such a great workshop tonight! You did a great job having all those fun exercises ready for us. I appreciate your time and talent. Looking forward to next Wed! And thank you to the other participants who were so generous with their laughter!
That makes me proud.
What I’ve been reading
Finished Our final warning. Before that I finished How to cool the planet. I wish both had less anecdotes. Now I’m reading Writing away, by Lavinia Spalding.
What I’ve been thinking about
The company where most of my capital is invested in has hinted that they want to sell a major part of its business, and in the future increase the payout ratio. I think this is bad for HC’s economy and for this company. I understand why they want to do it. The shareholder structure is, unfortunately, mostly foreign, and they don’t see this company as a vehicle for their long-term capital nor do they have any special love for it. Instead, after about 8 years of subpar returns on the capital invested, these shareholders want to begin taking out money.
I wish HC had more people willing to invest in our companies, so they would accumulate and grow capital, instead of becoming these ‘cash cows’ for foreign holders who load the companies with debt and increase payout ratios to stupid levels.
There’s a non-executive director with whom I established contact years ago, and I’ve tried to make the case that this company shouldn’t sell itself cheaply, and that a lot could still be achieved if capital is kept in it. It’s now my impression that his power in the company is limited and that he wants higher returns even if it comes from selling operations.
I don’t think the controlling foreign shareholders of this company are acting with malice. If anything, they were willing to keep their capital invested for years to finance the company’s turnaround and investment, which I applaud. When I first invested in it, the company was distributing dividends that were higher than its net income, and it was the new shareholder structure that changed that.
Unfortunately, HC doesn’t have the stock market culture to recognize it and invest in the company, so it’s being advertised to foreign investors.
What I’ve been doing
Tourist guide for my friend, theater teacher, climbing enthusiast, beach bum, reader, chess noob, writer.
Sabbatical numbers
Notes: decided to use sabbatical to describe what I’m doing now. Only dividends from investments. Last 3 months average for monthly expenditure.
Income robustness score– 0,2
WR – 6,7%
Time since quitting job – 1m22d
Time until buffer is depleted – 7 months
Monthly average expenditure is inflated by last 2 months and should come down.