Uhm, Hi?

[NuncFluens]

So hey,

I was in search of a new online-community and since I'm working on ERE for a few years now I thought I'd pop in.

I'm 31 years old, from Germany and right now I'm working as a DevOps-Engineer for the state 32h per week. Since I'm not "in the industry", I don't really have any pressure to perform so the job is pretty cushy for now. We get lots of home office and the working hours are pretty fluid.

My spare time is divided up between spending time with my fiance and long-distance multi-day hiking (or training for it, at least). I'm also trying to get into bikepacking and camping for this season, although my bum knee makes that a bit harder than I anticipated.

In terms of ERE I'm living pretty frugally by normal-people-standards: I cook my own food, use what I got before buying new, and all that. I'm also trying to minimize my possessions, as I'm having my own appartment where I don't really live anymore (righ now it's just for stuff). Overall I've saved up about 3x yearly expenses, with a savings rate of about 50%, which is invested solely in ETFs.

Over the next 10 years I'd like to get to a BaristaFI of sorts where I can reduce my government-job to 20h per week. During that time I hope to find a way to get an outdoor-sports-adjacent job to which I plan to transition in full, once that becomes financially feasible.

So that's it. If you've got any questions, just hit me up. I'm gonna start my journal then. See you there, if you'd like.

(Edit: Wow, I reread this 5 times and didn't notice how I mistyped my age (now corrected). How's that for a blind spot?)

[UK-with-kids]

Hi.
Sounds like you're on a good path.
Good luck with your journey.
U-W-K.

[horsewoman]

Hello from a fellow German, and welcome to the forums!

(Edit: Wow, I reread this 5 times and didn't notice how I mistyped my age (now corrected). How's that for a blind spot?)

What did you type instead of 31? :) Maybe that will give you some clues why your mind did not notice the typo ;)

[DutchGirl]

Welcome.

I'm wondering whether you could come up with a plan to get to the fulltime outdoor job in 5 years instead of ten?

You've saved up 3 years of yearly expenses already, and I'm sure there's more money for your pension already in the government pension and in your workplace's pension fund. It sounds like you're pretty close to barista-FIRE already, so maybe it's time to start preparing for the jump towards a different job?

[NuncFluens]

What did you type instead of 31? Maybe that will give you some clues why your mind did not notice the typo

It was "26". At first I though my hand was just misaligned with the keyboard, so I hit the wrong keys. But that wasn't it.
Maybe I'm just in denial of my age :p

I'm wondering whether you could come up with a plan to get to the fulltime outdoor job in 5 years instead of ten?

You've saved up 3 years of yearly expenses already, and I'm sure there's more money for your pension already in the government pension and in your workplace's pension fund. It sounds like you're pretty close to barista-FIRE already, so maybe it's time to start preparing for the jump towards a different job?

Yeah... that's a bit of a personal thing for me. I really don't trust that I'll ever see any of the money in my mandatory, state-run pension fund. In Germany you don't exactly put money aside(*). Instead the workforce pays in to a pool from which the current retirees are funded righ now. This way you get "points", but their value shifts over time. Combine that with the growing ratio of retirees vs. the workforce and you'll find that the value of those points will only go down in the future. Basically every retiree I know is complaining that they didn't get what was promised them while they were paying their whole working life.

I do actually have an additional workplace pension fund, that follows the same principle on a smaller scale. I think it's limited to public servants only, but the same problem remains. My "points" will lose value, and my time horizon is 30+ years (I think elligibility starts at 59 years old, with penalties).

Another option would be a private pension fund, that would actually be mine alone. The investment options are pretty bad though. I researched these a few years ago quite thoroughly, decided agains, and cleared my head of all the details after that. But I trust my past self in that regard, even if I can't argue my decision in detail anymore.

And yes, I did actually notice myself that this sounds like a lot of reasons why I can't (aka excuses), so I guess I'll have to think about that a bit more.

[DutchGirl]

I'm guessing the outdoor work option is a riskier option. It probably comes with a lower monetary reward than your current job. But for you, it would come with a lot of other daily rewards. And these are the years when you're young and healthy, who knows what life and your body looks like 10 to 15 more years from now?

It's not as if the outdoor work option comes with no monetary compensation, it does. So why not do that for the next 10-15 years and then perhaps slowly get back into office work if you find that you have to or want to?

[NuncFluens]

DutchGirl, that's lot to think about...

I guess right now I'm scared to make the jump, as I'm not really embedded in the outdoors community yet. My plan was to connect with the community and maybe start with guiding few hiking trips for the alpine club (they alway need volunteers) and work myself up that way, building a network contacts, etc.

On the other hand my office job is sooo cushy, which really is due to my boss and how he handles things. I probably couldn't ever get a job like that again, even if the job description as such were the same. So I'd definitely like to at least reduce that to the least possible working hours to keep my foot in the door. Which would also give me the possibility to start off the outdoors-thing unpaid.

But sure, the "10 years" was more my way of saying "soon-ish". I'm not married to that number, so if things move along swiftly I'd rather switch sooner.

[henrik]

long-distance multi-day hiking

Hi, welcome. Any good regions/trails you can suggest for long-distance hiking in Germany? With the possible exception of Schwarzwald in BW, it seems there are not too many "wild" areas left in Germany.. or elsewhere in central Europe for that matter. Of course, long distance hiking doesn't necessarily need to be in the wild (look at the popularity of the Camino and such), it's just that I personally prefer meeting people and visiting towns to be a rare and pleasant experience on a longer hike:)

[NuncFluens]

henrik, as far as "real" long-distance trails go we don't have much where I live. There's the "Allgäu Trilogie" near where I live, which is comprised of 3 overlapping, themed loops that come in at 1000km+, but it's more of a section-hiking thing. One could through hike it with some redundant parts, but there's no community to speak of. We also have the Bavarian Alps, including the Nagelfluhkette with some 26 peaks right on my doorstep. It's quite easy to come up with multi-day trips there.

Overall everything is pretty commercialized and touristy though, with regular cable-car access to the peaks and lots of casuals on the weekends. It's forbidden to camp, so you'd have to stay in cabins/huts, which are chock full during the high season. The alternative is to go really far between designated campgrounds, which adds a lot of logistics (which I don't mind). So you'd be right as there are no "wild" areas anymore.

If you go farther out, there's the Malerweg (112km) in the Elbsandsteingebirge in Swiss Saxony on the Slowenian border. Apart from that maybe the Tour du Mont Blanc (173km) which spans France, Italy and Switzerland. I also have my eyes on the GR20 on Corsica (180km), but that's not really central Europe anymore.

[horsewoman]

@henrik there is also the "Bavarian forest" (Bayerischer Wald) in Lower Bavaria.
I'm not into long distance hiking myself, but I have been there a few times, it's really beautiful and huge!
Google came up with this site
https://www.outdooractive.com/mobile/en ... t/1462833/

[wolf]

Welcome NuncFluens! I'm too from Germany and looking forward to read more about your ERE journey! Following your journal. Well done with 3x yearly expenses saved.

[NuncFluens]

Ah, good that you mention that you're also from Germany. I often find that only half of what I read is applicable to myself because I mostly move in US-dominated online-spaces. I'll make sure to check your journal out.