Loutfard's journal

[loutfard]

wow, 50-70% is a big difference who such close proximity. What would you attribute this to?

This city is the place where the national upper middle class and upper class traditionally live during their studies. Many of them stick to the place after their studies. There's also a quite a few foreigners in high income sectors. They are paid high gross incomes, and locally enjoy an expat regime with much lower taxes than locals. There's a considerable tech sector presence and a cluster of highly paid jobs in general. Just the university linked chip research lab employs about 5000 engineers, excluding the numerous spinoffs. This city is experiencing to a mild extent some Silicon Valley (US) or Cambridge (UK) like symptoms.

I guess many of these people won't go through the effort of saving a paltry few hundred thousand by living in a cheaper area. My theory is they'd rather spend money on staying put here, because that's what they've been trained to do, in their case successfully.

My wife is the only one among her median income colleagues to live in the city center. She's realised from speaking to her colleagues that that is unusual. If median income, the typical pattern is either you're old and own a place here since before the real estate boom, you lucked into something atypically cheap, you were super frugal and shrewd about getting a place here (my case), or you live further away.

Just to give you an idea, our combined net income now is a hair above 6k€/month including all bonuses and benefits in kind. That is clearly above median here. Our modest townhouse is about 550k€, or about 7.64 times our combined annual net income. That ratio used to be considerably worse before the 2022 inflation and the decline in real prices.

In short, nothing wrong with the next city. Just hyper local effects at play.

My wife _is_ opening up to cheaper living ideas, just very slowly. It is a bit frustrating always being three or four steps ahead on this. Lead by example worked for several other things, but that's not a valid strategy for housing. Even if own this place, I can't just decide to sell or let it. We live here...

[zbigi]

I think that's a way to ensure you'll blosom to your full career potential

A classic dynamic, where the man may be the CEO of the relationship, but the woman is the board of directors

[loutfard]

Dealing with the Belgian federal pension administration is zen buddhist patience practice:
- The government pension website makes a lot of publicity about their web app where you can simulate your pension amount "because calculating your pension is so complicated you couldn't possibly do it yourself".
- I've tried to get a simulation out of that web app several times in the past year and a half and never succeeded.
- A phone call a year ago yielded no results.
- A written question with three very precise questions has stayed unanswered for a month now.
- An attempted phone follow-up this afternoon was unsuccessful: "The public sector pension administration is available by phone from 8:30 until 12:00."

I am hoping to get three questions answered:
- Is the government pension web app missing any information to calculate my pension amount? If so, which information, and where can I find that for you?
- What would my pension amount be on my earliest early retirement date should my career continue to develop as it is developing now?
- What would my pension amount be should I quite my job and move to a different EU member state on July 1st, 2029?

As a public servant, my only pension is a federal pension.
- My current pension contributions go to current retired civil servants.
- My future pension is scheduled to be funded by future civil servants contributions.
- The public sector pension rules regularly retroactively change for the worse:
- Earliest retirement age has changed from 56 to 64 since I started.
- The final pension amount has been lowered by more than 15%.
- Only post-tax savings available. No realistic pre-tax retirement savings plan available. Except for a ridiculous ~1k€ year in plans with >1.5% expense ratios. Designed to benefit banks only...

[delay]

Thanks for your journal!

- What would my pension amount be on my earliest early retirement date should my career continue to develop as it is developing now?

Who would know the answer to your questions? Even the best informed actuary can only guess at future developments. They would avoid giving out personal numbers that you could base decisions on. And of course actuaries don't answer questions from individual customers.

What kind of answer do you expect?

- My future pension is scheduled to be funded by future civil servants contributions.

The Netherlands has a national pension (AOW) like that, funded out of current contributions. There are also sector pensions which invest money deducted from your salary. The civil servant pension (ABP) is like that. They claim to have staggering sums of money but also claim to be unable to compensate for inflation. In terms of what pensioners receive they're not better or worse than other European pensions. That's rational enough, because no sane country would give its pensioners so much money they would claim more than their due and impoverish younger generations.

[loutfard]

Thanks for your journal!


Who would know the answer to your questions? Even the best informed actuary can only guess at future developments. They would avoid giving out personal numbers that you could base decisions on. And of course actuaries don't answer questions from individual customers.

What kind of answer do you expect?

The answer that they promise and that everyone else in Belgium can supposedly get. A fairly correct estimate by current standards. It's not so horribly hard to calculate that projection for tenured civil servants...

The Netherlands has a national pension (AOW) like that, funded out of current contributions.

There are also sector pensions which invest money deducted from your salary. The civil servant pension (ABP) is like that.

There one at least has an individual claim. It's still a hollow promise to some extent, but less so than a pension paid from an empty box filled by current contributions only.

[delay]

The answer that they promise and that everyone else in Belgium can supposedly get. A fairly correct estimate by current standards. It's not so horribly hard to calculate that projection for tenured civil servants...

In The Netherlands we get a non-binding estimate every year called "Uniform Pension Overview". That sounds like what you're looking for. Perhaps you have to right to ask for a similar statement. How about asking a union representative?

There one at least has an individual claim. It's still a hollow promise to some extent, but less so than a pension paid from an empty box filled by current contributions only.

A Dutch sector pension fund is governed by representatives of unions and employers. The box is a claim on a New York corporation, for example Black Rock. We pay more than we take out, so we currently send money to the USA. In the future we'll ask the USA to send money to us. To me it feels less secure than relying on future generations of civil servants!

[Lemur]

Random but I was just thinking to myself..how active is the ERE Wiki? Went to the Recent Changes Page.

Thank you for your service loutfard (Salute Emoji)
https://wiki.earlyretirementextreme.com ... lversion=2

[loutfard]

Random but I was just thinking to myself..how active is the ERE Wiki? Went to the Recent Changes Page.

Thank you for your service loutfard

Just reading your comment now. Thank you for your encouragement.

[loutfard]

Some info on my financial situation:

- house: ~550k€, very liquid as real estate goes
- 50% of summer house: 60k€, very illiquid as real estate goes
- private retirement account: ~15k€
- cash: ~15k€

- mortgage: 120k€. @1.2% fixed
- government home improvement loans: 15k€. 1/2 @2% fixed+ 1/2 @0% fixed
- summer house loans: 10k€: 9k€ @0% fixed + 1k€ @4% fixed

- salary: ~42k€/y or 3.5k€/m net including bonuses, tenured job with generous by local standards pension at 64

This probably clarifies why I'd like to lower housing cost. Two reasons:
- I'd like my wife to equitably share our housing cost, but her salary is lower. On her salary, she can't afford to pay for an equitable share of this place without seriously derailing a path to ERE for us both. She'd be stuck to a super high loan amount, at much less favorable interest rates than I currently have locked in, with enormous administrative expenses.
- I see the giant opportunity cost, to myself and us both, of the place we live in. At the same time, I can't seem to teach my wife financial literacy beyond the occasional TikTok style finance lesson. Last weekend's success was I simplified the 4% rule into multiplication or division by 300. I have a hard time thinking of ways to explain the concept of opportunity cost to her.

A recent success was her realisation she'd be ready to live in a nice rental appartment just as well as in a house, as long as it was within 10km (cycling distance) from the city where we currently live and she works. That might open up a glimmer hope for more affordable housing. I even got her ok to write to a very well-run cohousing co-op to check if there was anything available there.

Unfortunately, the much cheap city 20km away is still off limits. No buying or renting there. Four excellent train links per hour from 5am until midnight, plus buses into the night. Safe. Green. Cheap. I see a great ERE housing opportunity there at literally a quarter of the cost here plus some sweat equity, but it's falling on a deaf ears.

[loutfard]

New experience. My new boss is denying me 1k€ I am legally entitled to. Uneasy feeling made worse by the fact that I am not sure what is driving this nonsense. Perfectly timed to coincide with a challenging domestic situation.

[delay]

My new boss is denying me 1k€ I am legally entitled to.

Being legally entited to something and being able to get it are two different things. It's the second one that matters.

If you feel angry about it, why not let it lie for a few weeks before you return to it?

[loutfard]

Very annoyed is a beter description. If I let it lie for a few weeks, the money is gone.

[OutOfTheBlue]

Is there a way to get clearer on his nonsense refusal, as to where he is coming from?

What are your recourses?

If they are solid, are you prepared to not let this pass and ensure you get what you're legally entitled to even if that alienates things and puts you on the spot?

Being in the path of FI with a monetary cushion means you have the freedom to accept less bullshit, and can afford to not budge, and to take any action that would otherwise be prohibitive (imagine living paycheck to paycheck or having debt).

Suggesting to negotiate from a position of freedom where you can afford to "lose" (trust, position, etc.), because indeed you can.

Interesting challenge to navigate.

But if things are also challenging in private life, there is also wisdom in picking your battles. It's okay to let go as well.

[loutfard]

Is there a way to get clearer on his nonsense refusal, as to where he is coming from?

Yes, clarified that by actually going into his office. Boss feels like I'm treating myself to something too nice.

What are your recourses?

I'll try and go through boss's secretary. As opposed to boss, she actually keeps the place running and can count. She offered to try and push it. Either by convincing boss or in a different way.

If they are solid, are you prepared to not let this pass and ensure you get what you're legally entitled to even if that alienates things and puts you on the spot?

No. My job is not too bad. I almost never have to work with this boss in any way. If push comes to shove, I'd rather let him get away with denying me my 1000€ once. Minimising contact surface is the name of the game.

[loutfard]

Preparing to apply for a data science job uniquely suited to me. Ticks almost all my boxes:
- Python, sensor monitoring, data analysis, time series databases, almost no looks-nice frontend work.
- I love the sector.
- I love the company. I don't think I've ever said that about a for-profit company. Lots of links with them. I'm a longtime shareholder, customer, have been a small-time one-off supplier to them in a field unrelated to the job offering. I know the main founder and a few of the staff, and his very real life story.
- Remote possible. In the medium term, this might allow me to break free from my current HCOL place.

Not all my boxes are perfectly ticked of course:
- Some non-free software involved. That would be a first for me. Should I get the job, I'll treat that as an opportunity to introduce free software where I can.
- They're looking for full-time, and I can only offer up to 80% at most. They do mention they're open to part time.
- They're looking for an employee, but freelance is the only way this makes fiscal sense to me.

I have a month to get my application in. I plan to pierce the HR idiots layer with superior CV and motivation letter writing skills. Any technical people I plan to blow away with a live demo. I can easily build something way above what's expected from a junior.

I would really like to do this work. Wish me luck!

P.S. Me applying for this is a direct consequence of discovering ERE. It multiplied my serendipity. Just half a year ago, I wouldn't have had the physical fitness or energy to even think about this. The last two weeks' "interesting; communication with one of my bosses were an interesting reminder I need to kick the ERE quest into higher gear.

[NewBlood]

Sounds like a great opportunity loutfard! Good luck, hope it works out the way you want!

[ertyu]

Congrats! Even if you don't get it, seems like just the experience of identifying the opportunity and applying is a positive step in and of itself. Fingers crossed.

[delay]

I have a month to get my application in. I plan to pierce the HR idiots layer with superior CV and motivation letter writing skills. Any technical people I plan to blow away with a live demo. I can easily build something way above what's expected from a junior.

Successful applicants have luck, friends and kickbacks from a recruiter

I would really like to do this work. Wish me luck!

May your application end in the best way possible!

[loutfard]

Current job
- I solved the money issue not by presenting the facts to my boss, but by going through the secretary.
- I've made a mental note to avoid unnecessary communication with my boss in the future. Nominal output.

Second income
I identified an interesting job. See previous comments. My thorough background research on the company and the position is more or less finished. I am playing around with relevant software.
Valuable hints from two close friends:
- Given my lack of recent relevant formal experience, a freelance position would be a tough ask. Explicitly expressing my openness to freelance would be better. Worst case I will have to spend a year or maybe two paying through my nose in taxes before switching that to freelance.
- Present this job opportunity as coming early. "I was planning to get certified in data science, but then there was this vacancy that looked like made for me.".
- Find ways to make myself immediately useful.

Body
- BMI 26.5. Down from ~31.8 four months ago. Aiming for 22.5.
- More positive consequences to my weight loss. Sleep problems and hip pain had disappeared already. I sweat much less. I cycle uphill with so much more ease.
- DW is again complaining about my weight loss. According to her, I look older because of it. This is the second time I meet resistance from her. The initial complaints were "You're shorter than me already. Now I'll look fat compared to you! What will people say?". I feel like I am entitled to her support rather than complaints. Explaining that my weight loss is good for my body and by extension for our life together takes a lot of energy. Which contributes to weight loss I guess

Financial
- All nominal.
- Expecting the bulk of the spending on the summer house to be largely over after this summer. We're keeping a bit more cash on hand until that's done.
- DW has discovered a good quality blender for 9€ at the local thrift shop. Very happy she's discovered that place.
- We'll be buying a friend's old car for use at the summer house. 15 years old, first owner, 125k km, slightly over 2k€. We should more than break even with a rental car after just this summer. I could arbitrage between car prices near our winter versus summer residences, but I don't think it's worth the hassle.

[guitarplayer]

- DW is again complaining about my weight loss.

What I found sometimes helpful in such situations is either doing whatever is a potential contentious activity under the radar, or when called out (like in your quote above), redefining it in terms of doing it for others. One example would be redefining it as attempting to be a role model for parents or siblings with weight issue. Or a friend, anyone but DW!!