Servus from Germany!
Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2018 11:00 am
Hi all,
I'm a 24-year-old (turning 25 in around 2 months) from southern Germany and discovered the concept of FI as well as ERE specifically somewhere around 2014-2015. Therefore, I was able to reach a savings rate of around 50-60% consistently since I started full-time work in IT since mid-2015.
After re-reading Jacob's book in the last few weeks while travelling, I re-gained some focus I probably lost during the last years - even though I continued saving and investing in various areas since the biggest part of it is automated, I think there are some more opportunities for further optimization leading me to a mid-term goal of a SR between 65 and 70% by reducing expenses and increasing income.
Nevertheless, I'm still happy with the progress I made so far: With expenses of 1.390€ (used a fixed budget after automatic transfers for investments, so no specific tracking which I'd like to start now to reduce this) and a current NW of around 110K€, I'm at a WR of around 15,4%.
Apart from full-time work, I'm currently doing a Master's degree on the side which I started after 2 years of work, as it's paid by my company and I'm generally enjoying some more academic input. In the remaining free time, I enjoy sports (football, strength training), reading and also want (and need to ) find enough time to spend with my girlfriend - living together at least makes this doable.
I'm looking forward to sharing my experiences (probably by starting a journal as soon as I find the time to put some more structure in my thoughts) and learning from the more experienced forum members.
I'm also especially interested in Germany-specific views and already noticed some German members and journals as a long-term reader of the forum. Even though we're facing some additional difficulties here compared to the US (for example very high taxes + social security payments leading to comparatively low after-tax salaries), Germany is in my opinion still a quite good place for RE and also ERE compared to most other countries.
I'm a 24-year-old (turning 25 in around 2 months) from southern Germany and discovered the concept of FI as well as ERE specifically somewhere around 2014-2015. Therefore, I was able to reach a savings rate of around 50-60% consistently since I started full-time work in IT since mid-2015.
After re-reading Jacob's book in the last few weeks while travelling, I re-gained some focus I probably lost during the last years - even though I continued saving and investing in various areas since the biggest part of it is automated, I think there are some more opportunities for further optimization leading me to a mid-term goal of a SR between 65 and 70% by reducing expenses and increasing income.
Nevertheless, I'm still happy with the progress I made so far: With expenses of 1.390€ (used a fixed budget after automatic transfers for investments, so no specific tracking which I'd like to start now to reduce this) and a current NW of around 110K€, I'm at a WR of around 15,4%.
Apart from full-time work, I'm currently doing a Master's degree on the side which I started after 2 years of work, as it's paid by my company and I'm generally enjoying some more academic input. In the remaining free time, I enjoy sports (football, strength training), reading and also want (and need to ) find enough time to spend with my girlfriend - living together at least makes this doable.
I'm looking forward to sharing my experiences (probably by starting a journal as soon as I find the time to put some more structure in my thoughts) and learning from the more experienced forum members.
I'm also especially interested in Germany-specific views and already noticed some German members and journals as a long-term reader of the forum. Even though we're facing some additional difficulties here compared to the US (for example very high taxes + social security payments leading to comparatively low after-tax salaries), Germany is in my opinion still a quite good place for RE and also ERE compared to most other countries.