ABN to FI(RE) :: 2019 -> 202?

[abn]

Hi..

As most of you, im into this FIRE'y thing. Looking to improve life, and create a system around me and my family (fiancée and a 2 year old), that creates opportunities down the road, instead of the 'auto pilot' way of consuming our way through life.

I've been lurking for a year, and been planning to make a journal ever since. I've postponed it again and again and now a year later, i see it has become a habit. So thanks to Rube for just telling me to get started, even though i have so many good reasons to postpone it one more time, until i finish my master thesis i January 2020. So here we go..

As mentioned, i've been aware of FIRE for a year, but my mind has been entertained with theorising frugal strategy for quite some time, without knowing about FIRE. This means i've been tracking expenses for the last 3 years or so, and been consciously working towards lowering spending and constantly improving my numbers. A lot has changed though the last 3 years, also the way i've been putting the numbers together, so i will start out fresh here. Maybe in the worst situation possible, as i'm on my last 6 months of studying, and my state education grant is finished. This means i will have to live off of savings until February, which even though i planned this, hurts to see decreasing every month.

A few expectations to put up here now, and hopefully will be challenged during the process to the better:
- Perspective on FIRE, life values, expectations and priorities will change over time. This is an overwhelming journey, so i will leave some of the worries for later and focus on developing 'the system', strategy and what else is needed to reach 'goal' some day
- This path will bring so many worries and unknowns down the road, that will challenge my belief in this really happening. I'm from a classic 'consumerist' family where 'we weren't rich, but didn't need anything either', as my dad used to say. I want more than that, as i don't like possibilities my parents have today, not having too many opportunities in their retirement age. At the same time, because i didn't grow up knowing anything else (and definitely nothing about investing), i have to build up a lot of knowledge about investing and make decisions i never thought i'd make with money.
- Im born with a growth mindset and can't stand the status quo. This will most likely challenge me in the times where savings rate etc. is not improving or only improving slowly. At the same time, it will be the main driver. Im here to make sure, that this drive produces results, that is focused on what is important and not all over the place as i have a tendency to do (part of the answer to why im 30 and still studying...). Therefore this also will be a kind of reminder for what im trying to improve, and to set up goals for future development.

Numbers, strategy and other month to month stuff will be posted later this month, now is just for kickstarting this before ideas of postponing kicks in again.

Hope to get some good conversations with likeminded people here, and drive this as far as possible!

[rube]

Following. Good luck!

[abn]

Planning on posting some numbers which covers 2018 and 2019. For 2019, i was working while studying with a savings rate of 40%. I am pretty happy with this result considering working while studying and having a 1 year old. Girlfriend also studies which means economy is quite tight these years, and was still able to save 40%, so looking forward with life with a salary.

I get a lot of ideas of how to self-improve. To change something, to rethink my life style, new (quite radical) career choices and what so ever. My problem is; it happens too often. So i stall for several months at the time, starting a new project every week, and never really reach anything worth mentioning. Last project i started was learning python programming. Something i haven’t touched through my last exam period but will like to pick it up again. I see it as a great skill and something i will be able to do from home some day, which might be combined with buying a cheap home in the countryside instead of overpriced apartments in Copenhagen.

In order to ‘get back on track’, i will have to clean my todolists, evernote, moleskin notebook and what else i have written down on papers laying around. I started this tonight, and it feels great and as a way of being ‘in process’, even though this was just a small step. Now my evernote inbox has only 2 or 3 entries instead of 100+ this evening. I guess i'm a hoarder of ideas and notes - while enjoying to throw out physical stuff. But i will have to try to apply this to the notes and ideas as well, so i keep moving forward and develop skills and strategy towards my goals.

[rube]

@ABN what happened lately with you?

[abn]

@ABN what happened lately with you?

Hi Rube - thanks for asking, i did write last summer that now was gonna be the time i would start posting. In the meantime i did my master thesis and landed my first job this february at the university i studied at earlier. I've been looking so much forward to the first real paycheck and invested for the first time just yesterday. Markets went crazy, and i do expect it to be quite wobly, and might even fall a lot more over the next couple of months. But i see it as a long time thing, so better to invest regularly and not think too much about the daily ups and downs.

Next post will be on some goal setting, and just trying to establish some posting routine. Since i started the journal, i've had quite a few talks with my girlfriend about all of this and it seems as though she is in on most of this, so i like the way its going. I will most likely be the most 'extreme' but it's nice to have some balance to it and some sort of shared goal.

Since last post i've been thinking about how to create other income streams such property or some sort of blog/website. Still not sure where to go with it, but in order to speed things up a bit, i will be working on that kind of projects on the side.

Read your journal over the last few weeks and hope that the momentum of market will return at somewhat the same pace as it dissappeared from one month to the other. From my viewpoint its dramatic right now, but i think there will be so many trying to get back on their feet and political willpower to do something about it that it will change sooner than later to the better.

[abn]

My main purpose for doing a journal is to set goals and visualise them to make me remember and keep focus. On the other hand, i would love to investigate some of the barriers related to ERE and FIRE. There is a lot of stuff online about the more technical aspects of reaching economic goals, but i'd love to dive more into the psychological and sociological barriers of changing/manipulating your lifestyle. I guess that is what some of the journals here reveal when people tell about struggles and learningpoints from the journey, but i would love to be a bit more systematic about it. Looking into different kinds of barrieres and models of change. This was some of the stuff i liked the most about Jacobs book and hope this can be the place to develop my ideas on the subject further while having interesting discussions with likeminded people on this forum.

First some of the goals right now:
- make and refine a budget/excel sheet to document and review my progress. The old one needs an update.
- build python scripts to automate visualisations of the progress based on the budget
- after corona; get a more or less stable foodplan going, which minimizes the need to shop a lot, and there spend more than needed
- establish family routine in order to raise awareness of some ERE/FIRE aspects, while also finding a balance - this is a long journey, and has to find a new normal somehow.
- research topics for first posts on 'change barriers'

See you around and thanks for reading!

[abn]

A big part of me are concerned with barriers for change. I would go as far as saying, that it is one of my biggest interests and is central to so many of the things i do. Nothing is as motivational for me as envisioning how to change for the better. At the same time, a get a lot of ideas and random thoughts on the subject, so one of my biggest barriers for change somehow ended up being all the ideas competing for attention for long enough to be executed in real life.

Fundamental to changing something is the notion of habits. Changing habits, establishing habits, brainstormning new habits, identifying 'bad' habits - in some ways "designing" life through habits. Over the years, i found out that willpower is strongly overrated. Your mind is erratic and easily changes focus after a while. At least mine does, hence a habit im trying to establish is being aware of when my mind 'floats' on to new subjects or ideas. And then of course saying 'no, keep focused!'.

All this said, i have a billion todo notes, digitally and physical. I've read 'Getting things done' and use the GTD system to organize notes. I do this often and still at times have trouble staying on track. I'm hoping posting on an online forum - with maybe someone chiming in from time to time - will help me focus on FIRE. Above all ideas and thoughts throughout the last couple of years, this comes back again and again - it makes sense on a so much deeper level - especially in these days of covid-19 stresstesting societies all over the world and creating time to reflect on life for those of us who are working from home while spending a little more time with the kid and girlfriend.

[Bankai]

If you're into habit formation, you will like Atomic Habits (if not read already).

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Atomic-Habits- ... 1847941834

[abn]

If you're into habit formation, you will like Atomic Habits (if not read already).

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Atomic-Habits- ... 1847941834

Thanks! Will definatly look into that - after getting aware of the power of habits, i can't stop thinking of little hacks that changes the 'irregular/new' to 'normal' by gradually exposing myself to new circumstances. Writing a journal and being active in this forum is part of this strategy.

Have you read Atomic Habits ?

[abn]

Short summary of april. First real income after graduating in january and some surplus tax made it possible to invest quite a lot more than i will be able to do on a regular basis. Even though Corona is here and the economy is in limbo, im subscribing to the Dollar Cost Avaraging strategy and decided to just get money in the market as a routine thing - same time every month.

Numbers are as follows:

income: 26865
expenses: -6500
spending: -106

with some savings from earlier months, first time investing resulted in an usual large 'savings rate' of more than 100%. It was nice though to kick off investing with a little extra.

investing: 28899

Net Worth (savings and portfolio value - 30/4):
56000 + 40375 = 96375

I'm working on some graphs to better show development in numbers in order to remind myself of progression, when doubts about frugality etc. might show up.

Any other than me thinking of these journals as a way to remind yourself of sticking to the plan and see progression over time?

[Bankai]

Have you read Atomic Habits ?

Yeah. It offers plenty of practical advice and strategies to implement new habits. Highly actionable. I recommend.