This month have been a total gamechanger for me, I have been working so hard the last couple of years just to keep my head above the water in so many ways. I have finally some small space of peace here and there. My finances is getting better and better and I am finding ways to improve my life by actually reducing spending (biking and food mostly).
I will be able to pay of a big chunk of my debt this month and replenish my poker bankroll to make playing a little less stressfull. I have reduced my phonebill (from next month), fixed my bike, produced my own oatmilk, organized my home a little and have had so many awesome days with my kids. I am exercising more, I sleep a little better most nights for the first time in 3
Salary will come tuesday and I will pay my bills and then probably pay of 700 of my 2.2k debt (including all of the bad and then some).
I am still a fair bit exhausted and burnt out emotionally and physicaly bit I belive it gets better and better, GF is a total angel and handle me so good that I almost cant believe it.
Financial breakdown coming on tuesday.
Zankas poker-journal
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Family father
- Posts: 123
- Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2016 10:59 am
Re: Zankas poker-journal
Thanks and congrats!
Re: Zankas poker-journal
Financial Breakdown August:
Income: 2090
Job: 1460
Poker: 630
Expenses: 1850
Housing: 540
Food: 280
Loan: 270
Phone: 100
Pet: 100
Kids: 120
Car and transport: 220
Bike: 80
Other: 140 (mostly for brothers wedding)
Things will be quite different in Septemeber, car will be gone but will add probably 100 in other transport. I will try and be more concious about my food habits and hopefully get it down a couple of %. I will also pay of all my bad debt (400) and probably almost as much on the other loan.
Income: 2090
Job: 1460
Poker: 630
Expenses: 1850
Housing: 540
Food: 280
Loan: 270
Phone: 100
Pet: 100
Kids: 120
Car and transport: 220
Bike: 80
Other: 140 (mostly for brothers wedding)
Things will be quite different in Septemeber, car will be gone but will add probably 100 in other transport. I will try and be more concious about my food habits and hopefully get it down a couple of %. I will also pay of all my bad debt (400) and probably almost as much on the other loan.
Re: Zankas poker-journal
Some thoughts.
It feels great to have income from both my job and poker, it gives me a fair bit of security bc the likelyhood of both going away at the same time is very unlikely. The job is very secure in general and only a huge recession could potentialy be a problem. Poker is sort of awesome in that regard also, I have a skill that I could potantially use all over the world (alto it might be a bit.. shady.. in some places) and there are probably always people that like to gamble. Both poker and job also are pretty easy to scale up (esp poker) if I lost my other income. If I get sick I will get some sort of money from the government, at least for a while.
This setup makes it possible for me to have a bigger part of my money invested instead of providing me security from losing my job. I basically only need to cover an emergency and since I currently do not have a car, the biggest expenses I can think of is that my fridge (like 3-500$) would need to be replaced or something like that, or that my dog gets sick (like, 1-2k or something at worst). I figure I can have 2.5k in my accounts and since I hopefully will have 800-1k over every payday my EF is effectively something around 3.5k at any given month.
At the moment I have 1.5k left on my loans and I will do my best to pay it of in 2 months and then build up my savings to 2.5k and then start to invest (starting with index).
I am also starting to think about the future, I want to buy a small (!) house in the woods (!) at some point the coming years, esp if me and GF stay together. But the houses I want are cheap, prob 100k, and I am willing to do most of the work on it myself. If I would buy with GF that means I can buy almost without taking any loans if I do not want to since I have eq in my current home.
/Z
It feels great to have income from both my job and poker, it gives me a fair bit of security bc the likelyhood of both going away at the same time is very unlikely. The job is very secure in general and only a huge recession could potentialy be a problem. Poker is sort of awesome in that regard also, I have a skill that I could potantially use all over the world (alto it might be a bit.. shady.. in some places) and there are probably always people that like to gamble. Both poker and job also are pretty easy to scale up (esp poker) if I lost my other income. If I get sick I will get some sort of money from the government, at least for a while.
This setup makes it possible for me to have a bigger part of my money invested instead of providing me security from losing my job. I basically only need to cover an emergency and since I currently do not have a car, the biggest expenses I can think of is that my fridge (like 3-500$) would need to be replaced or something like that, or that my dog gets sick (like, 1-2k or something at worst). I figure I can have 2.5k in my accounts and since I hopefully will have 800-1k over every payday my EF is effectively something around 3.5k at any given month.
At the moment I have 1.5k left on my loans and I will do my best to pay it of in 2 months and then build up my savings to 2.5k and then start to invest (starting with index).
I am also starting to think about the future, I want to buy a small (!) house in the woods (!) at some point the coming years, esp if me and GF stay together. But the houses I want are cheap, prob 100k, and I am willing to do most of the work on it myself. If I would buy with GF that means I can buy almost without taking any loans if I do not want to since I have eq in my current home.
/Z
Re: Zankas poker-journal
As I am soon out of debt I have been thinking about if I should set some kind of goal for saving or not. It is hard for me to come up with a certain number to aim for since I have no idea how I want to live my life in the future. When the kids are old enough to take care of themselves I might sell everything I have and go out on and see the world (been living in the same place all my life and barrely getting away) or I might want to have a small house and just do shorter adventures while maintaining a place to call home.
I think the right thing for me to do is to build up my numbers as I go, starting with having my EF set up, then 1y expenses, then 5y etc. And then just adjust as I go along.
EF: 2.5k
1y: 17k
5y: 85k
I think that as I have more and more security I will be less stressed out with getting to a certain number and more focused on living a life I want to live while still saving some. And I feel like 5y expenses is sort of a long enough time that I would not need to worry to run out of money and at the same time the number is kind of relatable as I am starting from 0.
So the plan is something like this:
- Pay of 1.56k in debt by oktober 31.
- Save 2.5k for EF by jan 31 -20.
- Save 17k by April -21
This is sort of based loosely upon what I estimate to earn, it could go much faster or much slower depending on my effort, but making a plan for the next 19 months does feel resonable.
In september and october i need to pay of 780/m to reach my goal.
In Nov-Jan I need to save 840/m to reach my goal.
Feb- April (-21) I need to save 1.4k/m to reach my goal.
I will at some point need a better bike to be able to do this.
Ok lets go.
I think the right thing for me to do is to build up my numbers as I go, starting with having my EF set up, then 1y expenses, then 5y etc. And then just adjust as I go along.
EF: 2.5k
1y: 17k
5y: 85k
I think that as I have more and more security I will be less stressed out with getting to a certain number and more focused on living a life I want to live while still saving some. And I feel like 5y expenses is sort of a long enough time that I would not need to worry to run out of money and at the same time the number is kind of relatable as I am starting from 0.
So the plan is something like this:
- Pay of 1.56k in debt by oktober 31.
- Save 2.5k for EF by jan 31 -20.
- Save 17k by April -21
This is sort of based loosely upon what I estimate to earn, it could go much faster or much slower depending on my effort, but making a plan for the next 19 months does feel resonable.
In september and october i need to pay of 780/m to reach my goal.
In Nov-Jan I need to save 840/m to reach my goal.
Feb- April (-21) I need to save 1.4k/m to reach my goal.
I will at some point need a better bike to be able to do this.
Ok lets go.
Re: Zankas poker-journal
Made my own applesauce today so now my breakfast will be almost for free for a while. I hope I can get around to picking some lingonberries also so I can make it trough the winter.
I did a stupid thing yesterday. I searched for bikes and now I am obsessed. And it is autumn so the prices are down a bit. The bike I got for almost free is fine to get to work with (4 miles or so) but if I want to visit some of my friends I would prefer having a mountainbike so I can go trough the woods and get away from traffic and cutting distance (and more fun obv). One friend lives 14miles away and I also have a sister that is about the same distance. Buying a great bike is one of the things that are alowed right? At least when the EF is in place...
Other than that I am up 450 from poker already and took an extra shift (20h) at work this month so that feels so good right now. Already paid of the last of one debt (370) to a relative that once were 10k and it felt so good I almost cried a little. I have been under so much financial stress the last 3 years and now I am almost at a point where I can start saving for the future instead of paying for the past!
I have started to dream about a sub 1k month sometime in the future.
This is my updated budget (soon):
Expenses:
Housing: 540
Food: 250 (down from 300)
Loan: 0 (down from 200)
Phone: 25 (down from 90)
Gas: 0 ( down from 100)
Car insurance and tax: 0 (down from 90)
Car fund: 0 (down from 50)
Pet: 100
Kids: 130
Other: 150 (bikerepairs, gifts, clothes, cinema, dating etc)
Total: 1195
Obv there are few places left to trim but a man can dream right
I did a stupid thing yesterday. I searched for bikes and now I am obsessed. And it is autumn so the prices are down a bit. The bike I got for almost free is fine to get to work with (4 miles or so) but if I want to visit some of my friends I would prefer having a mountainbike so I can go trough the woods and get away from traffic and cutting distance (and more fun obv). One friend lives 14miles away and I also have a sister that is about the same distance. Buying a great bike is one of the things that are alowed right? At least when the EF is in place...
Other than that I am up 450 from poker already and took an extra shift (20h) at work this month so that feels so good right now. Already paid of the last of one debt (370) to a relative that once were 10k and it felt so good I almost cried a little. I have been under so much financial stress the last 3 years and now I am almost at a point where I can start saving for the future instead of paying for the past!
I have started to dream about a sub 1k month sometime in the future.
This is my updated budget (soon):
Expenses:
Housing: 540
Food: 250 (down from 300)
Loan: 0 (down from 200)
Phone: 25 (down from 90)
Gas: 0 ( down from 100)
Car insurance and tax: 0 (down from 90)
Car fund: 0 (down from 50)
Pet: 100
Kids: 130
Other: 150 (bikerepairs, gifts, clothes, cinema, dating etc)
Total: 1195
Obv there are few places left to trim but a man can dream right
Re: Zankas poker-journal
September:
Income: 2000
Work: 1450
Poker: 550
Expenses: 2800
I decided to pay of a huge chunk of debt with most of my savings (have a backup). I have been owing money to a relative and decided I wanted to be done with it so I payed a total of 1.1k in September. Felt very good and I have been letting go of a lot of anxiety since that. Other than that I had 100 for my last phone bill, and 100 to car related things (which I am getting rid of this month) and 100 to some one time thing for kids. I thought I would get a higher salary from work but apparently my overtime pays the month after I put in the time so next month will be better.
Poker has been going a bit slow but I am getting better with it and are making adjustments all the time to how I approach it. My goal is to reach a stable income of 1k/m but I have to give myself time to get there.
I posted this in september:
So the plan is something like this:
- Pay of 1.56k in debt by oktober 31.
- Save 2.5k for EF by jan 31 -20.
- Save 17k by April -21
And i were one month wrong so I will change it to correct months.
So the plan is something like this:
- Pay of 1.56k in debt by November 31.
- Save 2.5k for EF by Feb 31 -20.
- Save 17k by May -21
Right now I am already down to 1.1k in debt so I will def get to the first step in time. Also I am going to buy a mountainbike to get me out of the house now that I do not have a car.
Income: 2000
Work: 1450
Poker: 550
Expenses: 2800
I decided to pay of a huge chunk of debt with most of my savings (have a backup). I have been owing money to a relative and decided I wanted to be done with it so I payed a total of 1.1k in September. Felt very good and I have been letting go of a lot of anxiety since that. Other than that I had 100 for my last phone bill, and 100 to car related things (which I am getting rid of this month) and 100 to some one time thing for kids. I thought I would get a higher salary from work but apparently my overtime pays the month after I put in the time so next month will be better.
Poker has been going a bit slow but I am getting better with it and are making adjustments all the time to how I approach it. My goal is to reach a stable income of 1k/m but I have to give myself time to get there.
I posted this in september:
So the plan is something like this:
- Pay of 1.56k in debt by oktober 31.
- Save 2.5k for EF by jan 31 -20.
- Save 17k by April -21
And i were one month wrong so I will change it to correct months.
So the plan is something like this:
- Pay of 1.56k in debt by November 31.
- Save 2.5k for EF by Feb 31 -20.
- Save 17k by May -21
Right now I am already down to 1.1k in debt so I will def get to the first step in time. Also I am going to buy a mountainbike to get me out of the house now that I do not have a car.
Re: Zankas poker-journal
What's your average hourly rate from playing poker?
Re: Zankas poker-journal
Right now it is around 15-16$/h (tax-free) but I will most likely get that up to 20+ in the coming months.
Re: Zankas poker-journal
I may have to pick up poker some day.
I used to play when I was younger.
I`ll have to follow this thread for some tips.
I used to play when I was younger.
I`ll have to follow this thread for some tips.
Re: Zankas poker-journal
On track.
So the plan is something like this:
- Pay of 1.56k in debt by November 31.
- Save 2.5k for EF by Feb 31 -20.
- Save 17k by May -21
Debt paid and bike bought. For the first time in 3+ years I am debt free. It feels so so good. I am also getting back into meditation and am currently sitting between 1-2h/day. It makes such a big difference in my overall wellbeing and are doing wonders for how I approach life.
Poker is going well.
So the plan is something like this:
- Pay of 1.56k in debt by November 31.
- Save 2.5k for EF by Feb 31 -20.
- Save 17k by May -21
Debt paid and bike bought. For the first time in 3+ years I am debt free. It feels so so good. I am also getting back into meditation and am currently sitting between 1-2h/day. It makes such a big difference in my overall wellbeing and are doing wonders for how I approach life.
Poker is going well.
Re: Zankas poker-journal
After being a professional pokerplayer for 8-9 years more or less full time, I have a hard time with people telling me what to do (I might have had this problem before going into poker but lets pretend not). Today my boss, for the second time in one month, told me I could not go on my vacation (in two weeks) since she had not made sure someone could fill my spot. GF already got her vacation cleared from her job so now she is wasting precious vacation days for no reason.
I will convert this frustration into motivation to save as much money as I possibly can.
And I realize I will have to write down more of a solid plan on how I will handle a future with a lot of FU-money since I will absolutely be likely to just quit my job to soon if I dont put down some solid rules (I hate rules).
I will convert this frustration into motivation to save as much money as I possibly can.
And I realize I will have to write down more of a solid plan on how I will handle a future with a lot of FU-money since I will absolutely be likely to just quit my job to soon if I dont put down some solid rules (I hate rules).
Re: Zankas poker-journal
Happy new year!
Just met with a friend whose friend is a professional pokerplayer (not online). Made me wonder about what Zanka is up to.
If I recall correctly you play exclusively online?
Perhaps an update on how's life?
Just met with a friend whose friend is a professional pokerplayer (not online). Made me wonder about what Zanka is up to.
If I recall correctly you play exclusively online?
Perhaps an update on how's life?
Re: Zankas poker-journal
Happy new year @Vaikeasti !
Life is good! I am on track with my savings (830 to my EF) and overall I am taking steps in the right direction. I am very motivated to play poker and it I am very happy with how I am playing atm. For a Long time my bankroll have been small so my main focus is just to have a huge one for the stakes I am playing. This means for me to have 7500 times the Big blind In my bankroll, at the moment that is 1500$.
Other than that most things are stable, family is well etc. Work is fine.
Life is good! I am on track with my savings (830 to my EF) and overall I am taking steps in the right direction. I am very motivated to play poker and it I am very happy with how I am playing atm. For a Long time my bankroll have been small so my main focus is just to have a huge one for the stakes I am playing. This means for me to have 7500 times the Big blind In my bankroll, at the moment that is 1500$.
Other than that most things are stable, family is well etc. Work is fine.
Re: Zankas poker-journal
Ok time for an update.
A couple of things have happened, I have saved currently 2.4k and am more or less on track with my plan (2.5k). I am very happy about this but I have been thinking a bit more on the way I will go about this in the future.
The last couple of years poker have been just a way to pay of my debts and trying to stay afloat, this made me stay at a low level and just grind it out for around 15$/h or so just to minimize any risk. This was a good move at the time since poker is a very demanding game/job and you need to be very resilient to handle all the variance and the competitive aspects of it on a daily bases. In January I was a bit fed up with this and lost a lot of drive to keep playing at the stakes I was playing at since it did not challenge me anymore. I knew a decent strategy to beat the games and it felt like just showing up and klicking buttons for a couple of hours every day. In mid feb I had enough and moved up to the level above, it was a bit uncomfortable at first but so much more fun. Some opponents are decent and I had to adabt and learn to not be run over. Poker got fun again. And I had variance on my side the first weeks which made me pad my bankroll and I concider myself to me a regular at this stake now. I also remembered why I loved this game in the first place, not to spend 10h a day just klicking buttons, but to learn, grow and challenge myself.
So moving forward I will take a little more (calculated) risk, and aim to move up one or two levels more before this year is over. If (when) I succed with that I will have made my hourly go up a ton, giving me the opportunity to have a huge SR and also maybe go fulltime pro again if I would like too.
Savings: 2.4k
Poker: 1.9k
The pandemic is tragic in a number of ways and I assume it has been talked about enough for me to comment on it but I am at least happy about a few things.
-My analytic skills understood what would happen in January and I stored some food etc just in case.
- My family got it after a while.
- I might have to stay at home from work since I have sympthoms, and to have poker as backup is probably the best backup plan in a situation like this.
- My hiking hobby make me very prepared without needing to do anything more than just organizing my stuff.
I hope you all stay safe and calm.
/ Z
A couple of things have happened, I have saved currently 2.4k and am more or less on track with my plan (2.5k). I am very happy about this but I have been thinking a bit more on the way I will go about this in the future.
The last couple of years poker have been just a way to pay of my debts and trying to stay afloat, this made me stay at a low level and just grind it out for around 15$/h or so just to minimize any risk. This was a good move at the time since poker is a very demanding game/job and you need to be very resilient to handle all the variance and the competitive aspects of it on a daily bases. In January I was a bit fed up with this and lost a lot of drive to keep playing at the stakes I was playing at since it did not challenge me anymore. I knew a decent strategy to beat the games and it felt like just showing up and klicking buttons for a couple of hours every day. In mid feb I had enough and moved up to the level above, it was a bit uncomfortable at first but so much more fun. Some opponents are decent and I had to adabt and learn to not be run over. Poker got fun again. And I had variance on my side the first weeks which made me pad my bankroll and I concider myself to me a regular at this stake now. I also remembered why I loved this game in the first place, not to spend 10h a day just klicking buttons, but to learn, grow and challenge myself.
So moving forward I will take a little more (calculated) risk, and aim to move up one or two levels more before this year is over. If (when) I succed with that I will have made my hourly go up a ton, giving me the opportunity to have a huge SR and also maybe go fulltime pro again if I would like too.
Savings: 2.4k
Poker: 1.9k
The pandemic is tragic in a number of ways and I assume it has been talked about enough for me to comment on it but I am at least happy about a few things.
-My analytic skills understood what would happen in January and I stored some food etc just in case.
- My family got it after a while.
- I might have to stay at home from work since I have sympthoms, and to have poker as backup is probably the best backup plan in a situation like this.
- My hiking hobby make me very prepared without needing to do anything more than just organizing my stuff.
I hope you all stay safe and calm.
/ Z
Re: Zankas poker-journal
So I have had to stay away from work since I am sick. Dry cough, sore throat and an overall feeling of fatigue. I hope it will be mild.
So being home from work and self isolating is working great for me, I live in an apartment on the outside of a medium/smallish city so I have lots of space to walk the dog and get some fresh air without having to worry about infecting others. And Im getting sick-leave from work so that is fine.
Naturaly I have been playing a decent amount of poker and I notice a lot more traffic. With all sports being cancelled I guess that people will be playing more poker and online casinos instead of betting on sports. And with a lot more people being home with mild symptoms and with nothing to do but to watch netflix I might be in for some great results hopefully.
So being home from work and self isolating is working great for me, I live in an apartment on the outside of a medium/smallish city so I have lots of space to walk the dog and get some fresh air without having to worry about infecting others. And Im getting sick-leave from work so that is fine.
Naturaly I have been playing a decent amount of poker and I notice a lot more traffic. With all sports being cancelled I guess that people will be playing more poker and online casinos instead of betting on sports. And with a lot more people being home with mild symptoms and with nothing to do but to watch netflix I might be in for some great results hopefully.
Re: Zankas poker-journal
This has been the first full weekend Ive spent playing poker in years and it has been great. I am completely exhausted but very satisfied with how I have played, and god have I missed this. It might seem weird for some of you but poker is such an interesting game that challenge you in so many different ways.
You need to understand the basic math behind it, be able to recognize patterns in what action players take and from that extrapolate that into future actions. At the same time you need to manage your own emotions and be very confident and not doubt your conclusions, but at the same time leave your ego behind and not be stubborn when you can´t figure out what is going on.
I think I've won almost 1k which is huge for me.
And it has been great to take my mind of what is going on in the world right now.
You need to understand the basic math behind it, be able to recognize patterns in what action players take and from that extrapolate that into future actions. At the same time you need to manage your own emotions and be very confident and not doubt your conclusions, but at the same time leave your ego behind and not be stubborn when you can´t figure out what is going on.
I think I've won almost 1k which is huge for me.
And it has been great to take my mind of what is going on in the world right now.
Re: Zankas poker-journal
Month is almost over and I have been doing very well financialy.
Since 1st of March I am up from 2.4k savings to 3.4k, and poker-bankroll is up from 1.3k to 2.6k. This sets me up for great opportunities looking forward. I have been running very well while playing poker and do not expect to win (2.2k) this much on an average month but it feels great to have a bigger cushin to handle the swings from now on. Games are great right now but I am still sick so I do not have the energy to be 100% focused so Im just playing short sessions on lower stakes just to pass time and make some money while self-isolating.
It feels so nice to finaly have some money saved up, I have worked for this so long and am so thankfull for finding this site. I would like to invest future savings but I am torn between that and having a bigger EF in this uncertain time we are in.
What do you guys think, my previous EF was 2 months of savings (3k). I have 2 income streams: A) My job B) Poker; and both of them individualy can support me if I somehow lose the other. I have a dog, no car, 2kids (I live alone with them every other week and split costs with mother) and have 70%ish of eq in my appartment. Would be nice to have some input!
Since 1st of March I am up from 2.4k savings to 3.4k, and poker-bankroll is up from 1.3k to 2.6k. This sets me up for great opportunities looking forward. I have been running very well while playing poker and do not expect to win (2.2k) this much on an average month but it feels great to have a bigger cushin to handle the swings from now on. Games are great right now but I am still sick so I do not have the energy to be 100% focused so Im just playing short sessions on lower stakes just to pass time and make some money while self-isolating.
It feels so nice to finaly have some money saved up, I have worked for this so long and am so thankfull for finding this site. I would like to invest future savings but I am torn between that and having a bigger EF in this uncertain time we are in.
What do you guys think, my previous EF was 2 months of savings (3k). I have 2 income streams: A) My job B) Poker; and both of them individualy can support me if I somehow lose the other. I have a dog, no car, 2kids (I live alone with them every other week and split costs with mother) and have 70%ish of eq in my appartment. Would be nice to have some input!
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Gilberto de Piento
- Posts: 1949
- Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 10:23 pm
Re: Zankas poker-journal
Great job with the poker winnings! Have you noticed that there are more players and/or easier to beat players since people are stuck in their house due to coronavirus?
Re: Zankas poker-journal
Thank you! Yes, def more (weak) players now with almost no sportsbetting and more and more people stuck at home. I hope I can string a few good months together now:)