Wizards' journal (ERE in Denmark)
Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 3:20 am
Entry #1 October 1, 2013
Hi everyone, time to start my journal covering my journey towards early retirement.
I have just reached an important milestone – SWR 5% - and finished reading Jacob’s book last month, so now seem to be a good time to start the journal.
I’m a 35 old economist who works with accounting/finance for a real estate company. I’m INTJ and have always had the passion for “economic freedom”.
I live in Denmark - English isn’t my first language so please don’t laugh too much of my spelling and grammar errors.
GF (29) and I split all shared costs 50/50 but don’t have joint economy.
We live in a 1,250 sq. feet house – no children jet (we plan for two). Our house is close to family but both of us have to commute. Me 55 miles (public transportation) and GF 32 miles (our car).
A now for the hard numbers (all USD we use DKK but guess nobody knows the value of those..):
Breakdown monthly spending:
Interest mortgage: USD 468
Interest mortgage “savings”: USD -139 *
Savings for repayment mortgage: USD 787 *
Property taxes: USD 229
Property insurance: USD 57
Utilities (heating, water, electricity and waste disposal): USD 436
Property maintenance: USD 90
Auto – gas: USD 377
Auto taxes: USD 50
Auto insurance: USD 55
Auto maintenance: USD 83
Public transportation: USD 266
Household (food etc.): USD 541
Insurance (disability): USD 48
Insurance (household, travel and legal): USD 41
Media taxes: USD 36
Phone and internet: USD 0 (paid by my employer)
Cable: USD 0 (cancelled)
Savings for vacation: USD 180
Saving for misc. new purchases: USD 180
Total shared monthly spending: USD 3,784
Of which we pay 50 per cent each: USD 1,892
Private spending (gifts, entertainment etc.): USD 360
Total monthly spending: USD 2,252
The shared monthly spending is “fixed” at USD 3,784 – any variations will affect the savings for repayment number.
* Our mortgage is interest only loans, but someday we would have to repay.
1. Mortgage - fixed at 2.14% until 2015 – USD 222,342
2. Mortgage – floating 1.1% - USD 83,964
Savings fixed at 3.75% until 2015 – USD -21,586
Saving fixed at 3.00 until 2015 – USD -27,779
Savings floating 1.1% - USD -3,604
Net mortgage: USD 253,337 – house valuation is approx. USD 324,324 (we paid more in 2007).
Income
Taxation in Denmark is really high – tax is by far our highest cost. You really need to plan to avoid taxes being too high – marginal tax for working income is close to 56 per cent!
Breakdown monthly income:
Salary: USD 9,369
Tax: USD -2,928
Retirement savings (equal to 401K): USD -751
Retirement savings (equal to roth): USD -414
Entrepreneur savings (tax deferred): USD -1,654
Net salary: USD 3,623
Monthly savings: USD 1,370
Savings rate: 38%
Savings rate adj. for tax deferred savings: 59%
Savings rate adj. for tax deferred savings and repayment of mortgage: 67%
Total net worth (not including house and car) USD 541,684
SWR: 4.99 %
I hope (and plan) to retire before turning 40 (4 years and 10 months from now). GF will not be able to retire so soon, she is pretty frugal as well but she is younger and finished her education later than me. I will not be including her numbers in this journal.
I have been tracking my net worth for many years, but since I started reading the ERE site I have more focused on passive income, here is a graphical view on my progress since 31/12-10:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/103667714@N05/10005563134/
Feel free to comment, ask any question and any good advice would be very welcome as well.
Hi everyone, time to start my journal covering my journey towards early retirement.
I have just reached an important milestone – SWR 5% - and finished reading Jacob’s book last month, so now seem to be a good time to start the journal.
I’m a 35 old economist who works with accounting/finance for a real estate company. I’m INTJ and have always had the passion for “economic freedom”.
I live in Denmark - English isn’t my first language so please don’t laugh too much of my spelling and grammar errors.
GF (29) and I split all shared costs 50/50 but don’t have joint economy.
We live in a 1,250 sq. feet house – no children jet (we plan for two). Our house is close to family but both of us have to commute. Me 55 miles (public transportation) and GF 32 miles (our car).
A now for the hard numbers (all USD we use DKK but guess nobody knows the value of those..):
Breakdown monthly spending:
Interest mortgage: USD 468
Interest mortgage “savings”: USD -139 *
Savings for repayment mortgage: USD 787 *
Property taxes: USD 229
Property insurance: USD 57
Utilities (heating, water, electricity and waste disposal): USD 436
Property maintenance: USD 90
Auto – gas: USD 377
Auto taxes: USD 50
Auto insurance: USD 55
Auto maintenance: USD 83
Public transportation: USD 266
Household (food etc.): USD 541
Insurance (disability): USD 48
Insurance (household, travel and legal): USD 41
Media taxes: USD 36
Phone and internet: USD 0 (paid by my employer)
Cable: USD 0 (cancelled)
Savings for vacation: USD 180
Saving for misc. new purchases: USD 180
Total shared monthly spending: USD 3,784
Of which we pay 50 per cent each: USD 1,892
Private spending (gifts, entertainment etc.): USD 360
Total monthly spending: USD 2,252
The shared monthly spending is “fixed” at USD 3,784 – any variations will affect the savings for repayment number.
* Our mortgage is interest only loans, but someday we would have to repay.
1. Mortgage - fixed at 2.14% until 2015 – USD 222,342
2. Mortgage – floating 1.1% - USD 83,964
Savings fixed at 3.75% until 2015 – USD -21,586
Saving fixed at 3.00 until 2015 – USD -27,779
Savings floating 1.1% - USD -3,604
Net mortgage: USD 253,337 – house valuation is approx. USD 324,324 (we paid more in 2007).
Income
Taxation in Denmark is really high – tax is by far our highest cost. You really need to plan to avoid taxes being too high – marginal tax for working income is close to 56 per cent!
Breakdown monthly income:
Salary: USD 9,369
Tax: USD -2,928
Retirement savings (equal to 401K): USD -751
Retirement savings (equal to roth): USD -414
Entrepreneur savings (tax deferred): USD -1,654
Net salary: USD 3,623
Monthly savings: USD 1,370
Savings rate: 38%
Savings rate adj. for tax deferred savings: 59%
Savings rate adj. for tax deferred savings and repayment of mortgage: 67%
Total net worth (not including house and car) USD 541,684
SWR: 4.99 %
I hope (and plan) to retire before turning 40 (4 years and 10 months from now). GF will not be able to retire so soon, she is pretty frugal as well but she is younger and finished her education later than me. I will not be including her numbers in this journal.
I have been tracking my net worth for many years, but since I started reading the ERE site I have more focused on passive income, here is a graphical view on my progress since 31/12-10:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/103667714@N05/10005563134/
Feel free to comment, ask any question and any good advice would be very welcome as well.