docx's Journal

Where are you and where are you going?
docx
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2015 5:34 pm

docx's Journal

Post by docx »

Hello to the forum!

As a “lurker” since November 2012 I finally decided to contribute to the ERE community. As a New Year Resolution I decided to finally write something!

I became a big fan of ERE during the final months in college. I was broke (like, broke with thousands of credit card debt, almost no income and gathering bottles from garbage bins to earn some money to buy food...but that is a long story...

During a web research looking for extreme tips on how to save money I found the ERE page. I then read all of the articles in less than two weeks (I was writing my thesis, and needed the motivation/procrastination) – and have been hooked since then.

I will try to post my progress at least once a month and in the times between maybe some background information about me as well as mid-goals for the month and my long-term goals.

About me:
I am currently 29 years old. I am currently living in Germany, emigrated from South Europe in 2005 to study and work here (as one would guess from my English, never mind...)

I have a degree in Engineering, and I am working full-time since one year and a half.

My progress up to today:

Januar 2013 -10.000€
- Fully converted to ERE
- looking for employment
- net worth approx. -10.000€

July 2013 – Found job, still same negative net worth

December 2013
– Net worth +3.350€,
- no credit card debt
- student loan left (approx. 2.500€)

December 2014 – Net worth +20.000€

Income: approx. 2.500€/month

Monthly Expenses:
- Rent: 320€
- Transportation: 60€
- Insurance: 14€
- Groceries: ~30-40€
- Cell phone: 15-20
- Eating out – 20€-80€
- Other: €150-€400

My regular expenses vary between €700-800€ in a good month. My savings rate varies between 60% and 70%.

In December 2014 my expenses were a lot bigger, (1.231€), mostly because of some presents for my family and some traveling to visit family and friends.

For the year 2014 I had some major expenses that threw my average savings rate to 50%. I decided to make all dental works that were due since more than one decade. It was painful and expensive, but I don't regret it at all. It was one of the best investments I have made.
More posts will follow (maybe, if I am not plagued by lazyness)...

User avatar
GandK
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Joined: Mon Sep 19, 2011 1:00 pm

Re: docx's Journal

Post by GandK »

Welcome!

Your savings rate is awesome, and so is your English. No one here will judge.

Please keep up the good work and the posts.

Dave
Posts: 545
Joined: Fri Dec 19, 2014 1:42 pm

Re: docx's Journal

Post by Dave »

Hello Docx!

Your savings rate is impressive, and it sounds like it is going to go up in the future! Keep up the good work, and I look forward to following your journal.

docx
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2015 5:34 pm

Re: docx's Journal

Post by docx »

Hello there again.

@ GandK, Dave, thanks a lot for the welcoming messages.

As expected, the month of January was quieter than the last month:

Earnings: 2590.23€ (day job)

Expenses: 820.88€

Rent: 322.50€ (as usual)
Insurance: 19.95€ (as usual)
Telefone: 30€ (charged my 2 prepaid cell phones )
Groceries: 60.47€ (as usual)
Tobacco: 21.20€ (I know, I should quit)
Eating + drinking out: 82.53€ (mostly coffee at work, and some partying).
Shopping: 137.57€ (New cell phone,SIM card)
Other: 151.66€ (mostly from booking a flight for visiting my family in the Spring.

(savings rate: 68%)

After researching for more than one year and waiting patiently until after Christmas time, I finallly upgraded my cell phone and now I have two. Not very frugal at first sight, but I feel redundancy on communications means is important. Last year I was stuck at one train station for more than 12 hours because of a hefty storm. Unfortunately I had a smart phone with a dying battery and no means to charge it. Since then I started to research for a solution for this. One cell phone (Sonim) is for personal use. This brick is almost indestructible and has over one week of battery life. The other one (Blackberry) is for surfing, professional use, and keeping email messages up-to date (I work occasionally as a freelancer and if I receive a job proposal usually I have to accept it immediately, or the next person gets the job). Both of them are prepaid phones.

This month I also canceled my two credit cards. I kept them until now for “emergencies” and it does not make since anymore, due to my massive emergency fund (to date almost 6K €). As alternative I use a prepaid credit card. With this, I completed my “debt restructuring” and I have now exactly zero debt.

My goals for February are following:

Keep searching for a new job

My job has its perks: a nice boss, nice work colleges, and a high pay for my age and position. However, I took this job because I was desperate and needed the money and the work experience. I had to move to a small city, far away from friends and girlfriend. The tasks I perform are also far away from my area of expertise. I decided to wait until 2015 before start searching again. Probably the pay will be a little lower, but I can live with it, provided I feel happier in the tasks and the location.I intend to send at least one job application per week.

Decluttering

I am not a big fan of junk. I consider myself somewhat of a minimalist (I don't count my stuff, I did try to make an inventory once and quit, it was a waste of time). The only stuff I can not live without are my books and my tools. I have some home projects (3d printing, home gardening, Arduino) for which I purchased some tools. I only own some pieces of furniture (bed, shelf, 2 tables and one armchair) and for now I like it this way. Almost everything else is now under scrutiny. I intend to getting rid one small amount of stuff each day (either donating or selling or just throwing away). This will be also a good preparation in case I get a job offer in a short notice and have to move out.

Learning

At the office, I do not feel challenged anymore. After I finished some major projects and until new ones arrive, I push paper and electronic documents from the left to the right.
For now, I am learning VBA programming, by increasingly automatizing my work. For now, I can get the work of one day done in a few hours. In remaining time I read a lot about technical stuff, finances, and news. If someone comes by, he/she automatically assumes anyway I am making research in work-related projects. My goals for this month are learn to work with Linux command line (operator level), basic Arduino programming and electronics (I need the latter to solve some problems on my 3d printer).

Finances

I am slowly building a stock portfolio (mostly DGI and some small caps). I feel the market is overvaluated for now. For the time being I reduced my stock purchases, I am stocking up on my emergency fund and waiting for a dip in the market to buy some stocks I am watching.
February should have some higher expenses. This should be offset with some freelance working. For now, there are no major spending positions left to cut... I do want to buy a thermos bottle this month and bring my coffee each day to work – potential savings 50€, but it's not only about the money, it's also about the taste :D

George the original one
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Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2010 3:28 am
Location: Wettest corner of Orygun

Re: docx's Journal

Post by George the original one »

I had to look up Arduino. Sweet!

Hankaroundtheworld
Posts: 470
Joined: Mon Feb 24, 2014 4:50 am

Re: docx's Journal

Post by Hankaroundtheworld »

Indeed, Arduino looks cool, I just started to program Python and was planning to buy some stuff like Raspberry Pi for Home Automation Projects, but I will compare with this Arduino.

By the way, docx, you are doing a great job going from negative to positive net worth and embracing the ERE lifestyle

El Duderino
Posts: 177
Joined: Mon Oct 27, 2014 12:24 pm

Re: docx's Journal

Post by El Duderino »

Impressive progress thus far and very cool learning objectives! Do you have the Arduino hooked up to the 3d printer by chance?

Have you seen the Raspberry Pi 2 has been released recently? I have the first but didn't get any further than installing xbmc on it.

About the stock purchase, my experience says that even if I think it's overvalued on the whole, the better thing to do is just make the periodic purchase and forget about it, trusting in the average gains to rule out. Otherwise, the war chest piles up and more of a mental drag or temptation than anything else.

docx
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2015 5:34 pm

Re: docx's Journal

Post by docx »

Hello everyone,
thanks for your messages.
After starting building my 3d printer I considered seriously the Raspberry Pi. It is one thing I will tackle in the near/middle future, for now my free time is limited due to work and I prefer to concentrate for now on the 3d printing and smaller Arduino projects. The modular nature of it makes it intereressting, I plan connecting it to the printer for diagnosis purposes (I have a small problem that can be trouble shooted with the Arduino). Other than that, I intend to someday experiment with small hidroponics system with Arduino controlling and some small robotics and such, but for now I focus on learning by making small projects with LEDs, motors etc.

@Duderino: yes, the feeling of mental drag may happen someday, however for now it feels the opposite, I can sleep better at night knowing it is there :). I see it as a pause of a the "buying spree". The money it is on a high-yeld savings account, but it will not take long until the this yield will be reduced. I use this time for resarch, reading alot of market information, quartely reports etc.

Strangely, I never had the temptation of spending the money just because I can. I can roam around malls and and come back with zero purchases.I do have a wish list, some of the items are real expensive, but everything IMHO high-quality that it will last a lifetime. I just keep the the market hoping for a a chance of cheaper purchases (like winter clothing in Summer), or replacing low-quality items that have failed or are about to fail (such as the cell phone).

docx
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2015 5:34 pm

Re: docx's Journal

Post by docx »

12.03.2015
Hello forum!

Due to time constraints I was not able to write until now.

February 2015
Earnings total approx. 2800€ (Dayjob + Freelancing)
Spending approx. 980€


Rent: 322.50€ (as usual)
Insurance: 19.95€ ( as usual)
Telephone: 0€
Groceries: 45 €
Tobacco: 42.25 € (much too high)
Eating + drinking out: 71€ (partying with friends!)
Shopping: 53€ (Thermos bottle, some boxes and small stuff)
Other: 372 (Mostly travelling costs)

Net worth approx. 24.000€

Some minor extra expenses this month have increased my spending a bit, but no reason for concern. I paid approx. 200€ for bus and train ticket (due once every six months).

I get up everyday 10 minutes earlier and brew my coffee for the day. It tastes a lot better than the coffee in the work! Besides, it is a lot cheaper, even if I buy the most expensive coffee in the supermarket. The savings will amortize the costs for the thermos bottle by the end of next week (I will be saving further 30-40€ a month with this).

On the goals that I set for February for myself, I think I did it ok:

New job search
I got a job interview last week. The company seems ok, location could not be better and I would be working on my area of expertise for most of the time. The salary is still an open issue though, my goal is to have at the least the same pay level as now after 6 months to one year on the new job. Still waiting for the answer from the company. I think I have a realistic chance, hope the best but plan for the worst. Therefore I keep searching for further job offers that fits my criteria.

Decluttering
Made a huge progress! Altough I do not own a lot already, I found a lot of old electronics junk that I collected for some time from the garbage. After stripping them of useful components I threw almost all of them away. Also I donated a lot of clothes. All together about 4 large bags. I don't own a wardrobe, only a clothes rack since last year and all my clothes fit in it.
My goal for now is to reach a state of organization that allows me more free time (even less cleaning and sorting) and to be able to pack all my belongings in less than some hours and fit the all in one medium-sized car (it sorts of already, so I think this goal is already reached).

Learning
well, this was mixed. I had the chance to work in my job with 3D modelling, and I love it. It is as fun as playing with Legos as a kid :) As for VBA, I reached a threshold on its practical applications in my job, therefore for now I am happy with my skills. I didn't learn anything about Linux, but I am reading books about electronics before going to bed and I am building a small testing rig on a breadboard to trouble shoot my 3D printer. I intend to work on these skills in the course of this month.

Finances
I Invested some money in some stocks after a dip and also grew my "war chest". I take the time to search for interesting companies and to take a look on their reports, how they work, etc... I am also evaluating the possibility of starting another portfolio, only with index funds, to allocate my savings instead of throwing it further on my emergency funds accounts.

Dave
Posts: 545
Joined: Fri Dec 19, 2014 1:42 pm

Re: docx's Journal

Post by Dave »

Sounds like you did great on your February goals, nice.

Any word on the job search?

docx
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2015 5:34 pm

Re: docx's Journal

Post by docx »

Hi Dave. Thanks for reading :)
the last weeks were so busy, I had not the time to write. I will catch up in the next few days on the month of March.
To sum it up: I had one job interview, it was promising, unfortunally I was not picked. I decided to take some classes and certification in order to hedge my position professionally. I was sick at home one week and two weeks in vacations and travelled a little through Europe. Now I am back to my work and working further on all my goals and small projects.

docx
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2015 5:34 pm

Re: docx's Journal

Post by docx »

Dear ERE community,
due to massive time restraints I had not the time until now to update my journal. I will summarize the months March and April in one long post.

In March I spent only one one week in the job. One week I was sick (flu), in the other two I had vacations and spent two weeks “on the road” in my home country and across Germany. All together, it was great (it felt a little like ER) and I was quite sad to come back to the regular day-to-day grind. During the travelling I had a lot of idle time that I spent reading a lot. I also reflected most of the time about my personal situation and the days to come, and planned the next steps to take.

At the moment I still feel like I am in a limbo. Dont get me wrong, I am eternally thankful for the life I have. The current job allowed me to reach finally a financial stability beyond of what I was expecting in such a short amount of time.

My job ist still boring and I feel quite unchallenged. This alone it is somehow OK. My biggest problem is the location. I live quite isolated during the week and it is sometimes a little depressing. Otherwise I would probably stick with it a little longer even if is not the ideal job. By boss is great and most of my work colleagues are also ok.

Enough ranting :) Now the hard numbers:

March
Earnings: Total 2962.86€
2850€ Job + bonus (nice worker!)
9.77€ credit card refund (wtf? I just cancelled them...whatever)
50€ (Thanks Grandma! I love you)
53€ passive income

Expenses: 813€
Rent 322.5€
Insurance: 13.95€
Telephone: 55€ (a lot of Internet surfing and phone calls with roaming)
Groceries: 36€ (as usual)
Tobacco: 42.40€ (about 43€ too much)
Eating + drinking out 171€ (eating with family and friends, worth each cent
Shopping: 99€ (handmade shoes from Southern Europe, pants, small stuff)
Other: 72.34€ (hair cut and the hateful German GEZ)

April
Earnings: Total 3455€
3007€ Job + holiday bonus
425€ Refund for energy bill (1000kw per year in a two-person apartment, not bad)
22.92€ passive income

Expenses: total of 662.55€
Rent 322.5€
Insurance: 13.95€
Telephone: 15€
Groceries: 67€
Tobacco: 43€
Eating + drinking out 77€ (coulndt resist to Sushi)
Shopping: 41€ (T-Shirt, magazines)
Other: 86€ (including traveling in holidays)

Savings rate (March+April): 72% + 80%

Financially these two months rocked. My average savings rate for the year is on the 75% mark!
Some goals for May:

New job:
Despite of a very good feeling in a job interview, no offer. Disappointing but nothing new.
However I must say it became quite easier to go through the whole interviewing process. I sincerely believe that some terrifying meetings with angry customers in the past have made wonders for my ability to deal with stressful situations.
Due to time constraints, there will be probably no interviews in May.

In order to make some progress, after months of planing I decided to make some professional development during my current job (lessons in Welding Engineering). It will take about a year during my free time (about 800 hours of learning). I have some exposure in my current job, it is quite interesting and also a sort of professional hedging :

1. If I keep working in the current position. Our company urgently needs a Welding Specialist. By learning this skill, I will have bargaining power some time in the future
2. I keep searching for a new position while learning: active learning is a positive sign for future employers. I can also negotiate a higher salary when I have finished the course.
This course will cost some money (about 8000€ in two years), but it is according to my analysis a safe investment.

FINANCES
I read and read and read, until my eyes hurt. Analysis, reports, finance blogs, everything I could find. I also made an investment plan with exact goals for the next years (maybe some day I will post it.)

I dumped in March almost every single cent (excepting the EF) in the markets.
Even with some travelling expenses I am very happy with the progress from this and the last months and I am reaching the long awaited 30K€ mark (I don't know why I like this number).

Some large expenses are upcoming (lessons/certifications) but my tax return will be coming soon so no worries.

Decluttering:

my apartment is literally decluttering by itself. My room mate is leaving me (because of her job, not because of me). 90% of the furniture and appliances are hers. This will be really an interesting experience in minimalism. Soon I will have almost nothing other than clothes, tools, books and computer. No kitchen appliances, washing machine, micro-wave, sofa, television, dining table,
I am planning what I need to buy urgently, and spreading the word if someone has old kitchen appliances for sale/gift. Maybe one small washing machine (like the ones from the RVs). I will have a completely empty living room (zero).

Learning: mostly this and that. I made some stuff in VBA and with 3D drawing in the job. My testing rig for the 3d printer is finished, but I don't have the time to finish the tests. Sometime I wonder if it would be better to just dump it on Ebay it and buy an out-of the box 3d printer. But my pride is stronger than this :) Also refreshing my skills in hydraulic calculations and reading about welding theory at my workplace.

Other:
run a 4k run (sponsored by my employer)
go to fitness studio (also sponsored)
Lose the holiday fat ASAP

El Duderino
Posts: 177
Joined: Mon Oct 27, 2014 12:24 pm

Re: docx's Journal

Post by El Duderino »

nice work on the great savings rates!

Learning to TIG weld is definitely on my list of things I'll do fairly soon after I cut the cord. Awesome that you can do it to further your career.

docx
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2015 5:34 pm

Re: docx's Journal

Post by docx »

Dear forum readers,

my monthly update is finally there. Again, due to time constraints, I could not write sooner. Since I started working two years ago I have this feeling that no matter what I try, I am always behind on schedule with everything *rant mode off*

@Duderino: yes, I agree with you. The not-so-awesome is that is going to cost a load of money and time, but well it is already budgeted and now there is no way back :) it will be a fun endeavour.


Now for the month of MAY:

Expenses: total of 1192.70€
Rent 322.5€
Insurance: 13.95€
Telephone: 15€
Groceries: 76.32€
Tobacco: 36.45€
Eating + drinking out 55€
Shopping: 270.61€ (kitchen appliances)
Other: 402.65€

Income: 2738.62 (salary) + 106.61 (dividends): 2845€
The expenses were very high this month. The yearly bill for the tax preparation was due (200€), and my roomate has moved and took almost every appliance with her. I had to buy pots and pans, kitchen appliances etc.
I also foresee high expenses for June. From now on I have to pay for the full rent on my apartment, this will add about 200€ to the budget :( I will keep trying to get rid of this by finding a new job in the location I want and then move to a smaller place.

FINANCES

Last month I defined my goals for reaching FI. Until now I focused solely on saving like a mad and investing some non-essential funds in stocks. I had some ideas in my mind and decided to put them on paper.
This month I will mostly put some money aside for budgeting for future expenses and replenishing my emergency accounts in case I have to move in a short notice. I also just invested some funds in some shares. Some small maintenance tasks like closing old accounts with zero balance.

DECLUTTERING: finished
My appartment is so empty. I have nothing in my living room. I am now performing some deep cleaning and reorganizing remaining stuff. Oh yeah, I don't have a washing machine anymore and have to wash everything in the bathtub.

Learning: Last month I read mostly. Still trying to start-up my 3d printer, making very slow progress. This month I intend to read a lot at work (mostly enginnering-related stuff, VBA programming, welding and hydraulics). I am also devouring a lot of literature related to fitness and strength training.

I finished the 4K race 2 minutes faster! I had the feeling I would die and could not walk straight because of the soreness, but it was great. I changed my fitness program to focus more on stregth. I will try training 3-4 times a week. During the week I focus on bodyweight exercices, on the weekends I am starting to train with a kettlebell. and making fun stuff like swimming or pull-ups on trees.

I tried training in a fitness studio (company perk), but the variety is very limited and I hate pulling levers all the time on high-tech machines. I will go there max. once a week, mostly to test my progress and to make other workouts, like knee stability.

docx
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2015 5:34 pm

Re: docx's Journal

Post by docx »

It is about time to write an update. In the last 2 years, much has happened.

Job
Mid-2015 I contacted a former employer. They are specialized in my area of expertise and had an open position. I Was hired right away. It was nice at the beginning: I knew my boss as well as almost all the people in the office and the work was ok. At the beginning, I relearn a lot of stuff and acquired new skills. Some things have changed since then. Not all are positive.

I took a huge pay cut (25%) to be here. My thoughts at the time: I could take it financially, and besides I could progress my skillset in my area of expertise much faster than in unknown areas. With growth of skillset comes more projects and more money. However, all salaries increases are withheld for some years due to financial struggles.

Few weeks ago, I had a conflict with a co-worker/manager that changed my mindset about this job from "sort of ok" to "this is hell, I gotta get outta here".

I have been sad and a little depressed in the last months. Could not tell why. I am sure now it is all work-related. I daydream about moving on and have started to make plans for alternative occupations before pulling the trigger. However I will give it one more try.

Personal:
well, there are some progresses, however not so much as I expected.
I started one year ago with powerlifting. Old school lifts, deadlift, squats, bench press.
The 3d printer does not work, I have some issues with the electronics. I will sell it and buy a new one with the money from the sale.

Finances:

Some progress here. The progress has slown down a bit, particularly due to 2 reasons:

1. Pay cut
2. increased cost of living (middle/high COL area in Germany). I am paying now about 550€/month in rent.

That means my savings rate per month was reduced from approx. 1700-1800 to about 1000€/month. I have now approx. 55K.

My portfolio strategy is still roughly the same:

- 70% in stock market (single stocks, blue chips mostly)
- 16% cash
- 3% gold
- 1% P2P lending (personal lending)
- 4 % P2P investing (companies)

I am increasing my cash position, just in case I quit my job.
Thing is, my COL will increase if I quit my job. I will have to pay for my health insurance out of my pocket (at least about 300€/month).
Besides I do not for unemployment support because I have "too much money" (and also do not want it).

The future:

As of today, my future is foggy. The only certainty that I have is that I will be miserable if I stay here. but I am thinking about alternatives. Plan of action: either:

- 1. quit and search for a new full-time job or
- 2. search for a new full-time job and then quit
- 3. go back to college and finish my master's degree (2 years), while trying to establish myself as a freelance engineer.
- 4. Hold to my job and focus on building skills for the future. I was able to acquire a new project in a different field. I have some experience in this field, but for completion of the project the customer is pressing for some official certification (because Germany). I am the only one that can complete this project in my office. I am in talks with my boss for this certification. It is a very specialized field, and could give me some leverage for the future.
For now, I am following option 4. If it fails I will look for the other options.

TL;DR: new job in my former area of expertise. Pay-cut of 20%, hoped to improve quickly. Was wrong. Hate my job. Doubled my stash. Want to quit job/change field of expertise/go to college again/start own business.

wolf
Posts: 1102
Joined: Fri Jan 06, 2017 5:09 pm
Location: Germany

Re: docx's Journal

Post by wolf »

Hey docx,

first, great that you share your progress here. I guess it feels better to write about it. I think that all members have kind words for you.

Living authentically is important in my opinion. So if that means to change something in your life it is worth it. I am also from Germany and right now is a good time for job seeking, because companies search a lot. You are also relatively young and experienced so I think that you have good chances to find a good/better job.

Regarding your options, I think it depends on your level of risk. I would go for the safe option. I would search for a new job and then quit. Well, I would do that. That doesn't mean that it is the right coice for you.

The certification thing sounds promising. Go for it.

Times change and I am sure that you will likely see higher saving rates in the future. You have the ERE skills and live frugally.

Keep on going.

docx
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2015 5:34 pm

Re: docx's Journal

Post by docx »

Mello MDFIRE,

thanks for your kind words.

About living authentically, I actually never thought deep about it, until now. I know by experience that a nagging feeling that something is odd with my life must be tackled in the long term. Usually I become relentless until I find the cause for it and start making plans accordingly. Maybe this is a sign that I am not living autentically.

My level of risk depends on many factors. I search always for the safest option, or take some risks after exhaustive analysis shows that the reward/risk >> 1 or at least make sure that by taking the risk the previous opportunities are not eliminated. Hence the new job.

I think my last post was a little too negative. Not everything in my life is bad. I have a good personal life, made possible mostly because of the new job. Discovering ERE 5 years ago has brought me until now a feeling of deep inner calmness. All my life I worried about lack of money and now it is feels actually as score-keeping, even without reaching FI yet. I can also feel I became more of myself (at least outside of the job).

The new job is located in the town where I lived for years. Some good friends and my GF live here and I have built a great support network. My new apartment is more expensive, but near work and grocery stores. It is also very sunny and equipped with radiant heating (low heating costs!). It has a large balcony and I started planting some herbs, tomatoes and experimenting with potatoes.

Sometimes I also visit some classes at the college in the city. I thought about pursuing a further degree, but as full-time worker I would have to sacrifice most of my personal life for years and would be at risk of burn-out. The only realistic option would be switching part-time work (after reaching semi-FI, say at least 10 years of expenses saved, but it will take 2-3 years at the current pace).

jj89
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2016 1:01 am

Re: docx's Journal

Post by jj89 »

"Besides I do not for unemployment support because I have "too much money" (and also do not want it)."

You do qualify for it! Should be up to one year in your case. At 3500€/month gross average in the last year you would get 1284,90€/month. Remember, you paid for the insurance every month! If you quit your job by yourself you will be excluded for 12 weeks though, plus getting a new job is easier while you already hold one (you're not desperate + being in work seem to always be a plus for future employers)

wolf
Posts: 1102
Joined: Fri Jan 06, 2017 5:09 pm
Location: Germany

Re: docx's Journal

Post by wolf »

docx wrote:
Sat Jun 17, 2017 11:39 am
Discovering ERE 5 years ago has brought me until now a feeling of deep inner calmness. All my life I worried about lack of money and now it is feels actually as score-keeping, even without reaching FI yet.
Yeah, I feel somehow the same. Money is / will be always an area in my life, but it doesn't feel anymore as an obstacle or big problem. The ERE journey let me feel more secure regarding money issues. This score-keeping could be addictive, IMO. I love numbers and statistics, so score-keeping is really worthwhile for me. Well, sometimes it is too much, when I want to micro-manage everything as a number. Do you know that?

wolf
Posts: 1102
Joined: Fri Jan 06, 2017 5:09 pm
Location: Germany

Re: docx's Journal

Post by wolf »

Hi docx! How are you? You ok? How is your ERE-journey?

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