Message's journal

[message]

Hi all,
This will be my journal for the next "few" years to come
I'm actually quite exited to start this journey...

I introduced myself here in this topic: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6234
So that would save me a little typing here.

This will basically be my day2day (or month2month lateron ) reports on my progress.

I am reading a lot here and also read some books on this matter, great for inspiration! Have a lot of respect for people that try to live this way.

Set a number of goals for me to have some sort of celebration moments ans checkpoints along the way to keep it fun. I want to be able to enjoy my attempt to freedom (because that is what it is all about for me). Being able to choose everyday whether I will work or do something else, I'm not in it for the money.

Currently we pay 907,46 EUR of interest each month for our mortgage (Of which we receive about 50% back from the government each year)
First goal is getting that amount below the 900 euro. Currently we are at 903,69 euro, halfway.

Hard part of my work is that I do not really know what I earn each month... As I pay taxes only once a year, I only know at that moment what I actually earned that year (and thus per month). What I do know is that I currently make quite a lot money. With my current project as freelancer and with my "passive" income of 1 website I created 5 years ago. My goal is to lower the total amount of mortgage debt this year with at least 18.000 euro (1.500 euro per month)

First real goal is downpaying the "interest-only" part of my mortgage (118.500 euro). Eliminating part of the debt and lowering my monthly cost. I created a calculation that this would take me about 6.5 years with 1.500 euro per month.

Next to that I will be educating myself in other investments, as I currently get 1.4% interest on my savings at the bank. All savings above 43k will be taxed by the government for 1.2%. so saving is not lucrative at all. When you count in inflation you actually will loose money.
More on that later.

Goal 1 is to lower the interest payments to be below 900 euro a month!

[message]

So, I have spent the last weeks to get a detailed insight in my spendings (going back to 2006) and it actually got me by surprise...
Seems like whenever I had money on my bank it was spent on stuff, eating, electronics/pc's/laptops/etc. Was the money gone? Then I stopped spending (of course). Never really cared for money, but never went into debt to continue doing what I was doing.
As it turned out, I am very capable of NOT spending, as I never missed anything when i had no money left. So that is a good thing.

Last few months I learned that I can also NOT spend money, while actually having it. So I sort of became frugal cold turkey

Threw out the old internet and now I am on fiberglass (which is actually more expensive, but the high speed really comes in handy with my line of work, webdeveloper). Swapped my mobile subscription for one that costs half (while actually being on a much better cellular network). Canceled my Netflix, was not really watching anyway.
had already bought another car: VW Lupo 3L. Being a diesel engine (45 HP ), automatic but the best thing: does 1L/25km. When driving with more care I could actually reach 1L/30km... Paying about 35 euro for driving 750 KM driving is really cheap.
For the non metric people here... 1L/25km = ~59Miles to the Gallon (and 1L/30km = ~70 miles to the gallon...)

I always had fast cars, doing 1L/5km on gasoline. Those cars were usually quite old, and being driven like crazy stuff broke down all the time. At one time even bought an identical fast car, so 1 would always be working...... Yes... I know.
Next to that I bought a convertible, which always appealed to me. So owning 3 cars, all costing tax, insurance, gasoline (all were doing 1L/5km - 1L/8km), constant repairs (went through 4 engines, all broken/blown, in 3 years time)
Eating out 5 out of 7 days in the week, spending money on lunches and drinks almost daily... Man... I really blew all my money away on crap.

So getting insight in my current spending and looking for ways to lower that has started. After reading "Rich dad, Poor dad" I realised I had the ideal working situation, having my own company (I am freelancing). That book was a bit "Too good to be true" for me, but the overall picture it painted was crystal clear to me: I had to create an income and try to get as much expenses done BEFORE paying tax. When you earn a wage you receive your pay AFTER doing taxes. Having an company allows me to pay for example my mobile subscription and my internet connection BEFORE taxes: see the difference:
mobile subscription: 15 euro
Internet: 100 euro
total 115 euro (95 exclusive 21% sales tax).

Being a company, I can buy stuff exclusive of sales tax, so saving me 20 euro there. Also the cost of 95 euro are company expenses, so lowering my profit with 95 euro. Having to pay about 45% income tax, that saves me 95*0.45-42,75 euro.
Netto those 2 subscriptions only cost me 52,25 euro (instead of the 115 euro people would pay from that (already!!) taxed wages).
This was a real eye opener for me. Still learning all the possibilities here, could get interessting.

Funny thing is this journal actually feels a bit like a confession Good to look back at what I was doing all the time. Had my fun, time to move on now. Also found out being involved with my financials the ERE/FI way is actually a LOT of fun!

I will probably post completely randomly in my journal with all the things that come in my mind, or when I have made some progress in any way

[McTrex]

Aha! Finally another one who drives a Lupo. I've been driving a 3l since nov 2010, best financial decision I ever made

Will you be at the meetup?

[message]

Yes, the 3L actually pays for itself!
As I can declare most of my km's driven for my company... I receive 0,19 euro per KM i drive for work...
Diesel costs are about 0,04 - 0,05 euro per KM. You do the math!

Doing about 1.500 - 2.500 km a month for work means I can substract 285 euro - 475 euro from my profits each month! (Which means paying less income tax!)
That means each year I actually EARN about 2.000 euro, just for driving my car (diesel, insurance and road tax already included)! (though without maintenance, but for 2.000 euro you can do a lot!)

What meeting are you talking about? I still have not read everything... actually a very big forum...

[henrik]

I assume the 3L in the name does not refer to the size of the engine, but rather litres per 100km (which is how fuel consumption is usually expressed for Eu car manufacturers), which in your units means you should do even better, 1L/33km?:)

[message]

yes, exactly!
When I first saw a 3L i also though it was the engine size... But in such a small car that just would not be possible.
Then I found out what it actually means... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Lupo#Lupo_3L

The real fanatics het 1L/33km (even above that) but that involves driving like a turtle and slipstreaming behind big rigs etc.
A little to much for me. I just cruise 130/140 km/h, which is bad for my milage (1L/25km )
Time is precious to me too, driving like a turtle means an increase of about 20-30% drivingtime for me. (tried that)

[McTrex]

I get a fixed amount of almost 830 euro/month from my employer. The car costs me about 330 euro/month, including everything, fuel, maintenance, taxes, insurance and depreciation (estimated). In the 4,5 years I've had it I have netted ~13000 euro, not including what I didn't spend on "bijtelling" for a leasecar, but including the full cost of the car. I call it my driving ATM

I've found that maintenance can cost quite a lot for this car, but I've started doing some smaller things myself, like changing filters, brake pads, etc.

This meeting:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6213

If you want to join, you can register at:
http://doodle.com/7d3tyuggdq5i72ht

[message]

ah, yes
They are little goldmines on wheels!

I think I skip the meeting this time... Maybe a next one.
Have a lot to figure out still... If I am still as enthausiastic in 6 months about this... I might reconsider!
But have fun!

[message]

Ah, monday morning again... Always a great motivator to become FI.

Had a mountainbike trip last saturday, I forced myself to start exercising again... Have been a very active sporter all my life, but stopped half a year ago. Somewhat cold turkey. Imagine that I actually had years that I trained over 10 hours a week + a competition match. And boy, does my body hurt!
Note to self... Need to go out and bike more often!

This week I will do a 1.000 euro downpayment of my mortgage! Been doing 250 euro per week, but I promised myself that I would do 18.000 euro this year. Have some catching up to do on that.

My accountant is doing the company books for 2014 as we speak, when that is done I know exactly what I earned in 2014, and I can then calculate what I saved. Will not be a very high %, as I actively starting to pursue FI 2 months ago.

[message]

Noticed many journals have a nice list.
So here is mine:

Current Situation
Job Title: Freelance webdeveloper (32 h/week)
Primary Job Income: ~50.000 euro/year
Passive Income: ~4.000 euro /month
Marital Status: Girlfriend and a 9mnd old baby
Studies: HBO (University of Professional Education)
Free Time: Quite a bit, but still not enough!

Assets
Our house: EUR 250.000 (professional estimate)
Vehicle1: EUR 17.000
Vehicle2: EUR 1.500
Savings: ~ EUR 30.000
Other: ~ EUR 10.000
Stock part mortgage: EUR 25.500
Save part morgage: EUR 6.500

Liabilities
Mortgage: EUR 267.000
Family loan mortgage: EUR 20.000

Net Worth: EUR 70.500

Glad that I have had the insight in ERE/FI etc. Always hated working, eventhough I really like webdeveloping. School also has been a struggle for me (and my parents back then lol), because I always had something more fun to do, instead of homework and studying. I have many interests, that are always more interesting than working. And when I am enthausiastic about something while having to work, makes me feel bad. Not having to work makes me feel free.

Near-Term Goals [1-2 years]
-Lower monthly payments on mortgage
-Learn more about alternative investing to increase passive income
-Reduce Expenses
-Go out mountenbiken often and go squashing more often
-Learn to maintain my house (create new toilet/etc)
-Move to a new house, that will be home for at least 10 years.

Long-Term Goals [5-10 years]
-No more mortgage
-Less/no more hours working as freelancer, more passive income

[Quadalupe]

Good job on staying active on your journal so far. I also like how you linked your near term goals to your short term goals. One thing that I do not get though is how your net worth can be in the red. Assets minus liabilities give a positive net worth of roughly 50k. Are you not counting the value of your house when calculating your NW?

[message]

You are right!
Not sure how I got to that previous figure...

Wow, That actually already looks good!

[message]

Redoing the april statement. Some minor changes were needed and I decided to remove the cars of the balance, as selling them is not really an option (both are needed to travel to work for SO and me)
Arguably the 17k car could be sold and replaced by a much cheaper type of car. But as we would like to keep that car (as it is bought new, still has ~5 years warranty and is reliable).

So:

Assets
Our house: EUR 250.000 (professional estimate)
Savings: ~ EUR 17.000
Stocks: ~ EUR 3.500
Other: ~ EUR 10.000
Stock part mortgage: EUR 25.000
Save part morgage: EUR 6.000

Liabilities
Mortgage: EUR 267.425
Family loan mortgage: EUR 20.000

Net Worth: EUR 24.000

Why the changes?
The 30k savings is actually there, though a part of that is my "working money" for my company (self employed). That is needed to pay bills etc. So theoretically it is all there, except I decided that the 17k part is actually "safe", not needed for my company. Set aside on an account of its own, separated from all the rest.

This list is my official starting point as of the start of april 2015.

[message]

Almost end of the month, getting excited to make the listing for april...
Made some changes in my/our finances this month, helping me lowering my costs.
Also, had a talk with my GF about me wanting to gain control over my/our spending with the ultimate goal of being FI.
She is totally fine with it, though she expressed her concerns about me not wanting to anything anymore due to not spending money. Explained her that not all fun things need to cost money. I promised her that I would be reasonable in cutting expenses.

To give a little info about how I used to handle finances... GF likes to go on vacation, me, not so much. Don't like hot weather... More of a -10 to 20 degrees Celsius type of guy. She likes the sun. But when the summer arrives and the holidays started she really wanted us to go on vacation. 2 hours later I booked us a 10 day vacation to the Dominican Republic (EUR 2.500,-!!). Same happened to the Canary Islands a year later (EUR 2.200,-). Whenever my money was low, I would transfer some of the money in my business account (I work as freelancer and other stuff) so always some money there, so never really experienced not being able to pay for something, as I always had the cash. This month we agreed on going on vacation and this time we rented a sort of camper in Italy (~580 EUR). So that is a good start. Actually looking forward to it.

This month was a start to a whole new lifestyle. I called the bank to remove the option to go below 0 on my personal account. Used to be able to go below zero for EUR 500, which I did every month. So from now on zero is zero. Also promised myself only to pay my "wage" from my business account to my personal and shared account, nothing else.
And there I was, paying for a couple of drinks when enjoying the nice weather we had last week. "No credit, please pay differently". I couldn't pay the bill of EUR 9,60!! I started laughing quite a bit, the woman behind the bar must have thought I was a bit crazy I think
used the last 10 euro bill I had left in my wallet. That was literally the first time in over 10 years I had that notification. But that was 4 days ago, so had to do without any money for 4 days (today my "wage" would be deposited again).

I did not add extra money from my business account to my personal account this month, so that is something I am happy about. Though not being able to do a full month on my pay still has some work, but overall a good start of this traject
For May I want to have 50 euro (or more) still on my account on the end of the month.

Also lowered my mortgage this month with 1.000 euro. Will probably make another payment this month, so this will might reach my desired rate of down paying 1.500 euro per month.

Last thing, we signed a contract with a real estate agent to sell our current house... So exciting times indeed!

[message]

So, here it is... My first full month towards ER/FI

Overview #2: April 2015
----------------------------------
Mortgage: € 1,014.93
Vacation € 565.50
Groceries: € 484.89
Daycare: € 249.76
Gasoline: € 193.33
Dog: € 163.77
Tax: € 143.00
Changes to house: € 140.51
Heating: € 97.00
Baby expenses: € 78.96
Eating out: € 69.25
Internet, tv: € 65.95
Clothing: € 53.80
Random stores: € 50.79
Presents: € 47.50
Other: € 31.42
Sports: € 29.00
Cellphone: € 23.99
Water: € 16.00
Bank costs: € 11.68
Parking: € 3.80
Creditcard: € 0.74
Work related: € -68.13
Insurance: € -136.22
-------------------
Total expenses: € 3,331.22

About the expenses, not too bad, though aimed for lower. Although this month we spent less than previous month (over 1.000 euro) and this includes paying for our vacation also!
Too bad the last few days were very bad on the stock exchange (gold + silver also dropped).

Last week I received the report from my accountant about my earnings for 2014... My company had a profit of 96.000 euro!! Compared with ~52.000 in 2013... I am making a LOT more money these days. The "problem" is that I now have to pay more income tax over 2014. Already payed about 10.000 euro in advance last year, but due to the high profit I need to pay another 17.000 euro. So that sucks a bit.
This year will be probably be even better than last year, so I better start saving some more cash for the income tax (which is not a problem).
Due to paying the extra income tax, I have not saved any this month. Only sent 1.000 euro to the bank to lower the mortgage.

To say what my actual income is is a bit tricky, due to this being dependant on my year profits, so I will post my profit for this month (which is including income tax, to be payed next year).
Freelance work: € 8.500
Passive income: € 5.384

Freelance income
I currently work 32 hours in the week (mo-th) as a software designer. Though I actually am a webdeveloper, they hired me to be a software solution designer. Which is actually nice doing something else for a change. Contract is until about july 2015, so still be working there for a while.

My passive income
Begin 2010 when I had no freelance assignment and was basically without work for a while I started creating a website for my own. Still looking for a freelance job in between. That was my hardest period as a freelancer (am freelancing since about 2004). I was actually pretty close in finding a normal job again, as I was draining my savings at a great pace. But not having a freelance job gave me a lot of time to create other things.
the website was generating some income right away actually, but not high enough to be able to pay my bills.
March 2010: EUR 0.72
April 2010: EUR 24.39
May 2010: EUR 128.14
June 2010: EUR 153.53
July 2010: EUR 106.86
August 2010: 138.26
September 2010: 173.29
October 2010: 236.22
November 2010: 443.78
December 2010: 296.33

I actually found a new assignment as a freelancer in may 2010, and since then I never had to search long for work up to this day. I now actually have to say "no" to the many requests I get.
But the fun part was that the website kept growing ever since. These last two months the profit was 6,956.65 and 5,153.58, which is actually very good. the average monthly profit will was hovering around 3,000 euro the last 6 months, so this increase in profit is great. (Though the best month I had so far was 10,193 euro, which was a bit extreme). But that does show the great potential of what I created.

Total profit for this website will be around 55,000 - 60,000 euro in 2015. (2014 was 39.000 euro).
So that actually kinda makes me FI already, though I cannot rely on the fact that this will continue for ever.

Improvements for may 2015
I would like to do a couple of things better in may, expense-wise
- Groceries max 400 euro
- eating out lower
- Increase the income of the website. Had an interesting call yesterday concerning a new big client...

Will be working a bit less this month due to a holiday to Italy. So vacation expenses will also be present in may.

[message]

Wow... SO and I signed a contract to sell our current house last week. Monday (tomorrow) they will come and take the pictures.
To have the nicest pictures possible, we received a checklist of how the house should look. Basically empty.

No stuff lying around, all should be neat and tidy.

Last 3 days we spent to go through ALL our stuff... All drawers, closets, boxes etc. What does a person collect a bunch of crap!
We put a whole lot in the trash (CD's from years back, most of em scratched or even broken)
Gave away a large mirror, steam cleaner, baby bath, baby seat, baby seat #2, baby bed, Nintendo Wii with a gazillion games and a whole lot more.
Stuff we are not using anymore.
Took us 3 long days cleaning... AND I LOVED IT! SO was also feeling the vibe, stuff that we moved from our last place to this place (that really needed to come along back then) was discarded without a blink.

Tomorrow they will come and take the pictures, then the normal stuff can come out of the drawers again. I suggested that we then (again) checked what we really need and what can be given away or sold.

Never ever thought that cleaning out a house could give so much joy...
(Really wanted this entry to be in my journal... So I could read back later, when the rush has passed )

[message]

So , overview #3
This month was again a bit better than last one, the spending optimization process is ongoing and improving.
SO's attitude towards my goal is also improving, so that is also a great help.

Spending
Mortgage: € 1,012.42
Groceries € 367.31
Daycare € 249.76
Eating out € 227.90
Baby stuff € 198.92
Vacation € 193.04
Gasoline: € 170.17
Credit Card: € 102.53 (Basically just books from amazon)
Heating house: € 97.00
Other: € 73.78
Insurances: € 55.33
Dog: € 55.00
Shopping: € 48.83
Hairdresser: € 24.95
Cellphone: € 23.99
Sports: € 22.00
Water: € 16.00
Electronics: € 14.49
Work related: € 8.45
Parking: € 5.70
Gifts: -€ 15.25
------------------
Grand total: € 2,951.79

Max I want to spend each month is € 3,000, so we managed to stay below that. Even with the vacation costs (± € 200) and some onetime purchases for the baby (±200 euro) included.
Today I also payed € 5,400 euro to the bank for extra down payment on our savings mortgage. Which would result in lower monthly costs (will prob be around 30-35 euro lower)

Our house
The house is now officially for sale! Let's hope it will do good and result in some visitings and eventually a buyer. We plan on having the house for sale for about 6 months. Anytime sooner would be great, but not needed in any way.
It is for sale for € 269,500.00 (expected sale price will be around 245,000 - 255,000)

Normal and "Passive" income
This month was insane... Best month in 5 years! Profit of the site was around € 11,350.00!!! Not bad for about 5 hours work in May...
My Freelance activities also brought a nice profit of about € 7,200.00. This month the combined profit was over € 18,000!!

Investments
I have setup automatic monthly payments to 3 stock accounts, totaling € 450.00 per month to start with. € 250 of that will be in some tax-friendly construction, saving me paying income tax on that (will be taxed later on, against a more friendly %, also giving quite high profits untill that time)
Started investing at Bondora.ee (€ 200 only, as a test). p2p lending should get a bit more mature still, as far as I can tell still a bit of a cowboy market. But worth a try.
Looking to create a more interest friendly construction for my mortgage. This does require a wealthy family member helping out, so that is still a bit in the design mode. But it should be possible to have a mortgage with about or close to 0% interest for us. And the family member should be able to get around 2%-3% interest on their loan to us. So totally worth looking at.

Goals
I wanted to go out and sport more, which I did not do last month. Was very busy for my freelance work, costs me headaches each day, reminding me why I so badly want to be more independent of working. Also spent a lot of time with my little baby (10 months old now) which is really great
Down paying quite a bit on the mortgage also felt good
So all in all not too bad goal-wise.

Next month prediction
Only 2 weeks of freelance work, 2 more weeks of vacation. So the vacation costs will be (much) higher next overview, as will the gasoline costs (have to drive at least 3,500 km). I hope to be staying within the €3,000 euro, but think that will be a challenge. We will see in a month!
Agreed with myself not to get too involved in the Freelance work, as the company is always at stress level 100%. They can stress all they want, I should not care that much. I feel that when I do, my body is getting all the punches. I only get payed to do my work, not to get physically ill doing it. If they want that, they need to pay me a whole lot more
Oh, and I really want to enjoy my 10 days in Italy end June. read some of the books I bought last month, go site seeing and perhaps work out a little there.

[message]

Overview #4 already... Time flies!
June was a month of only 2 workweeks... And again a vacation!
The total spending for the vacation this month was 1093,03 euro.
That is including gas for ±3.100 km of driving needed that vacation.

Spending
Vacation € 1,093.03
Mortgage € 1,010.69
Dog € 331.06
Groceries € 277.82
Daycare € 249.76
Tax € 158.00
Sport € 107.90
Insurance € 132.13
purchases € 118.70
Gasoline € 98.97
heating house € 97.00
CreditCard € 76.70
Eating out € 72.50
unknown € 28.87
Water € 16.00
Presents € 14.49
Work related € 10.10
Parking € 6.60
-------------
€ 3,900.32

Too high for my liking, though it includes vacation.

Upside: had a lot of saving in June: saved €3,100 and sent €5,400 to the savings part of my mortgage, lowering my monthly payment.
Next month my total mortgage payments will be below €1,000! yeey! Around €980.
For now no more money will be send to the bank, currently trying to sell our house and buying a new one. Therefore we want to maintain
our current mortgage as high as possible. This will allow us to use old mortgage rules with our new mortgage.
Will continue saving aside, to be used when getting a new mortgage.

Also payed off all the student debt of my girlfriend. So now we are officially debt-free, aside from our mortgage.
Which is a great feeling

Also saved the € 17,500 euro still needed to pay to the tax agency for last years tax that I had to pay extra, due to better earnings. (see overview #2)

Normal and passive income
Passive income was not as good as last month, but still good: € 6,775
Freelance based income income: ±€4,600
Totalling about €11,250
Currently my company is a "Eenmanszaak", but we are working on changing that to 3 "BV's".
My passive income project will become a BV of its own, my freelance work will get its own BV and a holding on top of that. That will bring me 2 things in the end: lower tax costs and more protection when stuff goes south workwise. At the moment they can take everything away from me (house, stuff, money, etc). So that is a good thing. This is still a work in progress, not sure how long that will take.

House update
House is still for sale, had one visitor that wanted to see the house. Don't expect a sale to them, but we will see. House is now fully painted on the outside, looking good again
We have fallen in love with another house, not too far away from where we live. Which is not good, as we have not sold our house yet. Planning to arrange a second viewing of that house... Problem is that the owners are asking too much for the house, or, we don't want to pay that much for it.
So We might make them an offer, but I am almost sure they will not accept it. but more on that perhaps in a next overview.

Goals: looking back at last month
I have arranges a medical sports test to test my body. Used to be a topsporter, few years ago, but had to stop due to not being able to keep up. body is getting older, have a little boy now, own company needs attention, etc. no time left to spend 30+ hours a week on sports. But now I don't do anything. It always bothered me that I was out of breath so fast (even as a topsporter). Figured that it was time to look into that. I will be tested upto collapse. Hart will be monitored and my breath is analysed, so see howmuch oxigen I can process etc. after that test they will make a report on the status of my body and then we can create a custom schedule for me that will increase my abilities
Looking forward to that, it will happen end of july.
Also agreed that my girlfriend and I go on regular skating trips with our little boy in the baby car (or is the word pram?).
About the 100% stress level at my freelance job... I have not acted on any email while on vacation. Arranged that somebody would take care of the imediate issues. Rest was there when I returned. Felt great to not think of those work tasks. Happy about that! Even managed to read 2.5 books on vacation! So I can call it a success

Goals july
Give my mountainbike some servicing. continue going out skating and biking.
Put in some good effort at the freelance job to start finishing up some stuff... This would clear my head also greatly.

[message]

Overview #5, Yes a bit late...
July was expensive..
We spent 3993.23 euro. Including a few 1 off's.
Had to pay the electrical bill, 638,69, due to paying to little each month.
Monthly fee is now raised, so I won't have to pay such a bill again soon.
Also had to make some costs for my medical tests (more on that below)

Spending list/savings highlights
Mortgage: 980.73 (BELOW 1.000 euro!! whiee)
Medical bill: 290 euro
Savings increased with about 17.000 euro!!
Purchased another 50 grams of gold bullion, totaling my physical possession 211 grams.

Normal and passive income
Passive income was good again: € 8,834
Freelance based income income: ± €4,700
Totalling about €13,500

House update
House is still for sale, Had about 7 visitors, will have number 8 this saturday.
Hopefully one of them will start the bidding game soon...
We just sort of bought another house! It is quite expensive actually, so very not ERE... But it has quite a big garden, where we can grow our own food and it will be a great place for our little boy to play. The house itself is fully detached from the neighbors so nice and quite.

Goals: looking back at last month
Had the medical sport test (= the 290 euro).
My body is very healthy, lungs and hart are in a top shape. Very pleased to have learned that. Still, the reason why I did the test was to find out where the exhaustion comes from. Turns out my red bloodcell level is too low, resulting in a low volume of oxygen transport through my body.
Causing my muscles to fill up with lactic acid. Since I cannot transport that out of my muscles enough, I start to breath very heavy, to vent this as CO2. But at when that happens I feel like I reached the end, haha. So now we can take action to counter that. Will be at the doctor in 45 minutes actually, to see if we can fix that somehow

Goals August
Make a lot of hours freelance, fix some bugs in my webservice (=passive income)
Find a treatment for the low level of red bloodcells.

[message]

So, thought I would give a small update (since over a year )
Time flies!

A lot of stuff changed since my last post (for the better, though)

After 35 visitors that came to take a tour in my house that was for sale, we finally found a buyer for it. Yeej!
So, we sold the house! We agreed on 235.000 euro. Quite a bit lower than we hoped to sell the house for, so that took a bit out of our savings, but we are happy we sold it. April 2016 was the date we transferred the keys to the new (happy!) owner.
We already bought a new house in december 2015, so it is good to not have 2 mortgages anymore.

New house is not very ERE in terms of financials, but it is hobby wise... So yeah, win some, loose some

Our son is still healthy and doing great already turned 2 few months ago. I really enjoy being a father (and that for someone always stating NO KIDS!) So I am greatfull that I am a dad after all.

So, how is the path towards ERE? (Well, actually RE, as early is not really the case anymore. Maybe just R... )

I successfully splitted my company in 3, 1 holding and 2 "work" companies. This allows me to store wealth in the holding, as that would lower the tax obligations quite dramatically (20% vs ±50%). This allows me to invest at a higher rate that I could before.
Current profit each month is ±25.000 euro before taxes. So that grew VERY fast. A lot of capital is building up in the companies, hoping that I am able to invest in something next year. Will keep that for later

The mortgage debt we currently have is ±361.000 euro (started at 383.450 euro in December 2015), so getting along there quite well.
Monthly cost for standard repayment and interest: 1048 euro. So just about 70 euro above the mortgage cost of our previous house...
In this case I like the low interest rates

We have cleared all of our other remaining debt (which was not that much actually), so only the mortgage is left.
House is worth about 430.000 euro (purchase price) and we did some improvements on it.

Will also start investing in stocks (index trackers) in december, on a very small scale. So just to get a feel for that.

Have started investing in p2p loans too, also small scale. First on Bondora, but that didn't really work out well (-4% result, due to defaults). Luckily we are talking about 40 euro and a bit. So no big deal in the end.
Now I am investing on mintos and that is much better actually. They offer buyback guaranteed loans. So if the lender defaults or is late for over 60 days, you will get a payback of your original principal. Which I had 2 times now, so that actually worked quite well.
Each month I add a small amount that I then invest. Current actual return is just shy of 10%, so quite good (started in april 2016). See how that holds up over time. Currently I have about 725 euro invested on mintos.

I will try to update this more frequently, but the last year was crazy busy...