An Italian in Sweden: My path to FI :)

[Cloudberry]

Hey everybody!
I'm a 30 years old Italian woman living in Sweden. I have been saving and managing my money since I started working a few years ago and and recently I quit my full time job. I was really tired of that job, it was repetitive and I wasn't learning anything new, it felt like a waste of time.
I already have a passive income, but right now it is a little bit less than what I spend. Therefore my trip to financial independence is not over yet.

Before continuing I will write down a simplified list of my monthly finances, I'll round everything in USD to make things easier to read.

Passive income after taxes:
600 USD from the rent of my apartment.
50 USD from investments
Total = 650 USD

Unemployment benefits that I get only if I actively look for a job and for maximum an year.
1150 USD


All my monthly expenses:
800 USD

I quit my job to do something more interesting, to learn something new but at the same time I need to find an additional source of income. Also, I cannot rent my apartment for ever, here in Sweden the housing cooperative allows tenants to rent out their apartments for a short time, and my time it's going to expire in about a year. After, I plan to sell the flat, hoping to get about 180.000 USD from the sale.

I thought that by having more free time I could understand which way to take to find a more interesting way to make money but now I'm totally confused! I don't know what to do! Should I try to start some small business? Should I look really hard for a job? The problem with this is that in my field there is a big crisis now and I know many ex colleague that cannot find a job. My Swedish is also pretty bad.
Should I study again? There are plenty of "professionalizing" 1 or 2 years courses here in Sweden and they are free, many of them promises a 96% rate of employment after the course. Courses to become a plumber, or a high school teacher, or a boat builder.
It would be a nice way to learn something new with good chances of employment afterword but financially it would be 1-2 years where I don't have an income. Maybe I would do better by trying to learn something by myself and get somehow money from that... but what? I'm so confused!
The only thing that I have to do for sure is to learn Swedish (which I'm doing right now) and to send CVs. But this doesn't feel like it's enough, I need to do more!

[almostthere]

Dear Cloudberry, since you have written to forum about gaining financial independence, the advice you receive will be advice to get you to financial independence(FI). Larger issues like how to build the story of your life or career are really your decisions alone.

To get to FI, you have to follow the basics, that is track your income and expenses and develop skills to live a satisfying life on less cash. It's better to make more money than less money as long as you are not risking your long term physical or mental health to make more money. You are just 30, statistically speaking the next decade will be when you mature professionally. I am not one who really believes that job will bring spiritual fulfillment, so I'd say get the highest paying job you can that also allows you to live frugally. Some high paying jobs have expectations that the holders will have certain material 'lifestyles', I'd avoid those.

For me the job that got me to FI, was an expat job that paid all my bills including rent. I had a high salary and no bills, I could save 85 to 90% of all my income without really trying too hard.

[Hankaroundtheworld]

For me the job that got me to FI, was an expat job that paid all my bills including rent. I had a high salary and no bills, I could save 85 to 90% of all my income without really trying too hard.

that was the same for me, but it was never a strategy. It started as an adventure going abroad, and it takes some time to find these nice all-paying Expat jobs, and once you do, it is a relative easy ride to FI

@Cloudberry : try to find what inspires you, and is this really in Sweden, or could it be anywhere? Becoming FI is not yet your problem, you first need to find peace in chosing the right track in life, after that, becoming FI will be a more natural step

[sky]

The free professional trading sounds like a good deal. Are there any fields which interest you?

You are doing very well with expenses. My first reaction was going to say, move somewhere warmer and cheaper, but $800 isa low expense.

[Cloudberry]

I am not one who really believes that job will bring spiritual fulfillment,

You are right almostthere! I don't believe that either. Any job would be more interesting than what I was doing for four years, so the problem that is left for me is to understand what is the fastest way to get the best salary. And this is confusing!

@Cloudberry : try to find what inspires you, and is this really in Sweden, or could it be anywhere? Becoming FI is not yet your problem, you first need to find peace in choosing the right track in life, after that, becoming FI will be a more natural step

Hank, I definitely would like to stay in Sweden! Life is really easy here, and the salary/cost of life ratio is really high. It's a good country to go through a the path of financial independence. Last but not least it would be pretty hard to leave the network of friends that I have here.

sky, I was thinking about become a high school teacher! I have a master in biochemistry, therefore I would need only a year of studies to be able to teach biology or chemistry. I could actually start working while I'm studying and it would be really easy to find a job. The salaries are not that good though!

You are doing very well with expenses. My first reaction was going to say, move somewhere warmer and cheaper, but $800 isa low expense.

Thank you! Yeah, it's pretty expensive to live in Stockholm, so I'm quite satisfied with the expenses. But I could do better, my weak spot is going out to drink a beer with friends, and beer here can be reaaally expensive! I should cut on that!

But thank you everybody for the replies, you helped me to think about my priorities and to clarify in my plans.
I definitely need to have as a priority the improvement of my Swedish, that would help a lot to find a well paid job. Meanwhile I will continue to look for jobs that are related to my studies. '
In a few months I should be able to try the national Swedish test to get the certification I might need to take one of the courses I could do. If I haven't found a job by then, I'll apply for one of the courses! .. And I will try to cut on beers

[jacob]

I thought that by having more free time I could understand which way to take to find a more interesting way to make money but now I'm totally confused! I don't know what to do! Should I try to start some small business? Should I look really hard for a job? The problem with this is that in my field there is a big crisis now and I know many ex colleague that cannot find a job.

So the current goal is to make money!?

Fundamentally, you should do ALL of the above---more or less now. I wouldn't try X then wait. Then try Y then wait. Etc. Why wait? At some point, one of these approaches will work. The point is to outwork the competition in trying. Most people focus on just one thing and so they miss most opportunities.

Personally, I'd go wide rather than deep.

Anecdotally, back when I was tired of physics and recently allowed to actually work in other fields because I got my permanent residency (people on visas in the US are not allowed to do anything productive whatsoever beyond what they got their visa for), I registered the blog as a business, started copy-editing (based on a craigslist job ad), signed up for the CFA courses, and co-founded a non-profit. Not all of these worked out but some did.

[thrifty++]

Well in a sense it might be nice to be young and enjoy a mini retirement. I am sure it wont last long. I hope you enjoy while it lasts.
Its great you can make this choice due to having built your safety net. Imagine what not having a job temporarily would do to most other people.
Do you mind sharing your net worth for us to understand your current position?

[Cloudberry]

So the current goal is to make money!?

Ahah yes! Jacob, you summarized my messy post very well
Thank you for the great advice, I have been overthinking without much action... I need to just do things!

Imagine what not having a job temporarily would do to most other people.
Do you mind sharing your net worth for us to understand your current position?

Sure! My net worth, calculated as stated here: http://earlyretirementextreme.com/day-1 ... worth.html

Sum up the total of these categories

All savings accounts and checking accounts.
All brokerage accounts.
All real estate you own that you rent out. If any are mortgaged, subtract the debt

is of 215.000 USD.

Yeah, I'm really satisfied about being able to quit my job! Everyone around me thought it was a crazy and stupid idea. But most of them is people that couldn't survive a month without a salary. Sweden average household debt is really massive and most of the people I know doesn't have any savings at all.

[thrifty++]

oh wow that's heaps at your age! Thats a nice amazing safety cushion to crash on for a little while. Thats the great thing about it all, is the security and freedom of it all. Worth so much more than a luxury car.

[Cloudberry]

I totally agree thrifty!!!

[Cloudberry]

Wow! 2 years are gone from my last post and so many things have happened.
I haven't found a passion, I tried a couple of jobs (teacher and web designer) and really don't want to do that. I feel so spoiled saying that...
Then, I met my partner, after 6 months I got pregnant and we have a 9 months old baby now

Despite not working much I have been able to save some more money. Our expenses with the baby hasn't increased much, we only use second hand things and we have already sold many of them to the same price that they had when we bought them.
But we have moved to my apartment, the one I used to rent out and now my main source of passive income is gone!
I'm trying to convince my boyfriend to rent something somewhere else but he doesn't want. We are having quite some discussions about this, he never save money (he has like 1000 dollars in his bank account), he's so bad in managing his money but he is improving. He seems open to move to a RV, we are looking into that!
Now I am in maternity leave but I will go back to work in September, as a lab technician.

My net worth is now of 242 887 USD

[wolf]

Hi Cloudberry. Congratulations to your child. What a surprise and development within the last 2 years.
Wish you all the best as a lab technician. Have you done this before? You NW is also quite impressive for an 32/33 yo. Wow. Keep on working, living, saving.

[Cloudberry]

Thank you MDFIRE!
Yes, I've worked as a lab technician before. That is the job I decided to quit 2 and a half years ago, to look for something else, something I would be more passionate about. But I didn't find anything yet... well, at least I tried!

[wolf]

to look for something else, something I would be more passionate about. But I didn't find anything yet... well, at least I tried!

I read a good book from Cal Newport, called: So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love
He talks about passion and skills. His main point is that one shouldn't look endlessly for one own's passion. Instead improve skills bit by bit. I hope I summarized it correctly. He could be right, he could be wrong. Well, I guess it's a problem of life. What to do next? What is missing?...
Anyway, maybe this book could give you some new ideas.

[Cloudberry]

His main point is that one shouldn't look endlessly for one own's passion. Instead improve skills bit by bit. I hope I summarized it correctly.

Oh, really interesting! I will get the book. That is an angle that I've never considered, about finding a job I'm passionate about.
Thank you for the suggestion!

[frihet]

Hej Cloudberry,

Nice name by the way. How come you choose it? For me it's the most fun/rewarding berry to pick in the Swedish fauna. Quite a feeling when you find a mire full of natures gold.

How's lab life? Settling in?

Good idea to live in an RV an rent out the apartment. Is it a "bostadsrätt" you got? Isn't it a problem to get permission from "föreningen" to sublet them?

Actually you just gave me an idea to use my 11 years in "bostadskön" to get a rent subsidized apartment to live in with my girlfriend and collect rent on hers bostadsrätt. If we can work that out somehow. I think it would work as long as she keps her old adress officially.

We been looking for rentals thinking of selling hers for quite some time. But 11 years haven't been enough to find the right one and now the housing market unfortunately seems to slow/roll over considerably.

[Stahlmann]

How do you do? Can you use unemployment benefits from Sweden to enjoy low cost stay in home country?