It's been three months since I last updated. I wanted to write something entertaining, but I can't be bothered.
Chugging Along:
Our house is cheaper than a dorm room (and rent has just been cut again!), there are very few financial things to consider, now I just have to wait for the pile to grow and try to keep myself sane.
Really, you should find a cheap place to stay as soon as possible. Once that is out of the way you almost stop worrying about major expenditures and start living 'normally' again. It seems to me that many of those who seek FI are fretting about money and investments all the time, while they still cling on their single largest expenditure. It's like worrying about dropping a glass of water in your living room, while it's three feet under water...
Supposedly we seek FI because we want something out of life, not because we want to worry about money; so get money problems out of the way.
The Monkey Brain:
Long-term illness has lasted for more than a year now.
I started work at the beginning of October. That lasted for one month then I crashed again. 'turns out I've been treated for depression, but it seems the depression is actually stress related, so the behavioral treatment I've gotten has been off. You can't tell someone who is stressed to go home and relax... you simply do not understand the meaning of that phrase anymore. So for me relaxing meant studying set theory and metric spaces because that was easier than what I usually did. What the doctor meant was: go home, take as many naps as you possible can and then watch tv series until you are about ready to scratch your eyes out. Also: do not exercise, kettlebells increase cortisol; put shortly you don't want that right now. I'm learning to sit still. Literally learning not squirm about in a chair fretting to get up and get shit done! I really need it. Just like Akratic, I have a strong aversion to doing nothing. I'm now learning how and why doing nothing is important. Same as why complete slackers need to learn how and why to be productive. My stress symptoms were so bad that I've been ordained a psychiatrist. Apparently the only written exam I've scored full marks on was the one for adult ADHD so my diagnosis is a big freakin' mess of stress, ADHD, and/or depression. So I put my foot down and demanded that we treated the cause that is most likely to be the overall cause of it all. It's also the one that is the least medicinally invasive since it involves vitamins and netflix. Once I've cooled down for a month or two, we'll take a look at my ADHD symptoms and gauge the improvement. C'est la vie[1].
My contact with meditation, stoicism, mindfulness and buddhism has actually given me some insight into spirituality. It's 90% horseshit and 10% good ideas wrapped in unneccesary idols and even more superstituous horseshit. But within those 10% are some amazing ideas and my inner pragmatist compels me to adopt those ideas.
Most interstingly is the slow onset of meditation's benefits. Meditation does nothing, then it does nothing, then it does nothing, then it does nothing, then it does nothing, then it does nothing, and THEN... a little happens. Then it does nothing, then it does nothing, then it does nothing, then it does nothing, and THEN something MORE happens and the whole thing takes off and you feel the effect of sitting[3] take hold in the way you think and react throughout the day. The key to meditation is completely the opposite of what we've been taught our whole lives.
What we learned is: Time + Effort = Results
but meditation goes: Innocence + Acceptance = Calm[2]
You can't learn to meditate by doing it more. It's so fucking weird, you only learn by doing it right.
Monies:
I've chosen to not invest in cryptocurrency, just to learn how I react to other people's crazy gains. I have a friend who owns bitcoin but he knows nothing at all about them he just bought them on a whim. It'll be interesting to see how I react to his excitement.
My stock portfolio has appreciated 19.6% since inception. Dividends received correspond to 60% of the capital appreciation so... up 31% since inception ie. over 19 months.
Junk bonds are chugging along nicely. I'm making about one month's expenses in interest per year currently. I have invested 2/3 of the amount of money I want to invest in junk and I'm just waiting for my automated robo investor to place some money when a sufficiently lucrative offer comes up. Right now the setup is done so that I place money, and a robot invests a set amount of money in every available loan within some given criteria. It's fully automated and I really don't have to do anything at all for the income to be reinvested. Perfect!
I have been investing for yield for most of the year. I feel that dividends are where it's at for me. I want my investments to make me money directly. February and March are the big dividend months for me due to the specific mutual funds I've invested in, and one of my most stable dividend payers has been almost tripled in size since last year, so I expect at least 1/3 years expenses in dividends this year.
I've become interested in Katsenelson's idea on range bound markets. Maybe it's just because I've become fond of dividends? He seems to make sense to none the less.
I've been contacted by my old coach. He's involved in a startup and he wants to work with:
someone who is both interesting and very clever
We're meeting up for a chat about the startup and I have my fingers crossed that the project is interesting 'cause I'm not going back to the PhD. I can't. This is the third time in the last 2.5 years I've been headhuntet for something. Interesting indeed!
Also: ego. Not Ego, but my ego.
Savings rate 67%
7 years expenses saved.
ERE:
What does three wheel barrows, a 600 L compost bin with a worm tube, two electric lawnmowers, a lampshade, two lawn edgers, a cable drum, a vintage mechanical Singer sowing machine, a patch of stawberry seedlings, two bags of clothes, a raincoat, a high-end baby carriage, a Weber BBQ, a 7L enamel pot, two table lamps, an easel, a bike trailer, a latex mattress topper, 50 m of pex tubing, a round table top, 30 meters of plastic garden fence, and a zabuton have in common?
It was all curbside shopped!!!
People throw away crazy amounts of stuff that us weirdos can use. It's unfathomable!
We repair most of it, and I bring my daughter along while repairing it, and then we sell it again. Estimated scavenging income for the last 12 months: 500+ $
NEAT!
I know Ego has a Something for Nothing thread here, but I've completely neglegted posting there. Sorry Ego.
Web of goals is out the window right now. I'm doing as little as possible. I have only one goal: become fully functional and find a proper job for once. Just this ONCE!
The book is 320 pages by now. I hope to be selling some private coaching some time in the future. The book is my ticket to contact customers... Or something.
[1] I don't speak French.
[2] 'ain't nobody got time fo' dat!!!!
[3] The Zen word for meditation is sitting, which is so annoyingly apt. You're not DOING anything. You're not doing meditation, you're just sitting.
For later: The cat that has been shitting on my radishes, pickled japanese food, fish that looks like a block of wood, kimchi-flavoured bad breath, our expansive strawberry patch, slow-going vermicomposting, and Lindy Hop.