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Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Posted: Tue Aug 29, 2017 3:08 am
by FBeyer
Deal!
Drop two doses of LSD and I'll have my butter elves deliver right to your front dreams 'Par Avion'.
I'll take my payment in lentils and grass mulch please.

Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Posted: Tue Aug 29, 2017 5:41 am
by jennypenny
Move Your DNA was interesting. I was always a 'free range kids' kind of parent and this tied in nicely. I wish it was written 20 years ago. People criticized me for just throwing my kids on a blanket with some toys wherever I was instead of putting them in some fancy plastic contraption. Have you changed anything you do with your daughter?

I hope your knee heals quickly!

Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Posted: Tue Aug 29, 2017 7:01 am
by FBeyer
jennypenny wrote:
Tue Aug 29, 2017 5:41 am
Move Your DNA was interesting. I was always a 'free range kids' kind of parent and this tied in nicely. I wish it was written 20 years ago. People criticized me for just throwing my kids on a blanket with some toys wherever I was instead of putting them in some fancy plastic contraption. Have you changed anything you do with your daughter?

I hope your knee heals quickly!
When I read the book, I realized that we were already doing a lot of the things advocated. We climb on monkey bars and use the slides, do pullups, rollouts and pushups on the swing sets. We balance about and climb on everything so it's not just my daughter getting some exercise when we're at the playground.
We generally move about a lot in the family, so much that my daughter is complaining daily about how boring it is to sit still in kindergarden and just draw... 'breaks my heart to say the least that an almost-four-year-old gets her physical activity stifled by an institution.

I haven't said anything to her, but she copies me quite a lot, but she is three after all. Sitting cross legged and flat-foot squatting comes natural to humans at that age, so if anything I might be the one copying her. She has noticed that I sit on the floor, but it's not something we talk about, it's just something we do. She hasn't been indoctrinated yet so she thinks that every toddler knows how to patch a punctured tire and knows the names of the plants and animals they come by.

She's gonna grow up to be so freakin' weird...

I hope my knee heals quickly too!

Note to self: Write about our socializing/pedagogical scavenging income soon.

Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 1:00 pm
by FBeyer
I built an etsy clothes rack and a wooden hedgehog you can sit on.

Building Etsy Furniture.

Step zero: Have a wonderful significant other who for reasons completely beyond my cognitive abilities MU'FUGGIN' needs to put all her freakin' clothes on a mu'fuggin chair rather than in the mu'fuggin' drawers placed right the f*** next to the f***** chair.
Step one: Kindle your OCD.
Step two: Between eye twitches and teeth gnashing start planning a replacement for the forementioned steel-grey/blueish IKEA chair that is basically built like someone decided to upholster an IBC water tank[1] using only cheap felt.
Step three: Scavenge construction materials from a 70 year old shed, tennis socks, and an old shoe rack.
Step four: build the thing using tools and hands and things that make holes and things that staple things to other things so that the things that needed stapling don't fall off that thing you stapled them to.
Step five: Relish the thought of no longer having a mu'fuggin' ugly felt-water-tank-chair as a clothes rack.

Bonus: The towels we used to dry on our bedroom door now fit on the clothes rag too, so I've solved two problems at once.

YAY ME.
YAY!!!!111!!!one!!!
Enjoy the view: https://imgur.com/a/NkjpZ


Hedgehog-for-sitting:
I'm IMGUR retarded so here's the link to some images, I accidentally uploaded some of them twice. Bite me!
https://imgur.com/a/VjHXY

Step Zero: Read Katy Bowman's Move Your DNA.
Step Zero point Five: Immediately decide to start sitting on the floor.
Step one: hand build a box shaped hedgehog out of wood. Half-lap the joints and cut splines carefully with a japanese saw. Model the outer dimensions after a Scandinavian milk crate.
Step two: cut off the 'hog's spines.
Step three: sand off all sharp corners.
Step four: Sit on it, stand on it, store stuff on it, use it as a floor table, use it to raise desktop level to standing-desk height level, and admire it.

Honestly I could have built the thing using power tools and gotten better results, but I decided to build the whole thing using hand tools because I never really got to use hand tools when I worked as a carpenter, and I never got to use splines for anything ever. So naturally I decided to use the biggest most audacious splines I could find.


Just in case you decide to cut spline slots by hand yourself: Start by outlining only ONE side of the spline and then make the cut as accurately as you can. After you've made the cut, use the spline material to mark the exact width of the spline and then cut up to, but not on top, the line you've drawn. If you use a mechanical pencil you should have a 0.5 mm line, so if you cut right next to that, and you mark the splines the way I've described, you should be able to get a perfectly snug fit even if your initial cut is slightly off. If you mark both sides of the spline to begin with, the fit will be determined by your sawing accuracy twice, if you do it my way you'll only introduce error-from-cutting once.


So uh, why would I need a wooden box after reading a book?

Well basically 'cause obsessin's what I do Bub'.

In a nutshell Bowman's book is about moving around more during your day, rather than only moving at pre-designated exercise hours. Make healthy movement a part of your life, not an auxilliary unit. How very systems thinking of her. So, stand up, walk about, sit in many different positions etc. Sitting on the floor is the easiest way to make sure you're sitting in many different positions during the day, but most furniture is naturally built for civilized people who use chairs, so you need alternive arrangements in case you want to work/read/drink coffe/eat while sitting on the floor.

Since I'm not inclined to saw the legs off our current (and by 'our current' I mean my GF's table that her father built for her) sofa table and I sure as shootin' wasn't going to put another sofa table in our living room, I had to find something small and portable that fit my needs for floor sitting.

For practical reasons we have several plastic milk crates. Because they are just SO darn handy, and after using them for at few days I realized that turning the milk crate one way or the other made me change working positions and thus the crate's form factor was an easy way to help myself move more when I'm sitting around the house[2][3]. Since I'm supposed to be doing a lot of other stuff I naturally decided to start building furniture. So I built a stool/crate/table/hedgehog and an etsy clothes rack.

So there...

Pictures soon.
Maybe.






Now: What does three wheel barrows, a 600 L compost bin, two lawnmowers, a lampshade, two lawn edgers, a cable drum, a vintage 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, and an easel have in common?






[1] ie, it's big, hefty, cubic, plain, plush, and ugly, and it's perpetually covered in clothes so you can't even use it as a chair without digging through pants and bras first.
[2] Not literally sitting AROUND the house, I'm not that fat (although chestnut animal body proportions were mentioned at the last meetup).
[3] Also that was a rather long sentence. I should work on cutting them down.

Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 1:02 pm
by FBeyer
FBeyer wrote:
Thu Sep 07, 2017 1:00 pm
...[1] ie, it's big, hefty, cubic, plain, plush, and ugly, and it's perpetually covered in clothes so you can't even use it as a chair without digging through pants and bras first.
Just like my ex-girlfriend!

ZzzzzzZZZZZZING!

Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 2:16 pm
by Jason
Oh man. That's some funny shit.

Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 2:25 pm
by FBeyer
For YOUR reading pleasure!

Also: I just decided to stop begin retarded so I added some imgur links so you can actually see the furniture I'm talking about. The whole post really doesn't make sense without pictures.

Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 2:26 pm
by Jason
Fuck the furniture. Let's see the ex girlfriend.

Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 7:42 am
by FBeyer
Jason wrote:
Thu Sep 07, 2017 2:26 pm
Fuck the furniture. Let's see the ex girlfriend.
Just imagine the chair except pinkish-white-girl colored and with pigtails.
It's close enough.

Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 6:10 am
by FBeyer
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
:geek:
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.

Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 6:20 pm
by Jason
I’ve been moving towards dividend stocks.

This cat that is shitting on your radishes. He’s target shitting. Cat’s have no fuckin consciences and they can be trained where to shit so there’s no way this is some type of indiscriminate shitting thing like a dog, an incontinent old person or a baby. Personally, I’d poison your radishes just to make that cat’s ass burn like it was dragged on all fours down a Texas sidewalk in the summertime. I hate cats to the extent that if Hitler had focused his hate on cats instead of Jews I’d be a neo-Nazi. I mean that. I can’t stand them.

Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 5:09 am
by FBeyer
FBeyer wrote:
Thu Dec 14, 2017 6:10 am
...I've been contacted by my old coach. He's involved in a startup...
The startup revolves around an extremely interesting broad-skills based, braintrusty, engineering, robotics, farming, permaculture, organic, R&D position.

I had a sweaty bacon stuffed burger and two beers. I was also offered a job.
I can start as soon as I feel like it.
:shock:

Also: Fuck cats!

Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 5:18 am
by wizards
Congrats, with at bit of luck this will be your last job :)

Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 10:13 am
by halfmoon
FBeyer wrote:
Fri Dec 15, 2017 5:09 am
The startup revolves around an extremely interesting broad-skills based, braintrusty, engineering, robotics, farming, permaculture, organic, R&D position.
That does sound remarkably interesting. Do you have a strategy planned for not getting stressed out again?

Also: +1 to dividends. Growth-only stocks are that fun and crazy friend who might take you out for extravagent nights on the town...or might end up sleeping on your couch and drinking your beer because his girlfriend kicked him out.

Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 10:59 am
by FBeyer
Wizards: With the grand vision of the company, they're going to be doing for a living, what I'd want to do on my own once FI anyway. So...

halfmoon: The strategy is:
1) Develop better emotional and introspective skills. I've been told it's something those... those non-technical people... are apparently born with.
2) Work for a company that takes its knowledge workers seriously (these guys do to almost ridiculous extent)
3) Do work that is as well aligned with my personal values as possible.

Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 1:41 pm
by FBeyer
I've had almost 1000 hits since the last entry and I'm wondering who all you people are, and what you come here for? Do you simply read all the journals, or is there anything of value to you personally here?

To some extent I'm writing this journal to keep myself on track and to be able to look back and see what I've learned along the way, but I'm fairly certain I can put a 'popular spin' on it; it would be fun to experiment with the presentation style from time to time depending on what people find interesting/amusing/informative.

I'm genuinely curious: What makes YOU read this journal?

Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 1:50 pm
by theanimal
I try to read a little bit from everyone's journals at least once. I return to the ones I enjoy more frequently. I enjoy your writing, analysis and approach to life.

When are we going to hear more about Lindy Hop?? Extra, extra bonus points for videos. :D

Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 2:38 pm
by BadHorse
Well I read it to be up-to-date for the meet-up this weekend :D

Seriously though, I'm hoping to hear more about your potential new job, it sounds awesome. One of my (many!) FI fantasies has been starting a bio-sustainable robotics-based permaculture farm on Bornholm.

Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 11:17 pm
by borisborisboris
FBeyer wrote:
Thu Jan 11, 2018 1:41 pm
I'm genuinely curious: What makes YOU read this journal?
Since you asked:

Journals are a good way to keep yourself on the path. For me, ERE is still somewhat about resisting the urge to spend and splurge, to buy that coffee in the morning, to book that trip. Watching other people go through the process of getting their lives/finances in order just sort of keeps me on the right track to do the same thing. I remember in Infinite Jest, there's a stretch of a gazillion or so pages devoted to a recovering alcoholic who goes to AA all the time, and how it works if you just keep showing up, drinking the bad coffee, repeating the cliches, sharing your story, on and on, over and over. I am that guy showing up and reading the journals, week in and week out. (And I know, I mostly lurk, I'm bad and I feel bad).

Plus there are things to be learned from reading smart people think out loud. Sometimes it's just the insights about meditation or whatever, gives me something to explore.

Also, credit where it's due, your journal is a standout on the board, it's well-written, self-aware, updated regularly. Lots of journals start out kind of the same, counting income and expenses, etc. which is all quite useful. But having been around the site a while, the journals that go beyond the basics and present an original/unique approach to the whole thing are even more valuable.

Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2018 8:08 am
by rref
.