Journal From A Dane

Where are you and where are you going?
herp
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat Apr 08, 2017 1:11 pm

Re: Journal From A Dane

Post by herp »

August:

Earned income 3696
Insurance 42
Refund 12

Total income 3750

Rent 977
Union + unemployment insurance 134
Utilities 44
Taxes 8
Entertainment 8
Groceries 220
Phone 9
Healthcare 281
Transporation 58
Other 6

Total expenses 1745

Savings 2005

Savings rate 53%

August was a fairly quiet month. I'm picking up a few more hours at work, which is good. I've also noticed my general well-being improving a fair bit after the weather has cooled down and the summer rush is over. Over the past few years, I've noticed that I feel more calm during this time of the year.

I finally got around to finishing up dental work. I shopped around at a few dentists, and it turns out that I did not need to have my wisdom teeth removed after all, so I settled for less expensive dental work, which was nice. Also less risk of complications.

herp
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat Apr 08, 2017 1:11 pm

Re: Journal From A Dane

Post by herp »

September:

Earned income 1925
Insurance 108
Refund 76
Gift 109
Sale of item 77

Total income 2295

Rent 967
Union + unemployment insurance 91
Utilities 105
Groceries 235
Phone 9
Healthcare 104
Transporation 58
Fees 4

Total expenses 1573

Savings 722

Savings rate 31%

At first this might appear to be a below average month, but that's because I didn't receive my secondary income stream in September (paid late in August and again early in October), so the numbers seem a bit off. I won't make any adjustments though as I only factor in transactions in the months where they are made.

Nothing too special happened this month. Health took a bit of a dive early on but then improved again. I'm continuously doing more hours of work. I think I have a rough plan to be back working full time or near full time early in spring next year, but let's see.

herp
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat Apr 08, 2017 1:11 pm

Re: Journal From A Dane

Post by herp »

October:

Earned income 3011
Insurance 61
Gift 11
Sale of item 15

Total income 3098

Rent 960
Union + unemployment insurance 90
Groceries 223
Phone 9
Transporation 348
Entertainment 8
Clothes 18

Total expenses 1656

Savings 1442

Savings rate 46%

Back to a normal month. My savings rate would have been about 10% higher if it wasn't for buying a new bike. Something which I had been thinking about doing for a while. I got a good deal on one since now it's out of season, so I went for it.

Health is still slowly improving, which is good. I keep adding a few more hours. Still optimistic about being back at least close to full time by next spring.

On another note, I'm trying to become more social and going out more as that has really been neglected in recent years. I signed up for a new activity, should be interesting!

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

Re: Journal From A Dane

Post by wolf »

Congrats to the SR, herp!

Do you mind to tell what you work, because I'd like understand why your income is changing from month to month?

I'm thinking lately also about buying a new bike, because my current one is very used. What type of bike did you buy? A more universal one (road/city bike) or a specialized one (race bike, mountain bike)?

Glad to hear, that your health is improving.

Either it is me (because I'd like to become more social too and I focus therefore more in other journals) or there are many others on this forum also, who would like to improve/change social aspects of the life. I am interested: what kind of new activitiy did you sign up? Is it kind of a club?

herp
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat Apr 08, 2017 1:11 pm

Re: Journal From A Dane

Post by herp »

Hi wolf,

Cheers!

Actually, my income doesn't fluctuate very much, it's simply because I sometimes receive my secondary income stream at the end of the month, and at other times at the beginning of the next month. So, yes, there are variations month by month, but the actual income is stable.

I work as a software developer.

I bought a city bike, nothing special really. Just your classic european aluminum city bike, fairly similar to the one I already had, which was probably of slightly higher quality, but then this new one was cheaper pound-for-pound in nominal terms than the one I already had and bought almost a decade ago, so I think it was a good deal.

I joined a generic networking group. No particular interest in focus.

herp
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat Apr 08, 2017 1:11 pm

Re: Journal From A Dane

Post by herp »

Good news (I think!).

I'll most likely be moving into a small house by the beginning of next year. It's less spacious than my current flat, but I have more space than I really need, so that's fine. I've actually been looking at a few smaller apartments from time to time, but all things considered I didn't really find anything that I concluded was an improvement, so it never went further than just window-shopping, so to speak.

The obvious benefit of the small house is that it comes with a garden, which will be a nice addition. It's also very close to my current apartment, so moving should be just about as easy as it can get. The negative aspects are mostly temporary, as my health still isn't top-notch and I remember how stressful it was to move last time, but then I was moving over a slightly longer distance and had also just started a new job. Of other negative things to note is that it's fairly close to a moderately busy road, so there will be a bit more noise, which from a health perspective isn't great, but I hope it will be tolerable. On the plus side I'll also effectively have less neighbors.

From a financial perspective, it's going to reduce my rent by almost 1,000 DKK, which is nice. By next week, I should be certain about whether it goes through or not (it most likely will).

herp
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat Apr 08, 2017 1:11 pm

Re: Journal From A Dane

Post by herp »

Well, quite a few important things happened since my last update. First, let's get the monthly report

November:

Earned income 4551
Refund 42
Other income 14

Total income 4607

Deposit + new rent 2600
Rent 952
Union + unemployment insurance 90
Groceries 237
Phone 7
Transporation 77
Subscription 6

Total expenses 3969

Savings 638

Savings rate 13%

At first you may think that the savings rate looks pretty bad, but actually it should objectively have been in the negatives because I received double income from a source last month (paid both for November and December), so the numbers actually look better than they would have with averaged income streams! Although as I previously mentioned, I'll log transactions in the months where they actually take place.

The one huge expense was the deposit for the house that I'm moving into. It's one month of prepaid rent and the deposit is slightly over two months worth of rent. The good news is that by moving to the new place, I should save about 1000 DKK a month (roughly 150 USD at today's exchange rate), so I'll break even on the deposit before the first year is even up. I'll be paying rent for both the old and the new place for a month, though, so technically it will take a while longer, but still a good financial change.

Additionally, if I'm lucky, I'll be able to get some of the deposit back from my current place. Last time I moved I actually got the full deposit back, and it's the same landlord.

I'm also optimistic about the new place being a better fit for me and a quality of life upgrade, as moving from an apartment to a small town house should be a nice change. My ideal place to live would be somewhere more open, but there's of course always a compromise to be made in terms of commuting distance, cost of living, etc.

I'm also going to receive a couple of pretty nice windfalls this week, which in total will actually bump my net worth by over 7%. A very nice surprise that I expect will put me a couple of years closer to FI.

Finally, I'm going to be looking for new work, as I'll be starting something new by mid January.

It will be interesting times ahead.

herp
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat Apr 08, 2017 1:11 pm

Re: Journal From A Dane

Post by herp »

Just a quick update from my part. I've been pretty busy moving over the past few weeks, so I haven't gotten around to posting the final update for 2018.

I'll try to get the report in for December fairy soon.

herp
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat Apr 08, 2017 1:11 pm

Re: Journal From A Dane

Post by herp »

December:

Earned income 3853
Insurance 47

Total income 3900

Rent 953
Union + unemployment insurance 90
Utilities 141
Groceries 196
Electronics 102
Phone 7
Transporation 57
Entertainment 1
Healthcare 155
Fees 9
Books 8
Software 6

Total expenses 1725

Savings 2175

Savings rate 55%

Finally got around to posting my numbers for December, and they're pretty much in line with the trend. I expected the savings rate to be a bit lower, but it seems that my income was higher than expected for the month due to receiving some holiday allowance for both late December and early January.

I'm still having trouble grasping the fact that 2018 has already been over for almost a month. The year just seemed to fly by.

The time around Christmas and New Year's was very busy as I was preparing to move. On the one hand, I'm kind of glad things have settled down a bit, but it was actually kind of nice focusing on something entirely different for a couple of weeks. Not that I would voluntarily do it again! There's still quite a few things that need to be fixed in the new place, but at least now I don't have a deadline.

With respect to my investments, market turmoil hit my portfolio of individual stocks quite hard in Q4 resulting in the individual stocks giving a negative return of 26% for the year. However, most of my investments in stocks are in index funds, which as a whole didn't tank nearly as hard, so overall it wasn't too bad.

Also, starting February I'm going to begin reaping the sows of moving, as my rent will drop by about 1/6. A lot of work was also put into fixing and cleaning my old apartment before handing it back to the landlord, so there was almost nothing for them to use my deposit for fixing. I've received a notice stating that I should get back nearly all of the deposit I put down over four years ago, which will be a nice bonus.

herp
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat Apr 08, 2017 1:11 pm

Re: Journal From A Dane

Post by herp »

January:

Earned income 1475
Entertainment 7

Total income 1482

Rent 955
Subscription 397
Union + unemployment insurance 91
Associations 15
Clothes 15
Utilities 57
Insurance 216
Groceries 172
Phone 7
Transporation 57
Entertainment 59
Home furnishings and supplies 27
Software 6

Total expenses 2074

Savings -592

Savings rate -40%

First month in the red. There were some extra expenses associated with moving, a couple of annual subscription fees came up (healthcare insurance + website), and my entertainment expenses were a bit higher than usual, but that's alright because it's been almost non-existant in the past. I budgeted for everything in advance, so there was nothing to worry about at any point in time.

My income was also very low because of the holiday allowance I received in December for some days taken off in January. Additionally, my secondary income stream didin't register in January at all, so that really drags the numbers down (paid on the last banking day in December and the first banking day in February).

I'm not too worried though, as February is looking to be a great month in terms of income and savings. I got a nice little bump in savings by having nearly my full deposit from my previous apartment returned to me. Additionally, my landlord reimbursed half a month of rent for reasons I'm still not quite sure of, but who complains about that?

thedollar
Posts: 257
Joined: Tue Feb 21, 2017 4:07 am

Re: Journal From A Dane

Post by thedollar »

Herp,

Sounds like February is gonna be a great month for you. I am not sure I understand how you received more income during December and less for January. Was it because you received some vacation pay in December actually due for January?

Do you have any system in place to track your investments and/or passive income? What metrics are you using?

herp
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat Apr 08, 2017 1:11 pm

Re: Journal From A Dane

Post by herp »

thedollar wrote:
Sun Feb 24, 2019 9:46 am
Herp,

Sounds like February is gonna be a great month for you. I am not sure I understand how you received more income during December and less for January. Was it because you received some vacation pay in December actually due for January?
That's exactly the reason.
Do you have any system in place to track your investments and/or passive income? What metrics are you using?
I track my current assets in a spreadsheet, showing their total value as well as each asset's percentage as measured against my total net worth. As the only passive income I have is dividends and a bit of interest, where my withdrawal strategy doesn't focus on either, I'm not tracking those metrics.

I don't keep a history of how my net worth has evolved over time though, except for a few really big milestones (like every 10% of the FI goal reached).

herp
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat Apr 08, 2017 1:11 pm

Re: Journal From A Dane

Post by herp »

February:

Earned income 2907
Returned deposit and utilities 3514
Insurance 30
Sale of items 23
Entertainment 4

Total income 6478

Rent 780
Union + unemployment insurance 90
Healthcare 62
Groceries 187
Phone 7
Transporation 58
Home furnishings and supplies 104
Misc 2

Total expenses 1290

Savings 5188

Savings rate 80%

As expected, February turned out to be a great month in terms of savings because of the returned deposit, reimbursed rent, and utilities refund. Those transactions made up over half of my income in February. Of course they are temporary and most of it is money that I put down 4-5 years ago, so I've basically given the landlord a free loan, but it's obviously better than not receiving it at all.

Otherwise it was a slightly eventful month due to the fact that I started working at a new place. In the beginning it felt very stressful but after I matched expectations with my manager I've actually started to settle in rather nicely. It's only a temporary position though, but I get to work with new technologies and in an area of my field where I don't have much experience.

I should also add that I've struggled to find motivation to keep posting updates over the past few months. Things are just going well in terms of savings and it doesn't really feel like much of a struggle. The net worth is slowly but surely ticking upwards and I just crossed my 25% mark towards being comfortably FI.

herp
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat Apr 08, 2017 1:11 pm

Re: Journal From A Dane

Post by herp »

March:

Earned income 4613
Sale of items 76
Entertainment 30

Total income 4719

Rent 778
Union + unemployment insurance 90
Groceries 231
Phone 7
Transporation 58
Utilities 188
Banking 4
Healthcare 104
Entertainment 24

Total expenses 1404

Savings 3315

Savings rate 70%

Seemingly, another great month in terms of savings. I do feel like I forgot something on the expenses side, but in that case I'll come back to update.

The party stops in April, though, as it will be a below average month due to holiday allowance received in March for days taken off in April (same old story).

Work has improved to the point where on several occasions I've actually found myself wanting to go to work and looking forward to it. Can you believe that? It was such a strange feeling as I've only experienced it on rare occasions. I guess it's a sign that my mental health is really improving and that I'm working at a great place right now. It's unfortunate that it's going to end later this year, but working here has given me new ideas about what to look for in a job role as well as the workplace.

I actually enjoyed work so much that I didn't want to go on Easter holiday(!), but in the end it was nice enough to have a few days off (although I quickly got bored after those initial days). I would have loved to save those days for a long summer holiday, but alas I had to spend them before May 1st or they would be lost.

I've also started thinking about jumping back onto the dating carousel as I'm now in my mid 30's and have been single for a handful of years. Crazy thought, huh?

herp
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat Apr 08, 2017 1:11 pm

Re: Journal From A Dane

Post by herp »

April:

Earned income 2057
Entertainment 5
Insurance 90
Tax refund 359
Total income 2511

Rent 768
Union + unemployment insurance 89
Associations 52
Groceries 217
Phone 7
Transporation 59
Utilities 157
Healthcare 51
Entertainment 19
Subscriptions 89

Total expenses 1508

Savings 1003

Savings rate 40%

I had low expectations for savings in April, but it actually turned out better than I expected. You could argue it's a bit of a cheat, though, as the tax refund helped my savings rate (in a perfect world, I would not have given the government a free loan).

As it's only been two weeks since my last update, not much has happened in the meantime. However, I have given thought to the summer cottage once again.

It seems as if every summer, the topic comes up again, and this year is no different. I think I've slightly changed my perspective on the place, as the city council is now planning to convert the area to an urban zone, permitting owners to live there all year round. Current owners can opt to maintain status, leaving requirements for insulation etc. more lax.

If we were to hypothetically assume that I would take up the place as my sole residence, as the cottage is fully paid off, housing expenses would be a bit lower than what I currently face, but the cottage would require a lot of renovation work to be legal for permanent residence. Additionally, I'd need a car, as many shopping options are outside of the immediate vicinity. Commuting time would also increase a fair bit. Another downside would be dreadful muddy winters, as the place isn't much fun for most of the year (but lovely during summer).

The major benefit would be quite a decent chunk of land and being able to live without any immediate neighbors, something I'm sure I would find quite pleasant.

At any rate, it's something I can still think about. If no decision is made, I'll eventually inherit it anyway.

herp
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat Apr 08, 2017 1:11 pm

Re: Journal From A Dane

Post by herp »

May:

Earned income 3974
Tax refund 2
Referral 8
Sale of items 151

Total income 4135

Rent 773
Union + unemployment insurance 90
Groceries 231
Phone 7
Transporation 57
Healthcare 51
Entertainment 15
Subscriptions 6
Gifts 21

Total expenses 1251

Savings 2884

Savings rate 69%

An excellent month in terms of savings. Unfortunately, I've felt pretty stressed out most of the month, mostly due to work and the uncertainty that revolves around it. My current contract expires in a couple of months and I'm not sure I will be able to get it extended. Actually, I'm not sure that I even want to. It seems tough to find work within my field without a lot of stress, or maybe the labor market is just stressful in general. I often question whether I'm working in the right field, but I also feel it would be wasteful to throw away a decent amount of experience.

thedollar
Posts: 257
Joined: Tue Feb 21, 2017 4:07 am

Re: Journal From A Dane

Post by thedollar »

herp wrote:
Thu Jun 06, 2019 9:13 am

Tax refund 2
Love the accuracy of your reporting! :D Sadly you have beaten me since I only received 1 kr. back.

Anyway, seems like you are killing it. What are you investing in these days?

How far along are you on your journey?

herp
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat Apr 08, 2017 1:11 pm

Re: Journal From A Dane

Post by herp »

Thanks, thedollar! Despite market turbulence and my individual stock portfolio not really working out that well over the past two years, savings are at least going very well.

I'm just over 1/4 towards my FI goal.

My answer to your investing question is boring (and good as I'm sticking to my plan!). It's exactly the same as last year :). See my post from last year here.

The only difference is that I actually just decided to finally pull the trigger and merge the cash that sits in my car fund into my 60/40 portfolio. That means leaving 40% of the car fund as is and withdrawing 60% of the car fund to buy stocks. It's something I've been considering for years, but I've now reached a point where the car fund is a small portion of my net worth and merging it into one of the two portfolios would simplify things. I still have more than enough cash in the portfolio to buy said car, should it become necessary.

thedollar
Posts: 257
Joined: Tue Feb 21, 2017 4:07 am

Re: Journal From A Dane

Post by thedollar »

Sounds reasonable to me. What is your planned SWR? And is ERE your goal or simply FI?

Do you have any 'alternative' investments? I've been looking into rental property for some time but haven't really jumped on anything yet as prices seem high here in DK.

herp
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat Apr 08, 2017 1:11 pm

Re: Journal From A Dane

Post by herp »

With my current calculations I'm assuming an SWR of 4%. However, studies seem to suggest that's not a safe perpetual withdrawal rate, so I'm also considering a lower SWR, even if it's a bit depressing to think about. I would not go lower than 3%, though. At the end of the day, I'm optimistic and hoping to be able to "retire" in a market environment with lower valuations than we have today.

No plans for alternative investments. I think having a plan and sticking to it is a better fit for my tastes. Keep it simple and boring ;)

Post Reply