jonnyz's journal

[jonnyz]

I'm 22, and I'm from a capital city in Australia. I aim to be done with the work-for-money thing by 2022. The *big thing* in life for me, and one of the main reasons why I'm trading my youth for ERE is I want to read books, and write books.

I discovered ERE last year, after Googling 'how to retire as soon as possible.' If you want to write beyond an amateur level, you want to be writing more than five hours a day (I'm not a natural, and I only started reading books at 17). I've tried getting less sleep to cram a few hours of writing before 9 hour work days, but that was very unenjoyable and the writing was awful. Granted, I did get a lot of the bad writing out during that period (early 2017).

I quit university after the first six weeks (tertiary education outside of STEM is a joke), and was delivering food on my motorcycle where I got semi-control over my hours and pretty good pay. "Great," I thought, "every day I will read and write in the mornings, and deliver food in the evenings a few nights a week, and repeat this until I'm a famous novelist."
Six months into this, I realised two things. 1) I don't want to write for money. 2) driving at night, in winter, in peak-hour traffic, on a motorcycle, is more unenjoyable than university (Australians are notorious for their road rage).

Here we are at the tail-end of 2017, and I've had ERE concepts in my mind for a year. There were some bumps this year which I'll probably talk about later in this journal, but these bumps have made me less uncertain about how I'm going to get to ERE.

It was unnerving writing all this on a public forum mostly from self-judgement, and because I never post writing on the internet. There's a floating jonnyz over my shoulder telling me I'm a pretentious hack looking for validation among people who are more grounded than myself. But the point of this journal is to give myself some accountability of my journey. I'm a relentless rewriter (IOW, I'll type a sentence, reword it, add to it, then repeat for 20 minutes until I decide that the idea I'm trying to get across is inane) and I think that rings true with how I conduct myself in life. But now I need to drop anchor, and not move until 2022.

EDIT: typos, grammar.

[wolf]

Welcome jonnyz! Glad that you decided to write a journal. It can be a medium to review thoughts, make plans and stick to them. Your intro is quite interesting and well written. I am looking to read more about you and your Journey to 2022, which seems very ambitious on the surface. Well, ambitious but realistic goals are interesting. They keep us motivated and going on. So, take care!

[jonnyz]

Welcome jonnyz! Glad that you decided to write a journal. It can be a medium to review thoughts, make plans and stick to them. Your intro is quite interesting and well written. I am looking to read more about you and your Journey to 2022, which seems very ambitious on the surface. Well, ambitious but realistic goals are interesting. They keep us motivated and going on. So, take care!

Thanks MDFIRE2024. Writing this journal will be clarifying. 2022 isn't a set-in-stone date, but I think about ERE everyday, plus I can't think of anything better to do with my time now than to get this working-for-money thing out of the way as quickly as possible (crowbar method). I've sped-read your journal in the past, but will give it a good look tomorrow!


In December 2016, I quit food delivery to begin a carpentry apprenticeship. I signed up for an accelerated program; you paid $5000 and they make you fully certified in 12 months. Sounds too good to be true? Well, that because it was too good to be true (this is the first bump of 2017).
To keep a long story short, I'm pretty sure the course was taking advantage of a government subsidy, because not a lot of educatin' was going on. I quit the course in March, not knowing much more than I did when I began, but with half my apprenticeship already completed on paper. If carpentry is going to be my retirement vehicle, I want to at least learn how to do it properly! I found a carpenter who said he would take me on as apprentice, but it took me three months of working with that guy to figure out he was only using me as cheap labour with no intention of signing me up. Just when I was about to quit, I lost my licence for 6 months. I decided to quit anyway, and to save as much money as I could by the time I get it back in December. I found a job at a sheetmetal factory grinding heavy battery cases they put in forklifts that also make them heavier. This is my current job, and the highest paying job I've had. I've been sort-of promoted to operating one of the laser-cutting machines there, and I think they're going to bump my pay up.

So, I get my licence back in December. I'm going to get a van, and live in it (I pay AUD651.50 a month in rent). After that point, I have two paths.'

PATH 1: Stay at the factory, buy land in ~2 years, start a farm and build a cabin there on my days off.

PATH 2: Quit the job at the factory to go back to carpentry, earn very little to begin with (first-year apprentices earn about AUD550 a week, and that goes up by about $100 a year for three or four years, after which you're qualified and earning at the very least AUD35ph), buy land in ~4 years, start a farm and build a cabin there on my days off.

Elaboration, clarification, and figures to come.

EDIT: typos, added the quote thing.

[Jason]

You don't need to vindicate yourself for self-identifying as a writer.

Tell floating Jonnyz to go drink a glass of AIDS and get on with it.

Good luck, mate.

[Viktor K]

I'll be following your journal and rooting for you along the way. Best of luck.

[Bankai]

Welcome! You came across ERE very early in life, which is a great advantage. Also, being a writer doesn't require a lot of capital - you only need shelter, food, laptop, and internet. Plenty of options to consider, i.e. moving to very low CoL area which you have plenty nearby (SE Asia), where you only need a fraction what's needed in Australia to live on. Looking forward to your journey!

[jonnyz]

jonnyz'S LITTLE PROBLEM

When I walk on ice, I dance. If I was a boozer or did drugs, I'd be one of those 'high-functioning x-holic' types. Unfortunately, I have one weakness; whenever I'm down in the dumps, I take it out on food. I'll go to the store and buy stupid amounts of high-sugar and high-carbohydrate foods. I follow the warrior diet every other day, but these trips down to the nearby supermarket offset other negative behaviours (I become tired, sluggish, depressed, I stop tracking expenses, I stop fasting, etc.).

Moderation doesn't compute well with me, so these trips to the supermarket become daily once they start. I'll be at the end of a shift, then I suddenly get the idea to nip down to the store before tomorrows shift starts. The notion of not going becomes agonising. I am saying this here, because this is pretty much the only thing that is going to slow down my journey to ERE. But I am getting rid of this behaviour for my health more than my wealth.

I forgot to mention that I have a second job; I wash dishes when I'm not at the factory. This means I have no days off, and I work ~70 hours a week. Is this enjoyable? absolutely not, but I do get to experience different milieus. Is it possible? yes, but only if my health is in check (diet is good, getting enough sleep, working on my web of goals when I'm not engaged with job-related tasks).

So the dishwashing job funds this obsessive compulsive behaviour (because that's what it is), and the money from the factory job goes straight into a savings accounts which I do not touch.

Here's the plan of attack: I am going to post my August 2017 expenses, because during August there were no cheeky supermarket trips. From September to today, trips were almost daily. I've been carrying around a lot of shame with this. "Pleasure, unless it has been kept within bounds, tends to rush headlong into the abyss of sorrow." -- Seneca, letter 23.

Last week, I went back to fasting and ate my usual diet of vegetables and legumes. I remembered the mental clarity of fasting, how great you feel when your diet is healthy, etc. I want that more than I want the alternative (I'm also incredibly vain, so I also want my abs back).

Today, no more emotional eating. Not even just once. I'm an addict in recovery goddamnit. Part of the problem** is I don't have a place to put the money I receive from the dishwashing job; it's all cash-in-hand. I need to figure out what to do with this excess cash.

Without further ado, here's what a semi-regular month looks like for me:

August expenses (all figured in AUD):

• UTILITIES: $138.65 (gas, water, electricity, internet)

• FOOD: $123.80

• RENT: $651.50

• PHONE: $11.00

• BULK DRY-FOOD ORDER: $151.50 (I order bulk dry food about once every 4 months)

• MISC: $137.58 ($120 for a new bicycle, the remainder for dishwashing gloves, a beanie, shoelaces, and bandaids. I really sweat these expenses, but I notice myself becoming more adept at finding free alternatives for these little things [that aren't so little if you multiple them by 25....!!])

• TOTAL: $1214.03

I did not account this September and October. At the beginning of December, I will post November's expenses and income. When I typed this up, I realised I haven't tracked income. My modus operandi with my finances has been to earn more than the average Australian weekly income ($1,179), shovel all excess money into saving accounts, and focus on minimising purchases. ERE 101, I guess. You don't have much time to plan any further than the next 48 hours when you work 70-hour weeks, but I've taken three weeks off from the dishwashing job to cement a further-reaching plan for my finances and other things in my life (such as the food-for-entertainment thing, which I've now made public and told you all I won't do it again. Because I am vain, and recently read Antifragility by Taleb, I will feel disgusting if I go against this).

If you've read this far, then you deserve to know my net worth (which I should have mentioned to begin with... sorry!) My net worth right now is roughly AUD $12,000. I have a $3,100 student loan from that godawful trial period of university, but that will be paid off in a month. I have a $2,000 motorcycle waiting to be sold in my backyard, and the rest is in cash. I don't own much else. Humble beginnings!

Since I began this journal two days ago, a new brainvoice has appeared in my thoughts. I feel I can be a lot more honest with myself about my journey to actually making this happen by 2022. In short, writing here has been an excellent BS detector. I intend for the personal pontificating here to slow down over time.

Next, I will clarify the two paths I mentioned in the third post of this thread, briefly go over where I'm at with the prospect of living in a van come February 2018, and give you all a better impression of my financial goals. And obviously, for all those who are reading this, I encourage you to prod me with questions.

**There are many parts to this problem, but I won't bother going over them unless one of you ask me about it.

edit: added the last three paragraphs.

[jonnyz]

You don't need to vindicate yourself for self-identifying as a writer.

Tell floating Jonnyz to go drink a glass of AIDS and get on with it.

Good luck, mate.

Thanks, Jason. Your journal is one of my favourites on the ERE forums. I squealed like a girl when you commented here.

Welcome! You came across ERE very early in life, which is a great advantage. Also, being a writer doesn't require a lot of capital - you only need shelter, food, laptop, and internet. Plenty of options to consider, i.e. moving to very low CoL area which you have plenty nearby (SE Asia), where you only need a fraction what's needed in Australia to live on. Looking forward to your journey!

I'm leaning more towards owning land here in Australia and starting a homestead instead of doing the whole SE Asia thing (plus I have a feeling that the Australian tourists in those places would repulse me). Right now, I think owning a homestead is most suitable for my INTJness (I don't want children, I don't like cities; basically, I want to be far away from people a la halfmoon and her DH).

[giskard]

Liking the journal so far, keep the Seneca quotes coming. Even though you may feel like your are starting from "humble beginnings" you have a positive net worth. So I would argue that are in much better shape for this particular type of journey than many others. I started out with a net worth of zero when I finished school, it took me a long while to get to six figures and then from there things compounded and went faster.

[halfmoon]

I forgot to mention that I have a second job; I wash dishes when I'm not at the factory. This means I have no days off, and I work ~70 hours a week. Is this enjoyable? absolutely not, but I do get to experience different milieus. Is it possible? yes, but only if my health is in check (diet is good, getting enough sleep, working on my web of goals when I'm not engaged with job-related tasks).

So the dishwashing job funds this obsessive compulsive behaviour (because that's what it is), and the money from the factory job goes straight into a savings accounts which I do not touch.

I find that my OCD behavior is fueled by fatigue, stress and caffeine (funny how these all go hand in hand ). Maybe the dishwashing job isn't a net gain.

Part of the problem** is I don't have a place to put the money I receive from the dishwashing job; it's all cash-in-hand. I need to figure out what to do with this excess cash.

Can you use it to pay your rent?

[jonnyz]

Hi there. It's time for an update.

When I first posted here, I thought that ERE was about sprinting to the finish line. This frightened me, and I dealt with it by constant planning and by putting large amount of sugar and carbohydrates into my body. But even then, I was saving about 75% of my paycheck, and still am. So the money has been good, it's just my attitude that needed reworking.

I enjoy my job. I have interests which nourish me at a deep level. No matter what happens, I have the latter, and the former is easily replaceable. My money is growing. I have paid off all my debt. Now, it is just work until I reach the destination.

I was in a rut from early September to mid November. I was studying the college text-books Jacob suggested in this post. It is interesting stuff, but I was miserable because I wasn't writing. I'm writing and reading fiction daily again. I'm less tense about everything. So it goes.

My attitude toward ERE has improved; it is more well-rounded. I quit the second job as a dishwasher (hospitality = filth, egos, and drama). I'm not tracking my expenses anymore; at least for now. I need a break from it.

I bought a laptop. AUD1400, secondhand (less than 20 charge cycles, it looks new) a ThinkPad X1 Carbon. I need it for writing. Well, I don't need anything for writing but my pens and many blank notebooks. But I want to share my writing with the world. Yes, I could have gotten a cheap laptop. But... ThinkPad's last a long time, and they're designed to do so. I bought this with the intent of only using it for writing, posting writing online, and posting here occasionally. This list will grow I'm sure, but I will be pitiless if I get any bright ideas about floating in the void of the internet.

I know if I was reading this--ERE-inclined person buys $1400 laptop--I would be rolling my eyes. Here's the excuse: I can trust this complicated piece of technology will stay sharp for years to come. I spent this amount for the longevity, and because ThinkPad's are built to military standards. I plan on using this computer for when I start my own carpentry business once I'm qualified. You don't get longevity with cheap laptops, and I don't want to use a clunky $150 laptop anticipating problems. The problems would be easily fixable, but I'd rather put the sweat and money into fixing sometihng like a car or a plumbing issue than a computer.

If society cakes it tomorrow, and there's no electricity anymore, I will not regret buying this laptop or worry about how I'm going to type my final draft (I would just write it out by hand and hand it out to scavengers on the derelict streets). The time and the culture that I live in wants everything on a screen. Although I haven't looked into it, I doubt a publisher would take you seriously if you mailed-in a hand-written manuscript. At best, doing this would limit the number of prospective publishers. Anyway, I will sell this laptop once I get to a stage with writing where I don't feel the need to share it with the world anymore; you know, when I'm old and sagacious.

I have decided to quit the job at the metal factory so that I can continue my carpentry apprenticeship. I will quit in March 2018, because it pays more then double than a carpenter's apprentice, and I'd like another four-months of savings. I love this job at the factory--I cut, lift and grind metal for eleven hours straight, unsupervised--but I want carpentry to be my vehicle toward ERE. I want the challenge of dealing with other people's egos (not in a filthy kitchen), I want to meet different people, and learn skills that are applicable in any political situation. I see this time as learning personal skills: even though I've just turned 23, I still feel like a big blubbering teenager sometimes. I look at people that are 30+, and I think 'man, they seem so calm and collected in moments where I'd be giddy and emotional. I can't wait to get old'.

In short, I am settled with the idea of full-time work and minimal expenditure. This is what I am doing, and this is what I want to do with my time. I have conquered the food issue, which I have spoken about in earlier entries. I think that was the last chain holding me back from putting all of myself, with peace, into the pursuit toward ERE.

I will not be posting my expenditures here. I don't find it helpful. I eat the same thing every week, so the food costs won't fluctuate. I have no dependents or a girlfriend. My hobbies are free. I just need to shovel my excess money into the financial markets, which I plan to do in March. I'm going to put money into Dingos of the ASX, then in 2019 I'll start diversifying into international markets--but we'll see. All I know is I have to get my feet wet in the financial markets.

Here's some significant upcoming purchases. I see these purchases as my transition into the job that I'm going to stick to which will be taking me to ERE.

• Van licensing: $800

• Van: $12,500

• Power tools for carpentry: $2,500

• Van abode renovation: $2,000

• Music festival ticket: $180 (very loud music and scantly dressed girls is priceless)

So that should give y'all a pretty good idea of where I'm at. I am excited, and I am hungry... maybe ERE is a sprint to the finish-line, but it's not ERE if you aren't enjoying the sprint.

Thank you for reading.

[jonnyz]

I never considered quitting, so thanks for making me think about it. I did quit, a few months ago.

[daylen]

I understand a lot of what your going through. One word, meditation.

Face your uncertainties. Learn to control your mind before you try to control your future.

Accept that you cannot control anything, but you can get better at dealing with anything.

[wolf]

You have just turned 23! This is a great benefit compared to the average. Your last post reminds me of Jacob saying "ERE is not a sprint. ERE is a marathon". Take it easy and follow your strategy (full-time work + low expenditure). You don't have to proove anybody else anything! It is totally up to you how you set your goals and how you feel about them every day. I recommend you to establish a sustainable ERE lifestyle. There will come the day when you have achieved FI by using your ERE strategy and principles. IMO you should not have regrets then, because you have sacrificed the present to the future. Balance it. Take care and I hope to read more about your journey. Thanks for sharing!

[Jason]

I can't wait to get old'.

• Music festival ticket: $180 (very loud music and scantly dressed girls is priceless)

Well, in order to keep these two potentially conflicting desires harmonized for the duration, I would suggest Young JonnyZ look at STASH Invest which will allow him to start investing this very minute with very little money. I think it's $5.00. When you look at the growth of money, Old JohnnyZ will thank YoungJohnnyz that he capitalized as much as possible on time being an engine of growth.

Because the harsh reality is that where Young Johnnyz can get by on his eminently personable nature, his good looks and his endless ambition, Old JohnnyZ is going to need a fat wallet.

[jonnyz]

I'm stuck a the fork in the road, again. Carpentry, metal fabrication, or Suelo. Yes, Daniel Suelo. I found out about him on these forums, and every month or two I binge-read his FAQ website and blog. Anyway, I've decided not to stress-out over my uncertainty. I'm just going to wait until an answer becomes obvious (I don't think it will take longer than a few months for this to happen).

I've taken Daylen's advice. I've been meditating for the past couple of weeks. I can't tell you how it's eased my excitement over LIFE and PLANS, but it has at least slowed things down a bit. "Accept that you cannot control anything, but you can get better at dealing with anything." This also helped. ERE for me has been quite empowering, and I think I was mistaking the forest for the trees.

MDFIRE2024 politely noted that, maybe, it's easier to view ERE as a marathon and not a sprint. My thinking was I should embrace the difficulty, and get as much out of the hustle as I can. Now, I've knuckled-down a sustainable ERE lifestyle; reading, writing, exercising, dreaming. I also like what he said here: 'It is totally up to you how you set your goals and how you feel about them every day.'

I laughed and was humbled by Jason's reply.

I've decided to sell the laptop. I don't need one after all. If buying a $1,400AUD laptop showed me that I do not need a laptop, or an iPhone, or a Kindle, then I guess it was worth it. I'll probably sell it close to what I bought it for anyway, so I'll only be out $200 or $300. I'm going to sit with the Suelo thing over the holiday season. A friend suggested I ease into a lifestyle like that by being contented with the van-living first. But in my experience, it's better to drive hard and fast into something, and deal with the collateral as it comes.

Not much else I want to say. My money is higher than what it was since my last post, but I have a lot more to think about now that I'm considering the other end of the spectrum!

These quotes have been rolling around in my head since my last post, and I think they say more about where my head has been at than this entry.

Riches are not where we pile them up. It is the soul, not the safe, that we need to fill.

-- Seneca

Yield not to evils, but, still braver, go where're thy fortune shall allow.

-- Aeneid, advice the Sibyl gives to Aeneas

Virtue alone possesses moderation; the evils that afflict the mind do not admit of moderation. You can more easily remove them than moderate them.

-- Seneca

He is no fool who parts with that which he cannot keep, when he is sure to be recompensed with that which he cannot lose.

Philip Henry, English nonconformist preacher (1631-1696). A more contemporary rendition of this quote:

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.

Jim Elliot (1927-1956). Elliot follows this journal entry with a citation from Luke 16:9:

that when it shall fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitation.

[Jason]

that when it shall fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitation.

And boy did it fail.