DutchGirl's journal

Where are you and where are you going?
DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

Hi everyone. November was a pretty normal month. I had roughly 1600 of expenses, of which 280 euros is for the ski-trip we'll be taking in January. I had 2795 euros of income, of which 424 euros came from my job-on-the-side, so it's a nice add-on to my main income. So that is a savings rate of 43% for the month of November.

At work, things have, surprisingly perhaps, returned to normal. Our direct boss has voiced our concerns to her boss, and now we actually might see our input lead to changes in the plans. Who knows. We'll know in a few months time. I worked a lot of extra hours in November, and I noticed getting stressed out again. Now in December the schedule is back to normal, and I already feel more relaxed. For me this is a sign that I should keep working on that balance between work and private life. If working 10 extra hours per week is getting me to FI-status two years faster (out of the seven years to go), but it's causing a lot of stress-related mental and physical symptoms, that's definitely not worth it to me.

My boyfriend is developing his new business with that friend of his. Official start date will be in January. So far, a Christmas card has been made to announce the change. They still need to register the business and change the stationary and stuff like that. But that's their to do-list, not mine. My boyfriend is looking forward to it, though. That's nice to see.

December should give me a large income. The new worker's agreement (? Dutch: CAO) finally came through, and so we're getting a 1% raise which will be applied retroactively from January; this should give me roughly 300 euros of extra income in December, then the annual end-of-year bonus, which should be something like an extra salary. I worked a lot of extra hours in November too, but they won't be paid out until January, so I won't see that roughly 1000 euro of extra income until halfway through January. Ah, well.
The last paycheck of the year should come in in roughly a week, before Christmas.

Finally, I've been thinking about my investments. I put a hold on them for a while, because I had depleted my savings during the previous market "crash" in August/September. When the December paycheck comes in, I'll have 5k euros in immediately-accessible savings again, and I think after that I'll resume investing; while also still adding a bit to my savings every month. Beyond the 5k euros in the savings accounts, if shit hits the fan I also have 30k in investments which I can liquidate if necessary. So, more than enough.

I haven't visited the gym a lot in the last few weeks, also due to work and stress. I made it once per week. I should get back on track there. Now, while I'm back to normal working hours, I should be able to find some time for that again.

steveo73
Posts: 1733
Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2013 6:52 pm

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by steveo73 »

DutchGirl wrote:I haven't visited the gym a lot in the last few weeks, also due to work and stress. I made it once per week. I should get back on track there. Now, while I'm back to normal working hours, I should be able to find some time for that again.
I read this and thought that this is so similar to my situation. This is why becoming FI is so important. I'm talking to myself here as well but I think we also have to make time to do the stuff that is important in our lives even though we have to work. Exercise, time-out, eating well etc are all important even if we have to go to work.

Anyway - I hope that you get this part of your life on track.

Hankaroundtheworld
Posts: 470
Joined: Mon Feb 24, 2014 4:50 am

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by Hankaroundtheworld »

Have a great ending of this year, and with the extra bonus and upcoming skiing, not bad at all. Adding your bf new business to this as well, and it looks like 2016 will be great. Enjoy, and keep on the gym :-) (I know, also difficult for me)

DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

Hi guys. It's me again :-) . So my boss e-mailed me yesterday that she's going to order the HR department to pay me for 40 extra hours worked (in November) after all, instead of me having to use them as holiday hours in 2016. I like that, but the payment will only happen (of course) by the end of January.

Well, let's say that my income for 2015 includes this extra 1000-ish euros, then my total income for the year is: 35,600 euros of salary (after income tax) plus roughly 2000 euros (after income tax) from my job on the side. So a total of 37,600 euros. My expenses have been 20,100 euros, which is including the one-time large healthcare bill (not normal in the Netherlands, but I had to pay this one myself). So my savings rate has been 46.5% for the year. A little short of the 50% that I wanted, unfortunately. But okay, still pretty good.

For 2016 I am going to work on my health and fitness mostly. I am going to relax, just a bit, on my income and expenses. Eating healthy, losing weight, and exercising are more important for me personally. I still have set a budget, and I hope to be able to keep to it, but I'm not going to go out of my way to work extra hours anymore, or to not spend an extra euro on a healthy quick meal instead of an unhealthy one. (Yes, I will also spend some of my time on almost-always pre-preparing healthy meals and taking them with me if I need to work somewhere in the evening, but if I am out and about and need a meal, I'll try to choose the healthier one, even if it's more expensive).

My net worth is around 83k euros now. Unfortunately, the markets weren't too kind in 2015, otherwise it could have been 85k and more. Still, pretty happy about it, and onward to probably over 100k of net worth by the end of 2016.

The new business of my boyfriend is slowly taking shape. If anybody needs a software creator/engineer for high-tech software development in the Netherlands, let me know. I've got two great programmers on offer, now :-) .

In one week, we'll be in Austria for a one-week skiing trip. We won't go skiing ourselves, but we'll enjoy spending time with my family and the little kiddos, who are too young to go skiing just yet. The grandparents and their favorite aunt (me) are going to do the babysitting while their parents go off and ski. I'm not looking forward to the road trip, which will be over 10 hours one-way. But I am looking forward to a holiday and to spending time with the family.

DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

It's my birthday tomorrow. And so I'm running calculations on when I can retire :lol: .

A basic spreadsheet, assuming a 5% steady return every year over the next 10 years, suggest that if I keep working hard for the next four years, until I turn 41, and then work less hard for the 4.5 years after that (working 20 hours per week), until I turn 45.5, I'll be all set.

Of course this is just a plan. Who knows what happens. Maybe at age 41 I'd rather work for two more years or so full-time than 4.5 years parttime. Maybe the stock markets give awesome returns in the next couple of years and I reach my goal number sooner. Maybe there's a downturn and I have to work a little bit longer.

But in all cases, it seems like it's possible for me to work hard for "just" four more years and then perhaps be able to downscale. That sounds doable. Four years go by quite fast. So there we go! :-)

inchicago
Posts: 134
Joined: Wed Jun 10, 2015 12:03 pm

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by inchicago »

That sure sounds like a nice birthday-to have only four more years of work!

steveo73
Posts: 1733
Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2013 6:52 pm

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by steveo73 »

Dutchgirl - happy birthday.

I'm in a similar situation in that I think I have 3-5 years hard work and then 3-5 years part time work until I can retire. I'm 42 now though. I just read Jacob's blog post on time and I think it's really relevant. I'm on holidays right now and just being able to do whatever I want to do within reason (I still have to do the shopping and fix the backyard) is how I want to be able to live my life all the time.

User avatar
jennypenny
Posts: 6851
Joined: Sun Jul 03, 2011 2:20 pm

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by jennypenny »

Happy Birthday DutchGirl!

NickHalden
Posts: 67
Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2015 3:48 am

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by NickHalden »

Gefeliciteerd!

Impressive to be able to retire at 45 in The Netherlands. If all goes to plan of course, but reading through your journal I have full confidence you will reach that goal or at least be very close.

Arno_dutch
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2015 4:21 am

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by Arno_dutch »

I have been lurking for a while now and I really like your journal. Since you are close to FIRE (closer than me anyway) how are you accounting for the pension funds that start around age 65 - 67?

And ofcourse congratulations on your birthday
Last edited by Arno_dutch on Wed Jan 20, 2016 6:57 am, edited 1 time in total.

rube
Posts: 883
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2012 7:54 pm
Location: Europe (NL)

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by rube »

Happy birthday Dutch girl.
My aim is also around 45 ;-)
Let's go for it!

DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

Hi, Arno.

I actually see my retirement in two phases: one phase before official retirement age, when these benefits aren't yet available to me (so in my case, probably up until age 70), and the second phase, after official retirement age (70+).

I've been building my social security benefits and my pension plans since I started working, as is automatic and obligatory in the Netherlands. By now, I have enough rights to cover my actual needs from age 70 two times over. (And unfortunately, I still am not allowed to stop contributing as long as I work, sigh). So I consider myself set for age 70 and beyond.

So I only need to work on the first phase, I need to support myself from age 45-ish to age 70. If I use a 4% withdrawal rate in that period, which is considered pretty safe, there is also a big chance that after 25 years I still have (a lot of) money left, which can then still be used in phase 2 to make my life more comfortable (and/or to give money away to my relatives or to charities, whatever...).

So I've calculated how much money I need to get myself from age 45 to age 70, and that's the amount I'll hopefully have by age 45; maybe a year sooner or so, but we'll see.

radamfi
Posts: 143
Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2014 5:46 pm

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by radamfi »

DutchGirl, do you think you will stay in the Netherlands after you turn 45? Are you worried about the 1.2% wealth tax?

DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

Yes, I think I will stay in the Netherlands. I want to experience living in other countries too, but say 6 months in Spain (during a winter) and six months or a year in the UK (just because of all the culture and castle ruins and nature and stuff). But mostly, the Netherlands.

I am not worried about the wealth tax, but of course I have to take it into account with my plans.

Hankaroundtheworld
Posts: 470
Joined: Mon Feb 24, 2014 4:50 am

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by Hankaroundtheworld »

Happy (belated) birthday as well, and it looks like you are on track, 45 is a nice age to be FI/RE. What popped up in my mind, are you still going to get kids, or decided to be without? That could have an impact of course. I know, I should not ask that question, many people around us ask the same (as we have no kids, and they all want to know why...), but I meant it more from a FI planning perspective.

DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

Hey Hank, thank you :-) . No, I'm not going to have kids. Not having kids was a decision I made even before deciding to take the FI/RE road. It was a decision I made when I was still single, and luckily I found a great guy who had the same wish. I'm the proud aunt of four nephews/nieces, but I'm always glad to hand them back over to my siblings after a few hours.

Ydobon
Posts: 412
Joined: Fri Aug 29, 2014 9:15 am
Location: Scotland

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by Ydobon »

I never understood those comments that grandparents and friends made about 'handing them back' until we had our own child, totally get it now :D

I wouldn't swap my life with a child for one without, but my resolve wavers when feeding her at 02:00!

archi
Posts: 37
Joined: Mon Feb 10, 2014 8:58 am
Location: Belgium

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by archi »

Hello DutchGirl,

I just read the beginning of your journal when you explain the taxes for employees in the Netherlands, social security, mandatory contribution to retirement and so on... The situation is extremely similar in Belgium and I think I will read your entire journal, which will be a nice experience as it's now covering more than 5 years !

As I live in a similar country (from social security and tax perspective), I have a question for you: once you stop working, what would be your "social status". What I mean is: you will not be an employee, you will not be a freelancer, you will not be a "job seeker", you will not depend on social money... so what is the status of "rentiers" in our wellfare countries ? e.g. do you still have the mandatory contributions to state pension and medical cares ?

(Not sure if my question is very clear... That's not completely clear in my mind either...)

DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

Hi archi,

In the Netherlands, I know that when you don't work, you don't have to contribute to the state pension (AOW), you just have to live in the Netherlands to receive that. (You build up roughly 2% of the full rights for every year that you live in the NL, starting at age 20 or so) . I will not be building my work pension anymore after I quit working. As for medical stuff, when you work, a small % of your salary goes to pay medical care, but if you don't work, you don't have to contribute that. In the Netherlands, everybody is also obligated to get health insurance for roughly 1000 euros premium per year; I would still need to pay that when retired to be covered.

So, I really don't know whether Belgium is that similar. Can you find out, who is eligible for the Belgian state pension? And whether you need to live in the country for that, or work, or ...? And also our health care/health insurance system is probably different enough that there will be different rules for early retirees...

archi
Posts: 37
Joined: Mon Feb 10, 2014 8:58 am
Location: Belgium

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by archi »

Thanks for the answer DutchGirl. I need indeed to do some more digging... The info is not easy to find because that's kind of a "weird" status for a Belgian: not employee, not freelancer, not retired, not looking for a job, not depending of social aid ... ;)

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