The Erenymous World

[Erenymous]

Hi, I am Erenymous. I am a 29-years-old male from the Northern Europe. I hope you can give me some tips on how to ERE faster.

History
I was 10.000€+ in debt with no assets in 2012. Since then I have reached a positive net worth.

Goal
I would like to ERE in 10 years before I turn 40. I think I need from 250.000 to 500.000€+ in investments and a debt-free apartment to retire depending on a desired lifestyle. I guess swr 3% would be safe enough.

Net worth: 32.846€

My assets 71.442€
20.400€ Index Funds & ETF
34.946€ Early house payments (+166.000€ later)
8.022€ Cash (-6.000€ later)
8.000€ Car

My liabilities 38.523€
10.245€ Student loan @ 0,2% p.a. + euribor (Paid by 10/2021)
20.000€ Early house loan @ 0,75% p.a. + euribor (+160.000€ later) (Paid by 06/2042)
8.278€ Car loan @ 1,9% p.a. fixed (Paid by 10/2021)

Typical monthly expenses in 2016
2154€ Income
-455€ Housing (rent, lower end of the market price)
-200€ Food
-150€ Car (personal)
-200€ Other expenses
-35€ Interests (15 house, 15 car, 5 student)
——————————
1114€ Savings with 52% savings rate.
-459€ Debt reduction (279 car, 175 student)
——————————
655€ (30%)

Monthly expenses in 01-06 / 2017
2154€ Income
-250€ Housing (rent, price from a good friend)
-175€ Food
-75€ Car (shared)
-100€ Other expenses
-33€ Interests (15 house, 13 car, 5 student)
——————————
1284€ Savings with 60% savings rate.
-309€ Debt reduction (134 car, 175 student)
——————————
975€ (45%)

Monthly expenses in 07-12 / 2017
2154€ Income
-128€ Housing (maintenance, utilities)
-175€ Food
-75€ Car (shared)
-100€ Other expenses
-136€ Interests (120 house, 11 car, 5 student)
——————————
1540€ Savings with 71% savings rate.
-889€ Debt reduction (580 house, 134 car, 175 student)
——————————
651€ (30%)

Big expenses in 2017
- Wedding+honeymoon 4000€
- Furniture 2500-3000€

Thanks for reading!

[Erenymous]

I had an injury in the beginning of 2016. I tore some muscles from my chest. I had a surgery in the spring and after that a 6-month healing time before I could gently start exercising again. I couldn't do much sport or fitness activities beside walking. At the same time, I let my eating habits go downhill. It was not a good combination.

3 months ago, I fixed my eating habits. During the first month, my weight decreased from 102kg to 89,7kg (mainly fat). My waist decreased from 105cm to 87cm (measured from the belly button). The past two months, my weight and waist size has stayed the same. My body found my ideal weight for the current muscle mass.

How did I do it?
- Eat as much real food as you want but only when hungry. No calorie counting. Don't drink calories.
- Eat only after 5pm (exception: maybe 0-4 times per week I might eat bacon and eggs for breakfast if I feel like it)
- All calories from good fats (60-90%) and the rest from protein (bacon, eggs, meat, butter, full fat cream, full fat cheese, olive oil, coconut oil, almonds, macademian nuts etc.)
- Eat lots of low carb vegetables: cauliflower, broccoli, leafy greens, cucumber etc. Some tomatoes, peppers, carrots are ok too.
- Avoid all carbs: fruits, wheat, rice, potatoes, sugar, soft drinks, chips, bread, candy etc.
- Typically I ate only one meal per day. No snacks.
- Drink water
- I didn't exercise at all

You can exercise as much as you want but it's not necessary for weight loss. Sport and fitness are important for health and muscle mass but the most important factor for fat percentage is how you eat. It doesn't matter how much or little you exercise if your diet sucks.

Currently I am not too strict about these "rules" since I am only maintaining my weight but I follow them 90% of the time because it feels good and I like it.

In the post-surgery world, the weight was my first health goal. Now I have nice abs without any exercising this year. Nice! My second goal was being able to do pushups again. Maybe a month ago, I could start doing pushups on my knees very carefully. Last Sunday, I did my first real pushup! Yesterday, I was able to do 10 real pushups. Success! My next goal is a pullup. Currently, I haven't had the courage even to try hanging from a pullup bar with two hands. So that is the first mini goal before a pullup. I think I need to increase the mobility of my arms before the first attempt of hanging. I think this project will take some time but maybe it will be faster than I think.

Health, weight and sports are a bit like ere but I think faster recovery can be done with them. ERE takes more time. It can't be fixed in a month or a year.

[Erenymous]

2274 Income (120 extra from gifts)
141 Food
448 Housing
244 Car (taxes for 2017, 3-month insurance, gas etc.)
123 Entertainment (golf membership fee for 2017, multipack of movie tickets - some of them will be Christmas gifts)
468 Shopping (vitamins and supplements for 2017, 4 cooking pots for new apartment)
42 Gifts (my brother got married)
500 Other (pre-payment for our wedding)
33 Financing costs (interests)
-----------------
275€ (12% savings)
309€ Debts paid
0€ New investments

Unusually bad month to start the ere Journal. Only up from here I hope. 2017 will be a tough year financially because of the wedding and new apartment with all the furniture costs etc.

I heard you like graphs, here are some. You can propably find the wedding and new apartment months from the graphs.

[Stahlmann]

...

[Erenymous]

@Stahlmann: I only shop at the cheapest grocery store (=Lidl). I only buy real foods with only 1 "ingredient". I only eat once a day so it can't be very expensive. Sometimes I fast full days and that is really cheap! Eggs, olive oil and butter are very cheap per calorie. Bacon is not too expensive. There are always some quality meats and vegetables in a good sale. Grounded beef and big chicken legs are always cheap enough. I love it when I can find low priced salmon. It just happens too rarely at the moment. Also my appetite has been lower because I haven't trained hard.

The recovery felt super slow to me and I felt like a cripple the whole time. I just wished I could DO things again.

I haven't read that book about optimal nutrition but I have enjoyed the Diet Doctor blog about LCHF diet and fasting. In the past, I also read many books about paleo. For example, the primal blueprint was good. I was first introduced to intermitted fasting by "Leangainz" blog some years ago.

Arteriosclerosis is not something I fear, the current diet makes me feel healthy and happy. But let's hope it won't be our demise! I actually start feeling really bad if I eat some sugar - it makes me feel like a junkie that is going through a withdrawal and gives me a headache.

Ps. You made me. I was fighting robots in 2017 when I was injured. Another apocalypse diverted. You may thank me with some donations that would allow me to continue the good fight. With future technology I would live forever powered by ERE.

[Stahlmann]

@Erenymous How do you manage insomnia in your version of LCHF?

Do you check ketones bodies sometimes in your body (they tend to make you very sharp, but they are signs of that your body converts fats into energy. They are not healthy in longrun)?

Just curious. Let's spread word of LCHF here!

Some other ERE questions:
How do you manage to save so much in heavy taxed country?
Do you like your job?

[Erenymous]

@Stahlmann: I usually don't have any insomnia. I tend to go to sleep when I am really tired and start sleeping right away. A few times, I have had trouble sleeping but then I have done something until I feel really tired. If I don't sleep well enough then it will be easier the next night. f.lux app might help because I often use computer before going to sleep. Normal screen colors with lots of blue might disturb sleeping.

I have never checked ketones but I think I can feel when I am using fat as a fuel. It would be cool to test. Energy level / blood sugar stays even. I have never tested blood sugars either but if I eat carbs I can feel them going all over the place. Then I get tired and cranky. With fat as a fuel I stay with good energy levels and sharpness even if I don't eat for 2 days.

We sure can speak up about LCHF but I think many would reject it because it's less ecological and costs more. And it goes against the conventional wisdom. Maybe we could reframe it by telling how our bodies become more self-sustained in energy production and how it increases productivity. It also decreases wasted time on cooking and eating. (Hey lurkers, I know I got your attention )

Do you think that I save a lot? I don't think I save as much as I should/could. I could sell my car - I have actually thought about that every day since I bought it. I could buy a cheaper/smaller apartment from a worse neighbourhood. I could eat cheaper food. I am good at not buying stuff - and I am good at finding the best deal when I do. I want to have some quality and pleasures to my life that cost money but are reasonable - I am not looking only for survival. Often I have to compromise with SO and that usually ends up costing me more than is necessary. Examples: wedding, honeymoon, furniture, apartment etc. I am lucky that she is often very frugal except in the big things.

The high taxes suck but there is nothing I can currently do about them since I can't move abroad right now.

I like my job well enough but it is very stressful and I haven't been able to take much holidays. And many times I have to do impossible tasks and work crazy hours. I believe it will get easier in a year or so. The toughest part is already done. I believe that one day in the future it might be a very good job in every aspect.

[ShriekingFeralHatred]

blah

[Erenymous]

"Federal Reserve raises US interest rates from 0.5% to 0.75%. The Federal Reserve is also predicting that it will raise interest rates three times in 2017."

So the interest rates are probably going to rise in Europe too. The interests of my loans will probably get more expensive. But what happens to the stock market? I am afraid it might crash bit and that gets me thinking whether I should sell all stocks and take smaller mortgage. What do you guys think?

Option A
180.000 Mortgage 25-years @ 0,75% + Euribor 12kk + 2€ / month
21.000 Invested in Stock Market

Option B
159.000 Mortgage 25-years @ 0,75% + Euribor 12kk + 2€ / month
0 Invested in Stock Market

Option A creates an opportunity to make more money but it is more risky and keeps more money at hand. Option B is the opposite.

Which option would you choose?

[Erenymous]

I wish every month could be like this. My best income and savings rate ever even if I bought new furniture and had to replace my electric toothbrush etc. Next month I go back to normal 2.100 income and slow grind but I lowered my housing costs to 250 including the utilities for 6 months.

7.465 Income (5311 extra from selling all my furniture, gifts, bonus salary and tax returns)
139 Food
422 Housing (50€ discount for helping the owner)
22 Car (gas)
79 Entertainment
646 Shopping (550 for new furniture at -50%)
0 Gifts (x-mas gifts in next months credit card)
0 Other
32 Financing costs (interests)
-----------------
6.125 savings (82%)
-----------------
309 Debts paid
912 New investments


Net worth: 40.900 (+6.903!!)

My assets 79.414 (+6.594)
22.091 Index Funds & ETF (+1.691)
36.946 Early house payments (+2.000)
12.377 Cash (+2.904)
8.000 Car

My liabilities 38.214 (-309)
10.069 Student loan (-175)
20.000 Early house loan
8.144 Car loan (-134)

[wood]

Option A creates an opportunity to make more money but it is more risky and keeps more money at hand. Option B is the opposite.

Which option would you choose?

I am in the exact same dilemma.

So far I've opted for A because I have fixed the interest on most of my mortage for the next 5 years (2.5%). The part with floating interest is relatively small (~€55 000) and makes up 20% of the total debt. I have about half of that in bank deposits to make extra downpayments if need be. To put my situation in context, I used the loan to buy rental properties. I'm also a renter myself.

I would suggest keeping some kind of insurance against interest rate hikes if you go for option A and not have everything in the stock market.

[Erenymous]

This month would have been great without the flight tickets.

2.127 Income
90 Food
267 Housing
119 Car (gas, 3-month insurance)
0 Entertainment
38 Shopping
684 Travel (Pre-payment for honeymoon flight tickets)
15 Gifts
0 Other
32 Financing costs (interests)
-----------------
882 savings (41%)
-----------------
310 Debts paid
0 New investments

The valuation of my current investments is 368 higher than last month.

I am still saving more money for the new apartment, wedding and honeymoon.

I also started swimming and going to gym after I got a great 6-month deal. I paid with credit card so it effects the numbers of next month. Start has been active and well worth the price. It seems I need to climb back to the mountain of physical performance from the bottom. Progress is very slow since I have to train extra safely.

...

@Wood: Fixed interest is an interesting option that I haven't thought about. I still have almost 6 months before I have to decide. Thanks for your message!

[Eureka]

Good luck with your recovery. I recently discovered swimming (like in taking lessons and being coached and not just splashing around) and am surprised how hard it is and how a good core makes the difference. And how challenging it is to refine my strokes. Currently having fun working on flip turns.

Oh, and then I wondered why you include your car in your net worth. Unless you rent it out or take passengers for money, I don't see it as an asset. Just something you bought that will eventually loose all its value and has to be replaced one day.

[Erenymous]

@Eureka: Thanks! I was able to hang in a pullup bar for a few seconds this week. Progress. My swimming is definitely just drowning / splashing around. I am interested in learning a better swim technique when I become more comfortable in the water.

I included the current market value of the car and I realistically reduce its value every month (1000 value in 10 years, 0 in 15 years). It is a bad asset that costs money but including it in my excel gives me a more accurate knowledge of my finances. I calculate automatically 2 different SWR values every month based on my expenses and financing costs. One from my networth and the other only from my investments. I think this gives me the best possible understanding. I rely more on the swr calculated from the investments.

I have calculated all my numbers 50 years to the future and update them when I get new information. My estimated future expenses reflect the average of the past 12 months.