FI or bust; FBeyer.

Where are you and where are you going?
FBeyer
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Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Post 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?

theanimal
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Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Post 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

BadHorse
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Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Post 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.

borisborisboris
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Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Post 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.

rref
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Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Post by rref »

.

FBeyer
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Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2015 3:25 am

Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Post by FBeyer »

Pictures and words here: https://imgur.com/a/IAGwx



All the job hating:
An outsider might get the impression that for such a liberal community as the ERE community there is one thing that you must do, and that is to hate your job and want to quit it. If you can pile on some derision for needing structure or finding fulfillment in employment then all the better.

I'd really like it if we could collectively try to be less asshats than the asshats we like to think of as narrow minded asshats and stop with the asshattery about working stiff. Such one-sided derision is just unfitting for a such an ensemble of well-mannered, sophisticated, well-read, and thoroughly responsible intellectual wankers.[1]

7w5's approach to problem solving is really what I'm looking for... to some degree. I'd like more coherent sentences but the general idea structure in on par. Stop focusing on the limitations and see what alternatives you can come up with.

Job this, job that. Money this, money that... We're not much different from those stiff we like to think ourselves better than.

It's unbecoming, is what it is.

Where did the systems thinking go? Where did the web of goals approach go? Maybe I'm still young and naive[2] at the age of 36 but I'd like to imagine that once an ERE adherent (and by this I mean a philosophical adherent, not a strictly financial adherent[3]) has figured out how to live off of very little, there is actually very little incentive to keep showing up at a P.O.S job and keep grinding out sausages when you could find something that is a lot more fulfilling and apply a web-of-goals approach to the job. Isn't the point of ERE to apply appropriate measures of web of goals, system's thinking and Pareto efficiency to live well? You know your discount rate on your investments, that's how you do DCF or Gordon's Equation analysis but what is your discount rate on your life? Your life, that 'thing' you're supposedly trying to optimize via ERE.

Becoming financially independent seems to be a total side effect because we develop incredible margins compared to the rest of the world. Why focus so myopically on that margin? If you hate your life that much, you really should change it as soon as you can.

Again: young and naive.[4]





Moving away from indexes in the name of agency and web of goals:
I cashed in on some really lucrative value-focused indexes and I'm starting to pick single stocks. And Boy oh BOY did I cash out at JUST the right moment! I'm just sitting on a bit above one year's expenses waiting for my most well-managed investments to bottom out so I can put some more money into them. Prices are going down, the US dollar is going down. It's a sale all over the place.
Nothing like dumb f****** luck.

I've sold some of my indexes for a lot of reasons actually. Making a market-beating pile of moolah is actually not really one of them. Oddly enough. I want to familiarize myself with business, the economy, what interest rates means for different business and societies in general and I can gauge some of that, through a filter of investor emotions, via my investments. I'm witnessing the volatility of single stocks now that it's no longer hidden inside major indexes and I'm feeling kind of okay about it currently. I like to know that the dividend machine is one I built, not someone else. I like to know that I'm not paying fees to some fund or fund managers while owning single stocks. The onus to make good decisions is upon me and I'm actually enjoying it rather a lot currently.
I get to test my assumptions about an industry, and particular businesses within the industry. Is my contrarian nature beneficial to me? Is the growth of indexing making it easier to find good 'value' investments? Should I learn more about technical investing (some signs say yes so far).

I get a real dopamine kick when finding great deals. I also get a real dopamine kick when I find something ugly about a company and decide to leave them alone for now. My inner optimizer loves building a machine that spits out cash and I get to familiarize myself with the machinations that will put cash in my pocket for the rest of my life.

I now know what I'll be saying no to, in case I decide to switch to indexing later on. I now know the rules of the game, rather than try to play a game without knowing what goes on. Indexing feels safe, in a safety-of-crowds kind of way. Buying individual stocks feels safe in a I-know-why-I've-decided-to-do-this kind of way. My portfolio might behave oddly compared to the market, but feel like I have a pretty good idea of why it does so.

So far it's behaving exactly as I thought it would, even if it's 'losing money' currently. 'feels good. It really does.




Relaxation:
I'm being treated for stress now. Not depression, not ADHD. Stress!
It's a good thing and I've found out about the joys of playing computer games again. Specifically I've been playing Offworld Trading Company, which might be the best strategy game I've ever played! The look, execution, cinematography, storyline, complexity, community, variability, and feel is just bang on!

For the first time in 15 years, I'm truly having fun playing computer games. It's taken a month of meditation and sleep, and now 14 days of games has boosted my mental health to unprecedented levels since I started university. So thank you Mohawk Games!


I've been sleeping on the floor for about five and a half months. I'm having trouble sleeping in a regular bed now. I fall asleep quickly in a bed, but I don't sleep well in one... Skill-wise I really like the idea that I can just lie down on a carpet and cover myself with something warm and I can sleep all night that way. Next up: losing the pillow too.

I've dabbled in 'japanese' food. As Eureka has stated several times: the ingredients are not japanese so it's not really going to taste like japanese food anyway; do whatever you want :D

I've been making cucumber tsukemono [ske'mo'no'] miso soup, dashi, kimchi!!!![5], soy/sake glazed pork, I've learned how to filet and cook fresh mackarel, invented sesame/orange furikake, and something I've nicknamed fusion salad.

The japanese do not eat breakfast, dinner, supper etc like 'we' do. Every meal is basically rice with something added. So I've tried adopting that idea because it actually makes it a lot easier to go shopping. You need rice, fish, vegetables, and eggs. Done!

Whenever you need to eat you just reheat something from an existing batch of cooked rice along with some miso, and dashi. Add shredded fish, a splash of kimchi, an egg, and sprinkle with furikake and you've got yourself a warm meal in five minutes.

'goes badly with coffee, goes amazingly well with green tea.

And on that note: I learned that you not only can -but should- make several servings of green tea from the same tea leaves, so once you get used to the taste of green tea, even high quality 'expensive' green tea is not very expensive because you can make four servings from a single serving's worth of tea leaves.

Me gusta!





Lindy Hop:
I really wanted to start 2018 with social dancing. In the name of systems thinking/web of goals social dancing is just amazing.
However I had to postpone due to my knee still acting up.

I've taken intro lessons with my GF before but this time she didn't want to join me, so I wanted to go alone. At first I have to admit that I felt kind of silly slow-dancing through all the non-flashy beginner's moves, especially when fast lindy looks so ridiculously cool, but I came to appreciate that Lindy hop is not about looking good, but about feeling good.

Check out this Jack 'n Jill dance competition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26-1t15R_MU

I want you to understand that this is a random leader, paired with a random follower. These are not studied routines, this is on-the-fly dancing. A Jack 'n Jill competition is about dancing and communicating well with a 'stranger', which is the whole point about social dancing in general. Lindy hop as a social dance is also known as the Three Minute Love Affair and I will see if I can show you why that is.

Compare the images that these two tinyurl previews link to, although sort of contrived, I think the images relay the difference in how one feels when swing dancing compared to.... well everything else.

https://preview.tinyurl.com/ycvr4cna

vs

https://preview.tinyurl.com/yd5rbfoo

Now the one thing I discovered about social dancing is just how much you can tell about a person by dancing with them. You won't believe me either until you've tried dancing with a stranger yourself. Trust me, our personalities really shine through in the way we move, cooperate, and communicate.

It's goofy, it's fun, you're feeling good even when you look terrible, and you're relaxed while at the same time excited to see what you can do with this stranger you're dancing with. Lindy hop is amazing and I can't wait for my knee to heal up properly.



Job:
I will hopefully start siphoning into my new job in a month or so. I'm so incredibly stoked!


Family:
Once children turn 4, they turn from needy, whiny, little fuckers to absolute angels! I can hand my 4 year old a sharp knife and some vegetables and she'll make salad with minimal adult supervision. She almost knows how to make pancakes from scratch and she's pretty much helping us cook every single meal these days. My GF paid off the house in the summer or so, and she's looking to be FI in about 2 years or thereabouts.

Things are really looking up.
They really are...



Yours etc.
----------------------------------------

[1] I though that was funny....
[2] I can't be bothered with diaresis. You know how to read this properly.
[3] No True Scotsman fallacy coming RIGHT up.
[4] Noooooope. Still no diaresis.
[5] Smells like fart, tastes like fermented cabbage with chili.
Last edited by FBeyer on Fri Feb 09, 2018 5:45 am, edited 2 times in total.

FBeyer
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Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Post by FBeyer »

theanimal wrote:
Thu Jan 11, 2018 1:50 pm
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
Thank you. I'm pretty certain I've gushed about your wildlife adventures at least once.
My approach to life? How do you mean? How is it different from other's and how is it different from yours?

FBeyer
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Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Post by FBeyer »

borisborisboris wrote:
Thu Jan 11, 2018 11:17 pm
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.
Much, MUCH appreciated! I'll do my best to keep it up :D

FBeyer
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Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2015 3:25 am

Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Post by FBeyer »

rref wrote:
Fri Jan 12, 2018 8:08 am
.
I read your original post before it was edited. I really appreciate that you spent the time to answer my question. IIRC you had about 50 posts or so at the time, meaning 2% of your post count was spent writing to me. That's a significant amount and I'm grateful for it.

FBeyer
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Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Post by FBeyer »

I had a meeting with my PhD supervisor a few weeks ago. We had a quick chat and then I quit.

My name is on a theoretical chemistry paper because I parallelized the method during my Master's. I helped maintain some ridiculously convoluted code that was crucial for the operations at the Physics department. I helped start the use of cross-correlation analysis to estimate the anisotropic distribution of scattering from molecules in solution (some day I hope they will refine the technique enough to warrant inverting the cross correlated signal and creating a 3D structure without fitting parameters). I learned some statistics and some machine learning. I got a lot better at math. I made some money. I almost got to see Academia from the inside, and now I'm done.

And it's absolutely fine!

I am totally on board with the startup. The guys are great, intelligent, reasonable, friendly, nerdy, experienced entrepreneurs. Our lab will be located as close to me as they can (!!!), the tasks will be plentiful, and diverse. I will be growing high tech plants! How fucking awesome is that?
I will be learning all the shit that comes along with starting a business and I'm so incredibly grateful for it. I have so many small ideas in my head that I want to get out in the world, and now I might just learn how to go about that.

I was headhunted for the position for crying out loud! How amazing is that?

The hiccup (because of course there must be one) is that startup offers no, or very little, pay in the form of wages. If I want to get paid along the way it will count against my distribution of equity in the end.

After giving it some thought, I am actually fine with that.

I do not adhere to ERE solely because I want to be financially independent, but because 'the renaissance man knows not his work from his leisure'. I've managed to turn 36 and become relatively wealthy and I haven't even followed the standard career track. Part of me makes me think that I could actually be cut our for doing this whole ERE-without-fretting-about-FI thing just fine. I'm not solely in this for the opportunity to Never Work Again(TM) but to Work With Whatever I Choose.

And for now, I choose to work in AgTech.

Sure, I only have about 8 years expenses saved up, but if I was FI right now, I'd want to engage in this project anyway, so the only sensible way forward in my opinion is to say yes to the job, get a crazy low pay and draw down on some of my stash while the project progresses.

The worst that can happen is that I'll have to find a new job in two or three years and I know for a fact that there are many people who are interested in hiring me, or interested in hooking me up with someone else. Some day I WILL be FI, and it won't be long. But this way, I get to leverage my non-normative stash and take on some chances that others might not be able to.

The three co-founders have experience with almost 10 businesses before so they know rather well what they're doing, but this time is the first time they are taking on a project that is so intensive on capital expenditures. I have a feeling that I'm quickly going to become the Head of Legal and demand that there are rules for hiring and firing people, as well as a non-hand-wavy formula for how equity will be distributed among founders, consultants, and interns.[1]

I'm so looking forward to this!

[1] In fact, since I wrote this the New-Head-Of-Legal (ie me) has managed to introduce a new equity distribution formula, so there...

SavingWithBabies
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Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Post by SavingWithBabies »

That is exciting! Do you have a rough idea of how long whatever you're working on might take to make it out into the world? Oh and I'm like the earlier repliers -- I just like to read journals sometimes as they can be interesting. I like that they don't have the fixed topic of a thread and you get to hear more from one person over time.

FBeyer
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Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Post by FBeyer »

I think the initial estimate is about 1 year to 1.5 years before we have a working prototype.
With what I consider to be perfectly sensible pessimism I therefore estimate that we have a working prototype in 1.5 to 2 years.

At that point we should definitely be able to attract investors and start receiving wages in some form or another. That should also hopefully be the point where the business expands beyond being a lab and becomes an actual international business.

User avatar
TheWanderingScholar
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Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Post by TheWanderingScholar »

FUCK YEAH! GO STARTUPS!

Sorry I am looking at going to a local hackathon in May so I am excited to people on this sort of events!

FBeyer
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Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Post by FBeyer »

It is already my experience that startups and entrepreneurs are the most easily excited and helpful people I've met.
If you have even basic networking skills you can get a lot of help, with a lot of stuff.

Have fun at the hackathon!

FBeyer
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Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Post by FBeyer »

My 7 Day Work Week:
I'm working 7 days a week again(*). But this time it's voluntary, and actually makes a surprising amount of sense. It's invigorating, actually! But(t)(@) there are caveats.

The system is simple: work 5 pomodoros every single day. I start somewhere between 8 and 9 and continue until 12'ish. 3 pomos, then a large break, then 2/3 more and I'm off for the day. Once my post-stress reduced working hours are over, I'll be working 6 pomodoros per day.

Since I'm intermittently fasting 18:6 I've combined IF with my work so that I can reward a finished workday with food. This also sets an artificial deadline for getting shit done. So I have a good reason to get started early and finish within reasonable time. 'cause you know... hunger. Since my eating window is 12:00 to 20:00 that means that I can eat once I've done a day's work, and I can eat until I would normally turn off all screens and ready my brain for sleeping.

A 7-day work week establishes a routine that I sorely need. I've been thrashing about during the last stages of my PhD and during my year-long sick leave so it's probably healthy to get back into a groove of some kind. When there is no schedule I tend to all sorts of disjointed stuff, and unless I absolutely stuff my calendar with thing to do, I tend to feel bad at the end of the day. It doesn't matter that I've done something all day, i still feel like I didn't get the most out of the day, somehow. The lack of routine actually makes me do all SORTS of things, but I never appreciate it. Don't know why, but a routine is good apparently. Maybe it's just because setting a routine has forced me to prioritize so that I get the important stuff done first, rather than a lot of random stuff done all the time.

In spite of setting a routine that is in effect every. single. day, it also gives a lot of leeway to do something besides work. A productive 8 hour day absolutely drains me beyond the point where I can get anything done during the evening. That means that a regular Joe Shmoe's working hours completely ruins 5/7 of my week. And not only that, but those two days where I'm off from work, I get irritated because my leasure time the rest of the week hasn't been very fulfilling. It all adds up and I can't take it for prolonged periods of time(#). Prolonged meaning on the order of months, not years.

Hence my life looks like: Coffee -> Work -> Food -> Meditate/Exercie -> Recharge -> Family time -> Grown-up time -> Garden time -> Sleep. Every day.

Notice that mess-around-time is basically from 12 to 21 every day. That's a lot of guilt-free sparetime. A lot of time for getting chores done, hugging/fooling about in our little three-person family, a lot of sitting on the patio staring at my apple tree, a lot of time playing games. I haven't done leasure well for years, so now it feels really, really,(&) REALLY good to finally leasure on a regular basis!

Part of the beauty is that this form of 7 day work week guarantees constant and steady progress, which I like, but it also guarantees guilt-free relaxation; Which is really the reason why I'm doing this. To get better at relaxing while feeling good about it. Around noon, I know I've done what I needed to do, so I can relax with whatever I feel like for the rest of the day. That was something I haven't really been able to do for maybe the last 10 years or so.(**)

Now, I'm worn down after a day's work, like I would be after an 8 hour slog. Also, this way I make use of two more days per week so in effect I'm getting 40 hours work done in 28 hours. That leaves me with 12 more hours to relax in good conscience, with the same output "as usual".

Aaaaaaaaw Yiss!!!!!11one

Working only 5-6 pomodoros every day also guarantees that I don't fall into another trap. When you work at 70-80% capacity like I'm doing now, you also guarantee that you never really wear yourself down completely, and you also guarantee that when something unexpected comes up, you actually have spare resources to get that done. When you're constantly working at 100% you become speed blind to your own needs. The status quo is to use up all your resources at work and then... then what, for the rest of the day? Becoming hedonically adapted to expending all I've got has lead me down a year's worth of medication already, I'm about to become fundamentally religious about that not happening again. I also finally kicked SSRI treatment so all is progressing as planned(***)

I can only do this because I'm totally free from regular office bullshit and I am completely free to arrange my working hours. I realize that soon I will be back in my office chipping away in the copper mines, but for now I'm having the best work days I've ever had.

(*) S'like... toooooootally not Tim-Ferriss-mandated, dude!
(@) Snicker
(#) TWSS
(&) really, really, really, really, really, really, really,...
(**) Fucking university!
(***) According to MBTI progressing as planned is something ENTJs enjoy very much.





Zen and the Art of Walking, and Sitting.
Secular Buddhism has so many wonderful things to offer the modern world that I've found myself forced to revisit the list of topics I think should be mandatory in school: Computer programming, statistics, and Sitting.

Of course my infatuation could potentially be based in my tendency towards over-productivity but there seems to be a bit of a catch 22 here. If you're too busy to Sit, you probably should. If you have time to Sit, why don't you?
I'm getting better at Sitting and Walking. Not because I grow a third eye and smell of incense all the time, but because I'm getting better and better at noticing when my thoughts drift away from where I am currently, or when my thoughts drift towards untimely planning or irrelevant concerns.

In fact I've come to enjoy Walking so much that I'm gonna stop updating this journal now and Walk. Luckily, you don't have to suffer through the temporal experience of this entry coming online, so for you the wait will be negligible. Lucky you! However, if you really feel like it you can sit around for X hours (X) and read on once that time has passed(*).

Right. I'm back.

However, I'm having the damnest time trying to figure out how to relay the incredible utility of learning how to Sit and Walk to other people. The stupid fucking notion of meditation as some AAAAAAAAAAAUMMMMMMMMMMM flavored, incense infused, sitar-backed, tree hugging session, among smelly hippies is so prevalent that even people who've tried meditation still thinks that's how you do it.

You just sit your stressed-out ass down and focus on your breath. Once you realize just how hard it is to do only that, you could potentially realize that all of your life is run by that little caffeine-doped squirrel inside your mind at that you're missing out on so much, but no. Everyone assumes that they're personally too busy to learn how to sit still and concentrate. The revelation is not one that grows a third eye, but realizing -while you're sitting there on your stressed-out ass- just how much inconsequential bullshit you've taken ownership of, and how much of that inconsequential bullshit still gets to run your life. If you're too impatient to sit on your stressed-out ass: you probably should! Shit's difficult yo. 'specially since we're all strung up so fucking tight.

We're so awfully afraid of not getting enough done during our lifetimes that we don't even take the time to LEARN how to enjoy just being alive.

It's clearly becoming harder and harder for me to communicate in writing with people I don't know personally. I'm too zen, too frugal, too educated, too confrontational, too optimization minded, too direct, and too concerned with the world's (not just my own) well being to engage in written discussion without disclaimers, caveats, appendices, link safaris, and elaborations. I don't feel transcended. I don't feel superior. I'm simply seeing the world through an increasingly alienating lens. I guess it just is what it is. In the end I'll just have to disengage from popular discussions and concentrate on my own direct well-being and let the rest of the world find its own path.
But that's not my call in life. I really want all of us to live slightly better lives. I still can't disconnect completely. I still care too much.

It's not making me angry, it's making me sad.

Since my breakfast is now just a single cup of coffee, I've incorporated a daily gratitude review into my morning routine. I just jot down something that I was appreciative of the day before in a small pocket book. It's now a log which is a couple of months long with an entry for every day since January 28th. The book actually started out as my Little Book of Win! Every time I got something done, I'd write it in the book so my small, daily, accomplishments would be visible to me. Being so progress minded means that I need a reminder of sorts so that I can see just how much I really get done. I tend to live somewhere in the future, so I don't really "notice the water as it passes under the bridge". However, rather than only celebrate 'real' accomplishments, I decided to extend the Little Book of Win to encompass every single day. That little morning ritual means that I tend to have my radar out for most of the day, looking for things to be grateful for. It's crazy how much of a difference ot makes to actively look for something to appreciate, rather than actively look for something to bitch about. Vis a vis, facebook, water cooler discussions, political debates, media in general.

I'm also slowly learning to love the process and not the results. I'm learning to celebrate my daily work and appreciate taking small, constant, steps towards a higher goal. Goals don't really feel good for as long as we expect them to.(**) Learning to engage with the process of life thus gives one much more satisfaction over a lifetime compared to basking solely in the light of one's successes. The strategy is therefore to bump up for standard level of satisfaction, rather than pursue large spikes in satisfaction. Being present (ie Mindfulness) is simply a matter of life-time optimizing ones sense of contentment, and honestly, being content in today's society is worth quite a lot. Luckily mindful awareness takes no extra time out of one's day, and costs absolutely nothing! It's the best mental ROI you can get. Even more luckily (I just wanted to mangle that phrase) dopamine/endorphins/serotonin/oxytocin gets released in almost (Almost!) equal amounts regardless of the magnitude of the accomplishment. So many small -but significant- accomplishments will totally outshine a few spectacular accomplishments. So the trick is to turn those small accomplishments into something that paves the way for those spectacular accomplishments and you're set on Living The Good Life!


(X) X turned out to be 3.5 once I came home again.
(*) I won't hold it against you if you don't. Fret not!
(**) It turns out Wimbledon winners are only ecstatic for about 3 hours after winning the tournament, then they quickly converge back towards normal.



Financial Freedom over Financial Independence.
I'm not FI, but I'm still feel free to make whatever decisions I need to make. I might only have 6-7 years stashed away, but the dividend yield still covers more than 1/3 of my annual expenses so in actuality I'm rather free to pursue whatever strikes my fancy at the moment, as long as I keep pension savings in mind. Pension savings meaning money-for-when-I'm-too-decrepit-to-work.

Two years ago SoCalWill wrote something that has stuck in my head ever since: "They only grow up once". I'm not independent, but I am Pareto financially free, and right now I feel like I need to leverage that to live a better life while my daughter is still young. So thank you for that. You've made a difference!

If I can find a source of income within the next 8-10 years I'm good to go for another 8-10 years. I think I'd rather leapfrog my way through a happy life that suffer through cubicle hell to be financially retired. I can't sit on my ass anyway, I might as well leverage my ADD to make some monies and see some things.

I know that my grandfather on my mother's side lived his entire life away from a 'real' job. If he could do it through a world war, so can I!


The Garden:
This year we added Jerusalem artichokes, rhubarb, a red currant bush, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, and raspberries to our repertoire. And last year's strawberry seedling have now multiplied to a small forest of plants with plenty of fruit. Green still, yes, but hopefully the blackbirds won't munch the entire thing before we get to eat some red delicious Senga Senganas

Our raised beds are only JUST raised above lawn level. The beds were dug into the soil and boards where added. That was a mistake it turns out. The grass grows rather tall next to the raised bed, so I fear that slugs can actually use the grass to prop themselves up and over a mechanical barrier, so I went for the level 0 permaculturist solution: Copper tape.

Copper tape... Ugh!

Copper tape is expensive, needs replacing, and it pollutes. A small roll of that shit produces a disgusting amount of plastic garbage. But srsly-srsly I can't bring my self to add another layer to our 'raised' beds so I can nail down a zink barrier right now. That's a project for another time.
Now, after I added the tape we actually managed to box IN, not keep OUT some slugs, that promptly went to town on our radishes and kale seedlings. Slimy disgusting, fuckers!

Well not only that, but since 'that fucking cat' managed to take several dumps in all our raised beds during winter I had to build these coverings for all the beds, so now we can't just reach in an pluck weeds from the bed, we have to unmount the net to get to the plants to nurture them. So to add insult to injury, not only did I cobble together a cat-crap-guard that keeps us from weeding easily and growing tall plants, the slugs decided to use the coverings and scalable scaffolding and just crawled up and over the copper tape. AND(!!!!) That Fucking Cat, decided he could just swipe aggressively enough at the coverings so he got into one of our beds and promptly took a dump yet again!

Fuggin' animals, 'messing wit' ma' plants!

IF YOU KNOW HOW TO KEEP CATS OUT OF RAISED BEDS WITHOUT INVOLVING FIREARMS, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!
Please. Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, prettyprettyprettypretty, please...


Please!


H.O.W.E.V.E.R: Since I'm getting jiggy with the whole learn-to-relax lifestyle, I'm doing my best to turn of all screens about an hour before bed time. That, then, leaves plenty of time to stick my head into the garden and water everything and take a slow tour of everything before turning in. You know, actually enjoying having a garden rather than just maintaining it and harvesting from it when stuff's ready.

I'm getting many more hours of enjoyment out of my weedy, reedy, seedlings that I've spent building stuff and cursing at animals. It's probably all good.




Fishing!
For her birthday my GF wished for a fishing trip with her father, and he cashed in on the present last Monday. It was so wonderful to go fishing that I am definitely going to go again. Apparently we can catch cod, mackarel, garfish, and sea trout reasonably close to where I live, so... yeah. Going on a picnic while bringing a fishing rod is EXACTLY the kind of productive relaxation I need at the moment. My brother in law owns a canoo and loves to be outdoors. I might just team up with him, a tent, and a stack of beer and go lake fishing some time soon.

Wish me luck!




PS: My investments are in the red, but accounting for yield they're still in the black. Maybe I'm fooling myself, but I feel rather good about the whole thing.


FBeyer, out!

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Seppia
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Location: South Florida

Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Post by Seppia »

Your stocks have a yield of minimum 4.7% after tax?
Did you specifically pick high dividend stocks or am I making a mistake somewhere?

If 7 years of expenses’ dividends cover 1/3 of your costs
21 years of expenses’ would cover 100%
1/21 = 4.76%

FBeyer
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Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2015 3:25 am

Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Post by FBeyer »

High Dividend stocks/Quality dividend stocks and Junk bonds. 7-ish years invested in total. 27% tax. Plus minus local tax fiddling.

5.5% estimated yield for stocks in 2018.
1/3 of the portfolio is in a large, lazy, stable index that yields 3.6% so the hand-picked stocks make up for the difference. Add some 5% - 13% junk bonds and I arrive in the vicinity of 1/3 of annual expenses. Be aware of rounding and back-of-napkin estimates.

Why do you ask?

Edit: Also be aware that my current dividend yield has been built up since late 2016 or so. That's hardly a timeframe for any sensible comparison.

theanimal
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Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Post by theanimal »

What does a pomodoro session look like for you? Is one session composed of multiple segments or one long segment?

FBeyer
Posts: 1069
Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2015 3:25 am

Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Post by FBeyer »

25 min work 5 minute break = 1 pomodoro.

3 pomodoros.
30 minute break
2 pomodoros.

It takes about 3.5 hours including some fudge time.

When I go back to full time it'll be 3 and 3.
Normally I'd do 4 and 4, but four a time is really fucking rough on the brain when you're learning mathematics.

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Seppia
Posts: 2016
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2016 9:34 am
Location: South Florida

Re: FI or bust; FBeyer.

Post by Seppia »

FBeyer wrote:
Mon May 28, 2018 11:34 am
Why do you ask?
Because I was interested to know if you had built your portfolio purposely for that and how.
I got answers to both my questions so thanks :)

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