Wizards' journal (ERE in Denmark)

Where are you and where are you going?
thedollar
Posts: 257
Joined: Tue Feb 21, 2017 4:07 am

Re: Wizards' journal (ERE in Denmark)

Post by thedollar »

wizards wrote:
Mon Mar 27, 2017 3:27 am
Nine more months have passed... never enough hours a day ;-)

Headlines:

* Two weeks ago DW started work again, youngest son will start day care next month - same place as his big brother, so at the moment I'm pretty busy with the boys...
* Remodelling of our house is finished
* Attended 3 Danish ERE meetings - nice to meet people with similar interests
* Gave a talk at a local assocation of Danish Stockholders Association about ERE and my investments
* Net worth USD 713,892 (28/2)
* Budgeted SWR 3.10%
* Asset allocation: Stocks 63%, Rental 18%, Bonds 11%, Cash 7%, Wind Turbines 1%
* These numbers will look different next month, as I have just completed a purchase of 3 rental apartments.
* Late 2016 I allocated a small number to: a) a US REIT, b) Local wind turbine coop, and c) Lendino - loans to small businesses.
* Starting this month, 80% of my salary after taxes (from part time job) will be allocated to a "family account" (nothing formal) - yet to be decided what to do with the money...
Thank you for the update, Wizards! Awesome progress.

Hope you don't mind me asking some questions, feel free not to answer them.

1) What type of bonds do you purchase? is it through nordnet?

2) What is your strategy regarding stocks? Are you buying index funds or single stocks? Danish or international?

3) You state that you are looking for 5% start return for rentals - are they still out there? And is the 5% before taxes and expenses?

wizards
Posts: 122
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 8:24 pm
Location: Denmark

Re: Wizards' journal (ERE in Denmark)

Post by wizards »

1) Corporate Bonds - and no, this is through a "normal" bank.
2) Mostly DGI and a bit in index. Mostly international - if you are a shareville member - look for wizards ;-)
3) 5% incl. all expenses but not tax. Please note this is for "new" (build after 1992) properties. The 3 I'm buying now are older (and cheaper) - the start yield is 8-9%.... Build after 1992 and start yield +5% are still out there, but not in Copenhagen, Roskilde, etc.

Stahlmann
Posts: 1121
Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2016 6:05 pm

Re: Wizards' journal (ERE in Denmark)

Post by Stahlmann »

How did you accumulate so much money in so heavy taxed country in young age?

wizards
Posts: 122
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 8:24 pm
Location: Denmark

Re: Wizards' journal (ERE in Denmark)

Post by wizards »

Hard work - First paycheck before turning 10... Full time work before turning 20 (studied in the evenings).
Frugality - and very little lifestyle inflation
Invested the "surplus".

In regards to taxation - In my opinion it's different game, different rules. Yes some tax brackets seem harsh, but I got free education, free healthcare and the same for my kids..

wizards
Posts: 122
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 8:24 pm
Location: Denmark

Re: Wizards' journal (ERE in Denmark)

Post by wizards »

Here's the "new" asset allocation: Rental: 27%, Wind Turbines: 1%, Stocks: 58%, Bonds: 11%, Cash: 3%

Net Worth USD 729,131 - SWR: 3.08%

Nice to see the stock number reduced (and not because of market losses) - still think 50% would be a nice number to aim for - and guees I need to boost my cash position ;-)

Eureka
Posts: 340
Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2016 11:03 am

Re: Wizards' journal (ERE in Denmark)

Post by Eureka »

wizards wrote:
Mon Mar 27, 2017 3:27 am
* Attended 3 Danish ERE meetings - nice to meet people with similar interests
+1

wizards
Posts: 122
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 8:24 pm
Location: Denmark

Re: Wizards' journal (ERE in Denmark)

Post by wizards »

Time for at another short update, which mostly is an excuse for promoting the next ere meet-up. ;)

Meet-up will be at my place two weeks from now:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=8100&start=25

It seems like we will be 8 ere folks attending – but there is still room for a more.

The agenda will include: Travel, Pensions, Entrepreneurship and system thinking in practice.

Numbers
SWR is now at 3.06% - net worth usd 784,955
Asset allocation: Stocks 58%, Rental 25%, Bonds 11%, Cash 5%, Wind Turbines 1%

What else
Enjoying life, finishing a few small DIY projects at home, spending time with my children. Still working part time from home (a bit too much the last month, but more or less as expected).

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

Re: Wizards' journal (ERE in Denmark)

Post by wolf »

Great to hear that you enjoy life. It is important, in my opion, if someone is financially set. Keep on enjoying life :-)

wizards
Posts: 122
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 8:24 pm
Location: Denmark

Re: Wizards' journal (ERE in Denmark)

Post by wizards »

Favourite time of the year – time to update a lot of excel files ;)

Still working part time, but seriously thinking about quitting, it´s easy money but it takes time from other perhaps more interesting “projects”

Since March 2017 I have put 80% of the after-tax earnings from the part time job to a separate account to spend on some more or less specific nice to reach goals*

Numbers:
SWR: 2.92 % (budget)
Networth: USD 861,429
Asset allocation: Stocks 57%, Rentals 27%, Bonds 11% and Cash 5%

Spending 2017 was 90% of budget – closer to budget than the last years but don´t mind

Current passive income covers 122% of budgeted spending

Hobby income 2017 covered more than my private/personal spending but will be lover this year if nothing new happen.

Children – still spending way below budget, and they are not missing anything.

Charity – this has never been a big concern of mine, but am starting to give a little to a few charities. Was inspired a bit by this piece from MMM:
https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2017/12 ... re-easily/
I know some don´t like his writing but this made sense to me.

* as for now the goals includes helping DW reaching financial independence (12%), saving for my sons (24%) and savings for extraordinary vacations (64%). The percentages indicate how this year's savings have been “used”.

Eureka
Posts: 340
Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2016 11:03 am

Re: Wizards' journal (ERE in Denmark)

Post by Eureka »

Nice, that your situation looks so good. Well done!

Interesting thoughts about your part time job. Could it be because you don't need the money even if it is easy money? Although, I like the way you put it into a separate account with targeted purposes.

I might get into a similar situation soon as my boss has offered me to continue on a consultancy part-time basis on super nice conditions after I stop (in 5½ weeks). This I am considering right now ...

wizards
Posts: 122
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 8:24 pm
Location: Denmark

Re: Wizards' journal (ERE in Denmark)

Post by wizards »

@euruka

Thank you.

It might very well be one of the reasons.

For me the transition from full time (+37 + commute) to part time from home has been the right choice. But after doing this 2½ years, it might be time to a change - but still not sure if and when :)

BadHorse
Posts: 55
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2016 4:17 am

Re: Wizards' journal (ERE in Denmark)

Post by BadHorse »

Impressive as always, glad it's going so well! :)

If you really get nothing but the money out of the part time gig, then it does sound a bit pointless when you don't need the money. Do you think there is any potential value to maintaining some sort of connection with the job market? Like CV or up-to-date skills, if you'd ever want it?

wizards
Posts: 122
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 8:24 pm
Location: Denmark

Re: Wizards' journal (ERE in Denmark)

Post by wizards »

Thank you :)

Think I wanna do some kind of for/against list for a start.

CV / connection with the job market - there is a value here, but not one that I personally value much..

abkjaer
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Apr 18, 2018 2:21 am
Location: Denmark

Re: Wizards' journal (ERE in Denmark)

Post by abkjaer »

@wizards

Hi wizards,

I am a journalism student from Denmark, and for a radiopodcast I am looking into the whole ERE-movement, which I find exciting. I have been talking to a few others, who follow the same principles, but from your journal here I can see that you are at a point, where you are financially independent. I would love to talk to you about your journey and hear, what striving for ERE has meant for you.

You can contact med via email eajensen@mail.dmjx.dk or on the phone 2989 5489.

First of all the interview is for research and I hope to hear from you.

Kind regards
Emil Abkjær Kristensen

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

Re: Wizards' journal (ERE in Denmark)

Post by thedollar »

This is my favorite journal. We need an update soon, Wizards :geek: :) ;)

wizards
Posts: 122
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 8:24 pm
Location: Denmark

Re: Wizards' journal (ERE in Denmark)

Post by wizards »

Hope a short update will do.

Numbers (April 2018)
SWR: 2.91 %
Networth: USD 864,046
Asset allocation: Stocks 53 %, Rentals 30 %, Bonds 11 %, Cash 6%
Spending is still below budget but not much.

The Apartment experiment:
Last month I bought a small apartment on foreclosure/auction. The price including miscellaneous fees, stamps etc. is approx. USD 65,000. There’s need for some work, some I can do myself, and some which I have hired pros to do – I budget this to approx. USD 18,000. I plan to have it finished by the end of this month – estimated value then USD +100,000. It’s the plan to keep it as a rental property like the others I already have.
So far, I have enjoyed the process and doing some manual labour :)

And one more…
Two weeks after buying the foreclosure I found another interesting opportunity – so this week I closed another deal for a larger apartment, this one has a tenant, so basically no work to do besides moving money, finding finance etc.

Job
Still working part time and still not clarified how long I will keep doing this.

wizards
Posts: 122
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 8:24 pm
Location: Denmark

Re: Wizards' journal (ERE in Denmark)

Post by wizards »

One more year working part time from home has passed.

And yes, still doing part time, but for a change there is now a clearer goal doing this. We are planning for my wife to take a year off starting July this year. As she’s not FI (yet), my income from part time work will pay for this. If this works out fine, we might make it permanent, but for a start one year is agreed.

We plan for at international trip late 2019, first flight with the kids, properly Thailand for 4-6 weeks, this will be the first (hopefully not the last) vacation paid from my family account*

Numbers for 2018:

SWR (budget): 2.70%

Net worth: USD 888,407

Asset allocation: Stocks 49%, Rentals 39%, Bonds 9%, Cash 3%

Did buy one more apartment (50/50 with a friend) late 2018 so the portfolio now holds a total of 8 rental apartments.

Spending 2018 was 97% of budget – getting closer to budget mainly due to increased repayments on our mortgage. Repayments was 21% of total spending – I do not include home equity in my net worth as we intend to stay in this house for years to come.

Current passive income covers 138% of budgeted spending.

Hobby income did again cover all private spending and did only decrease 0.3% - Once again I predict 2019 to be lower but hoping for a surprise.

Children – continue to be cheaper than budgeted, and they are still doing fine. :)

* Like last year I have allocated 80 % of my part time income to a separate account not included in net worth etc. Again, I have gifted some money to the kids and some for my wife, the rest is intended to “extraordinary” holidays for the family. Contributions to this account will be put on hold once my wife are at home – but that’s a minor/luxury problem.

wizards
Posts: 122
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 8:24 pm
Location: Denmark

Re: Wizards' journal (ERE in Denmark)

Post by wizards »

Time for a new entry.

Numbers are at all-time-high:

SWR (budget): 2.55 % - Net Worth USD 928,605

TTM expenses are at 95 % of budget

But this will soon be changed – Wife gave notice to her employer – last paycheck will arrive end of June.

She has savings and investments, but our agreement is that I will pay all expenses starting July, and we will let her investments accumulate.

As a result, my SWR will no longer be 2.55 % - it will be 5.09 % :?

How ever I still have my part time income, which should cover her part of the expenses and we agreed to make this a one-year experiment so I’m not too much worried. 8-)

Her last day at work will be May 7th – looking forward to spending more time together.

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

Re: Wizards' journal (ERE in Denmark)

Post by FBeyer »

Sweet!
I'm glad she had the nerve to hand in 'that' letter after all.

Also: Today, exactly 6 years ago, you joined the forum. So happy forum birthday to you!

wizards
Posts: 122
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 8:24 pm
Location: Denmark

Re: Wizards' journal (ERE in Denmark)

Post by wizards »

Yes, it took som nerves.

Thank you - funny coincidence :)

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