SWB's path to financial independence

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Family father
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Re: SWB's path to financial independence

Post by Family father »

Speaking as someone with motion sickness I'll tell you how my algorithm worked:

1- I really loved the idea of surfing: for years longed to have a chance.
2- Finally I could afford it: so I paid a one week starter course
3- First day I got sick
4- Second day I had some motion sickness pills and it didn't work
5- The next days I took the pills, went to the course and got sick (I don't give up easy)
6- After the course, and despite i still would like to surf, I have to admit that sickness takes away all the fun of it.

And that's the story of how I learned to take the road as it comes.. about surfing and sailing.

@SWB Maybe you really should sort (test) if your wife's sickness is a barrier or not before you build a bigger project around the idea..

Jason

Re: SWB's path to financial independence

Post by Jason »

Family father wrote:
Wed Feb 07, 2018 7:38 am
@SWB Maybe you really should sort (test) if your wife's sickness is a barrier or not before you build a bigger project around the idea..
That's one tact. The other is to just take the Noahic route and tell her "Listen, I spent all this time building this fucking boat, you're getting on." At least SWB's wife won't have the added indignity of having to clean up twin baby dinosaur shit in between puking into the high seas.

SavingWithBabies
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Re: SWB's path to financial independence

Post by SavingWithBabies »

While I appreciate the Noahic route, I'm definitely planning on testing her motion sickness!

Jason

Re: SWB's path to financial independence

Post by Jason »

I guess you'll just need to squeeze in a "DH Puke Frequency" column in your captain's log.

SavingWithBabies
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Re: SWB's path to financial independence

Post by SavingWithBabies »

@Jason Yeah, it's a good idea to track it. Then I can say, look babe, you're puke rate is decreasing over time! If this trend continues, in 3 years you'll be doing great :).

I have read of some people at sea on a long voyage "finding their sea legs" after being green for a bit. I've also read of those, like me, who have had no seasickness occasionally having unexpected spells of it.

The hard part regarding puking is I have probably the worst boat for it right now -- a small light sailboat with a light keel that bounces around a lot and has to go up and down waves instead of cutting through. The opposite end of this would be a big catamaran without any heeling and long enough to cut through most waves (and ideally, if well built, high enough off the water between the two hulls to not have any wave slap). Maybe having the worst boat is for the best though.

The tests will begin this spring :).

Jason

Re: SWB's path to financial independence

Post by Jason »

SavingWithBabies wrote:
Wed Feb 07, 2018 11:33 am
Then I can say, look babe, you're puke rate is decreasing over time! If this trend continues, in 3 years you'll be doing great :).
LOL

I think there can also be more ways to massage the numbers. Maybe not limit the analysis to frequency, but also to constitution, volume, predicability, sea conditions, time lapse after meal as well as pre-puke and post-puke issues like skin color, emotional state, recovery period etc.

Plus, in line with the "B" in SWB, a "Puking While Sailing" vs. "Puking While Pregnant" side by side analysis which may indicate that the puke increase is incrementally speaking, not that drastic when contextualized in terms of other life conditions. Of course if she is a binge drinker, that could be used as well.

SavingWithBabies
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Re: SWB's path to financial independence

Post by SavingWithBabies »

Today, I learned one can get a temporary resident visa from the local Mexican consulate if one can either demonstrate a monthly income (ie retirement) or enough funds to be able to support oneself. Interestingly, these amounts vary by consulate in the USA. At least that is what the source said. Our locale one near Detroit requires $12,000 for the later option. One source recommended one family member get that visa and the rest do the tourist visa and convert to resident by having another family already have resident while in country. We need to confirm that is a good approach. I suspect that might be to save the $36 fee per applicant but it didn't really explain why one might want to do that.

Oddly, I received a potential job offer out of the blue that is interesting. It is local and would require me to go to an office which I'm not thrilled about. However, it might have some other good qualities that make up for it. I'm going to learn more sometime within the next week. It would mean pushing off Mexico to some time in the future which both of us are okay with. Although I admit I was already thinking about sitting on the beach and listening to the waves while our eldest child played in the surf.

jacob
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Re: SWB's path to financial independence

Post by jacob »

@SWB - There are several countries with such "retirement" visas: Mexico, Panama, Belize, Malta, Ecuador, Peru, Costa Rica, ... The most normal visa requires a minimum monthly income (like $1500-2000/month) which is ridiculous by ERE standards (but on par with someone on a govermnent pension), but some visas only require you to show a bank statement with a minimum amount (say $100k) to stay yet another year. These are called economic self-sufficient or independent visas. The idea being that as long as you have enough cash you won't be a fiscal burden to the country before/until they kick you out. I wish more countries had that option.

SavingWithBabies
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Re: SWB's path to financial independence

Post by SavingWithBabies »

@jacob I actually read about this for Costa Rica. I didn't realize Mexico was the same -- that is great to see the other countries on that list. I agree, it would be great if every country would do this (including the USA).

Somehow, I had a disconnect between reading about this in the context of ERE as opposed to the context of just moving for a year. In the end, it's the same thing of course.

SavingWithBabies
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Re: SWB's path to financial independence

Post by SavingWithBabies »

I had that interview today that I mentioned above. It went well as far as I could tell. However, I'm not sure I want the job. I would get to come in and lead the tech (so roughly a CTO but probably not at that title -- not sure/negotiated yet). It's only two developers right now though and one is leaving. So I suspect I'd be coming in as more of a lead developer who may or may not get to transition up over time (if I wanted to). The tech is older -- not really in my now very hot niche. And I would need to go into the office every day. Upside is probably same salary plus potential bonus. We haven't talked about compensation yet.

So I'm undecided. Here is my breakdown:

Pros:
* more potential cash but might be a maybe if performance-based (don't know yet what performance it is based on)
* some interesting challenges
* have lead engineer or maybe higher title on resume and experience

Cons:
* legacy tech not in my hot area
* lots of work needed to bring it up to speed
* not sure two partners are tech enough or understand software enough to appreciate how much effort is required
* have to go to the office every day
* might put in all this effort and have someone hired in over me down the road
* product early enough that it still needs lot of work but it's an offshoot of a parent with more revenue so doubtful about ownership possibility and/or getting out fair compensation for what I put in

So lot more cons than pros really. Based on that list, seems like a no. But I still think about it. I guess it hinges on compensation. If I can't get what I deem a fair return on investment of time/effort/risk, it is probably better for me to stick with current easier gig and keep cracking on my side project (new job would take up more of my time too).

Family father
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Re: SWB's path to financial independence

Post by Family father »

SavingWithBabies wrote:
Mon Feb 12, 2018 6:41 pm
fair return on investment of time/effort/risk
Just be sure you ponder these correctly: particularly the risk part!

How would affect your plans if you find it was the wrong company, or the wrong job, or if they think you are the wrong guy once you started working there...

One should have strong reasons to switch jobs, and after reading your journal, they are not obvious to me (not a matter of how many pros and cons, but how important they are): you are thinking about taking a risk to trade quality of like (freedom and time (new job + commute)) for an interesting challenge and maybe some more money...

I've done a mistake in changing jobs before because I really wanted to leave my former job (boredom and poor enviroment aversion) in the past... :(

SavingWithBabies
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Re: SWB's path to financial independence

Post by SavingWithBabies »

@Family father I agree 100% and after sleeping on it, this isn't the opportunity for me. The reason I was considering it was getting to lead a team. But the team is so small that it practically doesn't count. The other reason is I'm bored at the day job however that is horrible reason! I would also miss working from home (get time with family, no office politics or other office annoyances). It's fun to interview and be wanted but a strong reason is definitely lacking.

Family father
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Re: SWB's path to financial independence

Post by Family father »

;)

fips
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Re: SWB's path to financial independence

Post by fips »

I used to focus on building career capital, but if you know your specific goal, you can probably find a more narrow path that is more relevant to your aspirations.

From skimming your pros and cons I would say the new offer is not a good personal match (not your hot area, doubt over mid-/long-term support for the company/product etc.). Higher pay can only outweigh so much.

For what it's worth, some science suggests these ingredients make your dream job:
1) Work you’re good at,
2) Work that helps others,
3) Engaging work that lets you enter a state of flow (freedom, variety, clear tasks, feedback),
4) Supportive colleagues,
5) No major negatives like long hours or unfair pay, and
6) A job that fits your personal life.

Jason

Re: SWB's path to financial independence

Post by Jason »

Now if only handling the remote was a career path.

SavingWithBabies
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Re: SWB's path to financial independence

Post by SavingWithBabies »

@fips That is a great list. I'm going to make use of it when considering future possibilities too. Right now, I think my best bet is having my side business become my full time job as it covers all of those very well. So at the very least, if I were to switch my day job, I want it to be one that doesn't negatively impact progress on the side thing. And this potential job would -- I think it would be very demanding of time and energy. I've had a bit of a slump since the holidays on my willingness to put time into my side business. But I think that is more related to how we are working on it and I just need to get over that (or figure out the problem) and keep going. It's just hard though -- if I start another business, I'm going to very very wary of putting in a lot of upfront time and effort in before getting feedback from the market/customers. We just bit off a big project and we should have probably gone for something smaller. But it's a bit late now and we are making progress.

SavingWithBabies
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Re: SWB's path to financial independence

Post by SavingWithBabies »

Well I had a change of heart. I spent a long time soul searching and decided this opportunity is one I want to take. I was able to negotiate to get what I wanted for the most part. At my current employer, the pace is very slow. It's just not in my nature to work at such a glacial pace. So I'm going to jump back into the sea and climb out on another island which seems a little mysterious and scary. I'll let you know if I regret it :). It's not a done deal yet so could all go away.

Speaking of seas, watching the net worth rise and fall with the stock market swings is kind of like being on a wavy ocean. It's funny to think when your net worth is small, the waves are small but as your holdings grow and grow, the waves become bigger and bigger. I expect those that pay attention to this change. We all know it's not real money until the investment is liquidated. But it is still interesting to me what impact that has on us.

SavingWithBabies
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Re: SWB's path to financial independence

Post by SavingWithBabies »

Progress: 35.1% ($421,600/1,200,000)
Weight: 216 pounds
Goal weight: 192 (24 pounds to go)
Side business goal: 1 out of 50 schools (some pending)

Net worth went down a little with the stock market slump but I'm not complaining. This month I went on a work retreat in sunny California and the family came along. I stayed on my diet however some meals were catered. I didn't eat anything that was obviously carby but some sauces on say steak were hard to be certain about. For a week or two after the trip, I had a fair number of cravings for food so I suspect there was some carbs in what I ate. My weight loss also tapered off for a bit. Although again I suspect this is due to CICO or calorie in, calorie out. By which I mean as my body gets lighter, it needs less calories yet I still am eating roughly the same food so the weight loss is going to slow. I'm fine with this -- I don't have any flabby or hanging skin but I think it would be good to take it slow the rest of the way.

For the side business, we had the chance to get in front of a bunch of potential customers and get the word out. We have been heads down focusing on one school but we're ready to add more schools. There is still a lot of work to do on new things that we know some schools want. Overall, I'm still optimistic about the whole thing. I'd really like to hit 5 schools for the next school year. I think we definitely have one more (so 2 of 5) and we have some in the early stages. The product we have is not easy to switch in or out of so there is some work to get people aboard and the schools are cautious as they should be. What we really have to crack is sales but that is mostly in the court of my business partner and he is very new to that game.

SavingWithBabies
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Re: SWB's path to financial independence

Post by SavingWithBabies »

FBeyer wrote:
Sat Mar 10, 2018 2:11 am
So take it easy. Stash away some pennies, and declutter your house, find a cheap place to live, and restructure your existence first. :mrgreen:
So that part about "find a cheap place to live" (taken from thread) is still what I'm focusing the most on right now. We're still looking for a local house to buy. Right now, our monthly housing cost without utilities is roughly $1750 (that is +100 over rent due to odd utility problem). So to reduce our costs, we can go buy a house that is asking $175k but in this market will go for maybe $183-187k. We put down 20% or about $36k and then our monthly cost would be $1,026/month with taxes and insurance (if Redfin is to be believed). If we take maintenance as a cost of 10% of value per year or $1800/year

If we stay for 5 years, we come out as 5 * 12 * ($1750 - ($1026 + $1800/12)) = $34k saved over renting (I don't include the loss of investment return on the money used for the down payment). The interesting thing is that number is probably close to how much the value of that particular house as gone up in the past year or two (most have increased in value even more). So if we stay for 5 years and want to move and the market drops, we're stuck renting it out or taking a loss.

From a practical standpoint, rentals get annoying because it's pretty much "what you see is what you get" so if that sink faucet is a total piece of garbage, you can pay out of pocket to replace it or just live with it. If you want a very well maintained rental, I think you have to pay a premium for it. Our current house is "good enough "but it has some annoying problems and some potentially more serious problems (might have a mold problem).

But buying roots us here too -- if the economy completely collapses and I lose my job and can't find work at a decent rate, I'd prefer to go off to Mexico or Costa Rica instead of moping around here. So I see two downsides to buying:

* risk of housing market adjusting - I put this as a high chance of happening within the next 5 years
* being rooted in place and recession - I put this at a lower chance of happening than the above but with low confidence

The pressure on the local market is strong enough that I think there are no stones unturned in terms of people looking for the same things we are. So finding a diamond seems increasingly unlikely. Building would be a good option however supposedly there is a big shortage of construction workers so demand is high. If I was FI/ER already, one option would be to have the shell built and finish out the inside ourselves or with contractors. But I'm not yet. Land prices seem reasonable for what we want.

That leaves me thinking that buying in this local market is a bad idea. But I don't see a way to lower our housing costs while still getting what we are getting now or a rough equivalent. We need to go to an apartment or move further away or get lucky and find a below market rental (and make it work -- ie if faucet is crap, just replace it if okayed by landlord). That last option seems like the most realistic option. But with the listings become more active with winter going away, we're going to keep looking for a potential house to buy just in case. And we still need to price/research local modular housing options as that might be a way around the labor shortage.

Family father
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Re: SWB's path to financial independence

Post by Family father »

Excuse me SWB, but there's something I don't understand:

Renting is 1.750 x 12 = 21.000 $ per year
Buying is 185.000 $ (=8.8 years' rent???)

I understand the renting potential of the 185k house won't be 1.750 $/m, is it?

Besides, following your numbers, which part of the 1.026 $ per month will be principal?

Shouldn't your saving be 5 x 12 x (1750 - (interests + 1800/12))?

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