the dude's diary

Where are you and where are you going?
Smashter
Posts: 541
Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2016 8:05 am
Location: Midwest USA

Re: the dude's diary

Post by Smashter »

@2birds but people can change their mind! Despite the slightly tongue in cheek comment about never having enough money, this does not look like a case of one more year syndrome. His work situation seems to be genuinely bringing him a lot of joy. It sounds pretty great from where I'm sitting.

El Duderino
Posts: 177
Joined: Mon Oct 27, 2014 12:24 pm

Re: Feb '17 Update

Post by El Duderino »

2Birds1Stone wrote: Just sayin', dude!
Why you gotta be bringing up old stuff, 2birds? :oops:

I think there's two things I'm going to use as excuses and Smashter is right about the first one, because when I said that, I wasn't having so much fun at work like I am now. Also, I felt like 40 was super-old and way far off and I'm coming to grips with the fact that it's happening so fast.

When I started on my FI journey at the tender age of 27, I estimated that it would take me until the age of 45 to save what I thought I needed at that time to get by. This was 2006 and I didn't know much so I was using a 4% rule and didn't take into account increases in earnings or savings over that time period because I did want it to be a conservative estimate. To think that I'm already there, right now and with a ~3% SWR, is really astounding and I hope it's encouraging to others to see how effective cumulative gains are, especially combined with the kind of mindset that so many people have on here of seeking to improve themselves and better their situation though hard work. You don't have to be perfect in how you apply the concepts or have impeccable market timing -- you just need to do it.

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

Re: the dude's diary

Post by steveo73 »

Dude - there is some good news in your update. I like that you are living large - a Tesla for instance as well as work being less of a drag.

Good to hear.

El Duderino
Posts: 177
Joined: Mon Oct 27, 2014 12:24 pm

Aug '21 Update

Post by El Duderino »

Hey everyone, two years has gone by so very fast. Here's what's been happening with me.

First, I survived COVID :D I had a minor neck injury just before SHTF (shit hit the fan) so I'd resolved to take about 2 weeks off from the gym and rolling. That ended up being about 4 weeks and my main sparring partner texted me like 'where you at?' and I realized those savages were still going to the gym despite my state's lockdown stance and I got going again. Last August, I got promoted to brown belt, so I'm getting somewhere :lol:

Work is just work. I take time off when I desire, knowing that they need me more than I need them. Whenever it starts to get stressful I just walk away from my desk for a bit, do some gardening or reading, and that puts things back into perspective. Unless something drastic happens and I really lose my cool over something, I'll probably just keep cashing those checks for the foreseeable future. My main focus is in providing guidance and support to the team that I lead and turning business problems into interesting puzzles that can be solved - because I like fixing things and solving problems no matter if it's for work or play.

My SO of four years decided to leave in January, citing that she'd changed her mind and did want to get married and have kids after all and she knew I wouldn't be on board for that, which was true. This is the third SO in a row that this has happened. It's all for the best of course and I'm now in a new relationship with someone more career oriented that I don't suspect this will happen with - but hey, I've been wrong before :D What is interesting about newSO is that she's very interested in investing and saving so I've been pointing her to some of the real basic stuff within our world, like Jim Collins' site and MD on FIRE, and she's getting up to speed.

The charts and tracking of the spreadsheet continues unabated. I tightened up my expense calculations to cover some costs that I wasn't accounting for earlier, but my 12 month rolling average withdrawal rate is sitting at 3.58%. House and car are now fully paid off, so that's nice. Perhaps because I was so focused on paying down those debts, my savings rates over the past three years are as follows: 2017 - 69%, 2018 - 48%, 2019 - 37%. Not setting any records but my portfolio is doing well and I'm still adding to it. The past two years I have significantly altered my investment strategy. Before, I only bought VTIVX or VTSAX. Since I wanted to loosen up a bit and play around, I started buying direct stocks with the intent of holding them long term. That served me well in the case of TSLA (so far) but my positions in the others (VFF and CCL) are so-so. No worries either way, that's the whole point of that little experiment anyways, right? Time will tell all.

Let's talk cars to wrap things up. My work horse Dodge Grand Caravan blew the engine mid-trip last October. I left it by the side of the road (after essentially donating it to the tow truck company) and purchased a slightly new Chrysler Town and Country (same exact vehicle, basically) the same day. I was really hoping the old van would last until I could get an electric truck, but alas, it was not to be. Otherwise, things are the same and I've only found a few days here and there to work on the Opel GT, but what time I have found to do things like build a new wiring harness has been immensely satisfying and I can't wait to clear out some necessary home repairs so I can resume working on it. Finally, since I'm a helpless speed freak, I managed to find something that satisfies that itch without a) bankrupting me and b) requiring heaps of time and effort to build, maintain, and tour a racecar. Behold! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rouu_k0zXvQ (not me, but similar setup)

TakeTwo
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue Aug 24, 2021 1:58 pm

Re: the dude's diary

Post by TakeTwo »

Dude! I am glad I caught your 2 year update. There's not too many car people of this forum, I suspect, so it's good to run into you. I just started rebuilding the engine in an '82 911. I seriously considered converting it to an EV, but decided against it. After all the research, though, I'm kind of thinking once I'm done with this rebuild, I'll try and find something else and do a conversion. My projects, cars and otherwise, have a tendency to drag out, so we'll see when I can get to that... Keep us posted on the Opel, though, I'd love to hear how that goes! And congrats on living it your way.

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