Seppia's journal

Where are you and where are you going?
Cheepnis
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by Cheepnis »

That food looks amazing. Would.

And you have uncovered a fairly old desire of mine, which is to go to Japan. Not really sure where it comes from because I'm not much into the stereotypical Japanese things Americans are into (i.e. manga & anime & such), but Japan has always fascinated me. I also love walking through parks so Nara has been added to the mental list for whenever I go. Those pictures are beautiful.

slowtraveler
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by slowtraveler »

@Seppia
Congratulations on your coming move! I know you've been intending it for a while so it's wonderful you've finally made that puzzle work out. Will this affect the tax benefit you previously mentioned?

Those pictures all look great. Makes me want to visit Japan soon but Taiwan should be within the next year. Maybe I'll even try tripe and tongue.

@Bitago
That story sounds like me too. Your story spoke to me so much I read it to my girlfriend this morning. I was happy to be able to tell her that she's the only woman I've ever felt matched me in that regard (eating on the ground in a hut >> eating in a fancy restaurant.)

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Seppia
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by Seppia »

@Cheepnis and slowtraveler: let me know if you ever need any suggestion, I am slowly gathering a pretty good knowledge of Japan due to my frequent visits.

@bigato: of course being "comfortable" is also due to the contextual situation, but I would argue there is a certain "baseline" state.
One can be "comfortable in his/her own skin" and feel weird and out of place because of the situation.

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Seppia
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by Seppia »

Life

July was supposed to be the month where I got official confirmation of my transfer in Asia, but nothing happened. I'm guessing it was due to the fact that too many things were happening inside the company, and everybody was seeing the finish line (people tend to take vacations early august in italy).
Luckily this was a plus for me because we have a few things/changes developing at the family level and some more time to plan was welcome.

Last week of July I went to visit one of my best friends who lives in Sweden, and we went camping for a few days with his kid in a semi-remote island of Stockholm's archipelago.
It was a nice "men" trip, while his wife was away in her home country to take care of some admin stuff.
We looked like a fabulously outdoorsy, satanic t-shirt wearing gay couple.
A bit odd but a lot of fun nonetheless :lol:

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It is great to remember the things that I really value in life: mostly human relationships (true friendship and true love are the fuel for happiness), health and natural beauty.
Some deep discussions (that may or may not have been fueled by excessive enthousiasm towards a bottle of Aberlour 12yo) ensued, and I have been thinking ever since that Sweden may be a great place to relocate to in a few years, possibly as a place to finally settle down after a gipsy life.

Sweden checks a lot of boxes for me:

- Beautiful country with lots of nature
- Great welfare. I personally prefer paying lots of taxes and getting great services, infrastructure, healthcare, and a safety net.
- Equitable society. The gap between the haves and the have nots is infinitely smaller than in America and Asia
- Safe
- Polite population
- Not overcrowded
- Should be ok with global warming
- Country's finances under control

I spoke about this with DW and she's onboard.

So the approximate plan is:
1- Move to HK, make lots of money, become fully FI with good margin of safety: 3-5 years
2- Find a simple, possibly part time job in sales in Sweden, just to cover life expenses, and move to Stockholm.

Obviously many things can happen in the meanwhile, but I usually like to have an approximate idea of what we are going to do next - then life will get in the way and that's ok.

Finances

Sightly higher expenses VS normal, due to a few one-offs (dental cleaning, restoration of one of the pieces of furniture we bought second hand, import duties on the Arc'teryx jacket), but more than compensated by the fact that july is my second largest month of the year in dividend income.

So far this year dividends have covered 90.5% of all living expenses.
This is unsustainable and not representative of reality, for two main reasons
1- The last four months of 2019 are going to be lighter in dividends and higher in expenses
2- 2019 is so far being an unusually low expenses year because of timing of large one offs
Still, pretty damn great!

SR for the month ended up at 76%, YTD at 79%, I hope to finish the year above 70% (long shot target at 75%)
Last edited by Seppia on Sat Aug 17, 2019 11:06 am, edited 1 time in total.

rube
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by rube »

Well done Sepia.
Regarding Sweden, in winter time the days are (very) short. Have you considered this also? For me personally that would be a big minus vs all the positives you listed. Or maybe being snowbirds in winter season?

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Seppia
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by Seppia »

In Stockholm it's not too bad. In mid December, the worst possible time of the year, you still get slightly more than 6 hours of daylight per day.

Plus, this seems to be an issue that worries almost everybody who doesn't live there, and no one that I know who actually is in Stockholm.
My best friend says you adjust fairly quickly, plus I know another guy (from Sicily, so he should be suffering a lot from this in theory) who's been a resident there for 12 years and says it's no big deal.

It wouldn't worry me a lot, especially because all the positives are very powerful.

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Bankai
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by Bankai »

Whenever we go on holiday to a new place, unless it totally sucks, I'm like 'It's so cool here, we should totally move here once we ERE!'. Few months pass and the idea is gone. Until next holiday, that is.

Have you considered the following:

- language
- proximity to family/friends
- culture shock - you lived in many places so it's probably not a big deal for you, but Italians and Scandinavians are nothing alike, i.e. you're not supposed to touch friends you talk to in Scandinavia
- Sweden has a high risk of the real estate bubble bursting, also rents in Stockholm are very expensive (e1,100 for 1 bed in the city centre)
- it's not only short days in winter but also much cooler temperatures throughout the year and winters can be brutal
- according to Jacob, Scandinavians are more equality oriented and less individualistic (I believe he gave this as (one of) the reason(s) he moved?), and you strike me as a very ambitious & individualistic person

There are obviously many positives, as with every location, but one should not be only paying attention to positives. Especially that being somewhere on holiday and living full time is a totally different experience. I still think Sweden is a great country btw.

Also, did you mean unusually high dividends and low expenses?

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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by jacob »


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Seppia
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by Seppia »

@Bankai: I know the probability of DW and I ending up in Sweden is relatively low, but we never experience what you described.
It may be related to the fact that I travel a ton for work (and made it a goal since the mid 20s to cover different areas as I progressed in my career), so I'm maybe a bit blasé in regards to "new places".

Language isn't an issue, everybody speaks great english, and should we stay long term learning the language will come naturally.
Compared to other places we lived in, Sweden would be "close" by our standards :lol:
The cultural shock (including the less individualistic attitude) has always been part of the fun: both DW and I firmly believe that living in different countries and experiencing the inevitable culture shocks has made us the persons we are today (if I had to resume it I would say "more adaptable" - which I think is good).

We do not have issues with colder temperatures, plus averages may have changed quite a bit in 10-15 years :)

Again I give it a chance of happening at around 10% tops, but I would be in for the ride for sure.

I edited my post above to clarify, thanks :) I wanted to say "the last four months of 2019 are budgeted to be..."

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Seppia
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by Seppia »

Just got back home after almost three weeks.
Electricity went off.
I had 2kg of steak in the freezer.
I now know how hell smells like.

henrik
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by henrik »

I've lived at roughly the latitude* and climate of Stockholm for most of my life. It's obviously a matter of adaptation and preference, but I find the variation in seasons and duration of daylight a positive. It provides a slow and steady rhythm to things that I've missed living further to the south. The temperature range is certainly preferable to anywhere around Italy, not to mention SE Asia:)

* = at about the same as Juneau, AK but without the oceanic influence

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Seppia
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by Seppia »

henrik wrote:
Mon Aug 19, 2019 6:12 pm
The temperature range is certainly preferable to anywhere around Italy
I love Sweden but you're taking it a tad too far :lol:

take2
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by take2 »

Seppia wrote:
Mon Aug 19, 2019 4:03 pm
Just got back home after almost three weeks.
Electricity went off.
I had 2kg of steak in the freezer.
I now know how hell smells like.
Oh no! This happened to me about 12 years ago while I was at university and my parents were away. I came home for the weekend to the worst smell I’ve ever encountered. The fridge/freezer was literally full of maggots. No tips to share unfortunately - just sympathy.

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Seppia
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by Seppia »

In the end it was no big deal.

I brought the fridge on the terrace, threw away immediately all the food, then cleaned the fridge/freezer throughly with water and vinager.
Left it open to "breathe" all night.
This morning almost all the smell was gone.
I'll give it a second round of cleaning when back from the office and it'll be ready to go.

henrik
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by henrik »

Seppia wrote:
Tue Aug 20, 2019 12:58 am
I love Sweden but you're taking it a tad too far :lol:
Let's just say if you want to be out and about through the year, it's a lot easier to find a warm jacket or a sleeping bag than devise your personal portable AC somehow:)

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Seppia
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by Seppia »

August update

Vacation

My wife's parents own a small apartment in the french alps that they use mostly during ski season.
It was empty and we love summer in the mountains (more peaceful, fresher, less people), so we jumped on the opportunity and went hiking for 10 days.

DW and I are always grateful for the life we have.

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Work

It looks like I'll be getting the chance to expand my role. This should happen any day now, and the move to asia is now 99% likely. I'd like some official confirmation but nothing still.
The end result should be more work, more money and more stress, but also the chance to learn something completely new.
Overall positive, especially because I'm very happy at work in spite of the long hours and incessant travel.

Health

Unfortunately, work is absorbing a lot of my energy, and as a result weight is out of control. I'm now 203lbs (92 kg).
I don't seem to be able to be 100% disciplined/focused in multiple aspects of my life: when work takes center stage, I let go on the eating/exercising.
I know it's 100% stress related as I consistently lose weight when on vacation

Money

Another decent month with 70% savings rate in spite of some vacation expenses.
YTD SR is at 79%, end year goal is still to be at 70% and stretch goal at 75%. It may be feasible if I have no unexpected exenses.
Dividends YTD have covered almost 85% of expenses. I expect this number to be lower at year end.

I am continuing my slow move towards defensive.
Cash stash is the highest it has been in two years (absolute value) and is now up to 17.5% of NW (excluding my small apartment).
All the stocks I've bought in the last 4 months are considered "defensive" stocks.

take2
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by take2 »

Breathtaking pictures!

I work stupid hours and travel quite a bit for work as well. One thing that’s helped me is setting up fitness challenges with my childhood friends who I’m still close to. We don’t live on the same continents, much less the same cities, but I’ve found it to be a great way to keep in touch plus provide a competitive atmosphere that helps in staying in shape.

Our first challenge was 50 burpees a day for 100 days. It’s easy, quick and can be done anywhere. The added bonus of being spread over the globe is that our group chats come in at all hours. So sometimes I would wake up in the UK and see that my friend in LA did his challenge while I was sleeping so it provided some motivation to get off my ass and do them.

Current challenge is a daily 6 min of kettlebell workout, 40 pull-ups, and 1 mile run. We use a google spreadsheet to track and send ridiculous messages to each other whenever someone is falling behind. Perhaps something similar would help you stay on track?

classical_Liberal
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by classical_Liberal »

I'm not sure if it's your personality (ie very optimistic?) or if you have simply crafted a great lifestyle, but I love all of your updates and pictures. Do you really ever want to retire for what you've got going on? I mean, I'm not suggesting you start spending more money or anything, it just seems like you're so happy in your current situation.

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Seppia
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by Seppia »

@anesde: that's a great idea thanks for the suggestion!

@c_L: when planning ahead I tend to be very conservative/pessimistic, but when looking back and "in the moment" I'm definitely a half glass full kind of person.
This said I am very happy now, a great 180 turn compared to a couple years ago where I really did not enjoy my job for a few different reasons.
I know this could change any time though, as there are many factors outside of your control.
Right now I have everything going for me:

a boss that trusts me/respects me and that doesn't micro manage too much
I am responsible for an area with great potential for growth that remained untapped for many years prior to my arrival, and I like the guys on my team
Said area happens to be beautiful
A great brand
I am handsomely paid and travel policy is generous

Some of the above are things that will not change, but a change of boss for the worse could have immediate negative effects.

So long story short, it's clear to me that I'm not going to quit anytime soon should things remain as-is, but I'm happy I'm saving north of 2/3 of my income anyway, just in case.
I am not exactly wired as an hardcore ERE practitioner. I could "retire" in a few months on a barebone expense plan, with a reasonable margin of safety (below 2.5% WR*), but I have expensive hobbies if measured by the standards of this forum. Mostly scuba diving and international travel.

So I'll probably hit "my number" somewhere between 5 and 7 years from now (even if I keep moving the goal posts further every year, in perfect OMY syndrome style), but my situation gives me the added EFF-YOU attitude to be able to fight any stressful situation

*In italy, we have a 0.2% wealth tax on all financial assets, plus dividends are taxed at 26%. So an american "4% WR" really corresponds to 2.8% for us.

wolf
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by wolf »

There is luckily (not yet) a wealth tax in Germany.
We do also have a tax on investment income (either dividends or on the profit when selling). The tax is also around 26%.
And isn't there already a financial transaction tax in Italy? Probably there will be one in Germany as well.
Due to the progressive tax on any income there is an income level, on which you do not have to pay taxes. It's around 9k€ in Germany. And if you add (assert) expenses on health insurance on that you can earn around 12k€ income tax free (including investment). Is there something like that also in Italy? Or do you have to pay the same tax rate on investment (dividend?) income regardless the amount of your annual income?

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