Halfway there, doubling down

[Dominic]

Hi all, Dominic here.

After reading quite some ERE/FIRE stuff for the last 7 or 8 years I find myself coming back to Jacobs blog and this forum as a lasting source of inspiration. It’s one of the reasons that me and my wife have been able to gradually increase our savings rate from 25% to around 60%. During that time we also came to believe that (early) retirement within the framework of our mainstream consumer society is not something we feel would make us happy long term. We are looking to build our skill set towards a more sustainable, self-sufficient and producer oriented lifestyle. We don’t fully live up to this belief however.

At the moment we feel like we’re following a pretty standard path in life. Bought a house in my hometown, married, both working a full time office job with hobbies and a social life on the side. Though we’re quite frugal and ahead of the curve regarding housing, transportation, cooking and clothing, we’re still living a largely consumer lifestyle financed by our dual incomes. Now feels like a good time to take the hurdle into proper ERE territory for the second leg of our journey to financial independence. Reinventing our game instead of winning the consumer game.

I’ll post a recap of our financial journey so far on the blog and take off from there. For now (this was supposed to be an introduction after all): I’m an urban planner based in the Netherlands. 33 years old, male, married with a baby on the way.

Taking a dive into the forum the coming weeks to see where I can contribute and learn most!

[Dream of Freedom]

Hi there!

[Slevin]

Welcome in! The internet seems to generally be big fans of Dutch urban planning these days, and I’m a big fan of bike / train oriented infrastructure myself, so I want to say thanks if you’ve been helping to contribute to that!

[chenda]

I’m an urban planner based in the Netherlands.

Welcome, I'm a urban planner across the channel : )

[rube]

Welcome, lots of Dutchies here!

[Western Red Cedar]

Welcome to the forum! I'm looking forward to following along if you start a journal.

[Dominic]

so I want to say thanks if you’ve been helping to contribute to that!

Only indirectly. I've specialised in building codes, regulations, permits and local implementation of national laws.

But (some) dutch urban planning really is great. I only fully realised once I moved abroad for a couple of years. Check out the city of Houten in Utrecht. It has been designed from the ground up with a focus on pushing cars out to the perimeter and making great public spaces for bikers and pedestrians.

[Dominic]

Thanks All! I'll probably start posting my journal next week.