Quadalupe's Journey and Journal

Where are you and where are you going?
Cheepnis
Posts: 303
Joined: Mon Dec 31, 2018 11:52 am

Re: Quadalupe's Journey and Journal

Post by Cheepnis »

I don't wanna turn your journal into Cheepnis' therapy hour, I've brushed up against the topic a bit in my journal. In so many words I have a hard time relating to people and many times my future visualizations just turn into romanticized notions of what it would be like to experience social situations differently than I ever have.

Quadalupe
Posts: 268
Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2015 4:56 am
Location: the Netherlands

Quadalupe's book review - Moneyland

Post by Quadalupe »

I have picked up reading again. My plan is to summarize interesting books so that i) we can discuss them and ii) I can later read back my own summaries. First up: Moneyland by Oliver Bullough.


001. Moneyland - Oliver Bullough

Summary
Money flows internationally, laws are national. This the main problem in the fight against corruption. It is easy to create a whole slew of shell corporations in various jurisdictions. Each corporation can own other corporations, like a series of Matryoshka dolls. They can even own each other, conjuring images like an Ourobouros office building.

Speaking of office buildings, these companies can be situated in industrial areas, but also in the heart of London, together with thousands of other shell companies. These fancy adresses can give a shell company an air of legitimacy, making it easier to defraud others.

This perverse stacking of companies makes it impossible to discover and subsequently tax (or fine) the actual owner. And if you manage to discover who the owner is, taking action against them is costly, time consuming and prone to retaliation. For example, journalist in the UK are hesistant to publish 'hit jobs' on rich sheiks, presidents and oligarchs, because of the defamation laws. Dark money has deep pockets, and publishers/journalists don't.

Second passports can be easily obtained by the reasonably affluent by forking over some cash. Those passports can be from small independent island states, but also from EU countries like Malta. Some banana republics even sold diplomatic passports, given the owner diplomatic immunity.

Corruption is not just the deliberate mishandling of public funds, often found in eastern European and African countries. It is also facilitating the passageways into Moneyland. The Moneyland gatekeepers are the islands mentioned above, but also the Netherlands, the UK and several states in de US (like Delaware and Nevada). Those countries help dictators, war criminals, as well as large international companies to hide and embezzle cash flows. Sometimes legally, sometimes not.

Delivery
Bullough writes entertaining and interesting. He weaves a myriad of anecdotes together to tell his story. Sometimes the chapters seem a bit disconnected from the rest, possible because they are adapted newspaper articles. All in all, it's a good read about a frightening subject.

My opinion
I am still young and naive, since the contents of this book were quite shocking to me. That the global elite (E2/E1 in this link) can play by a completely different set of rules feels unfair.

It was also disconcerting to see the international race to the bottom with respect to legislature. Within the US the states are bidding against each other to provide the most beneficial trust laws for the elite, so that they can hide their assets there (and provide some employment for the denizens of the state). The same happens internationally, and my country takes part in this as well.

I regard most of the people mentioned in the book with contempt. I can understand an affluent Palestinan who buys different passports for his family to provide safety. But an African presidents daughter buying 200k of wedding dresses (with the money of her hungry citizens)? Or Yanukovych, the former Ukrainian president, who had more money and assets than he'd ever need? I despise them.

It is not just despicable, but also saddening. Your hedonistic treadmill must operate at an truly amazing speed if you need that much wealth to be happy. They are money junkies and their utility function is deeply broken. It strengthens me in the conviction that we should live a simple life like the Stoics advocate.

Still, I cannot completely dismiss the benefits of some of the Moneyland customs. I can see that it can be useful to divide your assets between different countries, since your own country can take a dark political turn. I can also understand that it is useful to have flexibility by having multiple passports for easy relocation.

J_
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Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2011 4:12 pm
Location: Netherlands/Austria

Re: Quadalupe's Journey and Journal

Post by J_ »

Thanks for this good initiative Quadalupe. This book/your-summary is helpful to get a better overview of what I already (not so precise) knew. It is what we see here in Europe and in the USA. Most recent : Mr Trump paying only $ 750 tax...My household of two pays 30 times more..

Quadalupe
Posts: 268
Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2015 4:56 am
Location: the Netherlands

Re: Quadalupe's Journey and Journal

Post by Quadalupe »

I just finished reading lacking ambition's blog. Fun to see some old timers like chenda and jennypenny chime in there as well. When I closed the tab and checked my mail, I saw the following gem nicely juxtaposed to the content of the lacking ambition blog:

Title: "3 ways to up-level your productivity with Miro"
Content:
"Hi Quadalupe,

You’re probably already creating boards, adding stickies, and commenting on teammates’ ideas in Miro. But we want to point out a few super-valuable but lesser-known features that our power users love.
<some inane tips>
"
I had to chuckle, since the contrast with his blog was just to great. I for sure do not want to 'up-level' my 'productivity', and I do not want to learn about 'super-valuable features that power users love'. I would rather not be an user at all! Alas, the things we do for love^H^H^H money.

Anyway, if anyone knows some nice 25k houses in The Netherlands, keep me appraised :lol:

chenda
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Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2011 1:17 pm
Location: Nether Wallop

Re: Quadalupe's Journey and Journal

Post by chenda »

Quadalupe wrote:
Mon Jan 25, 2021 3:50 pm
Anyway, if anyone knows some nice 25k houses in The Netherlands, keep me appraised :lol:
Yes he really was in the right place at the right time property wise : ) Hope he is doing ok

Quadalupe
Posts: 268
Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2015 4:56 am
Location: the Netherlands

Re: Quadalupe's Journey and Journal

Post by Quadalupe »

I feel like I could retire right now, which is a crazy idea (and not sustainable). But it is a fun thought exercise to perform.

Let's placate my anxiety driven reptile brain with some FACTS and LOGIC!

FACTS
  1. My spending is around ~750
  2. My NW is around ~120k -> 300 euro's with 3% SWR
  3. My side-gig netted around 750 euro pretax a month in 2020 (post-tax 375 due to high main income).
  4. Since I have accepted more courses to grade submissions for, this number will be higher this year
  5. My 'passive' (15 minutes a day grading assignments) income is 675 (Lizard Brain: O NO TOO LOW!)
  6. My passive income when I would quit my day job would be around ~1000 a month, since I would pay almost no taxes.
LOGIC
  1. I could retire if I quit my main job :shock:
There are two avenues of attack to this argument: my income could decrease and my expenses could increase. You can see that I have gained a lot from the MECE McKinsey Mental Models (see this thread) :lol:

Income decrease
  1. The markets could crash, since they are overvalued right now (see this thread).
    • BUT: my investment method is the permanent portfolio, which would give me some shielding from the crash.
  2. My side-gig could stop existing or decrease payments.
    • BUT: unlikely, since they are still growing like cabbage (as we dutchies like to say). They keep asking me to grade more courses. So even if some courses stop, I would be robust.
      • HOWEVER: 90% of the income was from three courses in 2020. So it is still somewhat fragile.
Expense increase
  1. My low spending now is partly due to COVID and there being nothing to do with friends.
    • BUT: a very large part of my low spending is due to me not needing much
  2. My housing costs are crazy low right now and we are thinking about buying a house, which would increase my spending substantially.
    • BUT: well, this is a good point...
So to summarize: if I was to stay put and spend my euros more efficiently post-covid, I could retire right now (with some risk). However, we will move somewhere between now and three years, so in practice it won't happen. Furthermore, I would need some time to prepare myself for the Great Salaryman Decoupling (i.e. what would I do with all the time?!).

Still, it was quite enlightening to work through this exercise and see that I am closer than I thought!

Quadalupe
Posts: 268
Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2015 4:56 am
Location: the Netherlands

Re: Quadalupe's Journey and Journal

Post by Quadalupe »

Some updates:

House
We bought a house! Some cool features:
  • It has a backyard that we can turn into a garden (see my next part)
  • It is big enough for us that we can stay here the rest of our lives (1200sq ft, 4BR) and we can even rent out a room at some point if we wish to.
  • It is within biking distance to both of our jobs, supermarket, library, friends etc
  • It is situated in a quiet neighborhood, quite a welcome change from our current apartment which is close to a large road and has a lot of noise pollution.
  • We'll get the keys end of August and move somewhere in the middle of October. Plenty of time to fix it up somewhat!
  • Solar panels are a possibility! I've yet to make the calculations and check the subsidies etc.
The financials:
  • Price was €325000, financed at 1.2% p/a for 20 years fixed, total mortage length time 30 years. This means we'll pay around €1200 p/m (linear mortgage). The rate is so low that paying it off faster doesn't make a lot of sense. We might still do it at some point, because having less outflow is good for the peace of mind and makes it easier to meet our expenses with dabbling a bit here and there.
  • We need to lay new floors. We are already procuring laminate flooring on the local craiglist for ~2 euro/m^2, instead of the €10-15/m^2 that new flooring costs. I think in total we'll pay around €600 for flooring total, since we do want to buy some stuff new if we can't find the specific flooring we like on craigslist.
  • We need to fix some small things and the boiler is EOL. Estimated total costs are around €5k (including roughly 2k for a new boiler soon), but I'm willing to do a lot myself and learn stuff using YT and my wise elders. So maybe we can lower those expenses. Wrt doing stuff myself, finding the balance between fast, cheap, good is important. I don't want to overextend myself and end up with a burnout and a badly fixed house! I *am* really hyped about this house project though!
Apartment garden
I posted about it somewhere else, but I started a small garden on our balcony. I plopped down some radish and zucchini seeds and threw in some sprouting onions and garlic. I bought the cheapest soil at the Lidl. I put it all in foldable crates with thrashbags with holes in them. I deliberately didn't think too much about the best plan, since my problem is usually overanalyzing and not getting started.

So far it has been pretty cool! It yielded two round radishes and a few more edible ones that were more elongated. My zucchini plants didn't do much for weeks and then started sprouting and producing yellow flowers. I didn't even know that they did that! I was worried that they wouldn't pollinate, but they did and now I have some baby zucchini's growing!

Some pics:
Image
Setup with the radishes sprouting

Image
Quadalupe's first steps into total self sufficiency

Image
The current progress of the Zucchini family

It feels amazing that something that I can eat can simply grow in a 'garden' I made! (Yes I'm a sheltered suburban kid who thinks vegetables spawn in the supermarket). I look forward to doing some more serious gardening when I have a backyard. I do like my approach of just starting and learning on the fly though. I coined the term "delta's in the right direction", meaning that it's okay to fail, as long as you fail in the right direction. Then ergodicity will take you where you want to be.

Micro adventure
I went on a micro adventure with a friend. We slept under the trees without a tent and it was amazing! Such a cool experience to hear the forest go quiet and see the stars! In the morning, we were awakened by the birds. After we packed up, we went skinny dipping in the nearby river and had breakfast while catching the first rays of the sun. While sitting there, we met an older woman with two dogs who came here every week to take swim in the river. She was a way better swimmer than us and it was pretty cool to look at here go (and her dogs were good boys/girls too). Afterwards, I did have some ticks on me though, so this microadventure wasn't without risk! Still, it was so refreshing to have a genuine new and kinda scary experience!

Skill acquisition
I've fixed my tire twice in the past months and I'll fix another tire tomorrow. It wasn't the same tire that went flat, so I did develop some tire fixing skills! I plan to make a cool bike fixing rig in the shed in our new house (possible from old inner tubes, kinda like here: https://youtu.be/cSNcWO4Fshs?t=235). Then I can acquire some more serious skills like fixing/replacing chains, wheels, spokes etc.

I've also read the Bodie book. It's boring, but good to work through. I don't know if I'll change my permanent portfolio approach, but it's good to know a bit more about these things.

Wheaton levels etc
I enjoy ruminating on the wheaton levels. It's intellectually stimulating to think about these concepts and things like systems thinking. I can still apply these concepts more though, but again: delta's in the right direction baby! I do get that people learn in different ways. I like to nerd out with tables & diagrams. My favourite courses in uni were in computational complexity and modal logic.

Others have different learning styles though. They learn more through stories, examples or other means. I think it would be great if there I/we/someone could develop multiple ways to talk about and explain ERE. And (I feel) this isn't the same as 'dumbing it down', 'not wanting to make an effort' or 'moving down the wheaton levels'. Of course, the onus of doing this *isn't* on Jacob (or anyone for that matter). But I don't think it is strange that people ask for this or try to discuss this. I'll think about this some more...

Work
Work is fun! I do cool shit with cool people. One thing that I'm getting increasingly better at is saying no. Just as you don't want to fill cupboards 100%, you don't want to be on 100% load. Create some slack for spontanous and unforseen events. You'll have more time to do your projects and also don't have stress. Highly recommended and effective!

Financial stats
I honestly don't feel that motivated to 'keep score' anymore. Money definitely feels like it's 'on tap' for me, even though I don't yet have enough to be fully FIREd. I feel like I grok the concepts (though anyone, feel free to call me out if you see me slipping up!) and I can benefit more by focusing on (and acting in!) other domains. If I had to guesstimate I have around 17 years of expenses saved, and that that would yield enough $$$ when combined with my low intensity freelance activity that I'm doing 'good enough'.

Quadalupe
Posts: 268
Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2015 4:56 am
Location: the Netherlands

Quotes to mull over

Post by Quadalupe »

Even if you are rich and have no nominal boss, statistically speaking you are still effectively a wage slave. If all you end up doing is nursing the money, without ever exercising the authority to decide on which future it shall be spent, it might as well be someone else’s.
The indeterminate hedge-trader with his logarithmic utility function assigns infinite negative utility to ruin. The man of action serenely regards ruin as the most likely possible outcome, mitigates it where he can, and leaps anyway. He rejects the comfortable half-existence of drifting with the indeterminate human tide and manifests his bold vision into the world. Ruin is largely an illusion in the modern world anyway. If you lose everything you own, you generally still have your network and skills. Even a nominally risk-loving financial utility function is overly conservative in practice because it’s hard to lose these intangible assets.
from https://palladiummag.com/2022/01/06/quit-your-job/ (thanks AxelHeyst)

Keep these in mind, since you started your journal and journey explicitly talking about utility functions. It might be a mistake.

Quadalupe
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Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2015 4:56 am
Location: the Netherlands

Re: Quadalupe's Journey and Journal

Post by Quadalupe »

This time, we used the Mastermind Group session to give three people the opportunity to share a bit more on the projects they want to work on before they dove into that. My overarching goal is to get closer to ERE, since leanfire is more or less achieved. I noticed that my projects often have some downtime because I'm waiting on other people and I noticed that I switched a lot between projects.

This is why I made a split between habits and projects. Habits are tiny things that I do often for an indefinite amount of time. They help me to slowly gain experience. Projects are short term with a clear end goal. If done right, these help me to 'crowbar' myself to a higher amount of skills or capital.

I prepared by brainstorming a list of projects I could think of (not necessarily all projects I actually want to do).
Image

Next, I culled the list and summarized the most promising projects and chose a couple of them. I formulated clear(ish) goals and next steps (as per GTD doctrine)
Image

For the habits, I also did a (less thorough) brainstorm and chose some habits to focus on for this fortnight. The key with the habits is to start small and don't overdo it.
Image

I ended up with this overview, which is literally taken from our mastermind group overview page. I feel like this gives me some clear direction and actions to take!
Image

Quadalupe
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Location: the Netherlands

Re: Quadalupe's Journey and Journal

Post by Quadalupe »

*** Weekly checkin ***
We've had a leaking radiator for a few days now. It makes it painfully apparent that I don't know much about physical maintenance. I slept terrible last night because I needed to wring out the moistened cloths I put under the radiator twice. Today I took a few hours of to try to fix it to no avail. I feel like a failure even though I shouldn't. At least we managed to contain the leak for now. We'll call a plumber this Friday to look at it.

I also went to the gym on Monday at work. Just some simple exercises during lunch, but it felt good. Didn't do any cooking so far due to stress.

rube
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Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2012 7:54 pm
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Re: Quadalupe's Journey and Journal

Post by rube »

YouTube probably can be a good resource for your radiator issue. Or post it here for local (Dutch) advice https://gathering.tweakers.net/forum/li ... 91146/last
If you can't fix it yourself, which is okay, don't stress too much about, but I suggest to try to learn from the plumber. Watch him or her and ask questions. Generally they are happy to share what and why they are doing things.

Good to read an update from you. Let us know how it plays out.

DutchGirl
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Re: Quadalupe's Journey and Journal

Post by DutchGirl »

Always so annoying when things that used to work start falling apart. Good luck!

AxelHeyst
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Re: Quadalupe's Journey and Journal

Post by AxelHeyst »

I'm interested if the leak was internal to the radiator, or coming from the pipe fittings that connect to it?

I know that feeling you describe. It is not fun. One possible way to frame these kinds of situations is an opportunity to learn no matter the outcome. You tried to fix the leak (having a go at it is a win, most people don't even bother). Presumably you now know more things about radiators, even though you didn't know enough (or, more likely, didn't have the right tools) to actually fix whatever was wrong. You know where your knowledge/tools/etc ends when it comes to radiators, which is a thing you maybe didn't know before. If you decide to commit to being able to repair leaky radiators, you at least now know where to start.

Perhaps you can find an old broken radiator in a dumpster somewhere and take it apart and attempt to put it back together again. No worries if you destroy it in the process, it was already 'waste'. You can find the datasheet on those radiators and understand that model radiator backwards and forwards. Knowing one unit completely is knowing all radiators to at least 80%.

Quadalupe
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Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2015 4:56 am
Location: the Netherlands

Re: Quadalupe's Journey and Journal

Post by Quadalupe »

Thanks all for the support! I might go to Tweakers next time Rube, good advice. Before I called a plumber I tried to use teflon tape to fix it, but it still leaked.

I was planning to stay yesterday to see how the plumber would fix it. However, he suddenly messaged me that he would be two hours late and I had another appointment later that day. From what I gathered he replaced a small metal ring in the pipe connecting to the radiator. It felt like a classic situation of 'pay 5ct for parts and $1000 for the knowledge of which part is needed'.

And @AH: this might also be a good suggestion. I think I could get away with just looking at different 'connectors' for radiators and the pipes coming from the boiler, since the rest of the radiator is just a big hot water container.

Quadalupe
Posts: 268
Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2015 4:56 am
Location: the Netherlands

Re: Quadalupe's Journey and Journal

Post by Quadalupe »

***Weekly checkin (belated)***
Felt way more relaxed this week due to lack of leaky radiators! Went to the gym at my work once, trying to build up the habit of always taking my sporting goods with me so I will work out there more. I cooked a big batch of spaghetti + sauce. I experimented with adding lentils to the sauce so it would be more filling and worked pretty well. The sauce was also dense enough that I could eat wraps with it. :-)

Finished reading The Witcher, I love his writing style! Also started reading Antifragile. Taleb is a pompous ass, but I enjoy his writing style as well.

Next week is my last week before my 3 week holiday starts. I'll take care to wrap up some things but not overdo it.

rube
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Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2012 7:54 pm
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Re: Quadalupe's Journey and Journal

Post by rube »

Hi Quadelupe, how is it going with the leaky radiators (house)? Garden and love in general? Would be nice to read how you're doing?

Quadalupe
Posts: 268
Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2015 4:56 am
Location: the Netherlands

Re: Quadalupe's Journey and Journal

Post by Quadalupe »

Hi Rube, thanks for checking in! Now that spring is in full swing all is well in house, gardens and love. I haven't planted much in the garden this season, but I am enjoying the spontaneous flowers that have sprung up in the past few months.

FIRE wise, I've hit the OG ERE mark, so JLF_ERE achieved! My skill level and situation aren't the same as Jacob's were, so I'll continue plugging along for a bit though I wouldn't need to anymore strictly speeking

ERE wise, I think I have identified a different area I'd be interested to work in, so I'll get acquainted in that and try to land a part time job in that subject somewhere in the next year or so. I have also been thinking about my post j*b life: I might start working a day or so at a bouldering gym, combining $$$, being at a fun place and free access to the gym.

Finally, I've started volunteering at a food bank. It's useful and thankful work in my community.

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aardappel
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Re: Quadalupe's Journey and Journal

Post by aardappel »

Hello Quadelupe, I enjoyed reading your journal so far. Congrats on hitting the ERE mark and good luck finding WoG-aligned work!

DutchGirl
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Re: Quadalupe's Journey and Journal

Post by DutchGirl »

We have an aardappel here?

Anyway, Mr. Q, how are you?

Quadalupe
Posts: 268
Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2015 4:56 am
Location: the Netherlands

Stories of the Desert Kings

Post by Quadalupe »

Serenity. It is what I am. And it is where I am.

All my live I have lived in cities. I have lived apartments, I have lived in houses. I have lived in the suburbs and I have lived downtown. But this month, I live like a Desert King.

During my career, I have always had ample time saved away. Not just in terms of money, which is just time congealed. I have also had plenty in terms of accrued vacation time. I just never had a real use for most of it.

I have been reading this forum for a decade, a member for eight years and a mastermind group member for two. I have met many amazing people, both online and in the flesh.

Through these interactions I have been gifted kinships, friendships even. And so I finally got a reason to spent my time.

This month I will spent it at Fort Dirtbag, a save haven from consumerism and an ERE heaven. It is situated in the desert and its benevolent ruler is called AxelHeyst.

AxelHeyst has been gracious enough to host me for a month and to show me the ropes of what being a Desert King is all about. I will try to detail these adventures here in the coming month.

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