Fingeek's Journal

[ertyu]

Congratulations!!!

[fingeek]

Update for Aug:

Current net worth: £615,574

To cover fixed expenses (lean FIRE): 2.8% WR required

To cover fixed + optional expenses (live as today): 3.5% WR required

To cover YMOYL (real-world 12mnth average): 5.1% WR required
NW deficit to 4.0% SWR: £167,798. Years of savings needed: 3.2yr/Oct 2026

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On finance:
I have three models for FIRE forecasting (Yeah, super geek I know). They've all shown different numbers, so given that a milestone has been hit I've been working to reconcile the numbers. I've consolidated the two that are budget-facing, and now there's one final one which is YMOYL/real-world-facing. We have an option to either cut spending down to budget to be able to FIRE now, or wait the ~3.1yrs to be able to continue our current lifestyle. In reality, it will be somewhere middleing but on the earlier side - We have quite a bit of unnecessary fat that we are starting to look to trim down.

On life:
On recent reflection, I realised that my test retirement year in 2019 had mostly unstructured time but no real structured planned. I need this - my personality type is most effective with some level of structure.

So I've continued with the intentional forced-discipline and structure mental model. I've written down some things and calculated how they weight to the PERMA model. Surprise surprise I'm lacking in Meaning. This will be one of the focuses going forward.

[fingeek]

Update for Sept:

Current net worth: £604,833
To cover fixed expenses (lean FIRE): 3.4% WR required
To cover fixed + optional expenses (live as today): 4.2% WR required
To cover YMOYL (real-world 12mnth average): 4.9% WR required
NW deficit to 4.0% SWR: £131,702. Years of savings needed: 3.2yr/Dec 2026

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"Going deep"
I've been thinking about Exploitation Vs exploration mode a lot more. I've looked at my weekly monthly and yearly activities roughly, and thought how that maps back to my happiness and values. In a number of areas I've lived up to my values. In many, I have not.

So this month all I've continued to live intentionally, and review when I am/am not. I'm back coding and learning - things I've missed for a while. And I've culled many meaningless activities like mindless browsing on Reddit.

[fingeek]

Update for Oct:

Current net worth: £602,253
To cover fixed expenses (lean FIRE): 3.4% WR required
To cover fixed + optional expenses (live as today): 4.3% WR required
To cover YMOYL (real-world 12mnth average): 4.9% WR required
NW deficit to 4.0% SWR: £139,514. Years of savings needed: 4.1yr/Nov 2027

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Nothing too much of note this month. Nice to see the NW still holding up - even with a few bigger one-off payments going out this month - although I'm finding that I'm looking at it less and less as time goes on which I'm writing down as a mini success. I feel like with PERMA model still at the front of my mind, I'm continuing to work towards a post-salaryman life, and doing it so its sustainable and structured. Lets see how this goes...

[DutchGirl]

For me, the last months of the year are a little bit rough. I hate that it's dark, cold, windy and rainy out (hurray north-European sea climate). The parties in December don't completely make up for that in my opinion, but okay, they pull me through.

How about you? Are these the months where you also (like me) contemplate quitting your job and moving to Spain? Or are you not bothered so much by it?

And oh, it is really nice to feel quite financially secure, isn't it?

[fingeek]

It's a bit different here in the UK I think. Because the weather is normally crap, we're used to it. In fact, I quite like when it's a bit colder, a bit darker - It seems to slow me down a bit, in a good way!

We have thought/dreamt about buying a holiday home in Spain, but quickly drop into the thought of it being a terrible investment, and we wouldn't want to holiday to the same place all the time. Stuck in INTJ thinking perhaps .

We're getting there with financial security, and with our refreshed budget tracking, I'm moving towards quitting - But this time, it won't be just for one year.

Hope all well with you

[DutchGirl]

We have thought/dreamt about buying a holiday home in Spain, but quickly drop into the thought of it being a terrible investment, and we wouldn't want to holiday to the same place all the time. Stuck in INTJ thinking perhaps .

I think it's pretty smart to not buy a holiday house. When you're no longer tied to a job, or when you can WFH (Work From Holiday) I would consider vacationing in the south of Europe for a month or so every winter for a few years, in different locations each year. If you find an amazing spot, you can always consider whether buying a holiday home there is a financially sound move.

[fingeek]

Update for Nov:

* Current net worth: £636,604
* To cover fixed expenses (lean FIRE): 3.2% WR required
* To cover fixed + optional expenses (live as today): 4.1% WR required
* To cover YMOYL (real-world 12mnth average): 4.6% WR required
* NW deficit to 4.0% SWR: £90,750. Years of savings needed: 2.6yr/Jul 2026

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No news this month, actually have been a lot more present this month and a lot less planning - Good progress! (And busy... I plan to add more slack into my schedule, and try to turn off/down various input feeds into view).

[fingeek]

Update for Dec:

* Current net worth: £647,885
* To cover fixed expenses (lean FIRE): 3.1% WR required
* To cover fixed + optional expenses (live as today): 4.1% WR required
* To cover YMOYL (real-world 12mnth average): 4.2% WR required
* NW deficit to 4.0% SWR: £33,055. Years of savings needed: 1.0yr/Dec 2024

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A nice bump in NW again this month, and getting closer to where I want to be. My modelling of expenses is getting more accurate compared to my our real-world 12 month average spending. I'm happy about this, as well as bringing our expenses down naturally (i.e. not forced). The fact that we're at close to 4% is another good milestone.

This comfort, and a few other IRL things this year, have given me a lot more food for thought in terms of next steps. Will write about that in future posts.

To anyone reading - I hope your 2023 was what you wanted it to be, and that 2024 will be as you hope - no, make it.

[fingeek]

Update for Jan:

* Current net worth: £722,019
* To cover fixed expenses (lean FIRE): 2.7% WR required
* To cover fixed + optional expenses (live as today): 3.6% WR required
* To cover YMOYL (real-world 12mnth average): 3.8% WR required
* NW deficit to 3.5% SWR: £51,948. Years of savings needed: 1.5yr/Nov 2022

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A big bump again this month, mainly one lucky(-ish) windfall - below 4% on the next measure!

Preparing to make some changes first quarter of this year, so that will be interesting. I'll write about that in more depth in the coming months, but this last few months I've been focusing on living more intentionally, and reflecting regularly on my highest values. I have structure in place for weekly and monthly plans, which is helping guide me and give a bit of necessary forced-discipline.

[singvestor]

Wow, things have really been accelerating, congrats!

[DutchGirl]

Wow, indeed!

I'm looking forward to your updates

[fingeek]

Update for Feb:

* Current net worth: £719,284
* To cover fixed expenses (lean FIRE): 2.7% WR required
* To cover fixed + optional expenses (live as today): 3.7% WR required
* To cover YMOYL (real-world 12mnth average): 3.8% WR required
* NW deficit to 3.5% SWR: £57,640

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NW maintained, and have been living quite in the moment this month. No real musings.

[fingeek]

And thank you both!

[fingeek]

Update for Mar:
* Current net worth: £740,312
* To cover fixed expenses (lean FIRE): 2.6% WR required
* To cover fixed + optional expenses (live as today): 3.7% WR required
* To cover YMOYL (real-world 12mnth average): 3.6% WR required
* NW deficit to 3.7% SWR: £-25,948

Reading through the excellent portfoliocharts this month, and settling on around 3.7% (LTWR) as an ultimate target/limit for yield. We've been managing well on the budget we set back in September. I plan to aim for a bit more buffer £50k-£100k max. That final cut-off ensures the end of One More Year syndrome. Portfoliocharts has also given me motivation to review our "VWRL and done" current portfolio, as we transition out of salary man mode.

We'll see how the coming month or two pans out, and how I look toward trialing FIRE (again). This time, I think I need finality to close off the immediate possibility of going back to work. Increase that (perceived) pain? rate, and see where that takes me.

[fingeek]

Update for Apr:

* Current net worth: £760,433
* To cover fixed expenses (lean FIRE): 2.6% WR required
* To cover fixed + optional expenses (live as today): 3.6% WR required
* To cover YMOYL (real-world 12mnth average): 3.6% WR required
* NW deficit to 3.7% SWR: £-29,540

It's interesting how, as I'm focusing more and more on other things, I have less to say here. Money and cashflow is taking up less of my mind-space as time goes on, as I continue to increasingly solve for that stuff. The focus now is the even harder stuff - Continuing to separate "work" from my identity. This has been fun, and I'm looking forward to doing this more.

[ertyu]

Separating "work" from one's identity is plenty interesting, I for one would be very interested to read your thoughts and experiences around that

Good work on selecting and achieving a target, and solving money as a problem. Congratulations on accomplishing this stage!

[fingeek]

Thank you! I'm slowly collecting some notes in that area, and I will add to a journal entry when it's more well formed (and more fully discovered!)

It feels like I'm on the outgoing end of "One More Year" syndrome, and I think my test retirement year really helped me realise that I needed to do something with my time, and that I need structure. So that's mainly what I've been focusing on recently.

[fingeek]

Update for May:

* WR for fixed expenses (lean FIRE): 2.1%
* WR for fixed + optional expenses (live as today): 3.0%
* WR for YMOYL (real-world 12mnth average): 3.0%
* WR for extra padding: 3.3%
* WR for extra padding x2: 4.0%

I've stopped reporting NW, as it is focusing on the right direction. I still track it myself, but am focusing mainly on aiming at WR=3.4%. At this point, I'm planning my exit from salary-man, and have been building up things that I will do more when I'm out. I've also been building my technical network out this last year or so in preparation.

Aside from that stuff, a monthly PERMA review is still working really well, and is helping me course-correct regularly. Severing as many of these little work-ties as I spot them is going well. A few times recently I've been practicing replying with "I work for myself", rather than "I work for X". Initially it was very comfortable/with cognitive dissonance, but now the pacing has made it a lot more real, familiar, and comfortable. I'm almost ready for the next step .

[fingeek]

Update for June:

WR range: 2.3% - 4.3%. Real-world 12mnth avg: 3.2%
I've trimmed down the NW/WR reporting further, to further de-emphasise that aside from a single metric.

I have quit my salaryman world.

We've been living to a realistic and sustainable budget for about 1yr now, and we have sufficient padding with WR to make me comfortable that we'll be able to live fine, and moderate our optional outgoings as needed. If investments rise, then we will expand slightly our discretionary spending.

In the vein of "Being more intentional", living life more by design, I've continued to evolve the PERMA model. I've plotted out a week-to-week framework to give some regular structure. I won't rigidly stick to it, but my learning from the first year off and in general throughout the last few years, I noticed that I'm better when I have focus and forced discipline. It's already having a positive effect, feels like I'm living a more authentic life, although am conscious of being in honeymoon period again.