Crusader's Journal

[Crusader]

Hello there ERE hive mind.

It's been a while. I thought that an update is in order. 2024 so far has been good:
-> I enjoy not having a car and taking public transport. I miss it sometimes when going to out of town trips with friends, but so far I haven't had a need to even rent one.
-> I got better at cooking. Lentils, beans, tofu, rice, pasta, sautéed vegetables...
-> I became a more integral part of my parter dance community. I helped organize our congress, performed in a stage production with professional dancers and circus artists, teach levels 1 and 2 at our school, and am DJ. Some of this I do for a bit of money, but some of it is volunteer work (if the attendance at the school is low). I really enjoy this aspect of my life and I am going to keep doing it.
-> Went to a few trips (Lisbon, Serbia, Montenegro). I know it's not very ERE, but I enjoy travelling. When I do, I do it on the cheap, though.
-> Still am vegan and at this point, I don't anticipate this changing, unless I develop some health problem that I cannot fix. Bloodwork showed a slight B12 deficiency, so I started taking supplements.

The neutral:
-> The job has been up and down. One day I am enjoying it and it provides me meaning and socialization/entertainment, and another I am reminded that I am just a cog in the corporate wheel and that I shouldn't allow it to define it. At least I am chugging along.

The bad:
-> I still was not able to limit my expenses to the levels that I wanted. I made a few stupid mistakes (forgot laptop at an airplane, as well as my DJ controller at the subway), but I also have been very on and off at cooking my own food as opposed to ordering it. UberEats is just too damn convenient.
-> Still without a romantic partner. I think that at my 40th birthday later this year, I will declare my search for a life partner unsuccessful. In the words of my friend, "she hasn't been born yet, ever" (a partner that would be good enough for me). Is it being picky if you genuinely don't see anyone that you are interested in? I don't know, maybe a topic for later journal entires.

The reason why I wanted to start posting in my journal is because I wanted to mark this as a starting point of trying to go at least a year on 4% of my portfolio (July is looking great so far). I've tried starting this endeavour before and failing, but maybe if I announce it publicly, I'll be more successful. I also made it a goal in the ERE mastermind that I'll start posting in my journal again

[ertyu]

My recommendation on uber eats: without changing your habits yet, keep detailed track of cost per meal as you cook/order - i bet you the difference would be orders of magnitude. Maybe being visually confronted with the difference in cost would make you naturally say, "yes but i would be spending so much more money" when you think of ordering.

The other solution is, of course, to just delete the damn app and white-knuckle it. In what circumstances are you missing it? Could you cope with those circumstances differently? eg easy food ideas that could be prepared easily, meal prep... What does the app give you? Are there kinds of foods you're attached to? Why? and so forth.

[Crusader]

Month 1/12 (successfully) done. (of my "<4% SWR" year)

Well well well, the first month has passed. I plan to post here once per month so that I have some continuity, unlike before. July has been as good as it gets in terms of spending, I am pretty happy about that. I forced myself to never ever eat out and only cook food at home, and I made sure to buy some clothes I needed in June, so I am hoping that I will not have many expenses in the months to come. I didn't deprive myself of anything "very" important like camping trips with friends, and I decided to start learning music at some slow pace, so I bought a second-hand electric guitar. I am still pursuing my dance and DJ hobbies, and I also planned all my trips over the next year, and bought airline tickets for them so that I don't have to stress about that. I also rebalanced my portfolio, so I don't have to think about this either. Only trying to live frugally and not consuming a lot of stuff. I also solved my phone data problem. There are eSIMs that you can buy that have no expiry date for data. I bought 3GB. We'll see if this lasts me a year. If anyone is interested: https://esimdb.com/

ertyu, I have taken the approach of white-knuckling it. Psychologically, I feel like I wasn't quite ready to give up on the convenience of ordering food, but my drive to be able to say "I am FIRE at 40" is stronger than my laziness. I don't need to check how much money I was spending before, I know it was a lot.

I also told myself that I have to start exercising. But this time, my focus is on enjoying the process, while having a general goal to work certain muscles per session, as well as do some cardio. I have settled on this weekly routine:

Day 1 - cardio, back, biceps
Day 2 - cardio, chest, triceps, shoulders
Day 3 - cardio, legs, abs
Day 4 - same as day 1
Day 5 - same as day 2

I am to complete 5 sessions per week. Cardio is currently 25 minutes on a bike or jogging, but I want to increase it. For muscle groups, I pick 1-3 exercises and do sets of 8-12 repetitions, with the goal to tire the muscles. What exercises I do depends on the situation at the gym and what machines are occupied. This loose structure comes from the observation that all my friends who are athletic just do stuff without planning to much. They just like working out because it makes them feel good. In contrast, I had a strict plan of what I am doing every session before, and I could never keep it up beyond a few weeks.

I have also realised that my phone screen time is embarrassingly long, and I am trying to reduce this to <1hour a day (not there yet). The idea is for this to free up time for other activities.

[Western Red Cedar]

Good to hear that the workouts are progressing.

Day 1 - cardio, back, biceps
Day 2 - cardio, chest, triceps, shoulders
Day 3 - cardio, legs, abs
Day 4 - same as day 1
Day 5 - same as day 2

Back/Biceps, Chest/Shoulders/Triceps, and Legs/Abs is what I landed on a few years ago and works really well for me. In terms of your approach, I'd encourage you to prioritize compound lifts, and save any isolated lifts for the end of your workouts. Compound lifts will hit more muscle groups and allows for a more efficient workout.

I'd have a few different potential compound lifts in mind for the specific muscle group I was targeting, and stay flexible based on what weights or machines were available.

Keep in mind that dance is one of the best cardio options available. Lean into that if it is more fulfilling than a bike or treadmill. I normally don't dance, but went to a party on the beach a couple nights ago and my step count was through the roof for that day

[Crusader]

I am just going home after EREFest 2024, and I think that an update is in order. I've eased a bit on my "live super frugally" requirement, and now my metric is "do I regret making this purchase in the grand scheme of things or not?". For example, I took an Uber to the airport for EREFest because the alternative would have been for me to not sleep (I had to get to the airport at 6am). Could I have planned my life better so that I didn't have to pack the night before... yes, but then something else would have had to suffer. My goal is still to reach 4% TTM of expenses asap, I am just not going to be as militant about it.

Instead of expenses, I've been trying to keep up with my exercise. Some weeks I fall off the wagon, but I then bounce back to my goal of 5 workouts per week. My routine is still cardio (35 mins), followed by muscle groups, and I think I'll keep this rough routine until I feel very comfortable with it and it becomes a part of my routine. The next rough goal will be to work on nutrition. Someone showed me how to make oatmeal with protein powder, and I think this could be a great breakfast I eat every day (an easy breakfast that includes protein has been an unsolved problem up until now), so I'll use that as a catalyst for better nutritional choices.

I am enjoying my work, but I am not sure if this is Stockholm syndrome or genuine enjoyment. I foresee my work not driving me insane over the next 2 years, which I think is good. I volunteered to travel to India on a business trip, which I am really happy about, and I seem to be struggling enough in my position so that I think I am learning skills without it becoming boring.

One of my longer term goals is to get more into music, and although I bought some second hand guitars, I still haven't touched them, so I thought I'd join/audition with our little band at work (they sometimes play at town-hall meetings) as a singer. We had one rehearsal, and I don't know if I'll be called back, but I definitely got a taste of how fun it is to be a musician and to work together at a music project, and I really liked it. To be explored more at a convenient point in my life.

Last but not least, I have some kind of a "platonic entanglement" in the form of a cute Brazilian woman living at my place. We sometimes host people from our dance community (kind of like Couchsurfing), and I have developed somewhat of a crush on her. It is a nice feeling as I haven't had a crush on anyone in years, but I don't think she likes me back (I made my feelings known to her... being vulnerable and honest are things that I feel like I have perfected by this point, and this was great practice ground). What is interesting is that... yet again, she is very far away from my "scientifically minded atheist who disproves of alternative medicine and places rationality as the most important virtue in life". She is into karma, energy, God, the divine feminine, smokes weed every day and is of course poly. Makes perfect sense that I would be into her! However, we have cleaned the house together, so I will use her as an opportunity to declutter my place, and try to transform my romantic feelings for her into "friends only" feelings (so far, things are cyclical, we'll see what the trend is in the long term).

So, all in all, I would say things have been good and that I am growing and enjoying life... I feel very grateful for hanging out with EREfest people, as I always go away with some new insights (I don't want to give away too many details):
-> a good breakfast meal that I can imagine making regularly
-> a "gourmet" meal I want to learn to make at some point (sour bread)
-> a réalisation that living in the middle of nowhere is just too much work for me (at least in this point in life) and that the local community that I am a part of is just too important to me to move to, for example, a low cost country
-> conversing/understanding with someone whose political views are different than mine
-> getting inspired by a fit person (even if I don't ever get that fit, it's nice to know what's possible)

[Western Red Cedar]

-> a réalisation that living in the middle of nowhere is just too much work for me (at least in this point in life) and that the local community that I am a part of is just too important to me to move to, for example, a low cost country

DW and I have been talking about the benefits of a local community and one's "tribe" a lot lately. Some of the discussion about social capital on the forum appeared to try to quantify social capital in a numeric sense, but it is really difficult to put a value on what those relationships add to one's life.

[Crusader]

Well, hello ERE world again!

I think that an update is in order, and I need to collect my thoughts about 2024 in general. 2024 has been a very eventful year for me:
-> travel: San Diego (work conference... very nice of them to send me), Serbia, Montenegro (visited my family's cottage after many years near the coast... perfect ERE destination if I was more introverted), Atlanta (partner dance festival), California (EREFest), Paris (partner dance festival), India (2 week work trip that I volunteered for).
-> dance community: I established myself as a teacher, as well as a DJ
-> work: I no longer feel imposter syndrome being a people's manager, but I still have a lot of growth to do in the area of leadership
-> ERE: I kept going to our mastermind, but I didn't really reduce expenses to anything near ERE levels. I don't think I will ever get there (and that's OK, I think). What I do want to do is get to 4% SWR, and I think I will get there as originally intended (this year). Some fails include me losing some stuff and having to replace it (laptop, DJ controller).
-> social life: I have established myself as a member of the social circles I was a part of last year, but this year I don't feel imposter syndrome.
-> romantic life: non existent.

As my primary goal moving forward, I would like my 2025 to be the year when I finally declare myself financially independent. My benchmark will be that trailing 12 months of my expenses will be <4% of my after tax portfolio. I will also add a fictitious medical/dental insurance payment to my expenses, because right now my employer provides this. This is the 5th year that I am "pursuing ERE", and although I was not very successful at making expenses ERE level, I learned a lot about myself, and I really do believe that you can't succeed if you don't fail and go through the process. I remember during the pandemic I was addicted to eating out, local ice cream shops, etc, but I feel like my personality has changed so that I have way more impulse control than before.

I am not sure what my secondary goals are. My work and dance/music life are going at their own satisfactory pace, so I don't feel like I need to change much. I am excited to figure out a particular process/system at work as I feel like this is the first time I am actually in charge of something without supervision. In terms of dancing, I have a loose goal to compete and make it into the "Intermediate" division, but I don't care how long this takes. Same for music: I want to start creating my own DJ mixes and songs, learn more music theory and even play an instrument but I am not in a rush. One other thing I started doing in December is to track how many hours I spend on different projects (one of which is broadly just "ERE"), and using a lite version of GTD, and I want to keep doing that, but again I feel like these things are in motion already...

In the spirit of freedom that comes with FI, I think I'll make one of my secondary goals to see if learning Hungarian to a certain level will grant me EU citizenship based on my ancestry, and then doing it if that's the case. But this will be a multi-year project. I think I'll need to learn Hungarian to a B2 level, which is pretty hard.

And I think that my other secondary goal will be to "finally become fit". I've been trying to exercise regularly forever, and since I am 40 now, I feel like this is my last chance. (obviously it isn't, and obviously I am active due to my dancing, but I am talking more about proper weight training).

So this is what I think I'll do in 2025:
-> keep doing everything that I am doing already
-> limit my expenses so that I can say that I am under 4% SWR sometime this year (very achievable)
-> be able to say "I look good naked" at some point... or at least "I look way better than at the beginning of the year"
-> start learning Hungarian (if applicable)

[Crusader]

I feel like an update is in order.

I am at a point where I think that I have experimented enough with my lifestyle and expenses to know what I really need (or want) in my lifestyle. I bought a car again, as I calculated that with all the stuff I am doing, I would spend up to 10 hours per week in public transport that I would save if I had a car. 10 hours per week is a lot, so I decided to bite the bullet and buy a second hand car.

The other thing that I realized is that I am terrible at self-motivation when it comes to fitness. I joined a gym with group classes in my area. It is expensive, but if it gets me going to the gym, I think it's worth it to me.

My portfolio is doing great, and my financial goal that I set for myself when I started this journal has been accomplished (and more). However, I don't think that I would be able to live with that amount of money (yet?). I also tracked expenses on and off all this time, but I don't think it's necessary any more as it takes a long time to do, without a clear benefit (I know when I eat out too much and that it adds up).

So moving forward, I have a new approach: I will take 4% of my today's (after tax) portfolio and pay myself a pay check every month, and the goal will be to live off of that money. If I have to supplement, I will instead write that down when I do.

The one big unknown for me is what to do with my living situation. I live in a rent-controlled building that I am currently renting for below market value because I've been there a long time, but this feels like cheating/delusion that I am FI. But I don't have any plans to move any time soon, so I will think about this later.

[2Birds1Stone]

Great update, I would personally go through the thought exercise of "what would I do if I was evicted tomorrow?"

Would you seek a nice new apartment in a luxury high rise? Would you attempt to move into a shared living situation with friends, splitting costs and utility of shared common areas? Would you seek a budget flat for yourself? Then be realistic about what your desired options would cost if you were starting from scratch and plan for that.......anything between now and if/when you eventually move can be icing on the cake.

[Crusader]

That's a really good question, and I don't really know the answer. I *think* I would want to buy my own place, because the premium of legacy rent would be gone, but I don't know in what area or how luxurious. But I would want it to be something that I would be happy living in long term (even after retirement). The complication is that where my office is would play a role where that place would be, which doesn't sound ideal. I think that would do research on different areas, and then rent a place in the area for some time to see if I really like the area.

So I guess my answer is... rent an affordable flat in an area that I would eventually want to own a place in. And if I were to buy a condo, it would cost around 700k CAD. With taxes, utilities and renovations, the carrying cost of such a place would be about what I am paying right now for rent, so it seems that I am 700-900k short from being FI, which translates to around 5-7 more years of working.

However, if I had extra 700k CAD right now, I don't know what I would do. I think I would want around 200k more money as a cushion (I am not factoring in health insurance in my calculation because I get it for free for my workplace, for example), and then I would truly consider myself FI... And retiring is actually scary, mainly because work gives me some kind of meaning and sense of belonging, and not having that would just be scary (not least because I don't have a life partner to share life with, which also makes me feel like a failure in life, but that's a story for another day, perhaps).

In the short term, though, my goal is simple: live off my 4% "salary" and reevaluate in a year.