Spoon: Just curious to know if you plan to visit the old city of Quebec before you move on to Montreal. I think it is beautiful and the history is interesting. Also, you might get a chance to use more French than in Montreal if that is something you might like to do.
My partner and I like to stay in Quebec when we are travelling from our trailer in Prince Edward Island to our homes in Hamilton/Niagara every summer.I always enjoy the visit.
spoonman's Journal
Re: spoonman's Journal
@BPA: I've thought about visiting Quebec City because everyone keeps recommending it. However, we've decided not to go because we've been so busy with Montreal itself. I have a feeling we'll come back to Montreal someday, in which case I think we'll take the time to visit Quebe City.
Re: spoonman's Journal
How much longer are you in Montreal for ? Where to next?
Re: spoonman's Journal
How much longer are you in Montreal for? Where to next?
Re: spoonman's Journal
@thrifty++: That'll be the topic of another post that I'll release soon...I don't want to spoil it =).
Re: spoonman's Journal
Those are some fascinating looking venues, I bet there are a lot more 'used to be' banks around?
I'm excited to see where you go next, I think it is just amazing the life you are living now.
Are you guys out and about everyday exploring new parts of the city or do you stay home quite a bit? If I had all the time you do, I couldn't imagine not spending at least part of each day finding something new to do.
I'm excited to see where you go next, I think it is just amazing the life you are living now.
Are you guys out and about everyday exploring new parts of the city or do you stay home quite a bit? If I had all the time you do, I couldn't imagine not spending at least part of each day finding something new to do.
Last edited by cmonkey on Thu Aug 13, 2015 3:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: spoonman's Journal
I look forward to seeing your next location to explore. If I was where you are I would probably take my next step to New Orleans and rent a shitty old shotgun house near the French quarter/garden district. New Orleans fascinates me. I think it is probably also quite cheap compared to many other western cities.
Re: spoonman's Journal
@cmonkey: Yeah, we've noticed quite a few structures that used to be banks. It's possible that these banks are just retiring old locations and opening new ones in more modern buildings. About staying at home, yes, I've been surprised to see us hang out at home quite a bit. Sometimes we do it because of bad weather and other times we hang out at home to recover from some adventure. When we first got to Montreal out we hardly rested, but now we are not afraid to take it easy at home.
@thrifty++: LOL! "shitty old shotgun house". What do you mean by "shotgun house"? I've no doubt that the COL in New Orleans can be quite low. I do worry about safety because I've heard that after Katrina crime was quite high.
@thrifty++: LOL! "shitty old shotgun house". What do you mean by "shotgun house"? I've no doubt that the COL in New Orleans can be quite low. I do worry about safety because I've heard that after Katrina crime was quite high.
Re: spoonman's Journal
#131 08/16/2015 -- First Full Year of FI
Yesterday, August 15th, marked the one year anniversary since we left our jobs and became Financially Independent. We've enjoyed a year of living life on our terms, which right now means exploring the world and experiencing different cultures. We've been able to improve our lives in tangible ways, such as eating healthier and generally experiencing far less stress than we used to. Our lives have been streamlined in such a way that we can focus on the things that we deem important.
We celebrated "FI Day" by going to a nice & budget-friendly restaurant in the Plateau district of Montreal. We chose an Italian restaurant that allows you to bring your own wine, or "Apportez Votre Vin". We filled our S'well bottle with some Chilean red wine that we bought on the cheap at the grocery store. It was a nice dining experience that came out to only $34 USD, which I consider to be very low. A meal like that in the US would have easily ballooned to $75, so I think this was a win.
Afterward we walked around a bit and ended up at Cafe Venosa on St. Denis. It's a cute cafe that has 8 adoptable cats that you can play with. We had a refreshing Italian soda while playing Ticket to Ride and occasionally petting the kitties. It was a pleasant way to end the evening.
So far we're going strong in our FI journey. We have many great adventures ahead!
Yesterday, August 15th, marked the one year anniversary since we left our jobs and became Financially Independent. We've enjoyed a year of living life on our terms, which right now means exploring the world and experiencing different cultures. We've been able to improve our lives in tangible ways, such as eating healthier and generally experiencing far less stress than we used to. Our lives have been streamlined in such a way that we can focus on the things that we deem important.
We celebrated "FI Day" by going to a nice & budget-friendly restaurant in the Plateau district of Montreal. We chose an Italian restaurant that allows you to bring your own wine, or "Apportez Votre Vin". We filled our S'well bottle with some Chilean red wine that we bought on the cheap at the grocery store. It was a nice dining experience that came out to only $34 USD, which I consider to be very low. A meal like that in the US would have easily ballooned to $75, so I think this was a win.
Afterward we walked around a bit and ended up at Cafe Venosa on St. Denis. It's a cute cafe that has 8 adoptable cats that you can play with. We had a refreshing Italian soda while playing Ticket to Ride and occasionally petting the kitties. It was a pleasant way to end the evening.
So far we're going strong in our FI journey. We have many great adventures ahead!
Re: spoonman's Journal
Shotgun house here http://texasleftist.com/2015/02/revivin ... nd-beyond/
I love them. There are heaps of cool ones in New Orleans. I haven't seen any in NZ so they seem a bit special to me.
Montreal has a couple of amazing free events where you could also take your supermarket bought bottle of wine and spend nothing else. Have you been to TamTam at the Mont Royal? Awesome outdoor free improv instrumental festival. Also Piknik Electronique - free outdoor electronic dance party on one of the islands - cant remember the name of which.
I love them. There are heaps of cool ones in New Orleans. I haven't seen any in NZ so they seem a bit special to me.
Montreal has a couple of amazing free events where you could also take your supermarket bought bottle of wine and spend nothing else. Have you been to TamTam at the Mont Royal? Awesome outdoor free improv instrumental festival. Also Piknik Electronique - free outdoor electronic dance party on one of the islands - cant remember the name of which.
Re: spoonman's Journal
@thrifty++: Thanks for the link. I have to admit I've thought about living in a space like that, there's a certain homieness to it.
We briefly swung by one of the Piknik Electronique events but I think they were charging an entrance fee. That was on St Helen island. I think they had other locations that were free, but we never go around to checking it out. But yeah, there's a ton of events like that in Montreal, especially in the Quartier de Spectacles.
We briefly swung by one of the Piknik Electronique events but I think they were charging an entrance fee. That was on St Helen island. I think they had other locations that were free, but we never go around to checking it out. But yeah, there's a ton of events like that in Montreal, especially in the Quartier de Spectacles.
Re: spoonman's Journal
Congrats on 1 year!
I am curious how your dividend growth has fared over the last year? There is a bit of talk lately of growth slowing down from the tear it has been on post 2008. Seems I'm getting in at the worst time, but income is income I suppose.
I am curious how your dividend growth has fared over the last year? There is a bit of talk lately of growth slowing down from the tear it has been on post 2008. Seems I'm getting in at the worst time, but income is income I suppose.
Re: spoonman's Journal
@cmonkey: I will give a report on the topic of dividend growth at the end of the year, but as of right now we're on pace to achieve 6-7% growth. That growth, which is much higher than inflation (which itself is admitedly not very high right now), has been achieved despite the turmoil in the energy sector. Had it not been for that, we would have achieved around 7.5% growth. We can't expect a portfolio to always fire on all cylinders, but that's a price well worth paying for a well diversified DG portfolio.
Btw, you should be salivating with all the nice deals that are now available in the energy space. The low oil prices won't stay this way forever.
Btw, you should be salivating with all the nice deals that are now available in the energy space. The low oil prices won't stay this way forever.
Re: spoonman's Journal
Oh, I am doing a bit more than salivating.
I have pondered sitting on all my dividend-allocated cash until Q4 results come in as I don't expect Q4 to be kind, particularly to the majors, and then start pouncing on them. Not sure how long these prices will stay down but it looks like at least into next year. I will probably just start purchasing as I get paid though. Not sure what difference a few % points make.
I have an HSA and employ the same dividend strategy in that. I purchased NWN when it was quite low earlier this year and now it is rebounding and paying nice dividends.
I really feel like I'm in a "hurry up and wait" phase right now since I am going a month in between purchases. Can't wait until things start picking up in a year or two.
I have pondered sitting on all my dividend-allocated cash until Q4 results come in as I don't expect Q4 to be kind, particularly to the majors, and then start pouncing on them. Not sure how long these prices will stay down but it looks like at least into next year. I will probably just start purchasing as I get paid though. Not sure what difference a few % points make.
I have an HSA and employ the same dividend strategy in that. I purchased NWN when it was quite low earlier this year and now it is rebounding and paying nice dividends.
I really feel like I'm in a "hurry up and wait" phase right now since I am going a month in between purchases. Can't wait until things start picking up in a year or two.
Re: spoonman's Journal
NWN is one of the utilities I own as well. It has a tremendously long record of paying dividends, but it's lack of EPS growth these last few years has me worried. Their last quarterly results were very encouraging, so I'll just keep an eye on it for now. It did pop like 4% out of the blue last Friday. Natural gas can sometimes be little weird that way.
Re: spoonman's Journal
Most of the blue chips I have picked out have negative EPS growth right now (heavyweights like Walmart, Caterpillar, etc..). I think its just part of the macro slowing that is going on right now. Since I'm new to this whole investing thing, I would guess this has happened before and that it will change down the road again.
Re: spoonman's Journal
#132 08/23/2015 -- Next Stop: Paris
The next stop in our world wide adventure is Paris! We have decided to make that the first city we visit in Europe for a number of reasons. The first reason is purely practical; it is the cheapest European hub to fly into from Montreal. Both of us have been to Paris before, but this time we'll get to take our time exploring everything the city has to offer. Paris is also a nice follow up to Montreal from a language and cultural perspective, so hopefully the transition won't be too drastic.
But why Europe and not some other continent like Asia or South America? Well, we have deemed it advantageous to visit Europe now because of the relative strength of the dollar. These days the exchange rate has been hovering between $1.08 to $1.12, which brings most of the continent into our Possibility Space. Notice I said most. Some places, like London and many parts of Paris itself, are still out of our league. In any case, we'd rather do Europe now than later.
We will have to tap into our Escape Fund in order to cover some of the rent. The first month of rent in Paris will be about $1100 (that includes utilities and internet), so we only need to tap $200 from our Escape Fund to cover the difference above our $900 rent budget. I should note that the airfare to Paris will be paid from the fund as well. For those of you not familiar with our concept of the Escape Fund, it's just a big pot of money that we set aside to 1) pay for transportation costs between locations, 2) help us out with rent if need be, and 3) in case of emergencies. We are very careful with how we use this fund, so it is likely to last a long time before it runs out and/or our regular dividend income picks up the the slack.
After Paris we will systematically visit other countries in and out of the Schengen area. It will be a little tricky timing our visits, but we found this preferable to dealing with the bureaucracy of obtaining a long term visa from countries like France or Italy. We might change our minds in the future, we'll see.
Paris, here we come!
The next stop in our world wide adventure is Paris! We have decided to make that the first city we visit in Europe for a number of reasons. The first reason is purely practical; it is the cheapest European hub to fly into from Montreal. Both of us have been to Paris before, but this time we'll get to take our time exploring everything the city has to offer. Paris is also a nice follow up to Montreal from a language and cultural perspective, so hopefully the transition won't be too drastic.
But why Europe and not some other continent like Asia or South America? Well, we have deemed it advantageous to visit Europe now because of the relative strength of the dollar. These days the exchange rate has been hovering between $1.08 to $1.12, which brings most of the continent into our Possibility Space. Notice I said most. Some places, like London and many parts of Paris itself, are still out of our league. In any case, we'd rather do Europe now than later.
We will have to tap into our Escape Fund in order to cover some of the rent. The first month of rent in Paris will be about $1100 (that includes utilities and internet), so we only need to tap $200 from our Escape Fund to cover the difference above our $900 rent budget. I should note that the airfare to Paris will be paid from the fund as well. For those of you not familiar with our concept of the Escape Fund, it's just a big pot of money that we set aside to 1) pay for transportation costs between locations, 2) help us out with rent if need be, and 3) in case of emergencies. We are very careful with how we use this fund, so it is likely to last a long time before it runs out and/or our regular dividend income picks up the the slack.
After Paris we will systematically visit other countries in and out of the Schengen area. It will be a little tricky timing our visits, but we found this preferable to dealing with the bureaucracy of obtaining a long term visa from countries like France or Italy. We might change our minds in the future, we'll see.
Paris, here we come!
Re: spoonman's Journal
That is awesome. When are you guys moving?
When are you guys moving?Re: spoonman's Journal
Awesome! Its great to watch what you are doing. Doing exactly what you are doing would be my ideal dream way of living.
Re: spoonman's Journal
@cmonkey: We will be going there next month.
@thrifty++: Thanks, I'm glad that you're finding inspiration in our journey.
@thrifty++: Thanks, I'm glad that you're finding inspiration in our journey.