DutchGirl's journal

[leeholsen]

@leeholsen - That would reduce to an accounting gimmick. Most people have emergency funds because they have no liquid assets, that is, assets that can be sold immediately without loss. Most people here are substantial liquid assets. Given an emergency, they would just sell part of their portfolio. Keeping cash is therefore more of a portfolio decision and it's thought off as such rather than an emergency fund. If you think about it this way, then if you buy an A/C with funds from your portfolio, it would still exceed your SWR regardless of whether it came from the cash portion of your portfolio or some other asset class.

yes, i see what you're saying. i was just adding that comment as some of the journals listed here that are working to FI and are showing budgets aren't showing a rainy day fund and that can be a set back if you have to replace something like an ac unit.

thats probably something that i need to adjust my swr for as i did replace an ac unit last year, but the swr rate i've been going on since i bought your book is based on this year's expenses which have been problem free.

[DutchGirl]

@Jacob / @leeholsen: I currently like to have a small emergency fund so that I don't have to sell my investments when something happens. I just bought them, and I'm so proud of them . I'm guessing that, once retired, I will also always have a small cash cushion (5k or so) for who knows what; I'll have to take the reduced ability of that money to grow into account.

@leeholsen: since you know there'll be repairs now and then, you could try to estimate how much money on average you'll need for that. Let's say you need to pay for an AC unit every ten years, then budget 1/10th of the costs for every year. Et cetera for fridges, cars, kitchens, bathrooms, sewage blockage removal, anything...

[leeholsen]

@leeholsen: since you know there'll be repairs now and then, you could try to estimate how much money on average you'll need for that. Let's say you need to pay for an AC unit every ten years, then budget 1/10th of the costs for every year. Et cetera for fridges, cars, kitchens, bathrooms, sewage blockage removal, anything...[/quote]

thanks for that suggestion, that's one thing i'm working on is trying to manage my swr thru daily life now, so when i do cut the cord; i'll have already applied the ups and downs of living life to it.

[rube]

Once you keep detailed track of your expenses for a longer time, you'll be able to calculate the averages and you know what you need. There is always 'something' and that will already be included with your averages. Only high 1 in 10 (or more) years expenses you might think about to budget for.

That said, the ERE way is of course no A/C at all, but adapt yourself to heat or use other cheap methods to cool down your house. It will also save energy costs!

DG: nice rate for October! Good luck with your thesis.

[DutchGirl]

My average monthly expenses for the year:

437 euros Unplanned/irregular expenses, including expensive gifts and new smartphone and laptop
400 euros Rent & utilities
313 euros Groceries
180 euros Public Transport
155 euros Charities (actually 225 euros, but about 33% of that will return when I file my taxes)
135 euros Health insurance / health costs (also a part through work, this you don't see)
111 euros Contribution future study costs nieces/nephew
31 euros Other insurances
31 euros Phone costs
30 euros Clothes

For a total of 1821 euros per month.

Average income (posttax) was: 3225 euros per month. So a savings rate of 43% .

By the way, I also contributed a full year to my pension plan, so about 1/40th of the total contributions needed to get the full pension. But that's pre-tax and I don't know exactly how to value that in current euros (plus I am not sure how much I'll ultimately get, about 35 years from now...).

OK. That's not bad. But I've seen better here on this forum And I was definitely hoping to spend around 1500 per month, not 1800+. So that will be one New Year's Resolution: to take good care of my smartphone and laptop, so that they will last for a long time, and to work on that "unplanned expenses" budget.

In other news:

- I'm making progress on the PhD thesis. But I'm also getting frustrated or stressed out now and then. I try to combat that by remembering that it's not that big of a deal (I mean, there are WAY worse things in life) and that I do have time and that it'll be ok. I have taken off lots of time in January and February to work on this. I hope to have it finished by the end of February. My income for these two months will be low. But that's ok.

- I will get a contract for my job, starting at the beginning of February. It will be only for 20 hours/week, while I asked for 30. They couldn't give me that, but they are promising that I will actually work more than 20 hours per week. Fingers crossed, let's see how it goes.

- Plans to move house have become uncertain again, due to my boyfriend possibly finding a new job in another region of the Netherlands. Until he has been at that possible new job for a while, and until he knows he'll like the job, we'll stay put. (He will need to have to travel some more and might also stay some nights at his sister's house). I do like the low costs of living, so I'm definitely not unhappy with that

[DutchGirl]

My PhD thesis is coming along nicely*. However, I feel that it's a lot of suffering for little progress. Today I worked on it for 6 hours (3 x 2 hours, more or less), focussing hard, and then I think I have made roughly 2% progress towards the goal. How much more time do I need? Well, probably something like a few full weeks to get a first good draft. I don't want to think beyond that . But I'm doing something. It takes a lot of time and it is no fun at all, but there is (some) progress.

I was talking about the details of it to my boyfriend, and he said: "You DO realize that nobody will read this, right?". And I know he's right. I have never read a thesis, I only read published articles. My supervisors will read it, and perhaps one or two other people. The boyfriend suggested that I should put an Easter Egg in the middle of the discussion of the thesis, a call to e-mail me when reading it, and that there's a good box of chocolates for whoever e-mails me first... So that I'll know when somebody actually read it!

I think it's funny how I've become absorbed in this, when indeed I also agree that it is a futile exercise. One is supposed to deliver this piece of work when finishing up a PhD in the Netherlands, and there's supposed to be a 10 page introduction and a 10 page discussion at the end. But the most-read part is the list of thank-you's, one or two pages at the end of the booklet... (They are, by the way, a fun read now and then).

Sigh. This comic now and then totally captures my feelings: http://phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1670

But: progress is good.

Another good thing: I used to have two jobs and a PhD "job" (unpaid). I'm now down to one paid job and the PhD "job". I am relieved that the 2nd job ended by the end of December. Typically me, I promised them to work 8 more hours in January to finish things up (they let me fake an extra day of work in December so that I will get paid for this). Yesterday I worked 4 of those hours. Just 4 more in two weeks time, and then I can finally forget all about this job, hurrah! It was a job behind a desk in an office, and I now know that this isn't for me. It did bring in extra money, but I'm glad it's over. More time to focus on other things, as well.

* Turns out I started this post in an optimistic mood and then it became more pessimistic. So "nicely" perhaps isn't the right word...

[saving-10-years]

Good luck with finishing. Mine took me 8.5 years part-time but I was not actively working on it for most of that time. Sounds like you are really working on it rather than (what I did) thinking you should be working on it and feeling guilty not to have the time. Pessimism is to be expected (it may not reflect reality any more than optimism does).

Like the idea of the Easter Egg but note that people do read the things in this digital world more so than when it was print and hard to access. And you will of course be citing the thing in everything you write for the next few years. You think that you won't be it will be hard to resist ....

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1660 is a nice recent one which reflects what I feel about academia at the moment. Trying not to stay too long.

[m741]

Honestly, if 6 hours of work translates to being 2% complete, that seems like a great deal if you can keep it up. That really doesn't end up being a whole lot of full days of work (300 hours/5 hours work per day=60 days).

Keep up the good work!

[DutchGirl]

Yeah, I know. That's also why I keep going. The end is in sight. I began SEVEN years ago, so these last three months should be doable. Still, pfff....

[jacob]

I wrote my dissertation almost like a review paper for the introduction and theory and wrote the results in the style of regular journal papers, so I was able to reuse large parts of my dissertation in subsequent papers by simply copying and pasting. Something to consider if you plan to pursue academia.

http://edoc.unibas.ch/337/ ... in case anyone wants to read it

[DutchGirl]

By the way, thanks for letting me vent. That helps, too

And PS, in the Netherlands there's currently a professor chastisized for "auto-plagiarism", or the fact that he cited his own work without referencing to it.

[GandK]

And PS, in the Netherlands there's currently a professor chastisized for "auto-plagiarism", or the fact that he cited his own work without referencing to it.

WHAT???

[DutchGirl]

Yup.

http://retractionwatch.com/2014/01/08/d ... n-scandal/

[Ayanka]

I have read through your whole journal and it was a source of inspiration for me. I am Belgian (my ancestors where Dutch though) and it was hard to find someone to identify with on a lot of the frugality sites I found.

I hope you manage to finish your PhD and don't think no one will ever read it. I remember reading tens of claims from before WW2 in order to find out while the hell the substance I was trying to make didn't work out (master, chemical engineering). So most probably someone will read it, if its publically and freely accessible . You might even make their day, if you didn't screw up your tests (or whatever you did) and typed everything out clearly. So just think about that person in x years that might be looking desperately into whatever you are doing, so they can find out why what they are doing is failing/get a good source for their thesis/...

[DutchGirl]

Why, thank you, Ayanka.

Some people will read it, you're right. And ha, I haven't finished it yet, but I'm getting closer.

[DutchGirl]

January: big progress on the PhD thesis (and still the month has 2.5 days to go).

A nice salary of 3050 euros. This will go down in the next couple of months as I'm working less hours in January and February. But it's a good start of the year (and it was actually the reward for working hard and many hours in December).

My expenses are reasonable at 1500 euros, of which 280 euros to a coach who helps me finish my thesis. (She helps me with planning and checks my spelling and grammar). This expense is also supposed to be tax deductible, so since I'm in the 42% tax bracket I should get a decent amount back.

I hope to spend less in February, and I hope I will get some motivation from my decreased income. Groceries and gifts are still my biggest problem areas.

[DutchGirl]

February: reasonable progress on the PhD thesis. Big problem right in the middle of February with statistics and a very unhelpful statistician. After a lot of hyperventilating I have found another statistician to help me. It did cost a week or two, plus it probably cost me a few grey hairs. I hope to finish the work in March; by then I should have a document that can go to the PhD thesis commission. After that, I'll still have to do some lay-outing and find a printer and stuff like that, but that isn't the hard part (I hope).

My salary was 1450 euros, which was surprisingly high given the low number of hours that I worked in January. I assume it had something to do with the calculated and deducted income taxes being much lower on a smaller amount of pretax income. It doesn't matter much in the long run of course, in the end I will have paid the right amount of taxes anyway.

This paycheck was big enough that I didn't have to dive into savings, as my expenses were 1420 euros this month. I worked more hours in February than expected beforehand, so I'm hoping to be able to add to my savings again in March. Meanwhile February also showed a nice investment income of roughly 5% growth in one month. That's a bit much, perhaps, but I'll gladly take it.

I had fun in February getting some training for my current job. It was very interesting and I was very good at it. I like being good at something. (I guess who doesn't...). So that definitely helped me deal with the PhD thesis-frustrations. It also helped me see what other job options I have within my current company. Some of them look like they're fun. At least to me

I also read several books about finances, and about marketing. This was interesting as well. This marketing guy really tried to convince me that what he does is good for humanity. For we all need to be educated about brands, right? Uh, wrong... Anyway, it's good to know about how they try to understand the human desire to buy (brain scans are the big thing these days in marketing research), and how I can try to still avoid them influencing, or rather, manipulating, me.

Goals for March:

* finish the damn thesis before it finishes me
* bike more often instead of taking public transport (the weather should improve...?)
* eat a bit healthier and try to get some more sleep

That's more than enough to work on!

[DutchGirl]

I'm seriously considering not finishing this thesis. It's a pity and worthy of some good cries (hey, I'm a girl), but the thing is making my life miserable. And there is actually no benefit for me to finish it. It will cost me money (on printing the thesis, and on the party) and it will cost me a lot of effort and stress. I don't need this thesis to get on with my life. My plan to escape the working life in about ten years or so still stands, and the thesis does nothing for my current career.

It just feels like I'll disappoint so many people, starting with myself, and then my parents and my boyfriend and my supervisors.

[jennypenny]

I'm seriously considering not finishing this thesis. ... It just feels like I'll disappoint so many people, starting with myself, and then my parents and my boyfriend and my supervisors.

Have you told anyone that you're considering not finishing? How did they react?

[jacob]

How close are you to finishing? Do you have all the data? All the analysis?

I don't know what your requirements for printing the thing is (a handful of copies in library quality?) but while it's a hassle depending on how supportive the university is (they may have their own printer or be able to recommend on) it's not that expensive. The party can be very cheap ... I probably held the cheapest party/reception in department history ;-P

While the thesis might be of little use careerwise, the phd stamp still holds some value outside of phd circles. Civilians tend to be impressed by "real life scientists" even if you're doing something totally unrelated.