ERE is Path to Meaningful Life - MMM style FI year 4

[mountainFrugal]

I personally just sleep in a shirt and pants under the ultra-light motto of "if you did not wear every piece of clothing at some point you over packed." The margin for error here is smaller on longer trips when you cannot get a good weather forecast, but usually can be okay for warm temps. If you get into colder temps the quilt plus a silk liner/sheet can be helpful to reduce drafts and better regulate temps. I am generally a very warm sleeper so a few layers of clothing with the quilt over most of my body area is enough to stay toasty. This does not directly answer the humidity problem, but sleeping on wetter trips I just make sure to have a wicking layer directly next to the skin and a midlayer between the wicking layer and pad. Vancouver Island is a lot wetter then where I usually adventure so any other thoughts @stasher?

[Stasher]

Mountain Frugal pretty much covered it off for my approach. I spend most of my time in the alpine which thankfully cools just enough 8-10C at night to sleep comfortably in just my t-shirt. When it is hot I leave my sleeping bag unzipped and just sleep directly on the pad. Haven't had too many issues but also it isn't overly humid here so the struggle isn't that bad. As for cool wet trips I sleep in my thin merino base layer top and bottoms.

[Western Red Cedar]

Congratulations on dropping down to a one car family. Decisions like this show how getting rid of options actually opens new doors:

Last week I did a massive 160km (100 mile) ride on my gravel bike to pickup my new sleeping bag from my favourite outdoor store. Why drive when I can make it a little mini local adventure with my ERE freedom of time. Was able to do the trip at least 75% on rails to trails and dedicated pathway systems in regional/provincial parks.

You are living an amazing life up there.

[Stasher]

That was one heck of a sustained absence from the forums here, I find when the summer season hits I am 100% outdoors mode. Now that the darker and wetter days of winter come back in the PNW I gravitate back to reading books, spending time on the forums and visiting blogs.

It has been one heck of a rollercoaster of watching the stock market do its thing during this 6 month update hiatus. It almost doesn't seem to make sense, thus I don't try to make it be so. It is what it is and I just watch my expenses and monitor my income. I am enjoying my financial freedom but I guess I'm not actually free from work. I help my wife look after our store and I built up a little freelance gig of tourism based photography and writing work that kept me hoping this summer. This has helped me take nothing out of my investments since the beginning of the year to cover our living expenses.

I still fall on the MMM spectrum and am in no way ERE , but I much prefer the later.

Spending goes up in the summer months, mostly as that is when property taxes come due, I drive more for hiking/biking destinations and we are generally more active.

May > $3647 - major cost was having an arborist do major treetop work and clean up all our trees
June > $3632 - major cost was annual furnace maintenance & we ate out more
**$3491 > annual property taxes due (this includes water/sewer/garbage/recycling/organics
July > $3585 - major cost was a water heater repair (replacing heating elements)
Aug > $4396 - major cost was a vet bill and travel for a family wedding
Sept > $4046 - major cost was personal spending (bike/tattoo) and travel for Canadian Thanksgiving
Oct > $3549 - major cost was last bit of Thanksgiving travel, spending way more in line

So far in November I have had some big costs come in line. My goal has been to keep my old SUV as long as possible therefore I invest into it to keep in top condition. I had a major service done of flushing coolant, flushing brake fluid, flushing rear transaxle fluid and then normal oil change & related filters. I did do my own front callipers, pads and rotors myself at home to save significant money. I then just bought new tires this week as I pushed the old ones as far as possible that I was willing for safety in our wet winters and risk of a flat. Combined these two line items represent $1900 that will be in the end of the month tally.

Investments are the highest they have ever been since leaving work in 2017, during that time I have not invested any money. Just the last 6 months have seen a swing of over $60,000 with that October market loss which has me now with the rise back up at an all time high. I still am playing it safe with my 90% stocks 10% bonds across 3 index fund ETFs.

I'm getting outside loads, plenty of epic trips hiking and backpacking this year as well as enjoying myself. Health and fitness are where I want them and the family is doing well.

My thoughts of downsizing and cashing in on housing equity just aren't any reality possible with the current insane housing market here. Prices in just the last year have gone up 30% and there is basically no inventory. My kids are both over 20 and I don't see a time where they can move out, so for now I am happy with them basically taking half our house. Prices are unrealistic and rentals don't exist, I don't want them wasting money in this market. We will be keeping the house situation the same for the next 5 years is my best guess. Heck we may settle into our ways and this will be our last home, time to think of major upgrades like solar system etc

I'll update some fancy graphs next post
Time to walk the dogs, ciao for now

[AxelHeyst]

Phew, glad that was just a seasonal hiatus. Welcome back.

Any insights into how continuing to share the house with your kids is sustainable? Are there co-habitation skills or practices you or they had to learn to keep things smooth?

[Stasher]

Hey AxelHeyst , it is going good so far. Our house is laid out nicely that they have the basement and their own space. We turned the basement family room into my son's room and then my daughter took the large bedroom. There is a basement washroom/shower they use exclusively. My son is a on-site HD mechanic so he is gone long hours each day. My daughter juggles 3 part time jobs and is gone during the day. They are also very active with friends so not home much at night. At this point I have told them to just help around the house and pay a portion of utilities, mortgage is my responsibility.

I'll do more updates on my investments, my thoughts on FI so far and what I'm thinking for the future as well as major concerns of climate crisis and pending inflation as well how to mitigate possible stock market correction/drop.

Vancouver Island and Vancouver have just now become cut off from the rest of BC and Canada in one of the worst rain storms and floods in history. We have significant challenges ahead as every single major rail and highway to the coast has been destroyed or damaged by mud slides or washout. Vancouver is one of the most significant import/export cities in North America.
https://youtu.be/7WHnGiR0ch4

[2Birds1Stone]

I'll do more updates on my investments, my thoughts on FI so far and what I'm thinking for the future as well as major concerns of climate crisis and pending inflation as well how to mitigate possible stock market correction/drop.

Really look forward to your thoughts on these topics.

Hope you and the family/friends are safe with the crazy storm damage!

[Frugalchicos]

Came across your journal and read it through. I found it very interesting, inspiring and your pics and adventures look amazing!

I hope you come back and give us an update soon!

Btw - beautiful bike and amazing home setup

[AxelHeyst]

I had to dig up your journal because I thought I remembered lots of updates and pictures re: gardens, bikes, and mountains. I selfishly hope your recent posts indicate more of that in the future.

[Stasher]

Ha !!!

Nice work @Axelhyst reviving my journal and now I need to go back in and read my last few entries and provide an update. A lot has happened since 2021 and overall it has been really good. I am at 8 years this spring since walking away from the "career working man" version of myself after realizing thanks to MMM and ERE that there was a different path. Theses last years have allowed me to try so many different things, try some fun ways to make some income with no pressure and also do some meaningful community service.

Cost of living down
Investments way up
Contentment, health and mindset all in a great place.

Future unknown.......especially as a Canadian with a shake up in North American stability.

And as always, one of the biggest reasons for pursuit of this alternative lifestyle is to spend as much time in nature as possible. Hike, Bike, Run, Climb and of course walk and bike in my daily life as much as possible to go car-lite.

[Henry]

I was looking at that middle picture and thinking what offthegridmothereffer walks out of that house every morning with a cup of Joe and a sidekick dog named Hellbent. Then I clicked and realized it was the Alpine Club.

[AxelHeyst]

Gahhh never mind, go back to lurking, I can't take the FOMO.

[thef0x]

Insane photos, incredible demonstration of perspective, colors, seasons/time, just wow.

When life experiences like this are at stake, I just *do not understand* why someone would choose name brand consumerism and keeping up with the Jones' over this. What in life could be more important?

These photos represent what I mean when I use the word "sacred".

Following. Let the FOMO FLOW!!!

[Stasher]

Yes, amazing community effort to build that ACC Hut @Henry ..... here is where I set up my tent normally as this is a pretty ritual overnighter I do each year. This is the view looking to the left that the main windows of the alpine hut are facing.



AxelHeyst and thefOx , I am blessed and 100% why I drastically altered how we were living our lives to reduce consumption, reduce cost of living, reduce our footprint, invest for the future all while allowing me to work less during my healthiest years of my life. One day i won't be able to make it to places like this and it would be a shame, nature is powerful for our soul and wellbeing.

Here is another trip from last summer on a summit at sunrise, this peak is 30 minutes south of the peak in the above image and are in the same mountain range and watershed on Tla'o'qui'aht traditional territory.

[Stasher]

On to the serious stuff now, looking to make a drastic change up in my investment asset allocation, I know the US forum members might not be able to help much on this subject but I'm open to hearing all ideas.

With all that happened in the news yesterday and the world order shockwaves I am now going to move to a 70/30 split and going 100% EX-United States. I sold 10% of my funds earlier this week (all coming out of XAW ex-CA global equity) and put them into ZAG (CAN bonds) which took me from a 90/10 and now to a 80/20 portfolio. I should also mention I'm not a big fan of the owners/CEOs of the Mag7 which are all in XAW as well.

Thus I need some help on which index funds will help me achieve that, bumping up my ZAG is easy to achieve the 30%. That leaves me to liquidate the remaining of XAW into my VCN which is currently 10% of my AA and looking at adding XEF for the rest (global EX US & CAN)

Some more reading this morning shows that VIU gets me far more exposure to more stocks because it includes more funds considered emerging markets in XEF lile South Korea and Poland. This may be better than XEF hmmmmmm...

https://www.vanguard.ca/en/product/etf/ ... -index-etf

Are these 3 good enough or am I missing something? Do I need emerging market equity and maybe a EU bond as well?
If just these index funds, what % AA would you suggest with ZAG at 30%?

[Henry]

That bottom photograph looks like a painting.

I can't think of a worse nightmare than dreaming that I was sleeping on a cliff only to wake up to realize that I was sleeping on a cliff and that I just had a nightmare about sleeping on a cliff.

[Stasher]

Thanks Henry, it was a pretty darn beautiful night to spend on a mountain and wake up to a sunrise over the valley filled with cloud inversion. I don't worry too much about sleeping on cliffs at night, more so the large population of cougars where we live and play

Following the Buy Nothing Year thread with some recent discussions there lately, as baby steps I am embarking to try BNM...the Buy North Month for March. That should be manageable and I will then see what is possible for April if I get through this month.

I've joined in with Jacob's minimalists game forum challenge a few weeks back and managed to get all the weeks totals donated, thrifted, sold or recycled up to last week. Today is the start of week 9 and I have found 5 items so far towards decluttering 9 items to complete this weeks challenge.

I pulled the trigger this morning and followed through on my comments earlier about completely divesting from the United States in light of recent events. I sold all of my holdings in XAW this morning, put a little more into my bond index and then put all the rest in VIU.

[Henry]

I don't worry too much about sleeping on cliffs at night, more so the large population of cougars where we live and play

I can only imagine the terror one feels confronting a pack of sex starved middle aged women at that altitude.

[Western Red Cedar]

I'm glad you made your way back here. Looking forward to reading more about the literal and figurative adventures from the north.

[Stasher]

There are predators everywhere Henry , be ever vigilant !

WRC , it is interesting how quickly one can fill up their time when execution of MMM/ERE principles for FI have been successful. This spring is now 7 years since leaving the full time salary man career, still shocking to even myself. I started out only seeking out personal experiences & adventures after leaving work which I then turned into a fun unexpected income stream which preserved my savings dropping my WR down to 0. Then most recently the freedom that FI presents gave me the opportunity to seek out a role that isn't really work but is very much mentally taxing. The upside of this community service is that it has allowed me to put some money back into the retirement accounts.

I made some strategic large purchases last year to take advantage of that, IE the last remaining energy efficient window replacements in the house and an e-bike for car replacement. Which brings me to this year where I'm all in on ERE again as I want to optimize the short window of new income opportunity I have found myself in. The MMM forums have changed and are far to enabling to waste and excess IMO, I seem to constantly gravitate back to ERE which doesn't let us fall in wastefulness.

100% I will share my trips that once late spring alpine conditions and of course summer allow. I find myself usually out every weekend which was the case last year. That being said this year I may have less overnight backpacking trips due to committing to a full season in the local trail running series with a major Ultra trail race in July. Stoked on being the fittest I have ever been in my life with turning 51 this month.

What I love most about backpacking and trail running is that once you buy the highest quality gear you can afford, it often last for a very long time. Some of my kit is now 10years old, with my biggest cost being trail runners now due to the mileage I put in weekly.

How about I finish this reply with an amazing alpine traverse between 3 summits I put together to take a friend on. All off trail backcountry navigation and scrambling, purely magical and amazing. Man I love the outdoors !