Grüsse from Germany
Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2019 12:08 pm
Dear all,
I am from Germany and just turned 45. During our Christmas holidays DH and myself spent many hours discussing our future plans. As none of family and friends is really interested in ERE, I asked Google and was happy to find this forum. I am looking forward to meeting like-minded people to have fruitful discussions. I want to get a clearer picture how possible futures could look like. And maybe additional motivation to start changes in our life .
We are in the lucky situation that the financial part is pretty much done:
- both of us have well paying jobs for 15+ years
- our level of living is moderate compared to our peer group allowing savings of up to 50% after tax
- we like DIY
- we invested in real estates early in our career
- (unfortunately) we do not have any children
For some years now we were discussing how to improve our work-life balance. DH already reduced to 35 hours and I plan to request part-time (maybe 30 hours) this year. Not sure how my employer will react, none of my colleagues did this before .
In our free time we spend quite some time in renovating and gardening of an old farmhouse. We like outdoor sports and literature, I am a bio-technologist and in my free time curious about (kitchen) science, nature and environment.
These are my biggest concerns and questions around ERE:
1. How to explain friends, family and community that you are no looser without a job (providing prestige)
2. How to avoid grudge by our peers that we have enough financial background to leave the tread mill
3. Do you have too much free time after complete ERE (we both are introvert and social work is no option) or better how to motivate yourself to do anything useful
Looking forward to discussions and feedback. It would be great if you could suggest some journals or threads to start.
Servus from Bavaria, Tiarellla
I am from Germany and just turned 45. During our Christmas holidays DH and myself spent many hours discussing our future plans. As none of family and friends is really interested in ERE, I asked Google and was happy to find this forum. I am looking forward to meeting like-minded people to have fruitful discussions. I want to get a clearer picture how possible futures could look like. And maybe additional motivation to start changes in our life .
We are in the lucky situation that the financial part is pretty much done:
- both of us have well paying jobs for 15+ years
- our level of living is moderate compared to our peer group allowing savings of up to 50% after tax
- we like DIY
- we invested in real estates early in our career
- (unfortunately) we do not have any children
For some years now we were discussing how to improve our work-life balance. DH already reduced to 35 hours and I plan to request part-time (maybe 30 hours) this year. Not sure how my employer will react, none of my colleagues did this before .
In our free time we spend quite some time in renovating and gardening of an old farmhouse. We like outdoor sports and literature, I am a bio-technologist and in my free time curious about (kitchen) science, nature and environment.
These are my biggest concerns and questions around ERE:
1. How to explain friends, family and community that you are no looser without a job (providing prestige)
2. How to avoid grudge by our peers that we have enough financial background to leave the tread mill
3. Do you have too much free time after complete ERE (we both are introvert and social work is no option) or better how to motivate yourself to do anything useful
Looking forward to discussions and feedback. It would be great if you could suggest some journals or threads to start.
Servus from Bavaria, Tiarellla