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Halfway there, doubling down

Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2022 3:21 pm
by Dominic
Hi all, Dominic here.

After reading quite some ERE/FIRE stuff for the last 7 or 8 years I find myself coming back to Jacobs blog and this forum as a lasting source of inspiration. It’s one of the reasons that me and my wife have been able to gradually increase our savings rate from 25% to around 60%. During that time we also came to believe that (early) retirement within the framework of our mainstream consumer society is not something we feel would make us happy long term. We are looking to build our skill set towards a more sustainable, self-sufficient and producer oriented lifestyle. We don’t fully live up to this belief however.

At the moment we feel like we’re following a pretty standard path in life. Bought a house in my hometown, married, both working a full time office job with hobbies and a social life on the side. Though we’re quite frugal and ahead of the curve regarding housing, transportation, cooking and clothing, we’re still living a largely consumer lifestyle financed by our dual incomes. Now feels like a good time to take the hurdle into proper ERE territory for the second leg of our journey to financial independence. Reinventing our game instead of winning the consumer game.

I’ll post a recap of our financial journey so far on the blog and take off from there. For now (this was supposed to be an introduction after all): I’m an urban planner based in the Netherlands. 33 years old, male, married with a baby on the way.

Taking a dive into the forum the coming weeks to see where I can contribute and learn most!

Re: Halfway there, doubling down

Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2022 5:07 pm
by Dream of Freedom
Hi there!

Re: Halfway there, doubling down

Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2022 6:01 pm
by Slevin
Welcome in! The internet seems to generally be big fans of Dutch urban planning these days, and I’m a big fan of bike / train oriented infrastructure myself, so I want to say thanks if you’ve been helping to contribute to that!

Re: Halfway there, doubling down

Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2022 6:04 pm
by chenda
Dominic wrote:
Wed Nov 16, 2022 3:21 pm
I’m an urban planner based in the Netherlands.
Welcome, I'm a urban planner across the channel : )

Re: Halfway there, doubling down

Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2022 7:21 pm
by rube
Welcome, lots of Dutchies here!

Re: Halfway there, doubling down

Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2022 11:54 am
by Western Red Cedar
Welcome to the forum! I'm looking forward to following along if you start a journal.

Re: Halfway there, doubling down

Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2022 5:21 pm
by Dominic
Slevin wrote:
Wed Nov 16, 2022 6:01 pm
so I want to say thanks if you’ve been helping to contribute to that!
Only indirectly. I've specialised in building codes, regulations, permits and local implementation of national laws.

But (some) dutch urban planning really is great. I only fully realised once I moved abroad for a couple of years. Check out the city of Houten in Utrecht. It has been designed from the ground up with a focus on pushing cars out to the perimeter and making great public spaces for bikers and pedestrians.

Re: Halfway there, doubling down

Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2022 5:25 pm
by Dominic
Thanks All! I'll probably start posting my journal next week.