Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Dutch tax system is lovely in my opinion - and like in most of Northern Europe, those taxes are actually put to good use. Lekker!!!

Err, Andy... "Lekker" is mostly for good food. Hmmm, or good sex...

Taxes can be okay, but I've never found them "lekker"...

DutchGirl wrote: ↑

Sun May 09, 2021 3:11 pm

Err, Andy... "Lekker" is mostly for good food. Hmmm, or good sex...

Ah my South African friend uses it for that : ) Must be an Afrikaans thing

Ah yeah, that could very well be... I can see how it changed meaning to that - or perhaps the word lost this specific meaning in the Netherlands. Dutch, Belgian Dutch (Flemish) and Afrikaans have common roots but over time some new words or new meanings arise in one area but not in the other ones.

A person I know from my volunteer job wants to be a life coach, and so now I'm one of her test persons while she is learning to be a coach. I'm "using" her to develop my ideas about where to go next in life. What she gets out of it is hopefully more experience and a good grade for her practical tests.

I want to develop ideas about what to do next in life. And actually also how to enjoy my life more. Maybe I'm asking too much - I used to be depressed and so right now the fact that I'm mostly happy and satisfied could/should maybe be more than enough? Instead I also want to laugh more and have more moments when I'm really enjoying myself or really looking forward to something.

Sometimes the life coach and I talk about something and I'm like: "oh yeah, that's me... I've known this about me for a while now, and it's not always practical but I've accepted it". Sometimes it also was insightful, or a bit painful. But I guess it's all part of the process.

This last time we talked I talked about safety a lot. I sounded quite boring to myself. But that is one thing I have accepted about myself: that I DO like safety and I'm not at all a person who likes taking risks. I hate adrenaline rushes and yeah, I know some people live for them, and you do you, but please, let me do me and avoid them whenever I can. I don't get endorphins from (after) running either, so I guess my brain's wires are not in the normal place here and there.

@Dutchgirl - Can you understand much German as a dutch speaker ? Dutch is supposed to be the easiest language for a native English speaker to learn.

DutchGirl wrote: ↑

Fri May 14, 2021 2:22 pm

I want to develop ideas about what to do next in life. And actually also how to enjoy my life more. Maybe I'm asking too much - I used to be depressed and so right now the fact that I'm mostly happy and satisfied could/should maybe be more than enough?

Interesting I've been thinking sort of the same, I think we are a similar age

Okay, so in spite of claiming that I want to work less... I've now taken on a second job as someone helping with the COVID19 vaccinations here in the Netherlands. I think it's a worthwhile endeavour. I hope we'll be done vaccinating the people willing to be vaccinated by September or so, and hopefully I personally can quit this second job in August or so as the workload slowly decreases; and then go back to "just" having the one job at the blood bank. My god, how wonderful that'll be.

Makes me think of the story about the rabbi and the family in the small house. How I'll love just having to work 3-4 days per week, as before!

I also like this parttime new job because it brings me new experiences that can be interesting. You talk to a lot of different people, including my temporary colleagues who come from all types of different backgrounds in the medical world.

I got my first vaccination at the end of April, and the second one at the end of May, so I'm now as protected as I can be from the vaccine. My sister, who has a chronic disorder, is also fully vaccinated now, as are my parents. My brother, my boyfriend and my brother-in-law and sister-in-law each have had their first vaccine some weeks ago. I'm so glad for all of that!

Anyway... starting this second parttime job at the beginning of June, it's been quite hectic. I've had much less free time (of course). I've kept up with walking 10k steps per day (some of them at work), but I've prepared less meals myself and I'm eating a bit less veggies and definitely less fruit. I am still slowly losing weight so I still make some progress on that matter, but I would probably see more weight loss if I could and would make more healthy meals at home.

Financially, doing this extra job helps, of course. I'll probably make 10k euros more this year (posttax) than in the previous year. I might hit my FI-goal this year, if the markets continue to play nice, too.

The question of "what shall I do next" has been put on the back burner for a bit, again. Too busy. But I do guess that the sabbatical showed me that I won't be bored very soon. And I think I also will want to contribute to society in some way - but there are a lot of ways to do so, so that'll turn out just fine as well.

... Finally, Chenda: I would say that Dutch and German are more alike than Dutch and English. Although German has the different grammatical cases (genitivus, dativus and such) that both Dutch and English happily lack.

The story of the rabbi made me chuckle!
It seems like aiming for less work makes you only busier! Not uncommon though, according some people who have "really" retired. Thanks for the update

For what it's worth, I speak English and German, and didn't have too much trouble understanding Avatar the Last Airbender when I watched it in Dutch.

For someone who speaks English and German, Dutch is pretty understandable as long as it stays in written form:)

DutchGirl wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 30, 2021 12:27 pm

I think it's a worthwhile endeavour.

In the scheme of things, it definitely is. Thanks for your effort!

Hi DutchGirl, glad to see you're continuing to make progress on your FI goal! Sounds like you're really close.

I like sporadically working hard, it helps me enjoy the status quo when things are less hectic. I guess like your rabbi . It's like the reverse of hedonic adaptation.

I'm getting really close to my original FI goal; and I say "original" because I feel the goalposts might have moved a bit for me, mostly due to moving to a more expensive (but really nice) home a couple of years ago. However, reaching that original goal will still mean a lot to me, because it would mean that I'll have created for myself a source of income that will give me slightly more income per month than the unemployment benefits that we have here in the NL - so I've created my own deluxe unemployment income... which is awesome.

I'm still working hard, but it looks like things will calm down a bit around August 20th; and that would be great.

I'm also going to a job interview on Tuesday. I think I've got the combined experience of the sabbatical and the working in other part time jobs recently to thank for stumbling onto this job option and acting on it. I like most of the job as far as I know about it now. I am a bit anxious about one part, but that might be part of growing into the new job. I could try to see it as a challenge instead of as a big scary thing...

A UB40 without the form!!
https://careertrend.com/how-to-fill-in- ... 11195.html
That's great, congrats DG!

Regarding the "one part", if there wouldn't be something new, you might get bored quickly. At least, if I would be the person hiring, I would wonder and ask about this. The next step in a career does generally always include something new.
You're smart and it sounds like most of it is already "okay", so don't worry and indeed just see it as an experience. You don't have much to lose, life is just an endless game with new experiences. Good luck!

DutchGirl wrote: ↑

Sun May 09, 2021 3:11 pm

Err, Andy... "Lekker" is mostly for good food. Hmmm, or good sex...

Taxes can be okay, but I've never found them "lekker"...

LOL, seemed to have missed this post - I meant that in the NL taxes were put to good (lekker) use, as you stated in your original post. Glad you stumbled onto a job you might like - please tell us more about it!

Awww, they didn't want me; I am not getting the new job. Oh, well. Moving on

Nothing lost (apart from some time), gained an experience.

I'm okay now with not getting this new job. It would have been an intellectual challenge I think, but personally I also would have wanted to stay on, almost fulltime, for the next five years out of some sort of guilt of them choosing me and me then bailing on them (too soon). Now I get to go back to my previous plans of reducing my hours more at my current workplace and/or retiring fully in the next couple of years.

Right now I'm still doing 40+ hours/week workweeks due to combining two parttime jobs. For the vaccination parttime job, most Dutch people who wanted to get vaccinated are now vaccinated (most recent update was that 84% of people over age 18 have received at least one vaccination; and 70% of the age group 50-55 years is now fully vaccinated and for ages older than that the percentages are higher). Now there will be a push to vaccinate even more people. So those are the ones who either are still scared about getting vaccinated, or who are for some reason not very capable of signing up for a vaccination slot and getting their own asses over to a vaccination site. For example because they have no money for transportation or are not good at Dutch nor English. The public health organisation (GGD) is now going to reach out to these folks and they still will need doctors to be present at "pop up" vaccination locations to help take care of the individuals who show up to be vaccinated there. So I decided I'll partake in that as well, although it does feel much less useful to work a day to have say 40 people receive their shot versus what I've done so far: work a day and have 1,000 to 2,000 people receive their shot. The price per vaccination is going to shoot up rapidly now, and I think at some point politicians and the GGD will conclude that it has become too expensive to continue. We'll see.

I'm going to make sure to have at least one day per week fully off from now on. (This hasn't always been the case in the last couple of months). Then when the vaccination job ends, at my normal workplace I'll work 24 hours per week (often divided over 4 work days). In 2022 I'll reduce that to 18-20 hours per week. The salary from that should still cover most or all of my expenses, so that my stash can continue to grow. I think I won't be able to contribute to it anymore - which will be weird - but it'll still have chances to grow before I start tapping into it.

In other news (anyone still reading?) my boyfriend has now started his new project, so his semi-sabbatical is now over, too. In February his previous project ended, and since then he has been doing some work for his company (managing the company, lending a hand on the projects of some of the employees every now and then), but on average that took 1-2 days of his week, and now he's going back to fulltime work. He says he loved it and it helped him relax and recharge. The current project will last anything from 6 months to 2 years. After that he'll probably do a semi-sabbatical again. I'd call this a success for my efforts to convince him that FIRE is cool

Sounds like all is going according to plan, DutchGirl.

You’re in the home stretch, too - awesome!

IMHO, I wouldn’t worry too much about feelings of guilt toward any employer - at the end of the day it’s a business decision on both sides. You probably have a kinder, gentler form of capitalism in the Netherlands, but here in the good Ol’ USA it’s all about the Dollar.

It’s nice you can transition to gradually working less.

Yes, still reading

Maybe I have become too "corporate" after working for a long time for a North American company, but I echo Married2aSwabian comments re. the guilt feelings. Anyway, not relevant anymore - at this point.

Your BF experience and possible future plans are great, good work on spreading the FIRE.

Anyone still reading? Your journal is one off my favorites! Please keep posting

Mendes wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 17, 2021 3:28 pm

Anyone still reading? Your journal is one off my favorites! Please keep posting

Awww, thanks. I love the compliment. Rube, you answered my question too

...I actually meant just that specific paragraph after the other paragraphs with all the job interview info, and data and musings on vaccinations and other boring non-financial stuff

I've had a long week, I'll be working again on Sunday, but tonight and tomorrow I don't have to work and my guy doesn't either. So we're currently relaxing on the couch. The good life. (Although I've also walked 11k steps today and enjoyed the one-hour-walk I made this afternoon, I mean: it's not all about lazying about - even when we're exceptionally good at that).