FI in 10 years

Where are you and where are you going?
steveo73
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Re: FI in 10 years

Post by steveo73 »

jennypenny wrote:
Tue Jul 16, 2019 6:49 am
I'm really sorry about your brother steveo. That stuff cuts deep. I think most people end up a better person after stuff like that happens but it's a painful way to grow.

Peace.
Thank You. It hurts so much. I've never experienced anything like that. At one point I was crying every day and multiple times per day. My parents are a mess. He was so good. He was an over-achiever to my mind an extreme way. He was great at sport. He had a result at high school that put him into the top 2% of results. He then completed a masters in law and was working as a general manager in a large company earning 500k per year. He ran marathons and triathlons. He was married with 3 kids. He was too intense in that he was jogging 20km to work at 5:30 in the morning when he was hit. He did stuff like this all the time.

I don't think you end up a better person but you are changed. The loss is also too much to not impact us for the rest of our lives. It's that bad. We go on but it's tough.

steveo73
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Re: FI in 10 years

Post by steveo73 »

Current Update. I need to focus on my health a bit more. I've been sad and maybe depressed since I lost my brother and I've been eating poorly and put on some weight. I haven't been training as much either.

So I went to the gym twice last week. I'll see how many times I can get to the gym this month and do my own mini-workout. The trick is that after every workout I have to try and have a recovery workout. So stretch and self-massage my back. I also hang on a bar to give my shoulders a rest. If I don't do this my body breaks down. I'll also try and eat healthily as much as possible.

It's no point doing a finances update for me just yet. I tend to have a check every quarter even though I tend to monitor it all the bloody time.

El Duderino
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Re: FI in 10 years

Post by El Duderino »

My condolences on your loss. Can't even imagine what you've gone through and so sad to hear.

Good call on getting back in the gym. Are you still rolling?

steveo73
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Re: FI in 10 years

Post by steveo73 »

El Duderino wrote:
Thu Aug 22, 2019 9:58 am
My condolences on your loss. Can't even imagine what you've gone through and so sad to hear.

Good call on getting back in the gym. Are you still rolling?
I'm still training. I went 4 times last week but I doubt I can continue training that hard. I've been working on leg locks which for me consist 99% of heel hooks. It's changed my game a lot. The loss of my brother is intense and it's done a lot of damage to my family. Mum is devastated. I'm feeling a lot better but it is nearly 6 months since it happened. I still cry every so often - say once per week.

People take things differently though. I'm reading a book on stoicism and they state that these things happen and not to get too emotional. I understand this is good advice but I was a mess. My old instructor just lost his brother as well but he appears to be taking it a lot better than me.

Life goes on. Thanks for your support.

steveo73
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Re: FI in 10 years

Post by steveo73 »

I thought I'd give another update.

My job is going pretty well. I like the people I work with. I definitely will quit though as soon as I can. I'd just prefer not to work.
My family are doing pretty well. My daughter just finished her last year of high school. She is a pain in the backside but I have to let her figure her life out. My 16 yo son is doing really well. My 9 yo son is the cutest kid ever. My wife is good but sometimes she gets worked up and moody. To be fair she does so much work and she has a crap job. She also doesn't tend to get pissed off with me.

I've been training fairly regularly and eating fairly well so I feel good in that way.

One of my big problems is a dodgy shoulder. That is feeling okay at the moment but it still feels off. I have to constantly monitor it.

As for finances. We are doing well. We just save as much as we can. We save greater than 50% of our income and we are at about 65% towards our total target. To be honest this target is actually understated as we own our house plus we have long service leave available to us and I don't include these two assets in our net worth.

Emotionally I feel a lot better than I have for a lot of this year but I need a holiday desperately. I have though 5 weeks off in 2 weeks time. I can't wait.

ertyu
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Re: FI in 10 years

Post by ertyu »

Glad you're doing well, man. Sending well-wishes via the ether, etcetera. Keeping my fingers crossed you get to stop working sooner rather than later, looks like both you and wife will be happier. I get not wanting to overstate one's target and be disappointed, though. The way you're doing it, arriving at goal earlier would be a nice and welcome surprise. Good luck!

steveo73
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Re: FI in 10 years

Post by steveo73 »

@ertyu - thanks for the comment.

I don't think I will reach FI earlier. It's just that the target is really a fair bit more than just our financial assets but we've already met those goals. I live in Sydney and the median house price is about 1 million aussie dollars. We bought our house for less than that and it's probably worth more than the median house now. It's actually a problem as I don't know how the vast majority of people will ever afford a house now.

ertyu
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Re: FI in 10 years

Post by ertyu »

steveo73 wrote:
Sun Dec 08, 2019 10:57 pm
@ertyu - thanks for the comment.

I live in Sydney and the median house price is about 1 million aussie dollars. We bought our house for less than that and it's probably worth more than the median house now.
I've read/watched a bunch of stuff about the AU/NZ housing situation, many pundits expect a correction due to leveraged consumer + no 2008 backlog clearing because the Chinese stimulus kept you guys going. I've heard a number of people arguing that time time is ripe: next downturn coming + china won't spend as much this time around due to its internal issues with leverage.

On the plus side, housing might become more affordable for a time. On the negative side, maybe the value of your house will be less.

I have thought about whether I want to own property outright. To me, it seems like a runaway inflation hedge - at least you won't be paying rent and won't depend on the property market. In a high demand area that's not subject to the vagaries of demographics I'd definitely own, but maybe now is not the best entry point. On the other hand, it's kinda like with the stock market: the more you wait, the more it keeps not correcting haha.

reepicheep
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Re: FI in 10 years

Post by reepicheep »

I'm curious about the water situation in Oz. How is most of that sourced?

steveo73
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Re: FI in 10 years

Post by steveo73 »

@ertyu - I think we've had a downturn in housing over the last couple of years but the funny thing is the downturn really wasn't that bad.

https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2019/0 ... -property/

I just checked a property ETF and the returns over 5 years are about 13% year on year.

I also bought about 10 years ago and thought it was going to crash. My property is probably up 50%.

@reepicheep - we have a lot of droughts. We are in one now. We have though water catchment areas and big dams. Water then comes like magic into your tap.

https://www.waternsw.com.au/supply/visit/warragamba-dam

steveo73
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Re: FI in 10 years

Post by steveo73 »

I'm back at work after 5 weeks off. Geez the time off was great. We didn't do anything that most people do in that we didn't travel anywhere or do anything really special. We ate out a fair bit but interestingly we spent about $400 AUD over the month of January on eating out which is the amount I've budgeted for in retirement. To me this is an excessive amount but based on having a good realistic estimate for retirement.

My 16 yo son and myself do jiu-jitsu together which is fantastic and we trained together a lot over the break. My health is better. I'm down to 70kg at the moment. The target goal is 65 kg.

I know the market is crashing now but we've had a good year again financially.

Interestingly we save about 55% of our income now. It's been higher than this in the past but I think that this is a pretty fair figure. We own our own home though and if we were paying rent I reckon our savings rate would be more like a 30% savings rate. I find this interesting because we are pretty extreme compared to a lot of people. We fit in but our lifestyle is no where near as flash as other people.

steveo73
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Re: FI in 10 years

Post by steveo73 »

My last post was on Jan 28th after just returning to work and now look at us. Crazy shit.

So the big news is wifey has quit work or better put she is on long service leave and doesn't intend to go back. I'm working full time at home. I like it. It's better than turning up to work. Work has though been crazy busy. I've also put in for long service leave with my last day being September 25th. I then have 6 weeks full time paid leave and then 1 year 1/2 pay. I have no idea if this is FIRE for me or just a years break. We are now a bit over a 5% WR but by the time I quit hopefully it's at 5%. It could be anything in relation to the volatility in the market.

I'm trying to develop some better routines but it's hard with work as well. I have though started picking up the guitar a bit more and exercising myself more. My 16 yo son has wrestled with me a couple of times so I've gotten to do some jiu-jitsu in the lock down as well.

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Bankai
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Re: FI in 10 years

Post by Bankai »

steveo73 wrote:
Thu Apr 23, 2020 2:24 am
I then have 6 weeks full time paid leave and then 1 year 1/2 pay. I have no idea if this is FIRE for me or just a years break. We are now a bit over a 5% WR but by the time I quit hopefully it's at 5%.
A year of half pay for sitting at home, on top of 6 weeks full pay? That's generous! Do you think you could slash your expenses by 20% to get to 4% WR and not having to go back to work? You'll have a year to figure this out so 1.5% reduction in expenses per month would do.

classical_Liberal
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Re: FI in 10 years

Post by classical_Liberal »

FIRE, sabbatical, Semi-ERE... Whatever, it sounds like a big congrats is in order! CONGRATS

steveo73
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Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2013 6:52 pm

Re: FI in 10 years

Post by steveo73 »

@Bankai - I find the whole WR percentage calculation to be a little dodgy at an individual level. I have 3 kids, we are in lock down (with reduced expenses) and we have too much house at the moment. We haven't over saved but I think we will be okay. If not maybe we can work part time or whatever. Our expenses are going to change over time. I have no idea how our life will be in 6 months time yet alone 5 years time. I figure just give it a go and see how we go.

@classical_Liberal - it's pretty amazing actually. I've been desperate at times to get to FIRE. My job is the best it's been in years and it feels like it's going to be tough to let it go. We also aren't going to be rich or FAT FIRE but I suppose we were never going to be at that level. We just aren't big spenders like that. It feels a bit surreal.

George the original one
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Re: FI in 10 years

Post by George the original one »

steveo73 wrote:
Thu Apr 23, 2020 5:16 am
I have 3 kids
I just realized that I have no idea how education works in Australia. USA (native), Canada, Europe in general, but I have never seen/read a description of the Australian experience.

steveo73
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Re: FI in 10 years

Post by steveo73 »

George the original one wrote:
Thu Apr 23, 2020 10:02 am
I just realized that I have no idea how education works in Australia. USA (native), Canada, Europe in general, but I have never seen/read a description of the Australian experience.
It's pretty close to free if you don't send your kids to private schools. University (I suppose your college) is paid via an increase in your debt to the government which you pay back if you earn a higher wage via your taxes.

There are though costs. So school excursions, clothes, medicine, gym/sporting fees, travel from various events and/or activities. The current lock down makes these costs a lot cheaper as well. We also give the kids some pocket money.

I though don't have to save for our children's tertiary (university) education if they choose to go. My daughter is 18 and is living rent free at home but we aren't giving her any money. She has a full time job in child care.

El Duderino
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catchup

Post by El Duderino »

Yo SteveO whassuup man!

You and your son been rolling through the pandemic together more and more? That's a good situation there, having a younger belt but fit and strong to roll w/ and go through moves together. Just need to get your daughter into it maybe?

Been watching a lot of Tom's videos at the Grapping Academy YouTube channel and it always makes me thing of you for obvious reasons. Hope you're doing well my man!

steveo73
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Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2013 6:52 pm

Re: catchup

Post by steveo73 »

El Duderino wrote:
Wed Apr 28, 2021 11:37 am
Yo SteveO whassuup man!

You and your son been rolling through the pandemic together more and more? That's a good situation there, having a younger belt but fit and strong to roll w/ and go through moves together. Just need to get your daughter into it maybe?

Been watching a lot of Tom's videos at the Grapping Academy YouTube channel and it always makes me thing of you for obvious reasons. Hope you're doing well my man!
Hi mate. Sorry for the late response. I haven't been on here for ages. How are you going ?

Things are going great. I retired at about a 5% WR last year and the WR for this year is just over 4%. I'm reasonably conservative as well so things look good financially.

I've been training at the gym for ages. We are in a lockdown right now as the delta strain has gotten out in Sydney. It's a disaster.

I've been smart though. I could see it coming. I've been vaccinated. My wife is vaccinated. My 19yo daughter (she is 20 tomorrow) only has access to the Pfizer vaccine which I think she should take rather than the AZ vaccine next month. My 17 yo son just got vaccinated right now and only because we live in an area that is locked down plus he is in his last year of school. So my teenagers should be vaccinated soon. That leaves my 10 yo son but he is out of school and hopefully he doesn't go back until vaccines are approved and safe with him. My parents are vaccinated with the AZ.

The bad news is that my son isn't rolling with me. He was but he isn't interested atm in rolling with dad. He was getting good though and has a job at the gym I go too. We also have disaster payments and because he isn't earning like $50 at best a week working at the gym he is getting $400 odd every week for disaster support.

I got my black belt this year as well.

I just checked that YT channel out. That guy sounds Australian.

I've been playing heaps of guitar. I just wake up and play. I vaporize a bit of pot daily and play board games with my wife or guitar by myself. I've been exercising in lockdown as well. I'm 48 and I'm working on my flexibility mainly for jiu-jitsu. I've just learnt how to do l-sits and I'm working on handstands but they aren't good. Reading heaps of books but I always did.

So life is just what I thought it would be when I retired. I'm really enjoying it. I could go back to work at any point. One of my mates who is a big boss tried to get me to go back but I said no chance. I have a decision to quit coming up soon as I'm on sabbatical. I won't be going back.

My concern is they are building a wave pool near where I live and it's going to cost like $5k I think per year to engage in it. I reckon I can afford it but it goes against all my principles. You only live once though and I've saved money for so long I figure fuck it I do what I want.

steveo73
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Re: FI in 10 years

Post by steveo73 »

I've been loving cooking as well. It's awesome to have the time to cook nice food. We were mostly vegan whereas now we are mostly vegetarian. We just don't really eat meat at home. The thing is cheese, butter and eggs although unhealthy really give us a flavor boost.

Typically every week I make the following dishes:-

Mexican Burritos/Tacos:-
1. Black bean mix. This is used predominantly on Tacos/Burritos but I also sometimes use rice. It's pretty easy. Onions/carrots with garlic as a base along with cumin, salt and pepper and sometimes some chilli.
2. Pickled red onions.
3. Home made Tacos/Burritos.
4. Avocados - I often don't bother with Guacamole but sometimes I do.
5. Some other additions such as corn fried up or sometimes some cheese.
-> I eat this every day. It tastes great, it's cheap and healthy.

Pizza:- I make my own dough and sauce. Typically it's just cheese and tomato sauce. The kids love this but it's a once a week meal because it's not very healthy.

Fried Rice:- Same as pizza. It's a once per week dish.

Noodles:- I go to the asian grocery store and get awesome mushrooms for dirt cheap. I make ramen noodles or some other noodle dish. It's not like packaged ramen noodles. It's quality.

Granola/Toasted Muesli - this is out of this world. I cook it with butter, honey and salt. You take all this healthy stuff and add unhealthy stuff to it. I don't think I can eat the store bought stuff anymore. This stuff is out of this world.

The granola, Mexican and Noodles I think are as good as eating out at a restaurant but the cost is a pittance.

Sometimes I do other things like a fancy eggplant sandwich but especially now we are in lockdown and I typically don't go shopping I tend to just stick to those dishes above.

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