Nomadic-ERE Year 5 - Wanderlust Prevails

Where are you and where are you going?
2Birds1Stone
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Re: Semi-ERE Year 3 - Wanderlust Prevails

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

October 1, 2021
NW = 32.1X TTM Spending (-2.2 month over month)
WR = 3.11%
September Savings Rate = 78.7%

Activity
walked - 154 miles
Ran - 9 times for a total of 23 miles
MTB - 6 times for a total of 120 miles
Weight lifting - 11 times
Weight - 213.2 lb, 7 day average down 1.5 lb for September, which is the first down month since May.

Running distance up ~70% over August, and MTB distance up over 100%. Will level off around here most likely. It feels really good to get fitness back and improve body composition, especially since fall/holidays is when I tend to gain weight every year.

The markets took our portfolio down despite a high savings rate. Suppose we could look at it as a blessing since there's money being invested biweekly.

2Birds1Stone
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Re: 2Birds1Stone's hustle to freedom!

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

2Birds1Stone wrote:
Sun Oct 08, 2017 9:14 am
I started the new job last Monday, and on Wednesday I got a call from my boss letting me know that they are getting let go for underperformance. Knot in my stomach. Go figure I have a big room planning meeting at the corporate HQ on Thursday and have to skate around the subject until I figure out wtf I'm going to do.
Today or tomorrow will mark 4 years since the beginning of this Semi-ERE journey. It's crazy to think about, but I've spent more time off work than working, since then. This most recent 11 month stint marks the longest stretch of work in 4 years. I should probably hit eject before losing my Semi-ERE badge ;)

Work is actually going swimmingly for a change. There was a period of nearly two months where hours were surprisingly low, along with low stress, and results materialized. Now I am entering a busy period in our cyclical business cycle, and should be rewarded handsomely if things go remotely well, with nearly tax free earnings/bonus in early 2022. With a 75-80% savings rate through April, we might be able to afford a flat in EU with minimal/no loan. DW is getting the wanderin' fever and keeps sending my flight info and AirBnB listings. I can't wait!

Western Red Cedar
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Re: 2Birds1Stone's hustle to freedom!

Post by Western Red Cedar »

2Birds1Stone wrote:
Fri Oct 01, 2021 6:28 am
Today or tomorrow will mark 4 years since the beginning of this Semi-ERE journey. It's crazy to think about, but I've spent more time off work than working, since then. This most recent 11 month stint marks the longest stretch of work in 4 years. I should probably hit eject before losing my Semi-ERE badge ;)
I'm pretty sure you get to keep that badge :D . You've demonstrated, to me at least, that I don't really need to worry about leaving work for a year or two and tanking my career if I decide to come back. You also confirmed one of my larger fears about Semi ERE. Once I have a taste of freedom I'll never want to return to a full-time, office environment.

Are you still kind of separating finances with DW, or is it all a household SWR now?

I kind of keep things separate and am at a 3.5% SWR based on 50% of our expenses, but I've paid more than 50% of the expenses for the last 7 years. Since I have the higher earning power and established career, I'm just powering forward for the time being.

Of course, reading through some of @J&G's old comments made me realize DW could work part-time at a minimum wage job and we could theoretically cover our current expenses (assuming we figure out health care) with some small withdrawals.

2Birds1Stone
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Re: Semi-ERE Year 4 - Wanderlust Prevails

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

The monthly updates I've shared here have been combined household numbers since Febuary of 2021. My individual SWR has been in runaway mode, so it's a bit boring to track. A couple of caveats to these updates;

Our current TTM spening still has some outlier months in late 2020/early 2021 where we had 0 housing costs and pandemic meant our spending was just barebones food/insurance, so the SWR you currently see drifting up monthly will level off around May if we stayed in this HCOL area.

Using actual spending since we moved here over the past 13 weeks, and annualizing it, we're at a combined 4.5% SWR. Individually I'm sitting around 2.9%.

Housing is currently ~51% of our spending, so moving to a lower COL area/country should move the SWR back in the right direction even if we didn't save any more money.

Individually YTD savings rate is around 84% while combined is ~78%.

2Birds1Stone
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Re: Semi-ERE Year 4 - Wanderlust Prevails

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

@take2, sorry I missed your question before!

We stayed right off the Tram 28E line just east of the Assembly Of The Republic building. It was a great location, close to the river/Cais Sodre train to Cascais and a short walk to the train to go to Sintra......not to mention we walked to Monsanto park, Alges, Belem, Parque das Nações so got to see most of Central Lisbon quite thoroughly. In the 3 months we were in Portugal we walked nearly 1,000 miles!

Musings

Writing about Lisbon gives me a strong feeling of wanderlust.....which is great because we are now down to just <200 days until our next planned trip over the pond. The plan right now is to once again donate/sell most of our furnishings and possessions and go home-free (as GandK dubbed it :) ).

This is super exciting, as we didn't really get to spend nearly as much time in Europe as we originally planned last year. We're trying to be flexible and not get too fixated on a date just yet, since there are still a lot of things that can happen over the next 6.5 months, but from a work/life perspective, that would be a fantastic time to go.

The first 2 weeks of October have seen some good results on the fitness and healthier eating front.....less meat, less processed food, more activity. I finally replaced my 4 year old running shoes, and also splurged on two new pairs of Birkenstocks (one EVA's and one cork). My feet are happier. Bit the bullet and got some long bib pants and warm gloves for MTBing this winter. Really looking forward to continuing fitness improvement and getting outside more.

Work has been fairly steady. I'm hitting a groove and also feel that I understand the politics of my workplace better. It's a large tech company, so my experience is probably specific to my business unit and team, but the culture is not all that bad. The most glaring reminder at work is that all of these people are on an endless treadmill of earn->consume->repeat. I work with mostly higher earners/upper middle class white collar types......they could all exit the rat race in <10 years even with an above median US spending level, but it appears that the more they make, the more creative ways they find to spend $$. It's quite entertaining, in a sad way.

We've also given into some lifestyle inflation (like my 3 pairs of shoes!) and some more eating out and treating friends/family, but don't feel all too bad about it whilst maintaining a 75%+ household savings rate. We know that naturally spending will go way down when we solve the housing puzzle whilst traveling.

One of my biggest goals for 2022 is to meet more of you ERE peeps, especially in Europe, since that's were we'll likely spend most of the year.

Till next time, 2B1S over n' out......

classical_Liberal
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Re: Semi-ERE Year 4 - Wanderlust Prevails

Post by classical_Liberal »

2Birds1Stone wrote:
Wed Oct 13, 2021 6:19 am
like my 3 pairs of shoes
If one of them is slippers, then your off the hook. ;)

2Birds1Stone
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Re: Semi-ERE Year 3 - Wanderlust Prevails

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

November 1, 2021

Household numbers combined with DW
NW = 31.3X TTM Spending (-.8 month over month)
TTM WR = 3.19%
October Savings Rate = 84.9%

Activity*
walked - ~145 miles
Ran - 9 times for a total of 27.5 miles
MTB - 10 times for a total of 150 miles
Weight lifting - 12 times
Weight - 212 lbs, 7 day average down 1.2 lbs for October
*edited to include today and tomorrow

Running and MTB mileage both up, walking slightly down due to cold/wet end to October. Weightlifting 1 more session than previous month. Overall happy with movements and weight trending in the right direction. This is the time of year where I tend to have a bigger appetite and the holiday foods and sweets are abundant and caloric. This typically results in weight gain until early January. The goal this year is to just stay consistent and flat around this weight I am now.

I was looking back at individual spending history going all the way back to October 2017 and had some interesting observations....namely that over the past 4 years (48 months);

There were only 4 months where spending was above $2000
The highest single spending month was $2212 (Sept 2019, bought a laptop)
Average monthly spending was $1,350 (not account for inflation, so ~$1,500 in 2021 dollars)
TTM Spending <4% WR for 33 consecutive months
TTM Spending <3% WR for 19 consecutive months

chenda
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Re: Semi-ERE Year 4 - Wanderlust Prevails

Post by chenda »

Looks like you're making great progress : )

I've been living in Portugal since June and have no plans to ever leave. As mentioned upthread it's probably the best ERE destination in western Europe, and things seem pretty much back to normal. They seem to have done a pretty good job overall covid wise and have a very high vaccination rate. The Spanish border has reopened too. I agree Porto and the north might be a good long term play if you're looking to invest in property.

2Birds1Stone
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Re: Semi-ERE Year 4 - Wanderlust Prevails

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

chenda wrote:
Mon Nov 01, 2021 8:01 am
Looks like you're making great progress : )

I've been living in Portugal since June and have no plans to ever leave.
Thanks, Chenda. We're definitely making rapid progress and will be heading over to the Iberian peninsula in exactly 6 months!

I would be VERY interested in reading about how you arrived at Portugal, and your experience living there since summer. iirc you're originally from the UK? How are you spending most of your time? Any plans to head somewhere warmer in the winter? Where in PT are you staying longer term? It's on our shortlist for places to purchase a flat/small home.

How are you finding long term expenses? We're planning on a budget/burn rate of roughly 2k euro/month for a couple in mid 30's.

chenda
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Re: Semi-ERE Year 4 - Wanderlust Prevails

Post by chenda »

2Birds1Stone wrote:
Mon Nov 01, 2021 11:16 am
Thanks, Chenda. We're definitely making rapid progress and will be heading over to the Iberian peninsula in exactly 6 months!
Great! I'm in the western Algarve, in a small town right on the coast. Yes I'm from UK originally though have EU citizenship. I'll probably go home for Christmas but otherwise I'll spend the winter here.

The COL I'd say is 30-40% lower than the UK south east, which I imagine is roughly comparable to New York (think that's were you currently are?)

I spend less than €200 a month on all the bills for a 2 bed flat (excluding any rent/mortgage) €2000 a month for you both would easily give you a very nice MMM style lifestyle with rent included. As you've probably seen it's very easy to live car free.

I'm not too familiar with areas outside the Algarve. If you do buy down here I'd consider a coastal town where you get a sea breeze, and something with high thermal mass (concrete or stone) I don't need air conditioning in the summer and a few plugin electric heaters in the winter suffice, it rarely gets very cold. But some of the newer construction often wasn't built with energy efficiency (or acoustics) in mind.

The mountains around Monchique are nice but are already experiencing serious problems with wildfires. Monchique is a lovely mountain town though with quite a few northern Europeans who have moved there, although there are places with cheaper property I would think. Lagos is good place if you want a larger and lively town (further east the coast gets very overdeveloped and very touristy; the western Algarve is much less developed and nicer imo)

The only real disadvantages to Portugal is that the infrastructure isn't the best; power cuts are not unusual, and things can be a bit bureaucratic. Although I think that's only really a problem if you were starting a business here; buying property isn't too difficult.

Feel free to PM me if you need any more info : )

2Birds1Stone
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Re: Semi-ERE Year 4 - Wanderlust Prevails

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

chenda wrote:
Mon Nov 01, 2021 12:52 pm
Great! I'm in the western Algarve, in a small town right on the coast.... SNIP

The only real disadvantages to Portugal is that the infrastructure isn't the best; power cuts are not unusual, and things can be a bit bureaucratic. Although I think that's only really a problem if you were starting a business here; buying property isn't too difficult.

Feel free to PM me if you need any more info : )
Sweet! One of the activities we had planned for our trip in 2020 was a full hike from Sines to Lagos along the Fisherman's Trail (https://rotavicentina.com/en/walking/fishermens-trail/), but due to covid it was not possible with business closed and movement restricted. We're going to do that in May in the middle of our stay in PT, so I may be wandering through your town at some point. Maybe we can grab a pint or a coffee!

It will be a ~250 KM, 13 day trek with stops at hostels and guesthouses each afternoon/night.

Since each day is 10-22 KM of walking, it should provide us half a day to check out and explore the towns, and if we like one, we can stay as long as we want before continuing! This will be a good opportunity to get a tiny glimpse into the area that going by car wouldn't provide.

I imagine we would try to do a 12 month lease in an area before any commitment to lock in a purchase of real estate. But this is likely 2-3 years out as we plan to spend time traveling more of EU and SE Asia before settling down. There's also the family property in PL to deal with and tend to. Family will need some help keeping it inhabitable, so may provide a second home base in EU for little cost.

I appreciate your information and perspective. We found the infra in Lisbon/Porto quite good, but imagine it's like traveling back in time 50-100 years as you get to the rural areas. How are you handling housing? Yearly rental or shorter term? Idealista shows some really attractive rents on unfurnished places with a 12 month commitment. I imagine dealing with getting utilities set up in your name and other paperwork that goes will leasing can be a pain in bureaucracy is dense.

This spring I think we'll do a month in PT, a month in frugalchicos home country, and a month in Seppia, followed by 2-3 months in the motherland.

I'll definitely let you know once plans firm up and connect offline if you're ok with that.

Western Red Cedar
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Re: Semi-ERE Year 4 - Wanderlust Prevails

Post by Western Red Cedar »

Thanks for the update and the link below. I'll add it to the expanding list of trails I'd like to hike one day. I was thinking about nudging you to elaborate a bit more on your travel plans but I figured you would offer more details soon enough.
2Birds1Stone wrote:
Mon Nov 08, 2021 2:58 pm
Sweet! One of the activities we had planned for our trip in 2020 was a full hike from Sines to Lagos along the Fisherman's Trail (https://rotavicentina.com/en/walking/fishermens-trail/)
What are your plans for Spain and Italy? Thinking about month-long stays in one location or moving around more frequently?

Have you looked into any of the hiking trails in Southern Spain?

https://www.worldwalks.com/landscapes/t ... lks-spain/

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mountainFrugal
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Re: Semi-ERE Year 4 - Wanderlust Prevails

Post by mountainFrugal »

I really enjoyed grazing on your journal by looking beginning, random midstream and 2021 (a lot here!). The most interesting part is your re-framing of different WLs based on situation/context (which is not surprising), but there are not as many journals/discussions about that. Nothing profound to add, but thank you for keeping up with the journal as you transition and are a step or two ahead of me.

I should also add that your and c_L decisions to scrub numbers made me decide to not post the details of mine when officially starting my journal this year.

2Birds1Stone
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Re: Semi-ERE Year 4 - Wanderlust Prevails

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

@WRC, we're only starting to formulate some ideas for how we would like to spend our time next year. The uncertainty around covid, travel, and which counties/areas will be open still means that we need to have a plan B and C (and maybe even D) to make the most of our trip in case things don't pan out as planned. For that reason, we're not trying to lock in any other logistics like transport/accommodation beyond the first week in PT. Right now we're planning on flying to Porto, staying ~7 days and exploring the north a bit and getting acclimated, followed by a train/bus right down to Lisbon where we will stay for a week before hitting the Fisherman's Trail. From Lagos we take a bus back to Lisbon for a few days, and likely fly to Valencia or Barcelona, alternatively we could take a bus from Lagos to Sevilla. For Spain, it's such a big country with so much to see that I don't think we'd be able to do it justice in just a month. So we'll likely pick 2-3 locations, Sevilla, Valencia, and Barcelona come to mind. If for some reason the weather is predicted to be extremely hot in June, we could hit up Basque region for a month instead. Ditto with Italy, we were planning on spending more time in the Dolomites up north and maybe doing a few overnight trips to Venice or Florence, but very open to suggestions. Last year, sans covid I was really hoping to meet up with @Seppia, but we never made it to Italy, and I believe he was stuck in HK. Maybe we will get to meet this year!

So for Spain and Italy, I am very open to suggestions and Ideas. We generally enjoy nature, active exploring, and hiking, biking, rafting, kayaking, etc. We do want to visit some larger cities, but prefer tier-2 locations for extended stays.

I have to look up the rules again, but my understanding is that despite my wife being married to an EU citizen, she's still limited to 90 day visa free schengen time limit. So we'll have to get into Poland within 90 days of entering the EU. If that's not the case and there are countries which are lenient for spouse of citizen without too much paperwork and requirements of lease agreement etc, then maybe we can do some more exploring.

@mountainfrugal, glad you're enjoying the ramblings. Unfortunately I did have to go back and sanitize many of my old posts that contained details which would have made it easy to dox me. It's a shame that the journals pop up in google searches, but that's jacobs decision.

I do plan on sharing specifics around budget and spending once we stop working again. I want people who are planning a similar lifestyle to get a real world example of what full time nomadic life costs in the places we're going to be staying and exploring. The decision to scrub the numbers was largely impulsive on my part, when I scrubbed a lot of other PII.

Appreciate your comments, and feel free to ask any specific questions you may have where the details seem fuzzy.

Western Red Cedar
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Re: Semi-ERE Year 4 - Wanderlust Prevails

Post by Western Red Cedar »

2Birds1Stone wrote:
Tue Nov 09, 2021 6:35 am
The uncertainty around covid, travel, and which counties/areas will be open still means that we need to have a plan B and C (and maybe even D) to make the most of our trip in case things don't pan out as planned. For that reason, we're not trying to lock in any other logistics like transport/accommodation beyond the first week in PT.
I think this is wise. My preferred approach to multi-month travel is to have a general idea of a route or areas you want to visit, but to leave the timeline and itinerary flexible so you can stay in places that you enjoy and can shift your plans when you hear about recommendations from other travelers.

FWIW, DW and I thought the beaches in Lagos were probably the nicest we've ever been to. A perfect place to spend a week or so decompressing.

chenda
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Re: Semi-ERE Year 4 - Wanderlust Prevails

Post by chenda »

@2birds1stone - sure thing, sounds like a great trip you have planned! Yes the countryside is very rural, especially outside the tourist ares. The bureaucracy shouldn't be too bad though you might want to use an English speaking lawyer if you are doing a long term rental who can handle it all for you.

2Birds1Stone
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Re: Semi-ERE Year 4 - Wanderlust Prevails

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

Musings

A lot is going on in life, mornings with a coffee and quiet downtime before the rest of the world wakes up are appreciated and often necessary.

My job is very cyclical in nature and we're in a very busy business cycle which saw my working hours nearly triple compared to the past couple of months. Coupled with the pressure to perform at a very high level had me quite anxious and stressed towards the end of the week. I had a friend who for many years worked an overnight shift as a paramedic at his local FD, and would get paid a night differential to sleep through the night, 90% of the time he worked. I always joked that he got paid to sleep, and his response was always "I get paid well for what I might have to do". I joked with DW about how this current gig felt a lot like the white collar version of that scenario. After a long lul in demand for my time and brainpower, the fire sirens have been going off every night. I don't expect much to change through the rest of the year, which is fine because the holidays break things up, and we're also down to <100 working days left before liftoff.

We just passed our one year anniversary of being back to work. I'm swearing off any form of employment for at least 12 months after this current stint. In hindsight, it was totally worth going back to unlock leanFI in two player mode. If the market stays relatively flat, by the time we pull the plug again in ~5 months our FSWR should put us right at 3X JAFI, which opens up a lot of possibilities for interesting lifestyle with no focus on earning capital for the sake of capital. Enough to live comfortably in many LCOL places, but not enough to get lazy if we're in MCOL/HCOL places. Prediction is that we'll enjoy this balance.

After we get some exploration and decompression out of our systems, the next project will be figuring out a sustainable long term home base solution. Have previously shared some ideas and thoughts in this journal, but realize now more than ever that our wants/needs will likely be very different in a few years than we can predict. For now, the focus will be adventure and growth.

From an ERE perspective, progress is being made. Back to thinking and practicing WL6 on a daily basis, despite the white collar job. Looking forward to experimentation and education that would give me a taste of WL7 once the leash is off.

2Birds1Stone
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Re: Semi-ERE Year 3 - Wanderlust Prevails

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

December 1, 2021
NW = 28.9X TTM Spending (-2.4 month over month)
WR = 3.46%
November Savings Rate = 79.8%

Spending continues to soar and tank our rolling 12 month withdrawal rate.......psychologically it's interesting to see the number go up instead of down. Maybe once we're back over 4% it will be motivation to start tightening the belt a bit?

Activity
walked - 129 miles
Ran - 9 times for a total of 23 miles
MTB - 8 times for a total of 118 miles
Weight lifting - 13 times
Weight - 214.4 lb, 7 day average up 2.2lb for November, which is mostly due to the holiday gorging over the past two weeks.

Running distance up ~30% over October, and MTB distance down ~15%. v02 max is up to 45 and Garmin says my "fitness age" is 20, flattering.

Goals for December are to drop back to the 211-212 lb range, hit 40 training miles on running, get 8 MTB rides in, and lift 3X a week. Would also love to hit an additional 5k steps/day of walking, but we'll see how the weather ends up being. Signed up for a road running race in mid January, good motivation to stay active.
Last edited by 2Birds1Stone on Sat Jan 01, 2022 9:19 am, edited 1 time in total.

Autotroph
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Re: Semi-ERE Year 4 - Wanderlust Prevails

Post by Autotroph »

just now tuning in, nice goals! I'm a big proponent of the American Heart Associations' (AHA) recommendation of 10k steps/day. I find walking therapeutic mentally and physically (and there is evidence that humans excel at walking and endurance. See Dan Lieberman for more). Sometimes I listen to audiobooks so that I feel productive.

2Birds1Stone
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Re: Semi-ERE Year 4 - Wanderlust Prevails

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

2021 was an active year.....

137 miles ran (95% of that was August-December)
133 weightlifting sessions (consistent throughout the year)
1086 mountain bike miles (90% between July-December)
1890 miles walked/hiked (consistent throughout the year)

2021 was an expensive year.....

Our spending more than doubled from 2020, but that's expected when going from houseless vagabonds to suburbanite renters in one of the highest COL parts of the USA.

Until we leave this and switch to cheaper/creative housing situation, our expenses will continue to be high by ERE standards. Our non housing spending for 2021 was ~1.2 JAFI per person.

2021 was a prosperous year......

Despite having lower exposure to equities than most, we benefited from the market returns in a significant way. Between that and contributions to savings/investments, our FU$ grew by ~20%+

Our household savings rate for the year ended up 78.7%

December Update

NW = 27.1X TTM Spending
WR = 3.69%
December Savings Rate = 68.1%

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