Nomadic-ERE Year 5 - Wanderlust Prevails

Where are you and where are you going?
2Birds1Stone
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Re: Semi-ERE Year 4 - Wanderlust Prevails

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

It's good that your first experience was a deterrent. I'll make sure not to let AH get my drunk when we meet ;)

@J+G, I would have texted you! We are in FL until end of March or so. If I do end up considering a side trip your way, will definitely keep you in the loop. We're exchanging some pet sitting for subsidized housing so anything more than an overnight becomes challenging.

I'm going to do a more detailed annual recap post over the weekend, but this year has been pretty wild. We lived all over the place, traveled internationally, did 80% of the shit we would have done if we weren't working, and somehow managed to thrive in WFH jobs. The last shift in economic climate, recession, etc has tremendous impact on our work-life balance and stress levels moving forward. So we're looking for the nearest exit that doesn't burn the bridge back and allows us to make a graceful departure.

2022 sucked as a passive investor sticking to a mostly vanilla portfolio of stocks, bonds, and CD's. We lost ~3.5 years of expenses at current COL to market declines, in addition to that, we lost another 2.5 years to inflation. There is some truth to accumulating to a point where the fear of loss through poor stewardship or factors out of ones control becomes a stressor one can't ignore. Luckily for us, as eluded to in my last post, we timed the end of the last business cycle well and managed to pull off an 85% savings rate. This mostly negated the drop in equities and bonds. Eventually the momentum will have to shift back and a tailwind will be welcome after a year or five of no longer working and accumulating.

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

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

I liked last year format.....

2022 was an active year.....

66 miles ran (clearly not a runner!)
156 weightlifting sessions (significant increase over 2021)
1331 mountain bike miles (~20% increase over 2021)
2165 miles walked/hiked (~20% increase over 2021)
11 lbs lost
Coming up on 100 days of no alcohol, continuing a mostly AF lifestyle into 2023

2022 was an expensive year.....

Our spending was up 12% in nominal dollars over 2021. With ~8% inflation it wasn't too big of an increase.

47% of our spending was housing, 12% gifts/charity/donations, 12% groceries/household misc, 7% to health/dental/vision insurance, 7% to travel, and the rest on entertainment/transportation/misc.

After tax income doubled from the previous year for the household.

2022 was not a prosperous year for equities, but we did ok.....

Our household savings rate for the year ended up 88%

NW = 31x TTM Spending
WR = 3.23%

A tailwind in 2023 would be really nice, especially since we are only going to be earning income for the first few months of the year.

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

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

2Birds1Stone wrote:
Sat Jul 02, 2022 8:07 am
Spending trajectory has been on a steep rise since we moved back to this HCOL area a year ago. July will be the first month with the same housing costs YoY. Food and energy prices are up significantly, and that's where most of our increased spending will be coming from. The world's also opened up from covid. Travel will be another category that's going to be higher moving forward, especially with prices well above pre-pandemic levels.

Really curious how all of this plays out and/or impacts our plans. We're above a 4% WR for the first time since April of 2020. No bueno.

If we play our cards right, the blue line should level off over the next 3-6 months and then slowly decline. Meanwhile eventually the markets have to recover and the red line should shoot up.......in theory. I would feel a lot better quitting my job when they cross once more.

Image
I guess now that 7 months have passed since this post.....it's time to see how the chart evolved to present day.

Feb 1, 2023
NW = 35.1X TTM Spending (+1.3 month over month)
WR = 2.85%
Jan Savings Rate = 89.6%

Spending peaked over the summer and has been on the decline since we went fully nomadic in the fall. We expect it to level off somewhere around where it currently sits. Our non-housing spending should be very low over the coming years, but furnished short term rentals in EU and USA will make any further cuts meaningless from a financial standpoint.

With actual TTM spending below a trailing 3% WR........we're in a really good spot right now.

Work continues to slog, but the end is in sight. I have a few short months left in me.

Image

Activity/Health

6.1 miles ran (-1.9)
13 times weightlifting (-1)
128 miles bike (+52.5)
188.7 miles walked (-2.3)
201.6 Average weight (-4.0 lb)
127 Days AF

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

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

March 1, 2023

NW = 35.6X TTM Spending (+.5 month over month)
WR = 2.81%
Feb Savings Rate = 91.7%

Activity/Health

7.4 Miles Ran
13 Times Weightlifting
151.7 Miles Bike
181.5 Miles Walked
206.2 LB Average Weight (+4 lbs)

Musings

February was a good month on most fronts. Weather was very conducive to being outdoors almost every day, lots of walks, bike rides, and a couple of short runs. Made it to the beach a couple of times, saw some family a few hours drive away, worked on some projects.

Right now we're doing a housesit for another two weeks, then renting a room for a few more weeks before heading back north.

Markets were down, income was up due to some bonus pay and stock vesting. As of this week we're officially down from DINK to SINK status, with under three months left for me. Exciting times as this should be my second and final time "retiring" from the corporate world.

The transition from accumulation to drawdown is a bit daunting until you're underway. Breaking out of the salaryman mindset once again, should happen quickly. The first time took a month or two.

Screen time has been down quite a bit over the past month. Still following along on the forums but don't feel like I have much value to add in most instances so lurking suits me. Wish we were stateside this Sept to hang with y'all in Cali......some of the most interesting people I know of, with so many similar goals and interests all in one place.....unfortunately we're hosting friends in another country and already committed to Sept -_-

Till next time.....

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

Post by Western Red Cedar »

2Birds1Stone wrote:
Fri Mar 03, 2023 6:42 am
Markets were down, income was up due to some bonus pay and stock vesting. As of this week we're officially down from DINK to SINK status, with under three months left for me. Exciting times as this should be my second and final time "retiring" from the corporate world.
Final days...that's exciting. Congrats! How has your DW processed walking away from her career and the corporate world? You previously mentioned that part of the motivation for returning to work was to give her some opportunity to find more professional responsibility and success. Did she find what she was looking for? Maybe just enough to feel good about never going back to that lifestyle?

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

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

Hey, WRC.

Great question and something that her and I discussed quite a bit.

She had a tremendous growing experience over the past two plus years. Broke into a new field, moved up, did well, was compensated accordingly. She also became much more employable with a more in demand set of skills in the event that she chooses to go back at some point.

It also served as a lesson into why the corporate world stinks, pretty badly.

Without being able to go into much detail here, I can say that she has no regrets but we're glad she's out.

For me, it's crazy to think how close the finish line is. The good thing about doing this the second time around, knowing what to expect. I'll have no issue with most of the typical stuff early retirees go through.

classical_Liberal
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Re: Semi-ERE Year 4 - Wanderlust Prevails

Post by classical_Liberal »

It'll be great to have my free friend back! Maybe try to plan some mutual adventures again?

Funny how your wife liked this stuff for only a few years. That's how I always feel about a career. learn it, master it, get paid a bunch... quit(usually two years too late).

I can see why serial entrepreneurs are so prevalent.

take2
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Re: Semi-ERE Year 4 - Wanderlust Prevails

Post by take2 »

Where are you at nowadays and what are your future plans?

Any chance you’ll be in Portugal at the end of August?

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

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

take2 wrote:
Thu May 11, 2023 6:39 am
Where are you at nowadays and what are your future plans?

Any chance you’ll be in Portugal at the end of August?
We are here now, for all of May. Exploring the Alentejo and Algarve coasts by foot, backpacking our way south. August will be in the motherland, it's a bit hot for the Iberian peninsula then. We're back to fully nomadic, and don't have any real plans after September.....so may end up back in Spain or PT in Autumn, though there is interest in seeing Japan and maybe SE Asia over the typical Nov/Dec holiday season back in the states.

As far as plans, we don't have any other than to explore some new hobbies (surfing, bouldering, bike packing) which we're playing at the beginner level.

June will be my first full month of being gainfully unemployed. Decompression sounds wonderful.

Frugalchicos
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Re: Semi-ERE Year 4 - Wanderlust Prevails

Post by Frugalchicos »

i know you don't post as often as you used to before. But it would be very interesting to see some pics of all those amazing places you are discovering. And most importantly, how you are managing life and finances in your current stage in life.

Also, how do you track your liftings, runs, etc? Garmin? I just bought a Garmin Fenix 5x and love it.

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

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

Hey @Frugalchicos,

Good questions and a lot to unpack in a single post :)

If someone has a tip on how to do a photo dump on these forums I would be glad to post some picture, we have many great pics from Spain and PT, especially The Fisherman's Trail, which was stunning.

Regarding financial snapshot, as of today, we have a low 7 figure NW (similar to you I presume) and May will be the last month of our "accumulation phase". Trailing 12 month expenses are sitting <$36k/yr thanks to spending the winter living in a MCOL area in a shared house and doing some pet/house sitting to offset costs. Right now our expenses are trending up and I expect them to level off around $48k/yr by early 2024.

Our portfolio is currently ~40X annual spending, with 60% of that being in low cost ETF's and 40% spread between "high" interest CD's, treasuries, iBonds, and HYS accounts. We're not impacted by stock market fluctuations because we have a decade in easily accessible and stable investments....that's a long time to course correct or ride out any turbulence in the short/medium term. We don't budget per say, but track everything diligently and watch the TTM spending vs. 3% and 4% WR trendlines to make sure we're on track on a longer timescale. This is working quite well for the time being, and we're currently @ ~2.5% theoretical WR of assets......quite safe.

For the first part of these travels, I've mixed up working remotely and using all of my banked PTO. The main reason I've been light on details here surrounding this is that I'm still employed and there is a high degree of probability that someone would easily figure out who I am if they found this thread and knew me IRL. Starting next month, when the eject button is pressed fully, I'll be posting and sharing a whole lot more regularly and in greater detail.

I have only one scenario where I go back to FT work, that's needing a mortgage for the purchase of a future home base. 2020-2021 already proved that getting back to corporate work is not hard and can result in record income in short order (I know this is one of your fears too), We went back to work for two years after our last year off work and managed to make record income with no problem. The gravy train has been great, but it's not worth the handcuffs at this point.....

Regarding activity, I always track in Google Sheets spreadsheet for the past 4-5 years. I haven't been running while traveling, as we're doing a ton of hiking and walking, I don't have a bicycle except where we rent city type bikes for a day in a city, which is a great way to explore but not really exercise focused. I join gyms when we are somewhere with one that allows for a short term (1 day or 1 week pass) and have successfully managed to lift with the exception of our recent 14 day hiker (covered nearly 200 miles in two weeks). I'm in the best shape of my adult life right now, largely thanks to eating better and living an alcohol free lifestyle (had exactly one beer in the past 8 months!)

I do try to find balance in everything I/we do. I love my Garmin watch and use the data to make sure that I'm getting enough activity and that my sleep, resting heart rate, steps, etc are not off kilter.

We're traveling lite....one 50L backpack each. We do laundry using the shower stomp method when no proper washing machine is available. I carry about 1 weeks worth of clothing, a laptop, a cell phone, a powerbank, light weight high intensity bicycle light, and a pair of headphones. Most of my clothing is 5-10 years old and I only replace things as they wear out. It's an extremely freeing way to travel. Most recently my laptop battery finally died after ~900 charge/discharge cycles and I am having a new battery shipped to Poland so I can DIY replacement when I get there next month.

We're going to be in one area for 3-4 months this summer, with the main goal being restoring my late grandfathers orchard. It's been neglected quite a bit since his passing two years ago. It's ~20-25 min away from the center of a smaller city by bicycle. We'll be establishing a nice routine of weight training, gardening, and building our tribe in the area. We have many friends and some family there. DW is learning the language and making excellent progress. We've recently learned that we can stay in the EU as long as we want so long as she's with me (no 90 day Schengen limit), so we're focusing on PL as our ERE home base.

I'm bummed that I'll miss ERE-fest in September.......it would be amazing to meet so many of you in person this year....but I have hopes that I'll make the next one.

Would love to connect with more ERE folks in the meatsphere.

Till next time, 2B1S.

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mountainFrugal
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Re: Semi-ERE Year 4 - Wanderlust Prevails

Post by mountainFrugal »

2Birds1Stone wrote:
Mon May 22, 2023 12:44 am
We're going to be in one area for 3-4 months this summer, with the main goal being restoring my late grandfathers orchard.
This is one of my favorite graphic novels of all time. The story, dialogue, illustration, and color are incredible. Three siblings returning to their family vacation home and working on the orchard after their father passes away- https://www.fantagraphics.com/products/the-house

Gilberto de Piento
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Re: Semi-ERE Year 4 - Wanderlust Prevails

Post by Gilberto de Piento »

2Birds1Stone wrote:
Mon May 22, 2023 12:44 am
If someone has a tip on how to do a photo dump on these forums I would be glad to post some picture, we have many great pics from Spain and PT, especially The Fisherman's Trail, which was stunning.
I use imgur. You make an account then upload your pics.

Then I think you have two options:
1. Easier for you - Post a link here to the imgur page where all your pics can be viewed. ERE readers can click the link and go to imgur to see all the pics but the pics won't be visible here.
2. Easier for readers - Get the embed link for each picture you want ERE readers to see. Paste all of the links in an ERE post. Then readers can see the pics without going to imgur.

Maybe someone else has a better way.

Frugalchicos
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Re: Semi-ERE Year 4 - Wanderlust Prevails

Post by Frugalchicos »

Hey!! Thank you so much for the response! Very informative

"Our portfolio is currently ~40X annual spending, with 60% of that being in low cost ETF's and 40% spread between "high" interest CD's, treasuries, iBonds, and HYS accounts. We're not impacted by stock market fluctuations because we have a decade in easily accessible and stable investments....that's a long time to course correct or ride out any turbulence in the short/medium term. We don't budget per say, but track everything diligently and watch the TTM spending vs. 3% and 4% WR trendlines to make sure we're on track on a longer timescale. This is working quite well for the time being, and we're currently @ ~2.5% theoretical WR of assets......quite safe." - I love it - we are thinking in doing something slightly different. We would like to have 3-4 years in cash or CDs and keep replenishing that stash when the market is up.


I have only one scenario where I go back to FT work, that's needing a mortgage for the purchase of a future home base - Kind of on the same boat, but we rather get that out of the way in the first 2 years when we go back. - Have you decided if you want to buy in the US or in the EU?

Regarding activity, I always track in Google Sheets spreadsheet for the past 4-5 years - That's dedication man!! happy for you, I also imagine being in the best shape of my life when retiring. Mostly because if having the energy and mental freedom to do any activity.

I'm bummed that I'll miss ERE-fest in September - Wait, what is this about? I have not idea of it. Where is it happening and when?

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mountainFrugal
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Re: Semi-ERE Year 4 - Wanderlust Prevails

Post by mountainFrugal »

Frugalchicos wrote:
Tue May 23, 2023 8:44 pm
I'm bummed that I'll miss ERE-fest in September - Wait, what is this about? I have not idea of it. Where is it happening and when?
Join us!- viewtopic.php?p=269329#p269329

Frugalchicos
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Re: Semi-ERE Year 4 - Wanderlust Prevails

Post by Frugalchicos »

Hey, wish I could but I have some relatives coming around that time of the year

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

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

I am officially retired as of yesterday......let the games begin!

chenda
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Re: Semi-ERE Year 4 - Wanderlust Prevails

Post by chenda »

2Birds1Stone wrote:
Fri Jun 02, 2023 2:42 am
I am officially retired as of yesterday......let the games begin!
Congratulations:))

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

Post by Scott 2 »

Nobody wants to work anymore :) Congrats.

mathiverse
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Re: Semi-ERE Year 4 - Wanderlust Prevails

Post by mathiverse »

Congrats! I'm happy for you.

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