Seppia's journal

Where are you and where are you going?
rube
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by rube »

It is difficult to judge as certain things are personal, this is not just only an investment you can compare to another investment. Most important is what you will do long term and if it fits in your plans.
That said, I think that if I would be in your shoes I would most likely try to "get" it.

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Seppia
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by Seppia »

Thanks to all for the thoughtful answers.
I'll follow up with the property, the auction was supposed to happen in April but was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID19 situation here in Italy.

April Update

Life is slowly getting back to normal: the government eased some of the restrictions as of last week, and our Region now has among the loosest rules in the country.
Everybody needs to wear a mask, but we are now allowed to travel within the region without proof of motive. Bars and restaurants can now offer take away, so yesterday we did our part in helping re-start the economy by buying two delicious, big pizzas for a whopping 8.5 euros (yes italy is that cheap).

Life in general is progressing great.
Sure both DW and I miss our parents (they are in Lombardy and we are prohibited to go there), and it sucks not being able to move around in general, but when I stop and think:
1- My job is reasonably secure (company is solid and my region is the best performing in the company for the second year in a row)
2- We are all healthy (knock on wood)
3- We have around 19 years of expenses in stocks, almost 4 years in cash, a paid off mini apartment in case SHTF and no debt
I cannot help but see the glass half full.

Plus when you wake up and see this, there's no way you aren't happy

Image

I did something very un-ERE last week.
I was browsing around the interwebs and found a 10.000km, 2007 Honda Hornet 900 on sale from a Honda Dealer that will make a full service and give a one-year guarantee.
This was my dream bike when I was a youngster. I called in, half assedly, telling myself that if I was able to steal it I maaaaaayabe would have done it.
Turns out people are fairly happy to negotiate during this crisis, as dealers are probably seeing a massive drop in revenues as people cut on their discretionary spending.
Plus I turn 40 in a few days.
Plus I just got paid a massive bonus due to my 2019 performance and the bike cost is 1/14th of it.

Long story short, I'm selling my scooter and this is coming in in a week or two:

Image

Money

I got paid my 2019 bonus this month, which has added a full year of expenses in cash, bringing my reserves to 4 years of expenses.
This is good since I had partially drawn down from them to buy some stocks on the way down.
I'm amazed how fast stocks recovered, and cannot bring myself to fully trust this rally.
History though says that after a 30% rally, all bear markets in history, save for one, were over (posted by Ben Carson somewhere I can't find).
We shall see but I think this is a time for caution.

Savings rate was very low (81%) considering the amount of money that came in due to a couple one-offs.
The first was the irrational motorbike purchase, and the second my yearly charitable donations.
Rest of the costs were all under control.

McTrex
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by McTrex »

Mid-life crisis FTW! :D

Glad to hear the situation in Italy is slowly getting better. Take care and enjoy that handsome guy :)

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Seppia
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by Seppia »

May Update

Musings

This thread made me think about what my strategy has been all along, assuming I had one.

I'm a very simple ISTJ (sometimes testing as a ESTJ when I feel merry), so I generally have no strategy, but rather a simple goal, and then I act pragmatically and consistently to achieve it.
I'm basically a mule. That's probably why I've been relatively successful as an employee.

My simple goal has always been freedom, which in the larger sense, also carries the meanings of independence/resiliency/optionality.

The plan has always been a logical follow up to that.
When I was 14, it translated into starting to work part time in order to have the cash to buy videogames.
When I was 19 it translated into studying economics (the degree that left the widest range of options).
When I was 23 it translated into picking the job offer farther away from home instead of the other ones in Milan, so that I had to move out of my parent's home.
Right after that, it translated into saving, so that I had the money to not be a slave to my job.
Around 7-8 years ago it translated into pursuing FIRE/ERE
etc

Jacob designed his life to minimize resource wasting and came up with a philosophy, a book and a great forum of interesting people as a side effect.
I instead just long to be able to have no masters, and I'm happy to notice my behavior is actually good for the planet or have other positive side effects.

In life, I'm a decent checkers player who doesn't think he's good at chess, and I am a huge believer in the fact that knowing your weaknesses is one of the most important strengths one can have.

Life

The auction sale of the apartment I had been looking to buy has been now set for July 21st. Will almost certainly go and bid to try snatch it.
I'm hopeful this shitty pandemic may scare off other potential buyers, if I could get it for the minimum price it would be a complete steal.

In other news, the motorbike is awesome.

Image

Image

I also just sold the scooter I had, for basically the same price I had bought it for about two years ago.
Cost of ownership including insurance and gas came out to around $200 per year, not bad.

Work

I received my contract offer for Hong Kong, it's in line with the upper range of what I was expecting, so I didn't negotiate anything except for very minor details.
I am of the philosophy that one doesn't have to negotiate at all times out of principle. They made me a good offer, I take it. I feel like I have to reward the company for being fair in the first place.

Also started the process for the work visa, let's see when I'll be able to move there (expecting year end or so).

In related news, I miss traveling so much.

Money

Saved 78%, no weird one-offs this month.
NW increased by more than 4 years of expenses since end of March.
Starting this month, I'm again allocating about 40% of them to cash, but stocks have recovered so fast that my cash % allocation has actually gone down :lol:
I now have 4 years of expenses sitting in a CD

Frugalchicos
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by Frugalchicos »

Very nice motorbike. Life is to be enjoyed in a thoughtful way, and it seems that you are very much doing it.

Congrats on the offer and good luck in HK. I recommend visiting Sanya.

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jennypenny
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by jennypenny »

Are you concerned at all about HK with China exerting more pressure?

2Birds1Stone
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

Sweet bike! Sometimes I miss my motorcycles, but usually grateful to have replaced the engines with pedals. Wishing you many miles and smiles of safe enjoyment.

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Seppia
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by Seppia »

Thanks 2b1s for the kind words!

@Frugalchicos: Sanya looks sweet. Any other spot in China you'd recommend?

@jp: something to monitor for sure, but I think we're still kinda far from a dangerous situation.
I would bet the long term prospects of HK are pretty bleak, but I'm not planning to spend the rest of my life there.just a few years to visit and learn the different cultures across Asia, and maximize my income while doing so. It will be a sprint in some way.
Now that we finally have a kid I feel I have 5-6 years max to be 100% mobile and experience the world, but then it'll be somewhat over.
I want my son to grow up a world citizen, but I want him raised with european ideals.
I guess we'll be in Italy or Scandinavia by 2025-6

classical_Liberal
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by classical_Liberal »

Congrats on the job Seppia! Glad life is still awesome for you.

Frugalchicos
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by Frugalchicos »

Macao is an interesting city too. However, HK was the city that I like the most. Perhaps, because it was the most westernised. You are going to have a great time there and I am very jealous of all the siu mai, dumplings, congee, hot pot and noodles you will get to eat...

RealPerson
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by RealPerson »

I have been thinking about you and your family. Are you still going to move to Hong Kong? From here it looks like the situation there has changed radically, but I don't really have a sense of the reality on the ground. Of course I hope that you all stay safe no matter where you end up living.

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Seppia
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by Seppia »

I signed the contract literally 5 minutes ago :lol:
More updates to come, but long story short is: HK is becoming china, slowly but steadily.
Do I want to live there long term? Probably not.
Am I still excited for a mid-term experience: YES!

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Seppia
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by Seppia »

June / July Update


LIFE

The other night I came to realize that it's been 16 years since I've spent so many consecutive days without sleeping in a hotel (or elsewhere from my home).
I came back from my last business trip on March 2nd, and was starting to go nuts, so about three weeks ago I hopped on a flight to Sweden to visit a friend of mine and hike/camp for 4 days in Stockholm archipelago :lol:
A two way flight from Milan to Arlanda came at exactly 131 euros (with lufthansa!): flight travel in COVID times is definitely a bargain.

Next week we will take off and head for a couple weeks in Switzerland to hike and relax.
Switzerland is crazy expensive, but I managed to cover all hotel costs with the points I had accumulated and the car is paid for, so this vacation shouldn't impact our August numbers too much.


WORK

Since June, the company I work for basically extended "work from home" indefinitely for all the sales force.
That, plus the fact that we are supposed to move to HK as soon as my visa (and the pandemic travel restrictions) allow, made us take the decision to move back to our hometown in northern Italy.
This allows us to be closer to our families (DW and I are both from the same town) and friends before we move thousands of miles away.
We expect to be here till around December or so.

AUCTION

In the end I decided not to participate in the auction for the small unit next to mine.
Yes it was super cheap, but the location is just a perfect weekend/vacation spot (fresher, in the middle of nature, with some very good hikes nearby) and we don't need anything bigger than the 500sqf we already own.
Living here for some time as opposed to the 1-2 weeks max we normally did, both DW and I noticed that were we to live here permanently (which is the plan after we decide to pull the plug), we would miss being downtown too much.
So we are now looking to buy a mid size two bedroom (90-100sqm max) in the city.

Apartments downtown are about 3x the price of what the fire-sale auction was but:

- If we move to HK my salary will double and the mortgage would be invisible to me.
- If for whatever reason the move to HK is aborted (who knows, with these crazy times), a 20 y mortgage would be less than equivalent rent.
- Interest rates being almost literally zero (I simulated a 20y, fixed rate with 20% down and I got 0,83% all-in) real estate could prove to be a phenomenal investment in case inflation returned.

MONEY

Money-wise, it's been a good two months with SR at 73% and expenses under control. SR for the year at 74% will likely be slightly down by year end.
Investments have been flattish as I don't own any tech stocks, but, from my European perspective, owning S&P would not have helped as the 9%-ish gain in the last two months would have been entirely wiped out by the weakening of the USD vs the euro.
Dividend income will be down this year, but i still expect them to cover around 2/3 of expenses excluding rent.

I keep being amazed at the daily ridiculous stories coming from the US markets (Dave Portnoy pump&dump, TSLA in general, Kodak*), and I'm resigned to see many other crazy things before people regain their senses.
Luckily, I'm completely insensitive to FOMO so I just sit here and watch in disbelief, knowing someday the day traders will lose everything, and not learn anything in the process.

*another sign of the USA slowly turning into a banana republic

classical_Liberal
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by classical_Liberal »

The thing about housing choices is there's a huge amount of flow into/out of other arenas. It's very much true that paying a bit more for housing can really reduce costs in other areas. I tend to operate better in the small urban, stuff to do locally, but nature very nearby locations. So, for what it's worth, I think buying in a more expensive area that's "right" for you is well worth it, and that worth will manifest itself in other ways.

Hong Kong will be an adventure, particularly at this time in its history, I'm excited to see how it plays out!

What, no baby pics!?!?!

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Seppia
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by Seppia »

Life Update

So I've been MIA for some time, as I was getting ready to move to Hong Kong and the last month has been nothing short of crazy.

I am right now sitting in the airport, waiting for the COVID test result to come back.
Should take approximately 8-9 hours.
I am now three hours in and it's LOOOOONG already.
If negative (crossing fingers, I have no symptoms and was very careful lately), I'll be free to move to my temporary apartment, where I'll have to spend 14 days in quarantine.
Because of that, I booked a 1 bedroom with balcony (not common at all in HK) overlooking the bay, as I wanted to be able to breathe some fresh air and see something nice to avoid hanging myself.

Plan is to spend here about a month on my own, in order to deal with all the administrative stuff (set up bank account, get ID, start healh insurance for the fam, etc) and look for another nice (but bigger) temporary apartment.
Then I'll go back to italy, finalize everything, likely come back on my own, do quarantine again and then have DW and the little one land, so that while they spend quarantine I'm free to exit in case they need anything.

I'll try to post something every day, to be able to look back in the future and see how it was in the moment.

In unrelated news we baptized our son a couple weeks ago.
Image

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jennypenny
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by jennypenny »

I hope the test was negative and you're not still sitting at the airport. Good luck with the move! DD's move to HK then Vietnam was postponed because of covid. She can't decide whether to try again or stay in the states a while. I'll be watching your posts closely.

Your boy is so cute! That first year is wonderful, and goes by so so quickly ...

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Alphaville
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by Alphaville »

hah, that is a little person! nice photos—the motorcycle too. i see good though processes in play here, makes a nice read.

hong kong? wow. interested in future dispatches.

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Seppia
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by Seppia »

Thanks jp and Alphaville for the kind words. In the end it took me 10 hours to get the (negative) test result.

All in all it was a fairly long process and it took me around 36 hours door to door from my italian place to my temporary place here in Hong Kong.
I've slept only a couple hours on the plane so was very tired yesterday. Managed to get in a great 10 hours of sleep, a first leg of 3 hours, then woke up, took a bit of melatoning and slept again another 7 hours.
I feel great and think this may be the fastest it will ever take me to recover from jet lag. The zero-alcohol-in-fligh rule continues to rock.

I booked what's called a serviced apartment, a fairly common thing here in HK: it's basically a furnished apartment crossed with a hotel, so that you get regular cleaning, all sheets/towels regularly replaced, thrash collection, laundry etc.
They even buy the groceries for you once a week if you ask.

The place is relatively big by local standards, fairly tiny by italian standards and minuscule by US-ex NY/SF standards. Probabaly 550sqf/50sqm + a tiny balcony.
It's very pretty:

Image

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The ERE crowd definitely doesn't want to know how much this costs per month.
Just kidding, I know you do. It's an obscene 0.9 jacobs per month (I'm not the one who's paying, luckily).

Since I'm going to have a lot of time on my hands and since there's a great availability of Japanese products here, I bought The japanese cuisine book (this one: https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Cooking ... 568363885/ ) and will start experimenting.
I'll start from the basics and report on the Share Your Recipes thread.

I've also decided that it's going to be an alcohol-free two weeks for me, with a celebratory bottle of wine to be popped on the last day (Friday October 9th).
To avoid rustiness due to lack of exercise (I have a belly and should lose 20 lbs but I love to walk a lot), I will try do at least 1 hour of weight free training.
If any of you knows some good sources I'm all ears. I just found out on youtube that Jean Claude Van Damme has a series on youtube, lol

Solvent
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by Solvent »

Of course we want to know expenses! That is definitely an eye-watering rental. I thought my real estate costs were bad!

Looking forward to your adventures in Japanese cooking. I didn't realise that Bangkok (where I am) was so stacked with Japanese expats - but it is* - and similarly, DW told me we ought to learn Japanese cooking since nearly all the ingredients are available in the JP supermarkets here.

*Car manufacturers play a role, perhaps?

theanimal
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Re: Seppia's journal

Post by theanimal »

How have the first few weeks been in HK? Your place seems nice!

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