Category: Goals & Dreams

Lessons from the past (analyzing my returns from 2007-2019)

Lessons from the past (analyzing my returns from 2007-2019)

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As is the norm when we enter a new year, I like to look back at the returns of my (Pension) portfolio from the previous year(s).

Is it time to change my AA (again)? I was quite conservative with my AA last year when I opted to move a great portion of my portfolio OUT of the stock market. And Boy was I wrong to do that! The stock market hit an all-time high (again), gaining close to 30% in 2019, which ultimately left my portfolio returns in the dust in comparison.

You win some, and you lose some – I’m not regretting my decision to change my AA, but the events of last year has made me reconsider my overall strategy for my Pension portfolio (which is part of my 3 Pillars of Wealth).

I’ve actually said it many times before on this blog, but allow me to repeat myself: Don’t do what I do, kids! 😛

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The goals for 2020

The goals for 2020

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A year has gone by in what seems almost as a blink of an eye.

As per usual (I love saying that – this is only my 2nd goals-post ever), it’s thus time to look ahead into the coming year(s), and see what might be in store for the Total Balance household.

Last year I set myself a goal to reach a certain target Total Balance at the end of the year. I did this to adhere to my 13-year (lean)FIRE plan, to reach my Total Balance goal within those 13 years (preferably sooner). As I revealed in my latest Monthly update I managed to reach my yearly target – just barely 😉

As I crunched the numbers after my first year of blogging in September, it quickly became apparent that the current plan relies heavily on the income from Property #1, which is not due to start arriving until year 2023 (October 2023). As this is more than 3 years away, it’s clear that if I want to reach my goal sooner than currently projected (which I do), I’m gonna have to up my game! (Like get Property #2 on the roster – quickly)…

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Crunching the numbers of Year One

Crunching the numbers of Year One

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Since I’ve now been on the path to FI for more than a year (and recently wrote a somewhat philosophical rant about my first year on FIRE) I thought I’d spend some more words, looking into how the numbers have progressed during that first year. I (somehow) managed to grow my Total Balance by more than 40%! However, only 2.5% of that came from my investments (primarily crowdlending). That’s a little weak, Nick! You can do better than that!

Well, as always those numbers don’t tell the whole truth, in that I’ve made a big investment, which doesn’t pay out until the year 2023. I also have a substantial investment with Bulkestate, which doesn’t pay monthly interests, so there’s a bit of a “backlog” here, waiting to be paid out in Q4-2019. I also made a small investment with Brickshare, which is not scheduled to pay dividends until Q1-2020.

BUT, if we look at my property #1 investment and imagine that instead of a big payout in 2023 (which is currently the schedule) I’d get smaller installment payments from year 2020, the numbers certainly paint a different picture!

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One year later

One year later

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I wrote my first post on the 25th of September 2018, which makes today my blogs first birthday (I also started to get those domain renewal reminders a few weeks ago).

Much like real babies, it takes some work before they actually come out – so obviously the blog started way before that – but I figure it’s fair to consider the day of the first post, as the “official birthday” 😛

Since that first post 1 year ago, I have published more than 50 articles and received more than 300 comments (thanks for the support guys, I really appreciate it!) from over 4000 visitors. I know these stats might not be very impressive in the professional blog-o-sphere, but to me they are pretty awesome. I really didn’t have any expectations, going into this whole blogging universe, so seeing that people actually read my ramblings (on a regular basis!) has been one of the best parts of this journey so far. I love all my readers, so thank you all for reading 🙂

Lets look back at what happened in my first year on FIRE…

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Finding your purpose

Finding your purpose

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It’s no secret that a lot of us (humans) often struggle to find our “reason for being” – our purpose in life.

Why are we here? Where did we come from? Where are we going? These are some of life’s hard questions, and we’ve been (probably – we can’t really know for sure) searching for the answers since the dawn of man.

As I alluded to in my last post, I too have been (still am) struggling to find my purpose. It seems so spoiled to say this, when I have everything a man could ever ask for; A nice home, a loving wife (for the most part), a beautiful daughter and a well-paying job, in an industry that keeps screaming for more employees.

This is supposed to be the dream, but somehow it’s just not enough. I feel guilty for saying it, as I know there are people around the world, who can only dream of having what I have.

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Oops, I spent all my (FU) money! What now?

Oops, I spent all my (FU) money! What now?

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After I spent 8 months hoarding cash, I finally found Property #1 and now find myself in a strange vacuum.

I have yet to transfer the full amount due for Property #1, but since the money is now ear-marked, I’ve been having these strange feelings; Regret? Anxiety? Excitement?

I transferred the down payment for Property #1 last week (approximately 1/5 of the total cost), and felt nothing but excitement at the time. Now that it’s had time to really sink in, I find myself wondering: What now?!

Worst of all, it just dawned on me that while I might have gained a decent asset to my portfolio, I’ve lost something extremely valuable in the process: My F.U. money (you know – the money that would allow me to say F*CK YOU to my boss, and not worry about any sort of work for a while).

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Say Hello to my little friend (Property #1)

Say Hello to my little friend (Property #1)

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It’s been more than 6 months, since I first introduced my plans of purchasing a chunk of real estate, via a real estate development company. 37 posts later (!), and here we are! Of all those posts, this one is by far the most exciting one to write! 😛

I’ve spent countless hours reading numerous prospectuses and other investing material (I even spent quite a few nights out with the various developers). As fate would have it, Property #1 is not acquired via any of the developers that I have introduced on this blog (I suppose I’ll have to write a kind of “inside the walls” review now, won’t I? 😉 ).

I have been following their movements for a while though, so when a “hot tip” landed in my mailbox from an old friend (thank you, old friend!), I was ready to jump on the opportunity (what do you know, maybe I did learn something from my night out with the Rich Dad company) 😉

This is so exciting! Are we ready to meet Property #1?!

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The secret to becoming (or staying) wealthy

The secret to becoming (or staying) wealthy

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Today, I’m going to let you guys in on a little (big) secret (it’s really not that secret…).

Here goes: The secret to becoming (or staying) wealthy, is to stop paying your taxes…

But Nick, If you don’t pay your taxes, you’ll go to jail!

Precisely! And what do you get in prison? Free accommodation, free meals 3 times per day, free education – and even a free membership to the gym! Granted, you might have to share the dumb bells with a real badass mofo, but beggars can’t really be choosers, can they?…

All kidding a side, I don’t mean you should stop paying your taxes altogether. – I just mean you shouldn’t pay more than the law requires…

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Show me your budget (and I’ll tell you who you are)

Show me your budget (and I’ll tell you who you are)

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Much like your clothes, your friends, your pet(s) and your means of transportation says something about who you are, so does your budget…

When I talk to people about my FIRE project (it happens a lot, according to my wife), they often react as though I’ve just told them that they can’t have coffee again. Ever. Are you crazy?! Why, Nick?! WHY?!

Then I try to explain that I’m not trying to deprive myself of life’s luxuries. I’m merely trying to optimize my life and my time. Whenever I choose to buy something, I’m essentially paying for that item with my time (time that I’ve spent at work, earning that money).

Then they argue that it can’t possibly be worth it, living “on a rock” (I never really understood that expression – we all live on a giant rock, remember? 😛 ) just so I can quit my job and continue to live my miserable existence without coffee, ice cream and holidays to foreign countries…

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“Budget” traveling

“Budget” traveling

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I’m stretching the word “Budget” here, as our typical vacations aren’t really what most people would consider cheap. However, given our new found love for the FIRE, we’ve been trying to scale down on the “luxury traveling”, and now spend an awful lot of time, trying to find the best “value for money” vacation spots. It suits my frugal mind just fine. (Brace yourself folks, this is going to be a long one!).

Historically though, this was not always the case. I’ve never been the kind of guy, to go for the most expensive stuff that money could buy – but spending a monthly salary on a weeks vacation was not uncommon for us (this was before we had a kid). These days, we try to spend around 1/3 of a monthly salary (my salary) on a weeks vacation (to somewhere warm, typically). It’s still a lot, all things considered – but remember that lifestyle inflation is a lot easier than lifestyle deflation 😉

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