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Ignite your FIRE

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Ignite your FIRE

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Category: Reviews & Howtos

Saving money

Why I spent €1500 to save €50 per month

  • By That Guy
  • Jul 20,2020
  •  ♦ 6

You’ve probably heard the term: “Sometimes you have to spend money to make money”. Well, sometimes you also have to “Spend money to save money” (In the long run)… By now you’ve probably already realized what this is about. I’m of course talking about my new adventure; my electric car. It should come as no…

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Investments

What makes a good (retail) property investment?

  • By That Guy
  • Apr 30,2020
  •  ♦ 4

Mr. MoneyMow recently reached out to me, and several other FIRE bloggers, to get our take on how the pandemic has affected our investment strategy (if at all). In short; my strategy hasn’t been affected by the arrival of a pandemic. Looking back though, I originally outlined my plan in one of my first posts…

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Reviews & Howtos

5 (free) ways to keep in touch during a lockdown

  • By That Guy
  • Mar 25,2020
  •  ♦ 0

Hello dear readers and followers of the Total Balance household! While we all try to practice safe “Social distancing” these days (to break the chain of infection from the dreaded Corona virus dubbed Covid-19), there are ways to remain social, without being close to one another! Thanks to the great invention of The Internet (and…

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Reviews & Howtos

Crowdestor gets a facelift and adds 2FA – yay!

  • By That Guy
  • Nov 12,2019
  •  ♦ 2

Quick update from your friendly neighborhood Total Balance guy! Crowdestor announced last month that they were gonna give their website an overhaul, and it has now arrived. Why should you care, you ask? Well, I think it’s noteworthy when a young company decides to completely re-vamp their website and add extra security features at the…

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Reviews & Howtos

Crowdlending platform (in)security check

  • By That Guy
  • Nov 6,2019
  •  ♦ 0

On Oct 14, I received a disturbing E-mail from one of the Crowdlending platforms that I currently have investments with. This was the exact message: Kuetzal website was attacked this Sunday, it was successfully reflected by Kuetzal, but for security reasons, some passwords may be deleted. If you can’t sign in your account, please use “reset password”, or…

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Reviews & Howtos

A lazy mans guide to budgeting

  • By That Guy
  • Oct 18,2019
  •  ♦ 4

I know. It was bound to happen eventually, right? – “How to do x-y-z” is the most boring blog posts of them all. I do believe we even refer to them as “filler posts”. Something we use to fill the void between the good stuff, right? – But not this guy! I’m here to tell…

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Reviews & Howtos

To Stooze or not to Stooze

  • By That Guy
  • Aug 17,2019
  •  ♦ 8

I know what you’re thinking; WTF is a Stooze!? I’d never heard the term before either, until I started researching a nifty little trick (that I’ve been using for a while), in order to deploy “free leverage” that I used to purchase Property #1. It turned out that the little trick had a name: Stoozing….

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Reviews & Howtos

How to diversify your crowdlending portfolio

  • By That Guy
  • Jun 15,2019
  •  ♦ 3

We all know the famous quote from Warren Buffet: Diversification is protection against ignorance. Well, admitting ignorance can also be a strength…So there! – I admit it: I’ve invested in 10 different crowdlending platforms, in hundreds of different loans to hundreds of different people/businesses of whom/which I know very little about. All I know is…

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Reviews & Howtos

The secret to becoming (or staying) wealthy

  • By That Guy
  • Apr 20,2019
  •  ♦ 10

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,…

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Investments

A night out – with Rich Dad (Property investing)

  • By That Guy
  • Apr 14,2019
  •  ♦ 18

This week I attended a 2-hour (free) seminar on property investing, from the Rich Dad Education company. I didn’t really know what I was going into (the agenda was very sparse), so I tried to keep an open mind (I already read Rich Dad, Poor Dad, so I was pretty sure I already knew the…

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The FIRE

Hi, I’m Nick!

I’m working towards becoming financially independent – while still living as “normal” a life as possible.

You can follow my progress towards financial freedom and early retirement here.

My Total Balance Progress

My Total Balance goal is €400.000 (for now...).

€102.133 / €400.000 (25,53%) 25%
What's yours?

Recent Comments

  • That Guy on Monthly Update #30 (February 2021) – Dejavu
  • Tony on Monthly Update #30 (February 2021) – Dejavu
  • P2035 on Monthly Update #26 (October 2020) – Government support
  • That Guy on Monthly Update #26 (October 2020) – Government support
  • Wednesday Reads: Soul - Dr FIRE on New lessons learned (analyzing my returns from 2007-2020)
  • P2035 on New lessons learned (analyzing my returns from 2007-2020)

Recent Posts

  • Monthly Update #30 (February 2021) – Dejavu
  • Monthly Update #29 (January 2021) – Full Throttle
  • New lessons learned (analyzing my returns from 2007-2020)
  • The goals for 2021
  • Monthly Update #28 (December 2020) – Return of the Jedi
  • Monthly Update #27 (November 2020) – The Force Awakens

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Disclaimer

I’m not a financial advisor. The content that you read on this blog is my own personal preference, and is merely intended as inspiration for you to pursue your own goals and dreams.

Consider the content here as entertainment, not as investment advice. Should you choose to invest based on something I wrote, I implore you to do your own research and consider your own risk profile, before you invest your money in anything.

Top Posts & Pages

  • Monthly Update #30 (February 2021) – Dejavu
  • How your personality dictates your return
  • The (Shockingly) Simple Math Behind Early Retirement
  • HOWTO: Transfer money fast and free of charge
  • Opportunity cost
  • The goals for 2021
  • A night out - with Imbro
  • Monthly Update #29 (January 2021) – Full Throttle
  • Monthly Update #5 (January 2019) - The Return of Mr. Self-Pity
  • Gambling vs. Calculated risk

Categories

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  • Reviews & Howtos (13)
  • Saving money (15)
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