Category: Saving money

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

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

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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 Video chat software/Apps!).

Todays post is thus NOT going to be about investments (lets all try to avert our eyes from the market for a little while anyway, am I right?!)…

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The Christmas paradox

The Christmas paradox

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When I was a kid, I used to love Christmas (which kid doesn’t?!).

My parents divorced when I was very little, so I’ve always had two Christmas eves! One with my dad and his family, and one with my mom and her family. Some times I would get presents for 3 days straight (23-24-25), because I also had “step-families” (my mom and dad both remarried a few years after their divorce). I’ve never actually seen their divorce as a misfortune. Because they both remarried I had two happy families – and 4 set of grandparents!

IMAGINE that, as a child at Christmas! – Yes, you guessed it; presents galore!

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A lazy mans guide to budgeting

A lazy mans guide to budgeting

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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 you that this IS the good stuff! Why? Because, it involves the use of technology to help me (and you) to facilitate my favorite activity: being lazy.

Thanks to the somewhat monopolized payment industry, I no longer have to lift a finger to control my spending. How is that, Nick? You might ask. Well, to be fair, the monopoly doesn’t exactly help me control my spending – but it helps me categorize my spending, which is pretty much the most important part, of budgeting…

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Why to use multiple banks and payment services

Why to use multiple banks and payment services

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According to a study, recently conducted by the independent danish bank advisor mybanker.dk, only 48% of the danish population is a customer in more than one bank. Historically, the danish bank customers are very loyal too. 60% of them have been a customer in their current bank, for more than 10 years.

It probably comes as no surprise to my readers that I’m not part of those 60%. I have accounts in 5 different banks (6 if you count Revolut as a bank), and I regularly switch bank (according to my wife, I switch bank as often as I switch my underwear and my job. That’s not entirely accurate, but it’s close! 😛 ).

When I told my sister-in-law about this, she immediately asked the obvious question: BUT WHY?! (she obviously only has 1 bank, and she’s been with that bank for more than 10 years)

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To Stooze or not to Stooze

To Stooze or not to Stooze

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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.

So, what is Stoozing then, Nick?

Stoozing: The act of taking out credit at 0% (or a low rate) and putting the money into a high interest savings account to profit from the difference in rates.

Hm. That sounds simple enough…

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Why I rarely get on a scale

Why I rarely get on a scale

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We’ve had a lot of “money talk” lately. I feel it’s time to dig into a little “personal wealth” as well, if you catch my drift!?

Part of the journey to FIRE is also a spiritual journey, in where you (most of us) try to find your inner balance along the way. What makes you happy and fulfilled? – Find out, and use FIRE as leverage to get more of it/spend more time doing what you love!

Society today dictates that we be skinny and fit, wear designer clothes and drive fancy cars, while we vacation on sunny islands and drink tropical drinks all day (while staying fit!). The youngsters today get more stressed and more depressed than ever, trying to keep up with the perfect instagram lifestyle(s). I’m here to tell you, to FUCK all that!

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New Pension provider!

New Pension provider!

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Hello, new pension provider!
After waiting for about 3 months, my pension funds have now been moved to a new provider (chosen by the company that I work for).

I have been anxiously awaiting this move, as the new provider allow me to create my own custom investment strategy, in that they have a number of different funds, where you can choose to place your money (rather than just place them in an index or an actively managed fund with a certain stock/bond split, which is typically what most providers offer).

Since I started tracking my Net worth (which my pension currently constitute 40% of), I figured it could be interesting to write a post about the pension part of it, and get everybody to chime in, how they invest their pension funds. The general consent among “the mortals”, is that pension is an extremely boring subject – but not here! Not in the FIRE community! Here Pension is hot stuff! And so it should be!

So let’s get to it, people!

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Confessions of a Shopaholic

Confessions of a Shopaholic

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“Hi, I’m Nick and I’m a shopaholic”.

OK that might be a little overly dramatic. I was never really a shopaholic. But like most of our society, I had bought into the fact that buying stuff = good! When you click that BUY-NOW button on Ebay, it instantly release a shot of dopamine in your brain. And you do NEED new stuff (and gadgets), right?…

That’s right, the instant gratification “drug”. Also known as the “feel-good hormone”.

Dopamine is one of the main neurotransmitters in the brain. It is most commonly recognized for its role in reward, motivation, and pleasure, but also plays a crucial part in modulating focus, motivation, cognitive flexibility, and emotional resilience. In addition to these creative-productive capacities and states, dopamine is one of the main regulators of motor control and coordination of body movements – neurohacker.com

So now we know, why we (humans) love to buy stuff. But our shopping-impulses are also highly influenced by external sources, primarily being advertisements/commercials, but they are also controlled by our inherent need to “fit in”.

The “Advertisement and marketing” industry is a trillion dollar industry. A trillion dollars! Imagine if governments across the world decided over night to ban all form of public advertising. What would happen?!

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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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