Definitions

Just because it like to talk about finances, that doesn't mean that my friends can easily understand what i want to say, I was told. So, instead of explaining to every one of them the same thing, again and again, i will just make a post and give the link when is needed. Time gaining strategy, right?

Terms and definitions most used in FIRE related stuff:

A savings rate is the amount of money, expressed as a percentage or ratio, that one deducts from his/her disposable personal income to set aside as a nest egg or for retirement.

Return on investment, or ROI, is the most common profitability ratio. There are several ways to determine ROI, but the most frequently used method is to divide net profit by total assets. So if your net profit is $100,000 and your total assets are $300,000, your ROI would be .33 or 33 percent.

Financial independence is generally used to describe the state of having sufficient personal wealth to live, without having to work actively for basic necessities. For financially independent people, their assets generate income that is greater than their expenses.

An index fund is a type of mutual fund with a portfolio constructed to match or track the components of a market index, such as the Standard & Poor's 500 Index (S&P 500). An index mutual fund is said to provide broad market exposure, low operating expenses and low portfolio turnover.

A bond is a debt investment in which an investor loans money to an entity (typically corporate or governmental) which borrows the funds for a defined period of time at a variable or fixed interest rate.

Real estate is the modern term for land and anything that is permanently affixed to it. Fixtures include buildings, fences, and things attached to buildings, such as plumbing, heating, and light fixtures.

Peer-to-peer lending, sometimes abbreviated P2P lending, is the practice of lending money to individuals or businesses through online services that match lenders directly with borrowers.

See you soon!
G.

Emotion in motion

I have a very interesting dilemma between the choice of doing what i would really like, but no money involved, and doing what i need to do, in order to boost my income a bit more. The problem is that my time is limited, and mixing those two seems to not be a good idea. Now, what if a part of me will slowly die because i choose the material way, am i being a bit too melodramatic or i can call myself focused and driven by my far fetched goal.

I will see what happen when i will do my monthly report, i cannot have a proper opinion yet.

How do you combine these two, and where do you find all that patience? I really, really like to know.

Give or spend?

Elizabeth Dunn from British Columbia University did an interesting research, measuring happiness before and after the experiment, with everyone from group A giving 20$ to someone from group B, and everyone from group B spending the money on something they wanted but wouldn't spend their money on it.

According to the result, the people from group A had an increase on overall daily happiness, the people from group B had no change or a decrease in their overall daily happiness.

I always allocated 5-10% of my total income to "Give" account, now i find out why is it so important to do that. Some of my friend prefer to donate a part of their time, but each of us can choose the best alternative, as time is money. At the end of the day, who can put a price on happiness?

Another similar experiment, on toddlers this time, showed the same conclusion, that giving make us happy.

(Full experiment here)

The power of healthy habits

Habits are our masters, good or bad. They can lift us up or get us down. A habit is a force to recon with it. One apparently insignificant habit, to put some money every day in a piggy bank, and invest it every month, or week, managed to boost my savings with more than 20%. And on top of that, the satisfaction is there, bigger than any other completely automatic setup or investment pathway. It is about 10 pounds, invested every week in some P2P or bitcoin or property crowdfunding, but it is addictive. And in this case addiction is good, because every week will bring me closer to my early retirement.

As a side discussion, we should always try to implement a good habit every 3-6 months or so, ideally this being opposite to some bad habit that it is ruining our financial performance. Doing this, the goal of financial independence in 10 or less years is not a possibility, but a fact.

Good luck my fellows FI fighters!
G.

Spending habits

Talking about Bill Gates and spending habits of reddit. I find it interesting and funny in the same time.

Link here

Have fun!

G.

Tips and tricks: financial independence

I just read two interesting articles that summarize well enough what do you need to achieve financial independence.

Link 1: Huffington Post - 10 ways to become financially independent

Link 2: One solid article about financial independence

Tips and tricks

Propertymoose.co.uk, one of my favourite real estate crowdfunding company, decreased the minimum investment, make it much more approachable for all of us. Before you could only invest in multiple amounts of 500 pounds, now they decrease it at only 10.

Good luck!

G.

February 2016 - Monthly report

My Overview

Total portfolio: £8057 (+96)
Debt:- £558 (-52)
Net Worth: £7499 (+148)

Investments UK: £2131 (+272)
Investments overseas : £1739 (+75)
Cash: £835 (+32)
Pension: £3352 (+201)

Total Income: £1358
Passive income: £13  (0.95%)

Not much passive income due to the shares situation and some investments in REIT that will start to pay about 2 months from now. Overall the result is positive, the market is slowly recovering. I did not worked to much, due to two short holidays (one in Dublin, one to see my parents in Romania) and 2 days off-sick, as you can see in my total income. Anyway, my investments are increasing in value, hopefully March will be more indulgent with me. I finished with my time off, and i expect to work on my recovery in the next two months. My next step will be to increase my overseas investments (32% ROI on up to 800 pounds invested per year) until the share market will come back to some kind of  normality.