I can see that lately i am changing my risk attitudes, slightly shifting from a very conservative view to a risk-embracing one. I made one high risk one-time investment last month, with a medium-high investment starting from this month, spreading to the next 24 months. Could be the impact of the Brexit, or some other subtle changes in my personality, but seems that lately i am not risk-averse anymore. What the future will bring, i will see. I cannot wait to check June monthly report - both economical and from my one year health-project perspective (one month is gone already, i can't believe it).

See you tomorrow!
G.

Brexit, my exit and some other words

I was good enough to sell all my shares in a stroke of luck few weeks ago, and i am expecting with great interest the development of the actual media circus. I trust myself that everything will be good, and the economy will settle at some point in the future. I also estimate that the housing cost will decrease a little, i hope to be just in time  for a buy, in case i decide to do it. I have still a great doubt, between buying a house and escape of the renting cost, and invest all the money in some real estate crowdfunding for at least 9% guaranteed return. The problem is, i have some kind of fear to invest more than 80% of my money in only one place (TheHouseCrowd), even if i can see it giving a decent return. A better one than shares and bonds at the moment. I will study the problem a bit more. What would you do if you were me? I am curious to here about your opinion.

It is not luck, it is knowledge

Or it is just luck, a lot of luck. I didn't have much invested in shares and mutual funds, as my primary investments are in real estate. But in the middle of May I decided to sell everything and to invest it in a Romanian equivalent of Help to Buy ISA, for a guaranteed ROI of 32% yearly, for 5 to 10 years. More than that, I exchanged the pounds at one of the highest value of 2016. Needless to say, it is possible that i will make enough profit with this, and some other businesses that i started lately, to buy a house fully paying in cash at the end of 2017, if the market will not totally crash and some asteroid will not hit the earth, erasing the entire human race. Estimate chance of success: 85-90%. But what i want to point out is that i do not know if somehow i got some preternatural intuition and subconscious understanding of economics, or it is just consistent luck. I will explore this hypothesis further. Anyway, i am happy that everything happen just in the right time, and that my first month in my one year perfect health project is running smoothly. I am grateful to every person who teach me in the last two years. Thank you all.

When to stop working and start your early retirement

Looking around, i found some interesting formula, done by one called Doug Massey.

Retirement time coefficient = Age x Net Worth / Yearly expenses

He said that you can retire at the moment when your retirement coefficient is bigger than 1000.

OK, let's reverse engineering this formula for basic expenses. 1000=39 x My net worth/9600, then My net worth will be equal with 1000 x 9600 / 39 = 246.153. Hmm, interesting enough, in my own formula it is 133.455.

The complete financial freedom result will be equal with 1000 x 18000/39= 461.538 while my own formula was 373.455.

I am thinking that the guy really want to feel sure that he is safe, good for him.

Anyway, it is a good try. What is your number? Do you consider it accurate?

Pocket money - early financial education

A good way to teach your children to become financially aware and make some pocket money, while doing more or less pleasant work, is to generate income via different websites. After a lot of trial and error, i would suggest two of them, where i am doing monthly at least 50-120$ myself.

One is Slicethepie , a website where you review the newest music or trendsetter pieces of fashion/technology. These days they got a mobile promotion, where you can make some easy money reviewing mobile related products.

Another one that i use only for few minutes once a day is the Mechanical Turk website from Amazon, where you can make money by working on HITs. HITs - Human Intelligence Tasks - are individual tasks that you work on. It is as easy as that, as a Mechanical Turk Worker you: can work from home, choose your own work hours, get paid for doing good work.

I wish you good luck in your journey.
G.


Disclaimer: One of the links is a referral link. I think that it is only fair to use it, as a small reward for my work in testing various websites.

A new way to learn about money?

With Sekou Andrews. About money, poetry and pay it forward. 

Anti-procrastination shield

Lately i find the most awesome and unexpected excuses, but also some of the most boring ones. I need to do my work, to respect my deadlines, but i find myself procrastinating. Not with everything, i start to train myself to become the best version of myself. I am improving physically, emotionally and mentally. But between my training, my work and my time with my partner, i have barely something left for sleep. I am performing better, i am quicker and more efficient, but i cannot make the time to go faster to get where i want to be. I need time, and the time itself need me. I am a Time-master, but i have no change left. What should i do?

101%

Sometimes i see myself not acting at full speed, like i am some weakling, too tired to move, too stressed to think. I have my plan, i know what i need to do, but it is only a intellectual creation. I need to go further, in order to achieve success faster. I need unlimited energy, the kind of energy that is hidden behind massive motivation. And i realized, in order to have more energy, to be motivated, i need to bring emotion in my life, i need to remember how much i want, how much i need my freedom. And then i feel the familiar rush, the adrenaline kicking in, and that feeling that everything is possible.

As i was teached, Emotion = E+motion, emotion is energy in motion. It is the fuel that will bring you fastest to your goal, it is the little extra that is pushing you towards your purpose. Remember, when you are not giving it all, reconsider your point. Change your state of mind, change your brain and you will change your life.

Why I keep going?

I cannot wait this end of the month. Everything is shifting so fast around me, and i am unable to see myself where i should be one year from now. But i know this, wherever i will be, from the point of view of my financial independence journey, it will be even more amazing than today. 

Until then, i am living in the today's day, enjoying my life. The power of now. The present. It is something that could make us to live surrounded by awe. Life, by itself, is a miracle, and then even our perspective of work will change dramatically. Because at the end of the road, we see our goal, and then, when it is achieved, we will mark this in our existence as a victory, the focal point where we turned our destiny around, and we started to life a life full of fulfillment and happiness. 

Time, time and time again

I always said that the best think money can buy is not freedom, it is time, When we are financially free we are not spending our time on a job we like or not, we can do what we choose to do. So, it is freedom, but it is also time. Nothing to say, i am following my passions even now, but between work, hobbies and me time, there are days where all that is left is only time to sleep. And I sometimes tend to use it , and diminish my sleep with one hour or two if it is needed by circumstances. And i know it is not a good choice, but i really want to finish this, or that, and I trick myself into using my sleeping time for other stuff. This is one of my strongest motivation on my early retirement journey, to get enough time for me to do all that i like, and find enough of it to go and read for one hour in the park.

Keep dreaming, but the plan is set.

Have a nice weekend!
G.

Health and money

This is mostly a personal post, as i will add some new data to my monthly report. I am talking about:
Weight: 85 kg (187 pounds) at 1.80 m (5'9'')
Body fat: 30%

As i hit this historical quote of 30%, i decided that is time to stop fooling around and to begin training. I just made a progressive one year plan, and i hope the see notable improvements from one month to another. At the end of the day, make no sense to retire early if you are not healthy enough to enjoy it, right?

My training is a complete one, on three directions of action:

1. Body
- Yoga techniques (postures, breathing and meditation)
- Freeletics - some kind of high intensity athletic training
- Running
- Martial art practice (i choose Wing Chun Kung Fu for the conditioning effect of all joints and increased burst speed and stamina)
- Freerunning / Parkour only occasionally when it is possible

2. Diet
- A 70% plant based diet (with a twist of 70% alkaline food daily), no chemicals, less sugar, better hydration (300ml water every 3 hours when possible)
- One day a week - 24 hour fasting (the latest researches found a lot of benefits related to this, i will not write about, they are one "google search" away from you)

3. Mind
- Mindfulness techniques aka meditation (seems to be a trend now, everybody is doing some form of meditation)
- Memory training techniques (it is a lot to talk about this, i am thinking to write a book about, huh!)
- Brain boosting supplements - Magnesium, herbal remedies, Ginseng, bee pollen, Omega 3,6,9 stuff.

Basically this is the plan for first month, i will add or subtract depending on what i would need at the moment.

May 2016 - Monthly report

May 2016 - Monthly report
My Overview

Total portfolio: £8755 ( +567)
Debt:1155 (+1155)
Net Worth: £7600 (-588)

Investments UK: £1923 (-555)
Investments overseas : £1803 (-10)
Cash: £1026 (+940)
Pension: £3899 (+88)

Total Income: £1079 (-659)
Passive income: 18 (1.66%)
Savings rate: Unknown

What a mess, i would say. But it is all an organized mess, as i am trying to start a small business, and i moved some assets in cash, and i start to prepare for first months expenses, hoping that very soon (1-2 months soon) i will start to get some income from it. Overall is not very bad, as my investments still got up, despite selling some of them and moving the money in the cash account. Pension still got up a bit, and cash vs debts is a close match. What it is most important right now is that i see 2, maybe 3 possible pathways to reach my financial independence faster, even if this will mean some extra work for the next  3-4 years. But i can see the Light, it is there at the end of the tunnel, and it is bright and comforting. I also published my second poetry book (and i am very pleased because of this). Passive income went a bit down this month, but will get up again in the next months. Is it all because of me relocating assets and adding a new whole dimension to my retirement plan. But I see exciting moves in my financial future this year. Even if it is still a long way until my yearly report.

Take care, enjoy life and be free!
G.