Achievement 2016: Done

I do not like to brag usually about what I do and how, but today is a very important day on my Financial Independence journey.

I HAVE NO DEBTS. I paid all my debts.

Hooray!

Next of the list: The annual review. I can't wait to finish it.

November 2016 - Monthly report

November 2016 - Monthly report
My Overview

Total portfolio: £9291 10204(+913)
Debt: £2780 (+120)
Net Worth: £7424 (+793)

Investments UK: £1906(+162)
Investments overseas : £1964 ( same)
Cash: £918(+597)
Pension: £5416(+272)

Total Income: £2147 (+862)
Passive income: £838 (39%)
Savings rate: 8.16%

Side hustle 1 value: £392
Side hustle 2 value: £11128
Side hustle 3 value: £70 (Profit November £826)

November was a good month. All that i need is a glorious December to end the year in greatness. Side hustle 3 exceeded my expectations, and soon i will resume my side hustle number 2. A whooping 39% in (almost) passive income, i think this is the best of all time. And i have every parameter increasing in November (sadly even the debts increased slightly). What i can say, a good month, with a steady influx of cash. Big changes in view.

Have a perfect week,
G.

One year health plan - month 6

Motto: All the wealth in the world worth nothing for you, if you are not healthy.
(Financial freedom wizards manual)

Weight: 81.80 kg (2.2 kg less than 30 days before - 85 kg) at 1.80 m (5'9'') Aiming for 81 kg and 19% body fat on 1st of January.
Body fat: 20%  (4% less)
BMR (basic metabolic rate) = 1818 kcal
PAL (physical activity level) = 1.375
Energy requirement daily = 2499 kcal
BMI = 25.8

So, a decrease of 500 kcal per day should be sustainable if i eat enough fruit and veg.

1. Body
- Yoga techniques (postures, breathing and meditation) 25 sessions - 83%
- Running or other kind of training - 12 sessions -100%

2. Diet
- A 70% plant based diet (with a twist of 70% alkaline food daily), no chemicals, less sugar, better hydration (300 ml water every 3 hours when possible) - I achieve this 80% of the time, i would say.
- One day a week - 24 hour fasting - did it 4 times in November. I was slightly decreased the sugary and caffeine rich foods and drinks this monh

3. Mind
- Mindfulness techniques aka meditation: 27 times - 90%
- Brain boosting supplements - For the this month i tried: Omega 3, Magnesium, Ginseng and Ginkgo biloba solution, My herbal remedies (but for the herbal treatments i did it completely only 25% of the time).

Physical training - I did some serious running, but not much of other kind of training. I injured my food in the last day of the month, probably when I was running, so i stopped training in the first week of December
Diet - Was better than November, with less caffeine and maybe slightly less sugar.
Mind - I am getting better, but one mold infested wall will somehow phase me out creating problems to my breathing and rest. Sleep was better in November.

Last call - Life is beautiful

I am planning and looking and searching once again. It is time for me to reap the rewards, and this year is looking good, reported to the past five years. Second high income, the healthy weight plan implemented nicely, not too much training this month, mostly due to some injury to my feet. But the starts are aligned nicely, and everything is going according to the plan. Which made me think about that quote: "You want to make God laugh, start to make a plan.". How true is this one? No idea. I will start to do the checks for my end of the month health and financial report.

See you soon.
G.

End of the month

November is close to finish, and overall i had a good month, with decent expenses and one average income increase. I am getting close to my goal of finishing this year with no debts as one more was paid in full. Few more days and i will see the final results.

But i have a feeling that December will test my limits, as i will manage through birthdays and feasts, and gifts and holidays. But I am ready, show me what you got, dear month of endless shopping!

Santa is getting ready

Oh, Christmas is coming, everybody is getting ready to buy expensive gifts to show their love for the closest ones, some will do this even just to compensate somehow their usual absence from home, under the pretext of extra work and being busy. What can we do to resist to all this strong call to spend, spend, spend? We are powerless, most of the time. Or are we not?

Some of us are checking early, to find some good deals, in order to save time later. Some will wait until the last minute for some bargain.

What are your strategies for December? I will appreciate a lot and i will provide unlimited 'thank you' for every hint and tip received.

Have a perfect month of December! (Yes, is coming soon.)

Yours truly
G.

October 2016 - Monthly report

October 2016 - Monthly report
My Overview

Total portfolio: £9291 (-2110)
Debt: £2660 (+309)
Net Worth: £6631 (-2210)

Investments UK: £1744(-2210)
Investments overseas : £1964 (-19)
Cash: £321 (-39)
Pension: £5144 (+156)

Total Income: £1285 (+99)
Passive income: £138 (10.74%)
Savings rate: 8.16%

Side hustle 1 value: £392
Side hustle 2 value: £11128
Side hustle 3 value: £274

Where to start? Maybe you noticed the hustle no.3, that it is increasing slowly, with an estimate of 3-400 monthly. The first two side hustles are paused at the moment, for personal reasons. That was the good news. Now on the other side, due to my businesses and to some personal reasons, i got a significant drop in my investments. Pension increased slightly, Cash stayed quite the same. Debts increased a bit. A mini-disaster, eating this year growth, partially due to the Brexit and some uninspired choices. But we need to go on, isn't it? I hope the next month will find me better, and i will even try to finish December on positive balance. Let's see what happen! I am not stopping just because of one setback. I will be victorious.


Have a perfect week,
G.

One year health plan - month 5

Motto: All the wealth in the world worth nothing for you, if you are not healthy.
(Financial freedom wizards manual)

Weight: 84 kg (1.3 kg more than 30 days before - 85 kg) at 1.80 m (5'9'') Aiming for 83 kg and 22% body fat in November.
Body fat: 24%  (2% more)
BMR (basic metabolic rate) = 1858 kcal
PAL (physical activity level) = 1.375
Energy requirement daily = 2554 kcal
BMI = 26

So, a decrease of 500 kcal per day should be sustainable if i eat enough fruit and veg.


1. Body
- Yoga techniques (postures, breathing and meditation) 31 sessions - 91%
- The 300 training - proven unappealing, as it was supposed to be done once per week, but i did it only once in a month - 25%
- Running - 9 sessions -112%
- Wing Chun Kung Fu minimal training- 26 sessions - 82%


2. Diet
- A 70% plant based diet (with a twist of 70% alkaline food daily), no chemicals, less sugar, better hydration (300 ml water every 3 hours when possible) - I achieve this 75% of the time, i would say.
- One day a week - 24 hour fasting - did it 5 times in October. I kind of cheated my diet at least few times, having sweets or fizzy drinks, for couple of days in a row. For November i aim for caffeine or fizzy once per week and sugary sweets twice per week only.

3. Mind
- Mindfulness techniques aka meditation: 31 times - 100%
- Memory training techniques: 93%
- Brain boosting supplements - For the first month i tried: Omega 3, Magnesium, Ginseng and Ginkgo biloba solution, Bee pollen (several times) and my herbal remedies (but for the herbal treatments i did it completely only 50% of the time).

Physical training - Running was fine, an i can even see some progress in mobility, due to the regular yoga postures. I had added The Sun Salute (Surya Namaskara) to the mix, few repetitions every day, and I am planning at least 3 medium to difficult trainings every week. I will run a bit more when possible and i will try some kind of physical conditioning this month.
Diet - Was better than September, but I ate well enough to cover my daily calories intake very often.
Mind - I am getting better, but the cold will somehow phase me out creating problems to my breathing and rest. Sleep was suboptimal at the end of the month, and i am still recovering.

Planning

I will get my one year health plan first. The financial monthly report will follow soon after, Until now is good enough for a beginner - more than £100 in one week with matched betting. And that was while i was learning the skill. I think i will talk a bit about the errors that I did on my way, in a following post. You know what they say: A clever man learn from his own mistakes, a wise one learn from other's mistakes.

End of the month is coming

I start to get the feeling of this matched betting. I will have a week of playing at the end of the month, and i am very curious to see how much money i can make in this time interval.

On the other way, i would like to reach the zero point with my debts too. I am convinced that i will do it this year, but with a bit of luck i can do that on 1st of November.

The perfect body image training is working fine, with a decent 80%+ of the goal achieved. This month was mostly about work, so i cannot wait to see the results in that direction too. Few more days. That's it.

Qoins - get rid of you debt, using spare change (US only)

Just when I was thinking everything was invented, our fellows from over the ocean surprised us once again. Now, how to describe this, if you already read my reviews about Acorns (US) and Moneyboxapp (UK), imagine Qoins as a Moneybox for debts, instead of investments. This a a very good idea, just because many of us will not start to invest until we will pay all our debts. Or will we? So, you have debts, this is your solution, one spare change at the time. I cannot tested yet, as I am in UK at the moment, but I wait impatiently for someone to do this over here too.

Matched betting

I decided to give a chance to matched betting. Let's see how it is working. Probably I will give a review about this at the end of November.

The portfolio paradigm

The world is changing fast. Faster than we can predict, and one after another, we've seen the aftermath of the Brexit effect. And not only. Bonds are going down, unable to provide the much needed stability, and we will probably go to the extremes, like in Japan, were the interest is negative. Yer, you read that right, there you need to pay for the right to keep a bond. The market is still going up and down, reaching the lower and the higher value of the last 5 years in just a 5-months interval. Gold and precious metals went up for a moment, just to go back to the initial value. Petrol based companies kept going down, again and again, but they paid good dividends despite this. Banks cutting down the interests, again and again, trying to prevent a future crisis. Housing market going down, despite the fact that we do not have enough houses to provide a home for everyone. It is a challenging period, but then, these are the times where you can ride the wave, and find new opportunities to reach your financial independence faster, even if nothing seems to be safe enough. We need to reconsider all our risk-taking strategy, but in the end we will prevail. Because we are following our final goal, and we gonna reach it, in one way or another. It is also the easiest time to buy a house for the first time, helped with instruments like First buy, Isa and different financial sticks and stocks. Is is possible for us to invest in a Cash fund, a Global equities fund and a Global property shares fund using your change, through moneybox app. The possibility to own a part of an ancient castle, via thehousecrowd. to invest in emerging market, in companies that can mark their own place via crowdcube and seedrs. The possibilities are endless. You only need to keep an open mind and to search, to search with obstinacy, every day of the week.

Good luck!
G.

Financial independence training

Something unbelievable happened. I work for a local borough coucil and we are offered different trainings in order to update our knowledge regularly. Now I was invited to a 3 hours training about financial independence and early retirement. Could be this the new way of reducing the expenses by helping us to retire and not pay our wages? We will see.

Moneybox - now for Android too

Another good news for Android users. I was talking about the Moneybox app, the app that helps you to invest your change weekly in shares, equities and cash funds. It worked well for me, with £48 invested in one month. Their choices are solid enough to go for the long term investment, and i had some gains too, £0.33 for one month. You can try it and see with your own eyes if it will work for you or not. Go for it!

September 2016 - monthly report

September 2016 - Monthly report
My Overview

Total portfolio: £11401 (-1615)
Debt: £2351 (+234)
Net Worth: £9050 (-1849)

Investments UK: £3954 (+2327)
Investments overseas : £1983 (same)
Cash: £360 (-4164)
Pension: £4988 (+106)

Total Income: £1186 (-6635)
Passive income: £19 (1.60%)
Savings rate: 22.76%

Side hustle 1 value: £392
Side hustle 2 value: £11128

What a month! My portfolio had seen a considerable decrease due to some personal expenses (close family member funeral - i will say no more). Debt increased slightly, the complete payment plan for this year is achievable despite the temporary fall behind the schedule. The investments increased just fine with the fine amount of £2327, and the biggest decrease was in cash, but in the end that is the meaning of the emergency fund, to be used in emergency, i was prepared and this is saying a lot. Total income decreased, as the secret hustle no.2 just faded away. Maybe the opportunity will rise again in the future. Passive income was a bit less than 2%, for the same reasons mentioned before, funeral and holiday in one close interval. The savings rate was decent, but i can do better than this. Side hustle no.1 is still on hold, i do not know if i will ever start it. October will be a normal month, with not too many chances to do something extra. My biggest issue is that I expect 6 months of solid work until my next break in March. We will see what will happen next.

Have a perfect week,
G.

One year health plan - month 4

Motto: All the wealth in the world worth nothing for you, if you are not healthy.
(Financial freedom wizards manual)

Weight: 82.7 kg (2.3 kg less than 30 days before - 85 kg) at 1.80 m (5'9'')
Body fat: 19%  (3% less)

In September I got 2 different intervals. First one was in holiday, for 10 days, with only yoga sessions, swimming as exercise and language learning. Exercise has been 60% successful, yoga sessions 80%, and the language training 90%.

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

1. Body
- Yoga techniques (postures, breathing and meditation) 20 sessions - 100%
- Freeletics - some kind of high intensity athletic training 4 partial sessions - strength training was not done properly this month, as i was mentally exhausted due to some external factors.
- Running - 6 sessions -100%
- Wing Chun Kung Fu minimal training- 20 sessions - 100%
- Freerunning / Parkour - one feeble try - forcing a knee tendon, took me one week to recover.

Big win: My thyroid problem was solved, at least on the paper. Officially speaking, i am fully recovered. Next on the list: immunity. In October i will try a new method of training instead of freeletics, as i am not motivated enough to do that.

2. Diet
- A 70% plant based diet (with a twist of 70% alkaline food daily), no chemicals, less sugar, better hydration (300 ml water every 3 hours when possible) - I achieve this 75% of the time, i would say.
- One day a week - 24 hour fasting - did it 2 times in September, first for 24 hours, second time for 48 hours. I kind of cheated my diet at least 5 times, having sweets or fizzy drinks, in the third week, for couple of days in a row.

3. Mind
- Mindfulness techniques aka meditation: 20 times - 100%
- Memory training techniques: stopped this month
- Brain boosting supplements - For the first month i tried: Omega 3, Magnesium, Ginseng and Ginkgo biloba solution, Bee pollen (several times) and my herbal remedies (but for the herbal treatments i did it completely only 60% of the time).

Physical training - While i was good with the running, reaching even few new records, i was not doing the strength and mobility training properly.
Diet - For the same reason, I somehow ignored my dieting plans at the end of the month, but i kept my hydration optimally every day. I would say 65% of the time i ate as planned. I did my weekly fasting, but in two occasions only for 20 hours instead of 24. I added a Chinese mix of Ginseng and Ginkgo to my supplements, Magnesium Malate and bee pollen few times.
Mind - More focus, as i was totally unfocused in two occasions, with almost catastrophic results.

Soon - One year health plan update

Wow, 4 months are almost gone, and i had my ups and downs in my journey to the perfectly balanced and healthy body. A big achievement this month too, and a lot of disruptive events. In the next two days i will finalize the fourth month report.

See you soon.

Monthly report

Very soon. I am waiting with impatience for this month to finish, so i can see the final results of my secret hustle number 2. As i can see, the opportunity is closed now, after i had a profit of almost 17.000 in just 3 months. Not bad, and it will be still secret, just in case that the opportunity will rise again. The 12 month health plan is going well, adjusted now and then, with a total of at least 80% achieved. Few more days, and my curiosity will be satisfied. See you soon.

About investments and risks

- Diversify your portfolio by adding independent and opposing sources of return.
- Don’t pick stocks – Asset allocation is more important.
- Historical returns are not exact indicators of future performance. Don't plan your portfolio around it.
- Don’t invest without a plan.
- Don’t forget to invest in your Financial Education. Every investment you make in yourself will pay you dividends for a lifetime.
- Don’t forget to match investment style with personal goals.
- Don’t place excessive trust in “Experts”.
- Beware of low liquidity.
- Beware of excessive conservatism or risk taking. Remember, a ship may be safest sitting in harbor, but that’s not what ships were built for. Similarly, it’s reckless to take a ship out of harbor when the “perfect storm” strikes.
- Short-term results in a one-way market can lead to false conclusions.
- Don’t confuse total return with value added.
- Don’t focus excessively on expenses or taxes.

One year health plan - month 3

Motto: All the wealth in the world have no worth to you, if you are not healthy.
(Financial freedom wizards manual)

Weight: 85 kg (3 kg more than 30 days before - 85 kg) at 1.80 m (5'9'')
Body fat: 22%  (2% more)

Only 21 days recorded as another method was used in the period 1-10.08.2016

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

1. Body
- Yoga techniques (postures, breathing and meditation) 21 sessions
- Freeletics - some kind of high intensity athletic training 9 sessions
- Running - 9 sessions
- Wing Chun Kung Fu minimal training- 21 sessions
- Freerunning / Parkour - no training this month

2. Diet
- A 70% plant based diet (with a twist of 70% alkaline food daily), no chemicals, less sugar, better hydration (300 ml water every 3 hours when possible) - I achieve this 75% of the time, i would say.
- One day a week - 24 hour fasting - did it 4 times in July. I kind of cheated my diet at least 6 times, having sweets or fizzy drinks.

3. Mind
- Mindfulness techniques aka meditation: 21 times
- Memory training techniques: 21 sessions
- Brain boosting supplements - For the first month i tried: Multivitamin,Emperor Ginseng for Him 6000 mg, Ginseng and Ginkgo biloba solution, Omega 3-6-9 300 mg and my herbal remedies (but for the herbal treatments i did it completely only 75% of the time).

Physical training - While I can see improvements in yoga and wing chun, i somehow decreased the intensity of my running and freeletics towards the end of the month, because of all my extra work that needed to be done before my holiday.
Diet - For the same reason, I somehow ignored my dieting plans at the end of the month, but i kept my hydration optimally every day. I would say 65% of the time i ate as planned. I did my weekly fasting, but in two occasions only for 20 hours instead of 24. I added a Chinese mix of Ginseng and Ginkgo to my supplements, and i took out the multivitamin pills, as i did not like their taste (got sick twice because of them, so they are out at the moment). I will introduce bee pollen instead in September.
Mind - The memory techniques done by default, the meditation quality can and must be improved.

Take good care of you, my friends
George.

August 2016 - monthly report

August 2016 - Monthly report
My Overview

Total portfolio: £13016 (+4357)
Debt: £2117 (+187)
Net Worth: £10899 (+4160)

Investments UK: £1627 (-254)
Investments overseas : £1839 1983 (+144)
Cash: £4524 (+4191)
Pension: £4882 (+276)

Total Income: £7821 (+6291)
Passive income: £6313 (80.72%)
Savings rate: Unknown

Side hustle 1 value: £392
Side hustle 2 value: £53650 (+47365)

What a month! I am not believing what is happening and i cannot even think what will be next, as one of my side hustles started to work beyond my greatest expectations. It is a highly individualized business, so no, i cannot share it yet, because i fear competition. Anyway, let's start with the beginning. My portfolio jumped with more than 4K. Debt increased a little, just because i cannot take too much from the profit back as is needed to be reinvested. The net worth is also reflecting the increase, and i want to clear all my debts in the next two months. UK investments decreased slightly, while overseas ones increased, mostly because of the pound drop in the exchange rates. Cash increased with the mentioned 4K, as the cheque came in the 30th of the month. Pensions increase with their monthly contributions. As for my passive income percentage (which in fact is not fully passive, but it is done unrelated to my full time job) is a mighty 80%. Now all that i need is to continue with the secret side hustle and to build a portfolio with a yearly ROI bigger than 5%. If everything will go according to the plan, i am thinking to learn more about real estate and real estate auction. Wish you at least as much luck as mine, even double, if possible.

(I am in holiday now, first 10 days of September, but last month i had some solid 80+ hours work weeks, I am trying hard to not overexert and exhaust myself, because, at the end of the day, the health is important too. That is the disadvantage of an activity where the time allocated is directly influencing the profit, so, at the moment I need to teach myself to not become too obsessed with making money. Imagine that!)

Good night,
George

August - monthly report - coming soon

This was an interesting month, and one of the best financially speaking in the 2016. I am still compiling the data. I will work on the report soon.

The bad "good" news

...or as I wanted to say, this is my face when the Santander 123 bank account interest dropped from 3% to 1.5%, but it is still the best available if you have more than 20k on it.

Financial independence overnight

Let's say that you just won the big prize. You are a normal person, who never had any specialized financial education. What to do next?

1. You still need to pay your tax for the money you won, so it is recommended to find out what you have to pay and pay it.

2. If you have any debts, student loan or mortgage, pay them.

3. You need basic control over your emotional state, in order to understand your comfort zone and your limits. If you buy shares, for example, and the price goes down, will you sell? Or will you buy more? Are you prone to make impulsive decisions? You need safeguards and restraint in order to not spend it all in the next few years? Do you feel tempted if someone come to you with a investment with a 25-75% annual return (this is too god to be true, you know that, right) ?

4. Keep your identity and lifestyle the same if possible, maintain a low profile, and a need to know basis. You can tell to your wife, and your kids, maybe. If word goes by, a lot of people will come to you with real or not so real problems, asking for financial help. It is better to remain anonymous and support the causes that are important for you.

5. Priorities, goals and values. Do you want to live in another country, or countries? Do you want to still keep your work or stop doing it? Do you want to have another career that you always dreamed off, but you did not have the time and the money to follow it? Do you want to spend more time with your family? To travel around the world? To buy another house or car? Your partner have the same priorities like you or you need to compromise?

Keep in mind that 9 out of 10 lottery winners end up broke 5-10 years later.

One simple algorithm for early retirement

A. Do you want to retire?

Yes - Go to B                      
No - Stop reading (Some people are lucky enough to to something they like, so you can see the necessity to retire if you have a better alternative. Of course, it is much rewarding to go to your actual work as volunteer knowing that your bank account is big enough so you do not need to work another day of your life if you do not need or want.)

B. When do you want to retire?

At the retirement age, as everybody else I know - Stop reading.
Before the retirement age - If this is your wish, my friend. You need to start saving. And more than that, you need to know how much you need to save, therefore you need to calculate your retirement expenses and to know how to provide your retirement income. Go to C.

C.  What will be the estimate cost when you will retire?

You are rich - Stop reading.
You know why you want to retire and when, now you need to know what your expenses will be and how to cover them -  You need a decent plan on how to generate wealth and passive income (because of ageing), and how to overestimate a bit your needed income (because inflation, global crisis and stuff). Go to D.

D. The plan

Once you are here, you have your plan, and you can divide the years until your retirement to find how much you need to save yearly. Then you need to start saving, record everything, reach the retirement date, retire and make a good book about this. Do not forget to sent me the book. I promise i will read it.

Testing, testing!

Here are the results of my latest experiments:

1. Moneybox  is live and kicking, rounding up my expenses and investing the change in shares, gilts and bonds. Click on the link if you want to test it. It is still a beta version, but seems to run smoothly and it is easy to set up.

2. Dollarupload website is working and seems to be a good opportunity for some, but not for me. At the moment I had few tries but my account there is still a big Zero.

3. The brilliant idea of the guys behind the Mondo Card is up, and i am waiting for mine soon. I will make a review after I used it for a while. We are talking about a current account completely managed from your smartphone, with no fee for anything you buy, anywhere in the world. More about it here. We will see what's next!

That's all for today, see you soon.
G.

Financial freedom - how do I start?

Trying to reconsider my portfolio, I was just asking some of my friends about some ideas. Sadly enough, many of them proposed simplistic solution, and I would often tell them, is this what you would do if you were in my place? My understanding that we need a real financial education seems more needed than ever. But the thing is, that so many think they already know everything they need to know, and despite this, they do not act upon it. They just react to the environment. And this little difference is what we make us to reach financial independence, to retire early, and to enjoy many years of happy, fulfilled life. Being active instead of reactive is all we need. When someone see my results and ask for help, I advice my trademark beginner strategy. Save enough cash to cover 6 months of basic expenses and buy a piggy bank and save something daily in it. At the end of the month, just take whatever you saved and put it in a savings account. Why I do this? Easy, saving a six months basic expenses will make you to feel committed and ready to tackle the issue of your financial freedom, while building the habit of regular saving is also helped by the daily piggy bank deposit, even if it is only 0.01 per day. The habit is the goal, not the saving per se. Later, when this is already part of your normal life, we can start to make a plan. Most of the times, saving 30-50% of your income is not only recommended, but also possible, and the final goal is within your reach. Five to ten years later, you are financially independent. End of the project. And then the real adventure begin.

Rent or buy?

This is one of my struggles lately, and despite knowing that I need to rent where i want to live, and buy where i want to rent, I am still trying to convince myself about this true fact. I am still dreaming to build a house as i would like, projected and furnished by me, for me. I am in the middle of both sides, like Aesop's donkey, missing them both, but still feeling guilty if i would chose one of the two options.

What to do? What to do?

Quote of the day

"Rent where you want to live. Own where you can rent."
(anonymous)

This could be a real estate investing mantra. When you are financially free, you want to be mobile. You can live whenever you want, literally. One year in Thailand, near the beach, one year in Prague, learning everything about beer and baroque architecture, and maybe one year in Paris or Barcelona. But you want to own a house near an university, or a place with lots of warehouses, for example. Anyway, is a good tip.

Rich or free?

Let's talk about definitions. Some people are financially free, some people are rich. In the others perception, i mean, and the difference is often very subtle. Financially free people are still like us, not splashing and maintaining a rich person image, even when they are ceasing to be. This can cause depression and every other rich people problems. You can be free and earning only 2k per month, you can be rich and not financially independent. So, to explain it better, a rich person is maybe known as being part of the 1%, even if, statistically speaking, as long as you earn more than £35k per month, you really are part of the 1%, but let's go with this. A financially free person is a person which covered all the life normal expenses (living, bills, transport, food, entertainment) with more than 90% passive income, as opposed to active income (wages).

Now i will ask, do you want to be rich or financially independent? Don't forget, everything start with a plan.

About money and character

I understood finally some of my grandpa words, and now i can see a secret knowledge in them, but you can read it only when you will live it. He use to say: Money are not the root of the evil, they only enhance what you already are. If you become rich, and you were an asshole, you will be a gigantic asshole. If you were a humanitarian, you will become an even better humanitarian. They are just another tool, and the problem is you, not the money. I can see now what he wanted to say.

Thank grandpa!

G.

Emotions, emotions

The hardest part was to detach myself from the obsessive thought that i gonna make it. And to stop thinking again and again at that moment when i will actually retire. As i decided that i will still work for a while, even after i will have all my retirement fund ready, my mind gradually calmed down, and i regained my daily focus. It was coming as a big surprise that this will happen, with a minimal effort from my part, based mostly on luck, but the idea hit me seriously, borderline to my mental health and focus. After the surprise faded away (thanks to hedonic adaptation), i realized than all that i need is to keep my routine for a while and to implement the changes gradually. Still, i cannot wait for the moment when this will happen, and to decide when to do it in your own terms seems to help a lot. I will come back with another posts when all this will clear up. Until then, i will start to do my things in the same way as before.

One more word of encouragement: If i can do it, you can do it too.

See you soon.

G.

Feelings and early retirement

I realized that i did not read much about the emotional part of the early retirement process. Truthfully, I have read only one article about this, more than 8 months ago. I will look for it, because it is interesting how we can perceive this, in the moment we realize that this will happen, and it will happen soon. The human brain is a fascinating subject. I will come back with more about this when I will be ready.

July - monthly report

June 2016 - Monthly report
My Overview

Total portfolio: £8659 (-744)
Debt: £1930 (+550)
Net Worth: £6729 (-1155)

Investments UK: £1881 (+30)
Investments overseas : £1839
Cash: £333 (-945)
Pension: £4606 (+432)

Total Income: £1530 (-160)
Passive income: £63 (4.11%)
Savings rate: Unknown

Side hustle 1 value: £392 (-108)
Side hustle 2 value: £6285

Interesting numbers, and overall my portfolio and net worth is decreasing, while the debt is increasing. But this is only temporary as I am trying different ways to increase my net worth, and Side hustle number 2 will start to generate income at the beginning of September. Side hustle number 1 is still work in progress, and i do not know if it will produce the expected results, but out of my two attempts done in this year, one seems to be highly succesful reaching unexpectedly good results in the next months.I am still planning to end all my debt by the end of the year, and to increase my passive income (almost passive as i am working on it 3-4 hours per month).I can see a decrease in cash, as i am planning an one week holiday in Spain, and flight and accommodation was paid. Pension jumped a bit due to the nice performance of the stock market. Very small increase in the local investments, but in the end it is increasing.

One year health plan - Month 2 report

Motto: All the wealth in the world have no worth to you, if you are not healthy.
(Financial freedom wizards manual)

Weight: 83 kg (3 kg more than 30 days before - 85 kg) at 1.80 m (5'9'')
Body fat: 20%  (same as last month)

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

1. Body
- Yoga techniques (postures, breathing and meditation) 31 sessions
- Freeletics - some kind of high intensity athletic training 13 sessions
- Running - 13 sessions
- Wing Chun Kung Fu minimal training- 31 sessions
- Freerunning / Parkour - no training this month

2. Diet
- A 70% plant based diet (with a twist of 70% alkaline food daily), no chemicals, less sugar, better hydration (300 ml water every 3 hours when possible) - I achieve this 75% of the time, i would say.
- One day a week - 24 hour fasting - did it 4 times in July. I kind of cheated my diet at least 4 times, having sweets and fizzy drinks (this is linked with my visits to cinema).

3. Mind
- Mindfulness techniques aka meditation: 31 times
- Memory training techniques: 31 sessions
- Brain boosting supplements - For the first month i tried: Multivitamin,Emperor Ginseng for Him 6000 mg, Zinc 50 mg, Omega 3-6-9 300 mg and my herbal remedies (but for the herbal treatments i did it completely only 75% of the time). I plan for August to add bee pollen, ginseng + ginkgo and probably from August i will also buy some Gotu Kola from Amazon.

This second month was a success, as i have still 20% body fat, but my weight is 83 kg, meaning that i added 2-3 kg of muscle, i am slowly improving my physical strength and stamina, running sessions are now 1.5 km longer as opposed to 1 km last month. As for the month number three, i am planning in increasing my yoga practice by 18%, running and high intensity training once every two days with Sunday as break, i will keep the martial art minimal practice  once every day and i will aim for at least two parkour based trainings this month. Meditation will be done in the same way, but i will try to decrease distraction and increase focus. I am pleased with the progress, but some days i am just rushing through the training as i tend to work a bit too much. At least 5 days i slept less than 6 hours. I am testing a new method for first 10 days of August, so i will track the month 3 only from 10 to 31.

I will follow up soon with the economical monthly report.

Preparing for the end of the month

This month was definitely an interesting one. I will introduce some new parameters in my monthly report- financial and i will continue with the health monthly report. I can estimate the date of my early retirement as 10.01.2018. Maybe even earlier, depending on some unforeseen factors. God help me with that! (no, I am not a big fan of the church, but any help will be appreciated)

Stay tuned and walk my journey in my shoes. It will be funny. I guarantee it.
G.

The end is just another beginning

As my plan seems to become real, and i am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel (read: as i can probably estimate clearly when i will reach my financial independence - 10th of January 2018), another question raises. I was trained to work hard for my money, and my work gave me an identity, a sense and an activity for the main part of my time. Now i am close, at least in theory, to reach the achievement "Never work again". I will still be busy, but it will be something done with passion, so i cannot categorize this as work. But let's come back to my previous matter. OK, i just reached financial independence, hooray, i will celebrate this with a gradual retirement, from my actual jobs, that will probably take 60 days. What i will do after that? I have so many potential projects, that i do not even know which will be first. In my definition, i am a bit of a workaholic, so this will be fun to live. I am excited, but i am also unsure, as this is a lifestyle i do not know nothing about. I have more than a year to sort this out, anyway. 

P.S. If you can give me any link to some similar blog posts, i thank you in advance. 

Side hustle - failure is an option

I found this interesting idea where you can put files with something that is about your expertise and the field you master, and people will want to read it, but they will do a short survey before download it. And you will get paid for that survey. Interesting way to motivate people to complete survey. I went to the website and i made a register submission, and i still need to receive the email to confirm my username and password. Now, this could work, or maybe not. But my agenda is already full, so i made a habit of not trying something for third time if it is not really working. The people writing about it said they made sometimes 100$ per month, but you can do even more. If you have the patience to try it, good luck.

P.S. The link is here.

P.S. no.2 While i was publishing this post the confirmation email came. So the link is a referral link now. I will write about it after one month after i see how it is going.

How to have international ATM operations with no fees

It was pointed out to me that a new small company from London called Mondo is trying to make a card with no fees, that you can use anyway in the world (in fact it was my lil' bro' who stumbled about them, as he is a clever and refined financial investor with an impressive portfolio in wine and beer related stuff - you know  "invest in what you know" quote). I made an account and i forget about it, until they were mentioned again at Fin-tech this year. You have a link to the full review right here:

https://econsultancy.com/blog/67730-fintech-startup-mondo-provides-slick-impressive-ux-review/ 

Check this out!

Micro-investing, finally in UK

At the recent Fin Con, I have seen the presentation of an app that will fulfill one of my oldest wishes regarding micro-investing (they got more than 1.5 million via crowdfunding and angel investing). Do you know how I always "complained" about our lack of opportunities, by the time Acorns launched in U.S., seems that we finally are going to use something similar very soon. I am talking about MoneyBox *, a product that will round up your expenses and invest in a ISA. I liked the concept from the beginning, and these wonderful people working at this app are very close to launch the product. I will tell you more and I will make a review as soon as I will use it for at least one month.


P.S. It is a referral link that i used in the  blog post, just because both of us will get 5 pounds bonus if we start investing.

Random thoughts

- A secure retirement require you to start to save now, whether it is easy or not.

“A man who makes a mistake and doesn’t correct it, it’s making another mistake.”
– Confucius

- Start to give to your children financial education now.

“Property left to a child may soon be lost; but the inheritance of virtue… will abide forever. If those who are toiling for wealth to leave their children, would but take half the pains to secure for them virtuous habits, how much more serviceable would they be. The largest property may be wrested from a child, but virtue will stand by him to the last.”
– William Graham Sumner

- Early retirement rarely means never work again.

“Musicians don’t retire; they stop when there’s no more music in them.”
– Louis Armstrong

- Plan your life, and then just live.

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
– Soren Kierkegaard

- Always have a plan B.

“I feel like a fugitive from the law of averages.”
– William H. Mauldin

- Your time is NOW!

“Twenty years from now, you’ll be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
– Mark Twain

Me as a "big" bussinesman

Thinking in advance, i will probably introduce another two variable in the monthly report:

Bussiness 1 value

Bussiness 2 value. 

I was trying to estimate how long until my financial freedom, and in a very optimistic universe, i think i can make it in 2 years from now. The thought of that scared me and made me happy in the same time. I will see what's next and hope for the best. 

At the present moment:

Bussiness 1 value: £431

Bussiness 2 value: £3850

Or i can just say side hustle instead of bussines. Hehe!

Should i record them every last day of the month? Probably yes, as they are changing continuously. 

Efficiency versus effectiveness

As Peter Drucker said: "Efficiency is doing things right, effectiveness is doing the right things." Going ready to choose, will you be efficient or effective? It is just a subtle difference, but this will raise you to another level. Internet of things? Meh! Ability of connect the dots between a apparent disparate events and things? Big Yes!!! Think about it and learn to recognise the difference between the two of them.

Have a good day.
G.

June 2016 - Monthly report

June 2016 - Monthly report
My Overview

Total portfolio: £9403 (+647)
Debt: £1380 (+225)
Net Worth: £7844 (+244)

Investments UK: £1851 ( -72)
Investments overseas : £1839 (+36)
Cash: £1026 (+940) 1278 (+252)
Pension: £4174 ( +185)

Total Income: £1690 (+611)
Passive income: 341 (20.18%)
Savings rate: Unknown

My total portfolio got a huge 647 pounds boost, mainly because of one of the two business project starting to pay out a bit ( you can see a 20% passive income instead of the normal 2-5% - and it is almost passive as I still need to work maybe 2 hours every month for it). My debts (read bills for the other business project) increased a bit, but also the cash in the bank (225 debt versus 252 cash - so it is a small profit there). Investments overseas increased slightly because of the pound going down. Pension is still going up, and I had a slightly above average income this month. Not a bad month overall.

One year health plan - month 1 report

Motto: All the wealth in the world have no worth to you, if you are not healthy.
(Financial freedom wizards manual)

Weight: 80 kg (5 kg less than 30 days before - 85 kg) at 1.80 m (5'9'')
Body fat: 20%  (10% less than 30 days before - 30%)

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

1. Body
- Yoga techniques (postures, breathing and meditation) 26 sessions
- Freeletics - some kind of high intensity athletic training 12 sessions
- Running - 13 sessions
- Wing Chun Kung Fu - 13 sessions
- Freerunning / Parkour - no training this month

2. Diet
- A 70% plant based diet (with a twist of 70% alkaline food daily), no chemicals, less sugar, better hydration (300 ml water every 3 hours when possible) - I achieve this 80% of the time, i would say.
- One day a week - 24 hour fasting - did it 4 times in June

3. Mind
- Mindfulness techniques aka meditation: 26 times
- Memory training techniques: 26 sessions
- Brain boosting supplements - For the first month i tried: Multivitamin, vitamin C slow release, vitamin D, Zinc, Chromium, Omega 3-6-9 and my herbal remedies (but for the herbal treatments i did it completely only 75% of the time). I plan for July to add bee pollen, ginseng and probably from August i will also buy some Gotu Kola from Amazon.

This first month was a success, as i lost some of the weight achieved during my last holiday and i am slowly improving my physical strength and stamina. As for the month number two, i am planning in increasing my yoga practice by 20%, running and high intensity training once every two days, i will increase the martial art minimal practice to every day from every two days and i will aim for at least two parkour based trainings this month. Meditation will be done in the same way, but i will try to decrease distraction and increase focus.

I will follow up soon with the economical monthly report.

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.

Telephone Preference Service for mobile numbers

This is not necessarily related to financial independence, but we can easily find a connection, as we will waste not time talking to people asking us about accidents or double glazing. Starting from this week, you can activate Telephone Preference Service ( A central opt out register whereby individuals can register their wish not to receive unsolicited sales and marketing telephone calls. It is a legal requirement that companies do not make such calls to numbers registered on the TPS.) even for mobile numbers. All you have to do is  to send a text to 78070 with the content "TPS your mail". That all you need to do. A confirmation message will be received shortly after you send it.

Designing a life vs making a living

   It was a classical story about three builders. When they were asked what are they doing, first said that he is working to get money for food and clothes. Second said that he is working for his family. But the third one said that they are building a spectacular church. Each of them were doing the same work, but they were differently motivated. 

   It is the same thing here, if you are making a living, you are in the place of the first or the second worker. But if you are designing your life, everything change. You can have a hard, miserable work, and still be happy. You can do a work you don't like, and still be happy. I did not understand at first, when a friend told me that he will stay in his well paid, hard, uncomfortable, repetitive work, while everybody else was coming and leaving. I asked him once, what is your secret. He told me that even if is a difficult, annoying and boring work, every day it will bring him closer to his goal. He wanted to achieve financial independence in 7 years, and this was the way that worked out for him. And each day he was closest to his dream, and to his perfect life. He told me that everybody is talking about following the dream, doing what you like, finding the passion. But he is close to this than everyone else. Another 2 years and he will be free to follow every passion, every little thing, because he will have all the time needed. That is the superiority of planning and designing your life, versus making a living. 

And he was right.

Are you making a living or you already started to design your life?

You can think about it as i will wish you a very good night.

G.

Trick the trickster

...and scam the scammer. I have a percentage of my investments money allocated for risky business. But i am somehow risk-averse, so I go often for the safe strategy. Therefore, I do not use my money for this kind of investments. I do not risk enough. This month I decided to try some high-risk high-reward investment. I will see  the results in the next 2-3 months. Meanwhile, i am playing very safe with the rest of the money. Huh!

Are you in for playing safe or for high risk, high rewards strategies?
Tell me what are your percentages in doing this, if you want.

Quote of the day

"Maybe it is a reason why most of the people have pictures from home at their work, but no pictures from work at their home."
(Me)

And this is the truth for the majority of the people, but we often take our thoughts from work with us, in our home, and not so often as we should, we take our thoughts of calm and relaxation from home to work. Did you ever try to ask yourself to answer to this question?

April 2016 - Monthly report

My Overview

Total portfolio: £8188 (+230)
Debt:0 (-520)
Net Worth: £8188 (+750)

Investments UK: £2478 (+233)
Investments overseas : £1813 (+11)
Cash: £86 (-177)
Pension: £3811 (+163)

Total Income: £1738 (+526)
Passive income: 183 (10.53%)
Savings rate: 39.95%

Great news, this month my total value of my portfolio is the same as my net worth. You get it right, i have no debt. I am such a wuss. This was one of my hardest month, with a lot of expenses, and extra expenses, and i was planning to increase my savings rate at least with 1% more than last month, meaning 15%. The result, an unbelievable 40% (39.95 to be honest, but i was so close). I am so proud of me. May seems to be an interesting month, with me increasing my overseas investments a bit and probably getting ready to start a new business. And I want to finish some of my unfinished books. A lot of work, if i do not count my holiday for the first 15 days of the month.

Financial independence plan

Someone asked me yesterday what is the most important advice from my financial plan. I was a bit boring, but i said that the most inportant part when you start this in your twenties is to sleep well, at least 7-9 hours consistently, to eat good quality food, preferably water rich food ( 3/4 ) and in the same time more alcalyne food than acid ( 3/4 ) and exercise regularly ( best antidepressant is the combination of running + meditation ). This is the fundation of your physical peak state, because if you don't have your health, all the money in the world are useless.

What do you think about this?

T Harv Eker strategy - Millionaire mind intensive

For almost 6 months I was applying what I learn in the Millionaire Mind Intensive seminar. I will give you the basic methods and statistics in 10 days, after 180 days of continuous training. I hope you will be inspired to act with more effectiveness after this.

See you soon,
G.

Debts sneaky stack and the Jedi defence move

   As i was just checked my net worth, i decided that it is time to reduce my debts to zero. I am starting to plan and to follow a strategy in order to doing that. I had a lot of reasons, or to say it better, some good stories attached to this line of thoughts "no, i don't need to pay them now, as i can do better things with the money", but in the end all my debts start to feel like a weight that is keeping me down, so this will be probably and entirely an emotional move, but I am sure I will receive a boost in motivation if I follow this though. So, words said, i am destroying all the nice, cosy stories that I attached to my debt, and i will pay them all, as soon as possible. I will start to invest again only when my debts are paid.

Debts at 15/4/2016 = 725

Follow-up post in 45 days.

Added: 4 days later I just paid them all from one account and made one big debt of 540 instead of 5 debt. Now that i have them all in one place should be easier to follow. And pay. The adventure continues. 

The savings rate paradox and the 1000 upper limit of my expenses

I see some interesting facts (at least for me). The more I enjoy my life, and  I talk here about my last four holidays from February to April, the less I save. I know, you will say it is obvious, but for me, seeing it on the paper, made me wonder where is that thin line between saving and enjoying life.

These are the numbers:

Month:    January   February March
Income:   1635        1358       1212
Savings:    592          322         174
Saving rate: 36%      24%        14%

I can see that my expenses are about 1000 and I can save all that is on top of that. Not bad, thinking that I can afford anything I like at the moment. I am thinking about a strategy to show the budget for couple, not individual, but I got used to calculate it this way. Any hints?

See you soon!
G.

March 2016 - Monthly report

My Overview

Total portfolio: £7958 (-99)
Debt:- £520 (-38)
Net Worth: £7438 (-51)

Investments UK: £2245 (+114)
Investments overseas : £1802 (+63)
Cash: £263 (-572)
Pension: £3648 (+296)

Total Income: £1212 (-146)
Passive income: £23(1.90%)

For the first time in 16 months i got a decrease in net worth, mainly because of the depletion of my cash reserves (one 4 day training and 3 weeks of holiday coming this month, so plane ticked, accommodation, training, all of these were expensive but totally worth it, my next holiday after this one is somewhere in August-September, so i have enough time to recover). Pension pot increased a bit as the market is slowly recovering. Debt are decreasing slowly. I am seriously thinking to repay all my debt, but as i am paying no interest until August, i am still thinking about. Not much remaining for investments, but at least i did some. Not a bad month. I expect a lot from the next two months, as i will receive few checks for my extra work. We will see what the future brings.

Have a good and wealthy month!

G.

Second trimester planning

And here i am, doing the same thing again and again. In April-May I have 2 holidays, a shorter one, that is a 4 days training with Tony Robbins(count as education), and a 3 weeks one, when i am going back home, at my parents (theoretically, because in practice i will be travelling around the country for at least 10 days).

My Net Worth increase will be minimal, as i need to pay for accommodation, transport, flight and other silly things. Anyway i will have some checks coming at the end of the month (April), that I hope it will restore my financial balance somehow. We will see. I will do the monthly report soon, to see the impact of me overspending again. I achieved some of my goals, as i just got my Level 5 Psychology diploma and i started to learn a new martial art (running become a bit boring as exercise, or maybe i can blame the shoes, i need some new running shoes too).

See you soon,

G.

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.

February monthly report coming soon.

Wow, another month gone by, i cannot wait to see the results, as i got few unexpected expenses this month, but thanks to my cash reserves, i was good to go. It is crazy when i this what could happen few years ago, when i was not prepared at all. Because at the end of the day, it this more actual than ever that preparation is 90% of wining the game.

See you soon.
G.

Quote of the day

"Thriving is all you understand anymore. Mediocrity is a mismanagement of your innate human potential. "
(Unknown)

This is some interesting thought. You are not successful if you are thriving. But you are a failure if you are average, because this mean that you are not reaching for more. You are not giving 100%. You are not doing everything you can. This made me think about a Japanese story, when the novice go to the Master and ask him how much he need to meditate to became a wise man.
- One hour every day, the Master said.
- And how fast i will reach my goal?
- Five years.
-What if i meditate 8 hours every day, how fast i will become a wise man?
-30 years.

Conclusion: when you are giving all you can, less is more.

And i have even a follow up story.

After few years the novice return to the Master.
- My Master, i try to become a wise man, i did tremendous efforts, but i am still an ordinary person, what i am doing wrong?
The Master pushed his head under the water into the river nearby. After one minute he let go of him and left. Very angry, the novice ran after the Master and asked him why he did that.
- What were you thinking after one minute under the water? said the Master.
- I was longing for air, nothing else.
- When you will try to become wise as much as you wanted to breathe, when we were at the river, you will become almost instantly.

Conclusion: We are under-performing constantly, when we are not using our full potential. As Richard Bach said, our biggest sin is to limit ourselves, do not limit yourself in any way.

Why millennials to not have a chance to be happy, when they will get old?

It started with this article and mainly this phrase:

"Today’s 25-year-old need to save the equivalent of £800 a month over the next 40 years to retire at 65 with an income of £30,000 a year, according to Rebecca Taylor, director at the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments."

And then the hell break loose, as you can see it on this link.

What i can say? I do not know if first i will be sad or i will wonder if the total lack of financial education is an intentional purpose. Something like this should be learned in school, in the same time with native language an maths. This is my opinion!

Money and happiness research

One more reason for pursuing your own financial independence:

A research done in regard to the direct link between the amount of money you receive and your happiness shown us something very interesting. Happiness increase directly linked with money received for your work, fast at the beginning, and then slows down, reaching a plateau after 70.000$ per year. So, after this limit, your happiness will not increase at all.
This is something contrary to even the hedonic adaptation of a normal person in normal circumstances, but for us, the ones engaged in F.I.R.E, is a good news, that will support our theory that you do not need huge amounts of money to be happy, just enough to live comfortable.

That's all for today, have a good week!
G.

Quote of the day

When the financial crisis was at his height, in 2009, someone asked Warren Buffet how to survive during a crash. His answer was:

"Financial staying power requires a company to maintain three strengths under all circumstances:
1) a large and reliable stream of earnings;
2) massive liquid assets and
3) no significant near-term cash requirements."

If you will make analogies with a company, then you need to think at:

1) A reliable stream of earnings: Staying in one job for the long haul is a great way to earn the confidence of your employer. But even then, nothing is certain. Make sure you have disability and life insurance to provide a reliable stream of earnings if something should happen to you. Multiple income sources is the word.
2) Massive liquid assets: Here's a point that many fail to heed. At a bare minimum, you should have enough money set aside to provide for you and your family for six months if you lose all sources of income. Keeping a little cash on hand to take advantage of stock market dips can pay off as well; then, while other investors panic-sell, you can buy shares of your favorite companies at a discount.
3) No significant near-term cash requirements: This can be a little tricky if you're just about to buy a house or send a child off to school. But in the end, what Buffet is really talking about here is being smart with your money  i.e. not making bets that you can't afford to lose.

The maths behind the healthy weight and our financial independence

I am into analogies nowadays, so i will talk a bit about the similarities between how to get a perfect healthy weight and how to reach financial independence, as you will like to be healthy when you got enough money to stop doing that menial job and instead to start doing whatever you really dreamed to do.

We all know that being overweight is not a good thing, for multiple reasons like increased risk in developing angina, heart diseases, diabetes, some types of cancer or joint/lower back pain. In order to not go there you need to tweak with your energy requirement (how many calories you need to survive and do you stuff). Energy requirement (ER) is equal with Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) multiply by Physical activity levels (PAL).

ER=BMR+PAL

Physical activity levels (PAL) are:
Level 1: Sedentary
This level of activity is described as little or no exercise. The PAL factor is 1.2.
Level 2: Light exercise
This level of activity includes frequent walking in a job / daily activity or 60mins of intense activity in one week. The PAL factor is 1.375.
Level 3: Moderate exercise
This level of activity could be a job that is quite physical throughout the day e.g. shop work or intense physical activity 30 – 60 minutes three or four times a week. The PAL factor is 1.55.
Level 4: Very active
This level of activity could include a highly physical job such as brick laying or farming or intense exercise for 60 minutes five to seven days per week. The PAL factor is 1.725.
Level 5: Extreme
This level of activity could include full time training for a sporting event; this level of activity is usually only reached by elite athletes. The PAL factor is 1.9.

BMR calculating formula is:

Male = 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) – (6.8 x age in years)

Female = 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches ) – (4.7 x age in years)

Now, if you are aiming to keep your weight in check, you need to avoid to consume more energy that what you use. This can be done in two ways:

1. Decrease calorie intake (Eating less)

2. Increasing energy requirements (Exercise more)

This is also the way to lose weight safely, do your math and see where you are now. Using both methods will get you there twice faster.

That was the biology part. Now, researching and writing this for my future book, i could not notice the similarities with the financial independence plan. There are also two ways to go there faster, to the ideal position where you reach the right amount of money to provide enough passive income to cover your monthly expenses.

When you start to build your financial independence portfolio, you will see that  you need a sum to reach (see Tony Robbins - The Money or other sources on how you calculate this sum). Let's say mine is 240.000. There are two ways to do it.

1. Start save more and more from your monthly income (also known as savings rate - 10% to start, 50% is awesome, more than 70% is mythical).

2. Start to earn more. This will help you save more in result, as you will still spend the same amount of money as monthly expenses (already calculated in your F.I.R.E. planning).

Doing both of them simultaneously will get you there twice faster too. 

I hope you enjoyed my daily thoughts.

G.

Dancing in the rain

It is raining and windy, it is a good time to stay at home, and yet, i am just coming back, after i was running 2 miles through the rain. Another big change due to my financial independence plan. One year ago i was quiting gym after few months, a cycle than seems to repeat often - guilt, 3-4 months of training, getting better, quiting. What is different now? I learned that, in order to reach my goals, i needed long term commitment. It all started with money, and creating healthy personal finance habits. But after some time, the same mindset started to infiltrate into other areas of my life, or as i say it now " How you do anything is how you do everything!". I was committing to increase my savings, to reduce my spending, to buy high quality products when is about my health, but not to pay extra for a name or brand, when i can find the same thing as value product. I became a person who is thinking before acting, who can control and restrain himself now, for better results later. I studied stoicism, frugality, minimalism, i started to de-clutter my life (and my mind throughout the process), I started to meditate regularly, to train myself to be in better shape, to eat and sleep properly. But not in that "i want and i do it" way, even if sometimes i used "i feel enough is enough, i do not want to continue, but i will do it anyway" way.

I don't know if you understand me, it is hard to understand all those changes myself. But i hope you get the idea.

Is it worth it? One thousand times yes. That's it for today.

Good night and sweet dreams!
G.

After 1 year of FIRE - anniversary post

I do not know how to start. It is already one year from the moment i decided: i will be financially independent. Back then i was thinking that shares are the way. I was young and naive, i know. I was just learning. I started by making a share dealing account with AJ Bell. I did calculus, comparison, research, you know, the whole deal. After all this colossal effort a bell was ringing, maybe i can find what others already did, maybe even some that are financially independent. And what i found. I was assaulted by information, websites, books, seminars, webinars. My tipping point was the book Money:master the game, by Tony Robbins. Then MrMoneyMustache, then FIRE movement in UK, it is like another life, now that i am looking back.

Enough with the memories, what are the results, you will ask. So i will start with this.

Financial results:
-From zero to 6866 pounds net wealth (to be honest, i think it was a negative value, i didn't know what my debts are back then, right now i have 610 pounds debt remaining).
-I started my additional pension plan, with 3054 pounds saved already on Jan 2016.
-I have invested in shared, bonds, P2P, bitcoin (a hobby of mine) and real estate crowdfunding.
-I published 4 books, with royalties to be paid (i figured out that i need 60-100 to reach a safe monthly income from royalties).
-i learn to plan, to budget and to increase my saving rate. I am no longer living from one wage to another, but i save and invest any extra money.

Physical results:
- in 2015 i had on average 3,5 trainings per week (cardio, running or strength, if you do not need to work, you probably want to be healthy and enjoy your life for longer).
- I run my first 5k last December, aiming for 10 this year.
- I eat healthier than before, even if sometimes if a tough challenge.

Emotionally:
- I learn how to restrain myself a bit better,
- I learn that less is better sometimes (I even had a 3 days complete fasting for an experiment).
- I learn to sacrifice immediate need for a future success.

Mentally:
- I tried to improve my chess, in order to develop that analytical mind skill set ( i did not failed this, but i did not improve too much either)
- I learn to enjoy the benefits of luxury without too much guild (when  we need it , we need it), but i always looked for alternative, less expensive options.
- I am achieving better results, i am more focused and more motivated intellectually
- I did a Nutrition and Health course, and a Harvard Justice online class.
- Fighting bad habits and enforcing better habits, although this is work in progress.

This is the resume, if I start with details, it will be enough to write a book (I decided that I will write the book after I will be financially independent, not before). Anyway, it was a difficult but entertaining journey and i am thrilled about this year to come.

Good luck to you too and good night!
G.

January 2016 - Monthly report

My Overview

Total portfolio: £7961 (+649)
Debt:- £610 (-20)
Net Worth: £7351 (+369)

Investments UK: £1859 (NIL)
Investments overseas : £1664 (NIL)
Cash: £802 250 (+552)
Pension: £3151 2968 (+183)

Total Income: £1635
Passive income: £116 (7.09%)

Not a bad month after all. I see a nice increase of my net worth, and even if investments where the same, i am working to increase my cash amount at the moment, as i will go in two weekend holidays in February. Flight and hotel is already booked and paid. So my expenses will be only for meal and treats, i would like to think. I also notice a healthy increase in passive income, mostly from royalties.

A good start, if I am doing this for the rest of the month, with an expected increase of 2.5% monthly, it will be perfect.

January monthly report - soon

This year i had a good start. And every system put in place in 2015 is working with increased efficiency, due to some minor or major tweak. Few more days and i will see if this month will be better than any of the previous 12. As i started my way to financial independence exactly one year ago. I will also try to describe what changes i went through as soon as i find some free time.

Captain Obvious and the parental influence on achieving financial independence

Some interesting survey finally done in UK. Read more about it here. 

Positive parental influence on money issues has a lasting effect

By Marina Gerner

The importance of financial education

People aged 18 to 34 - dubbed the millennial generation - who enjoy a positive parental influence around money have twice the savings and half the debt as those who don't, according to Experian's Millennial Me & My Money survey. In a survey of 4,075 adults (about half of whom were aged 18 to 34 and the other half were aged 35 to 55), 67 per cent say their parents or guardians have had a positive influence on their money management habits, while 17 per cent say their parents have had a negative influence. The survey showed that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree: those respondents who were aged 18 to 34 (so-called millennials) who believe their parents had a positive influence on their money habits had almost double the amount of savings compared to those who say their parents had a negative influence - £9,842 and £5,282 respectively. Those who have benefited from a positive parental influence also have less than half the outstanding debt (excluding mortgages and student loans), amounting to £2,322 versus £5,139 for those with a negative parental influence. 

Commenting on the survey, Clive Lawson, managing director at Experian, says: "It's striking to see just how much of an impact parental influence can have on the financial wellbeing of millennials in adulthood. What this research made clear to me was the opportunity that we as parents have to set foundations by helping our children learn from our experiences of managing money and enjoy the advantages that might bring them later in life." In contrast to those who have been positively influenced by their parents, those who stated their parents had a negative influence are twice as likely (32 per cent versus 14 per cent) to save none of their disposable income each month. They are also twice as likely to have run out of money before payday in the past (44 per cent versus 21 per cent) and more than twice as likely to have missed an agreed credit repayment (17 per cent versus 7 per cent). Furthermore, they are more likely to have gone into an unplanned overdraft (33 per cent versus 19 per cent) and more than twice as likely to have defaulted on a credit account (10 per cent versus 4 per cent). They are five times more likely to have a County Court Judgment against their name (5 per cent versus 1 per cent). Robert Gardner, founder of financial services firm Redington, has also emphasised the importance of parental influence. He says: "It has been suggested that our attitudes towards money are formed by age seven, so if your parents prefer to spend, spend, spend on credit cards rather than save, then it's likely you will have the same attitude. That's why financial education is so important and the earlier, the better."