The other day a podcast episode got released about FIRE. Lots of awesome danish people are in it, including myself.
The podcast is made by four really awesome radio/podcast students named: Daniel Sarto Lassen, Marie Kildebæk, Martin Broch & Leo Peter Larsen
You can check out Leo’s soundcloud page HERE
Or you can listen to the podcast episode by clicking play below. (It is in danish)
This month savings rate: 0 %
Passive Yearly Income (5 % withdrawal with taxes): 16.800 DKK (2550 $)
% Change since last month: 0 %
The airplane ticket is booked for the 29th of October.
That means there is less than a month till I will be leaving my home country Denmark. In order to sail and dive my ass off down in the pacific ocean for 10 months.
There was a little misunderstanding between mOcean and I. They had me booked two months onshore, so that I could go for the diving instructor education. But I had to pay it out of my own pocket. Which is an expensive education, and I don’t know if I will ever use the instructor role again.
The schedule will look something like this:
November & December 2019:
I will be joining Orbit (the boat) in Sorong, Indonesia. In order to learn everything about the boat from Mathias who is the captain now.
Sabrina (the diving instructor onboard) is going to up my game as a diver. And making sure that I have 80 dives in a safely manner.
January & February 2020
For now I think that I will go to Boracay in the Philippines. They have an awesome fighting club, where I can live and train brazilian jiu jitsu for only 500 $/month. And it is not to far away from Carmen Bay, where I’m going to jump back onboard on the boat. Hopefully a friend from my BJJ club will come and join me.
March to September 2020
I’m going to get the title as the captain of Orbit, along with my friend Sabrina which is going to be the diving instructor onboard.
We will be diving, and do a bit of sailing in the Philippines before we hit back to Indonesia again where Kasper and Anders will take the boat for more adventures.
My dad has just booked a trip on the boat. So he will be along for the last two months of the trip, which I’m super stoked about! Thanks for that dad!
So the other day my sister gave me her old phone. (Thanks Luna!)
I can already feel how much time I end up spending on it. Which is a pity. But when I’m going to be in asia for 10 months, I find it a bit nice to have a mobile phone along with me.
Inorder for me to think it is nice to get a phone again, I think that you should be able to contact my directly on that. Call or text me if you have questions on FIRE or just want to say Hi!
My number is +45 71792322
I sit in my room in Split, Croatia writing this blog post.
We are 13 people down here from Oure Folk Highschool. In order to learn how to manoeuvre bigger boats.
Tomorrow we will onboard three boats. One 45 foot, and two 48 foot Jeanneau Sun Odyssey from 2014. Which is going to be awesome. I don’t think I have ever sailed so new boats before!
One of the awesome things of chasing FIRE is that I get to meet a lot of awesome people. One of them is Pernille Wahlgren, who is one of the most badass financial independent woman I know.
She asked me if I wanted to do an interview for her online course.
Here is a teaser for the 20 minute long interview on her online course. (Unfortunately it is in danish).
You can check her out at: pernillewahlgren.dk
This month savings rate: 0 %
Passive Yearly Income (5 % withdrawal with taxes): 16.500 DKK (2500 $)
% Change since last month: 5 % (26.000 DKK / 3.800 $)
The main reason for why I’m quitting my leverage is the following:
Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others a fearful.
Warren Buffett
But isn’t that market timing Loui?! You might think.
Sort of. The thing is I can feel I start worrying about having 200.000 DKK (32.000 $) of leverage, while I’m not earning any money. I fear going away for my sailing trip, and during that period a recession will hit. Then I need to pay attention to my portfolio while I’m in the middle of paradise. Which is not something I strive for.
The other things is that I have had +30 % ROI this year which is the equivalent of earning + 100.000 DKK ( 18.000 $). So instead of being greedy when things are going great, I start to worry.
Then Nordnet has turned up the rates from 1 % to 2 % for their investments loan. Which is also something I dislike. They could suddenly turn the rate from 2 % to 5 % while the stock market plunge. That would be a risk I was willing to take if I had a job. But not know where I don’t have any steady income.
I’m not completely done with leveraging, but until I have a new job there won’t be any leverage.
I have found a new love for a sport named Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
My old coworker Steffen broad me along for class after I got kicked out from the national team in rowing. I never thought that a martial art would be something I would find fun. But I’m madly in love with this new sport.
I love it because it gives your ego a reality check. Whenever you feel that you are getting better, there is one who is better than you, whooping your ass.
In BJJ you don’t kick or punch each other. You try to choke, or “break” an arm or a leg. And because of that we are sparring 100 % at each training session. Which is super fun.
Last weekend I went for my first competition in Dublin. Despite losing my two fights, I thought it was fun, and I have learned a lot.
I have decided to give the monthly updates a little brush up.
The only “quick takeaways” there will be is the very essential ones.
This Month Savings Rate: Is how big of percentage of my salary I have saved. Since I’m not working at the moment, I’m not able to save anything.
Passive Yearly Income: Is the amount I’m able to take out of my portfolio yearly. I think the 4% rule is quiet conservative. And that’s I why I have chosen to go for a 5 % withdrawal rate. And then I subtract 33 % to taxes. It is a very arbitrary number, since our taxation system in denmark is quiet complex.
The equation would look something like this.
(Total Portfolio Value x 0,05) x 0,66 = Passive Yearly Income
Change Since Last Month: Is how much the portfolio is up or down since last month.
The more I look around, the more I realize that we might be on of the biggest tribe animals on this planet. Going outside of the tribe, and being a lonely wolf, can be scary.
Being a part of a tribe was a good thing back in 10.000 BC. Because the only thing we were worrying about was the following:
Our brains still has this way of thinking. That’s why we end up following the tribe. Because it will be easier to kill, eat and raise a child if we are in a tribe out in the nature, trying to survive.
The thing is. If we follow a tribe, our lives will end up like the tribe. Which would be awesome if we daily feared for our lives. The tribe would have our backs.
But in a modern society, where tigers are locked up in cages at the local zoo, our meal is just around the corner and the kid is at the kindergarten. There is no reason to be a in tribe.
The modern (average) tribe will do the following:
And the tribe do so, because that is how we define a prosperous life.
If we step outside of this tribe, new windows will open. But the entire tribe will tell you how the tiger is going to kill when we are on our own. Because that is how our brain works.
Here are 4 things I do, which is “unusual” for the tribe.
I have never been more present social than I’m right now. And that’s because I don’t have a mobile.
The thing is. The people who are closest to me, is getting more and more pissed about me not having a mobile. Because they can’t contact me when they feel like it. They do not pay attention to how I devote 100 % of my time to them, whenever I’m with them.
That is called Loss Aversion.
Loss aversion is the fact we find it more painful to lose 100 $, than the joy of finding 200 $.
People are hardly noticing me not looking at my mobile every 10-15 minutes, but are super pissed about that one minute every 14 days that they can’t get in contact with me.
And that is why “the tribe” is keep telling me to get a mobile.
Eating is a very social thing. Whenever I tell people that I’m not having lunch today, they are about to fall down from the chair.
If we say that we spend around 45 minutes prepping, eating and cleaning after each meal. We then devote 2 hours 15 minutes consuming calories each day.
Eating less frequent is one of the most awesome habits I do and has several benefits:
When I tell people about me chasing FIRE. People often understand it. But will never try to do it themselves.
I’m still trying to figure out what they are fearing. The conclusion so far is that people is so scared of stepping outside of the tribe. Just the thought of “losing” money in the stock market, is enough for them to stay in the comfort zone, and not leaving (just for period) a job they don’t feel like.
And they focus more on the “Spending less” than they focus on the “Do what you want” part of the equation. Which again is a Loss Aversion thing.
My mind can’t grasp the idea of people showing up at a job for 50 years if they could do whatever they felt like. If we could cherry pick activities without worrying about our finances, I can’t imagine that we would live the way we do now.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think that people will do well sitting in hammock. But the solution is not how we are living our lives now.
The ambition of not wanting to own stuff is still super weird to many people.
It seems like there is an equivalent of how many things we have and how happy/successful we are.
Which is not my reality.
I believe in presence and empathy, which can be done for free without gifts or other stuff.
This month savings rate: 0 %
This month leverage: 0 %
Rolling savings rate since February 2016: 50 %
Total value of portfolio: 725.000 DKK (109.000 $)
Years worth of annual expenses: 7.59
% Change since last month: -2,6 % (- 19.000 DKK / – 2.900 $)
I can’t believe that one year has passed so fast.
And lots of (surprising) things has happened since I started.
It is always fun to see the start of an action to where we are now through some stats. I love numbers, so why not try to make some awesome graphs.
The chart above is a summarize of my 12 months of financial independence updates.
Stocks, is shares I have bought with my own money.
Appreciation, is the price of the funds that I have bought accumulated.
Cash, is my cash holding at a 3 % savings account.
Leverage, is money I have borrowed in order to invest.
As you can tell my portfolio has grown 200.000 DKK (30.000 $) since I started this blog. Which is an awesome development. Unfortunately that growth is not going to continue since I’m not working at the moment.
My investment strategy from here will be whenever the market drops a significant amount, I’m going to spend some of my cash holding in order to hit my old “all time high”.
6.600 people has visited the blog
16.000 pages has been seen by those visitors!
And I’m very grateful for those numbers, thanks to all of you guys who finds my writing interesting (and hopefully inspirational)
I have just joined the next course here on Oure folk high school, which is named:
On this course they teach us how to become a captain on a boat. And makes sure that everything goes smooth. Right from the mechanics of the boat, to the mood of the guests on board.
I’m eager to learn more!!!
The last weekend my dad, sister and I sailed my dads boat home from Stege – Møn to Svanemøllen – Copenhagen. And that is where my dad official said to me that I’m allowed to take the boat by myself.
That is a huge honor when he says that. Because I know how much he concerns about the boat, and me for that matter. So a big shout out to my dad for trusting me as a captain.
So the market dropped a couple of percentages the last day. Which doesn’t concern me at all. The only thing that irritates me is that I don’t have too much cash to throw into the market if it really tanks.
I have just made a payment on 26.000 DKK (4.000 $) for the next three months on the school. Which could be the last money I spent this year. From november will I be on the boat in the pacifics and not having any expenses from there.
Which means my 2019 expenses will be about 80.000 DKK (12.000 $). And that will be a record low for me.
The other day I travelled from Copenhagen to Sardinia with other crew members of the mOcean team.
We went to Sardinia because they have a newly bought boat down here which is going to sail the atlantic ocean, and then the pacific ocean, in order to sail around with the boat I’m going to be a captain on down in the pacifics.
Is to teach the other guys how to sail this 51 feet Jenneau Sun Odyssey. And to take a look at the boat, and see how all the of the sailing mechanics is doing.
We spent the first couple of days by running through the entire boat. And then we moved on to do some small jobs before dinner, and after dinner we headed to the sea to see how she is doing at sea.
Meanwhile we are sailing, me and Alfred (grandkid of a famous danish sailor named Troels Kløvedal) is teaching the other guys all we know about sailing.
While “elite” is a strong word.
Being able to do a mini retirement, and do another thing I love fulltime. (Hint, it is sailing). I’m able to say “Yes” to these kind of projects.
When I’m able to do that. I put myself in a position where we find many of the “pros”. If we have a full time job, we can’t go for a + 3 months course, like I have been doing. And we can’t say yes to show up in Sardinia or in the pacific ocean.
Because I can say yes to these kind of things. I’m able to hang around with the best in this field. And slowly becoming one myself.
This can be done in every chosen field. Instead of sailing for the last couple of months, I could have been doing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (another hobby of mine) full time in an exotic place, with the best trainers, and where I only needed to worry about the training. I would fast become pretty good at it, and suddenly hang out with some of the best in Denmark, if not the world.
Being able to take a mini retirement can open so many doors you wouldn’t even dare to dream about. Meeting new people, which knows other awesome people.
Do you dare to go on a mini retirement??
This month savings rate: 0 %
This month leverage: 0 %
Rolling savings rate since February 2016: 49 %
Total value of portfolio: 744.000 DKK (119.000 $)
Years worth of annual expenses: 6.55
% Change since last month: 4,2 % (+ 30.000 DKK / + 4.500 $)
For the last week I have been working as a sailing instructor here at Oure schools.
It is a deal they give us when we sign-up for their “Pro-Skipper” course on the folk high school. If we want to they offer us three weeks of work, so that the course become cheaper.
They pay us 5.700 DKK (950 $) for a week. Which is about half the money that I would earn as a building constructor in a week. So money wise it is a pretty shitty deal. And I think I would have a hard time finding some building construction work for a single month.
But is super fun. I don’t see it as work. Everyday we get a new team who has little to no sailor experience. Sailing with a bunch of people who has never been on a boat before is quiet demanding. I can’t relax for 1 minute, because they don’t have a qlue of what they are doing.
I would love to work even more as a sailing instructor, even if it means earning half of what I would as a building constructor. Swapping the cafeteria out with the dock is priceless.
This is the very first time since I was 16 years old (12 years) that I didn’t make any money. And it is also the first time in 5 years that I didn’t buy any stock shares in a month.
I had some pretty serious expenses last month:
And that ended up costing me 1.400 $.
Even though I managed to spent 1.400 $, my networth still increased 4.500 $. Which I think is insane. If I hadn’t spent that money, my networth would have increased with almost 6.000 $, while doing nothing for it.
I don’t think it is unusual that people have 10 fold of what I have in their portfolio. And those people would probably have made 50-60.000 $ last month.
But is important to remind yourself about that too shall pass, and bad times will come as well.
The strategy from here is I’m going to buy stock shares when my portfolio is lower than the all time high.
So if my portfolio drops from 119.000 $ to 116.000 $ in month, I will buy for 3.000 $ shares.
Thanks to Finimize for being the very first sponsor of a blog post.
They have a free mailing list where you can get the news about the financial markets, in less than 3 minutes a day. Which I think is an awesome offer.
I have just landed back from our “Denmark Around” trip.
It is a trip where we try to sail almost every part of Denmark. So there has been a lot of sailing. There is still a lot of harbors there hasn’t been discovered. But it still feels like that we have seen a great part of our country.
I have found a new love for our country. All of the small islands we have, is freaking awesome. And I would love to make summer sailing raids here in Denmark every year. I even consider moving to one of them. They actually have a society, where everybody knows each other. Back in Copenhagen I don’t even know my neighbor.
The route looked like this:
We only had one day where we didn’t sail. Which means that we ended up sailing a bit above 300 nautical miles.
One of the raids in the pacific ocean are we only going to sail 350 nautical miles in two months. Some of the other raids has more. But we are not going to sail as much as we did on this trip.
The harbors we went to:
Finimize is on a mission to empower our generation to become their own financial advisors by providing them with the necessary tools like financial news and education as well as a holistic financial advice platform. Join more than 400,000 people and get a three-minute breakdown in your inbox every day.
The other day we had a election for a new government in Denmark.
And I’m really pleased about the result.
It turns out that we get a new socialist government, which I think is good because they are the ones who focus most on the environment.
I voted for a party called Alternativet because they focus the most on the environment. Sadly they didn’t do to well.
Don’t get me wrong. I feel very privileged living in a society where I have the opportunity to vote in a democratic election. The alternative to a democratic system is often fatal.
But often I find politics hypocritical. Especial when it is about the environment.
Politicians and electors often say/vote something, and still have their airplane ticket to Thailand in their drawer.
And yes – I have three airplane trips planned this year. Which I don’t feel good about. In a couple of weeks I’m going to Italy, and I will go by train if it is possible.
If you are concerned about the environment, how we act is way more important than what we are voting.
I think that everybody should vote, but voting doesn’t make a person an environmentalist. Action does.
If you however hate immigrants and want them out of the country, you can’t just start to throw people out because you feel like it. Then you have to vote. (But please don’t vote for people who hate immigrants).
But it is different about the environment.
I don’t care how people spent their money. But if we spent less than we earn, we would be more environmental than if we would have spent all of our money.
I could go out and spent almost 3 times as many money as I’m currently doing. But I’m choosing not to in order to be environmental and financial independent.
Fortunately there is a direct correlation between being environmental and trying to cut back on our spending.
The picture below is from a presentation I made for the school I’m currently at.
