20# My Monthly Financial Independence Update

The Quick Takeaways

This month savings rate: 90 %

% change since last month: 15,1 %

My Coast FIRE number: 5.107.000 DKK (751.000$) or 50.1 years of living expenses.

Simplifying My Portfolio

Whenever people ask me what they should invest in I just tell them:

“Buy a single world index fund. You don’t have to have more than one fund”. 

But at the same time I own three myself:

1. Sparinvest Index Global Min. Risk
2. Sparinvest DJSI 
3. Sparinvest Index Emerging Markets

Proclaiming that I’m a minimalist, and still own three funds for no reason was hypocritical, so I have decided to give my portfolio a brush-up. Yesterday I sold all of my shares in Global Min. Risk and Emerging Markets. And in the future, I will only be buying the DJSI fund.

The DJSI fund “should” be a more environmentally one, so I prefer to stick with that fund. Even though index funds and environmental investing is not nearly as environmental as I would like it to be, I still think it is a step in the right direction.

There are some “pitfalls” in that fund compared to the Global Min. Risk:

1. It contains Emerging Markets. Which will make it a bit more volatile.
2. Their biggest stock position is Microsoft on about 12 % which is quite high for an Index fund.
3. It “only” contains 194 stocks vs 314 in Global Min. Risk, which makes it less diversified.

It is some “pitfalls” that doesn’t keep me awake at night. So I’m willing to have all of my money in that single fund.

74 % Savings rate on Welfare

Besides being away sailing where I don’t earn any money. This is the worst financial situation I can be in.

Luckily I have been responsible and having income insurance (A-kasse), which will give me an income of 13.500 DKK (2000 $) after taxes.

And thanks to my Kakeibo Experiment I have managed to only spend around 3.500 DKK (500 $) the last month. The major reason why I can keep my spending that low, is that my sister lives in my apartment. So I don’t have any spending on rent. I either live on my dad’s farm on Møn or my girlfriend’s family farm on Langeland. Both places I pay my dues by doing some grocery shopping and cooking.

Why I managed to bunk my savings rate up to 90 % is because I have paid for some airplane tickets back from the Philippines, which got canceled so I got the money back. And why not just invest them? That’s what I did.

New Parameter In My Monthly Updates

As you probably can spot, I have given the “Monthly updates” a little brush-up. I didn’t like the “Passive Income” line on the chart, so I deleted it.

The new parameter is my Coast FIRE Nr, which is a quite powerful number. I have been doing a lot of thinking on that everyone I know who has “achieved” FIRE still do some money-earning activity. Not because they have to, but it is because it is nice to do something.

I can see myself as part-time something, working 15 hours/week, just because it is nice to do so. In general, I don’t believe that work is horrible, but it shouldn’t be the majority of our week.

But I do know that I might not be able to build and renovate houses till I’m 80 years old. And that is where the Coast FIRE number comes in.

If I never touched my portfolio I would have 50 years of spending when I turn 65 years old, if my portfolio grows with 7 %/year.

Which is way more than enough. 

I could have as little as 100.000 DKK (15.000$) in my portfolio and would probably still be fine when I’m 65 years old.

People often see Coast FIRE and Barista FIRE as a failed form of normal FIRE. But I don’t think that.

If I had about 1.000.000 DKK (150.000$) in my portfolio today, I would become a part of the 1 % wealthiest in Denmark when I’m 65, with a portfolio of +13.000.000 DKK (1.900.000$). Which is the equivalent of +130 years of my annual spending.

Why on earth would I need that kind of money?!

FIRE for me is that I know I can be happy without materialistic things and money. And if I know that my small portfolio got my back till the day I can’t lift my arms anymore, then I’m good.