Forfatter: Loui Lam

13# My Monthly Financial Independence Update

The Quick Takeaways

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 $)

So What The F*** Happen This Month

  • I have stopped leveraging my stocks
  • Competing at my first BJJ competition
  • Simplifying my monthly updates

Quitting My Leverage

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.

BJJ Competition in Dublin

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.

Monthly Updates – Less is More

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.

Going Outside of the Tribe

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:

  1. Will it kill me?
  2. Can I eat it?
  3. Can I fuck it?

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.

Things Happens Outside of the Tribe

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:

  1. Get an education
  2. Have some student debt
  3. Work from 9-5 for 50 years
  4. Have some kids they don’t have time for
  5. Eat +3 meals a day, and be overweight
  6. Get divorced

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.

How I Step Outside of the Tribe

Here are 4 things I do, which is “unusual” for the tribe.

Not Having a Mobile

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 1-2 Meals a Day

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:

  • Saving time = more productivity
  • Saving money
  • Eating healthier
  • Eat as much as I like
  • Drinking more water
  • Clearer skin
  • Staying healthy and lean

Saving + 50 % of My Income

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.

Minimalism

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.

12# My Monthly Financial Independence Update

The Quick Takeaways

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 $)

Numbers are in thousands.

So What The F*** Happen This Month

  • One year anniversary for Wannabe Walden
  • Back at the folk high school
  • “Dad” approved skipper
  • Stock market decrease

One Year of Blogging

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.

Monthly chart of my portfolio. Numbers is in thousands DKK.

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”.

Visitors at WannabeWalden

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)

Back At Oure Folk High School

I have just joined the next course here on Oure folk high school, which is named:

Pro Skipper

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.

Stock Market Decrease

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.

Visiting Sardinia in My Mini Retirement

In Sardinia Prepping Boat

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.

My “Job” Down Here

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.

Being A Part of the Elite

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??

11# My Monthly Financial Independence Update

The Quick Takeaways

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 $)

So What The F*** Happen This Month

  • Working as a sailing instructor at Oure Summer
  • No salary
  • Booming stock market
  • My first sponsor

The Ocean as an Office

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.

Earning 4.500 $ With No Job

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:

  • Buying an airplane ticket to Sardinia
  • One month of rent in my apartment in Copenhagen

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.

My First Blog Post Sponsor

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.

Check them out here.

12 Days Sailing Around Denmark

My friend Magnus and I, trying to look cool.

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:

12 days – 11 harbors

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:

  • Ballen – Samsø
  • Ebeltoft harbor
  • Anholt harbor
  • Aarhus harbor
  • Tunø Harbor
  • Juelsminde harbor
  • Middelfart harbor
  • Fænøsund (Anchoring)
  • Faaborg harbor
  • Marstal – Ærø
  • Skarø
  • Lundeborg (Night sailing)

Pictures From The Raid

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Why Consuming Less is More Important Than Politics

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.

Politics is Bullocks

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.

Action > Politics

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.

$1 Spent = C02 Emissions

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.

10# My Monthly Financial Independence Update

The Quick Takeaways

This month savings rate: 55 %

This month leverage: 0 %

Rolling savings rate since February 2016: 53 %

Total value of portfolio: 714.000 DKK (107.500 $)

Years worth of annual expenses: 4.94

% Change since last month: -0,9 %  (- 7.000 DKK / – 1000 $)

So What The F*** Happen This Month

  • Last salary just checked in
  • Extending my sailor school
  • (Almost) No work until September 2020

Last Paycheck

It is now three month since I got fired from my job. Which means that I’m official on my mini retirement.

With no income, these monthly updates might end up being a bit different. I won’t have no additional money to save and invest. But I do have a cash reserve I can use.

What Can I Do With No Money?

I will focus on two things in this period where I don’t make any additional money.

I’m going to throw money in my portfolio whenever it is lower than the previous month. So if my portfolio is 107.5000 $ and it drops to 106.000 $, I will buy for 1.500 $ in order to get the value up to the previous high.

Second I can focus on my spending. If I spend less than what I currently do, I can bring my “Years Worth of Annual Expense” down. Which has been fluctuating a bit too much lately.

Nothing But Sailing

The next 16 months I’m going to do nothing but sailing.

I have just extended my stay here at the school because I got an offer I couldn’t refuse. That means I will go here all the way up to the point where I go to Indonesia and the Philippines to sail.

I do have to do some work. But it is three weeks here at the school as a sailing instructor for people who have never sailed before. And I really don’t see that as work. More like a better way for me to improve as a skipper.

I will go to these following places during this mini retirement:

  1. Sicily / Italy – 7 days
  2. Split / Croatia – 9 days
  3. Indonesia – 4 months
  4. Philippines – 6 months

Blog Posts This Month

Guest Post at Projecthandmade.dk

Go Small. Go Far. Go Now.

Go Small. Go Far. Go Now.

After I started to sail a lot more than I use to. I have started to read some books about sailing and voyaging.

Back when I was a kid, I thought that “One day I’m going to have a huge boat, because that is a lot nicer than a small boat.”

When I read about people who has been sailing for many years, I think the story is way more appealing if they have done it in a small boat.

They said to themselves:

Go Small. Go Far. Go Now.

Larry Pardey, Cruising in Seraffyn

I have heard several stories of people saving up for the big boat for their retirement. And then they suddenly die.

Go Go Go and FIRE

I interact with several people in the FIRE community. And there is not many people who goes small, far and now in that community.

The 4 % rule is so conservative if you ask me.

By saving up 25 times your annual spending we are:

  • Going Big / Saving to much money or having to big of a budget
  • Not going anywhere / not taking up mini retirements
  • Waiting too long to “retire”

Going Big

There is three ways that we can attack our financial goals.

  1. Spending less
  2. Earn more
  3. How much we want to have saved

I’m the biggest fan of focusing on 1 & 3.

We can go pretty extreme and do as Jacob Lund Fisker.

But only spending 7.000 $/year and seem pretty extreme for many people.

But instead of focusing to much on hitting that magical number of having 25 times our annual spending (aka. the 4 % rule).

We could scale that down to something more “risky”. And take a mini retirement, and maybe work one day a week while we are having blast.

Not Going Anywhere

Even if we are responsible with our spending and saves 50 % of our salary. We are more likely to not go anywhere.

While we can’t travel to happiness it doesn’t make to much sense of staying at a job we hate in order to hit a certain number. By saying that our lives is going to be significant better when are able to “retire”, is the exact same things as believing that our new Iphone is going to make a great jump in our wellbeing.

It’s nice to have a lot of money, but you know, you don’t want to keep it around forever. I prefer buying things. Otherwise, it’s a little like saving sex for your old age.

Warren Buffett

Don’t get me wrong. Don’t go out and buy a lot of stupid stuff.

But I dream about sailing around the world. And I’m not going to wait till I finally can check of that “25 times my annual spending” tick box.

Waiting Too Long

If you start at age 22 to save and invest 50 % of your income, you are still going to be 35 or more years before you hit that 25 your annual spending mark.

If you are total happy about your current situation. Then just stay in the grind.

But if we dislike it. Then settle for less than 25 times your annual spending and find another job, start to study again or start a business.

Just try to ask yourself the following things.

  1. How can I go smaller?
  2. How can I go further?
  3. How can I go tomorrow?