Job Free Wannabe

pavlovs_dog

That's some saving NM :beer:

NorthernMonkey1

I hit the big four - oh this week. As someone who suffers from a little too much self reflection at the best of times, this has caused more than a little pondering.

Not yet payday, so not much more saved, although I've been sticking to budget. A slightly sad £40 left in the Monzo account to last til payday on Tuesday, but it shows that the £1250 a month budget is do-able, if a little on the tight side. I'll post a SOA when I get a chance. The £211 car payment isnt quite offset by the saving in fuel and tax, but Mrs NM is fairly adamant I can't keep driving about in old bangers. First payment is due on Weds. First time I've had a loan payment for a good few years.

The markets have been kind over the last month, so the as I turn 40 numbers are looking still on track to sack off work at 50

Forgot to include the Share Save scheme in the last tot up, which was a bit of an oversight. It wont mature until Aug '20, but the funds I pay in are locked into an account which is FSCS protected. It's not converted to shares until the maturity point

Car Loan -12644.53
HL ISA 57289.42
Vanguard ISA 1309.02
Pension 214470.66
Share Save 16300

Total 276724.57

Loanranger

When you charge the car at a supermarket such as LIDL or a motorway service area, don't you run the risk of being sent an invoice, AKA not a fine, for overstaying the parking company's two hour limit, or whatever it is?



This would add to my range anxiety!

Anonymous101

I've posted the below several times before but I think its pretty applicable to what you've been writing about in this post.

I'd recommend you read and listen to everything you can on Financial independence Retire Early (FIRE). All of it may not be applicable to you but since you're looking in on here at a relatively young age you seem like the type that would be open to it. You can be as radical or as laid back about the approach as you like, its not all or nothing, but I feel like the principles would benefit anyone and everyone.

If you start by reading the two links below. Particularly the Mr Money Mustache article. If you've never heard of him he's an American chap that managed to retire by 30.

The choose fi links below is a good place to start with a good overview. They also do a podcast which I've put a link to the introductory one below. Most of their podcasts are interviews with people that are working on their own terms after adopting the principles of FIRE in one way or another.

https://www.choosefi.com/the-why-of-fi/

https://www.choosefi.com/financial-independence-beginners-guide/

https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-simple-math-behind-early-retirement/

Hopefully you'll find them interesting and useful.

kaycastle

NorthernMonkey1 wrote: »

The £60k job is nice in some ways, but I often feel promoted beyond my abilities. It's really stressful, and my anxiety about being 'found out' was the cause of my initial mortgage free drive, and now my second drive to make sure if I do lose my job, I've got a financial cushion.

That last bit really struck a chord with me, really feel for you feeling this as I do too. I think I'm probably a bit younger than you but I sometimes get this as I feel like I've done really well fast . This worrying has a name even, its called impostor syndrome. I don't know you but I know I get this but actually when I think about it logically I realise I am actually awesome :cool: hehe and I'm sure you can work on it too.

I've read a few self-help articles online to calm my anxiety and I do it regularly because it just seems to creep back some times. It can also be linked to the need to be rewarded for efforts, not necessarily financially.

But the best thing I ever did was last year I created a folder on my outlook called "Happy times", and every time someone says thank you, or a nice bit of feedback I store it in there. So that whenever my anxiety creeps up or I'm having a bad day, I go read them and feel better

Anxiety can be worked on, mine never seems to go away but I do get more "holidays" from anxiety now then I ever did before. And its great.

I'm also a job free wannabe. First doing my mortgage, and I put away almost £700 in my pension every month now. But my main driver is to get rid of the need to have a job. This might sound childish but in my dreams, when I reach the point where I can retire early. I'm going to continue working for a few months and just try to be my absolute self and say exactly what I think...see how long I last I don't think I'd ever say anything really rude but just imagine all those times we bite our tongues...what it would be like to be able to say what you're thinking....I wonder if anyone else has ever done this.

Mostly as in tech field I see so many older people get made redundant as a way of keeping workforce cheaper..I think it would be silly to think that it won't happen to me as companies are businesses. An excellent developer, worked somewhere for almost 20 years...brilliant...and they made him redundant though and kept the newer recruits on the team, essentially to save money as with annual increases he was on a lot more than any new colleagues by that point. They did this a few weeks after he had a baby. But still pipe on to the newly employed about being a friendly family company.....

Making hay while the sun shines is my motto!

NorthernMonkey1

Loanranger wrote: »

When you charge the car at a supermarket such as LIDL or a motorway service area, don't you run the risk of being sent an invoice, AKA not a fine, for overstaying the parking company's two hour limit, or whatever it is?

This would add to my range anxiety!

There are 2 types of charges 'rapids' are the big ones in service stations, they charge a car in about 30 minutes, and normally charge about £5 a charge (30p/kwh). 'fast' are the ones that look more like a parking meter and will take about 4 hours to charge from empty/ More often found in shopping center car parks.

The whole charge from empty time is a bit of an odd metric..I just plug in when I stop. I was at 50% charge when I went swimming last night, plugged into the 'fast charger' there as it was free, and left with 70%. I then plugged in when I get home so it was full this morning.

It takes less than 30 seconds to plug in, so overall time spent charging is no more than spending 5 minutes fueling the petrol car once a week.

PS range anxiety was a term introduced by General Motors to counter the rise of electric cars when they didn't have a BEV offering of there own

NorthernMonkey1

Anonymous101 wrote: »

I've posted the below several times before but I think its pretty applicable to what you've been writing about in this post.

I'd recommend you read and listen to everything you can on Financial independence Retire Early (FIRE). All of it may not be applicable to you but since you're looking in on here at a relatively young age you seem like the type that would be open to it. You can be as radical or as laid back about the approach as you like, its not all or nothing, but I feel like the principles would benefit anyone and everyone.
.

I'm a huge MMM fan. Some of the rest of the FIRE stuff I find a little dull, and more often than not very US centric. There are only a few ways to say 'save 75% and retire in 10 years with low cost index funds'

MMM is great though, it was more than a small influence in both my decision to buy a nissan leaf, and that nearly all of my non-pensionable assets are in VLS80

NorthernMonkey1

kaycastle wrote: »

That last bit really struck a chord with me, really feel for you feeling this as I do too. I think I'm probably a bit younger than you but I sometimes get this as I feel like I've done really well fast . This worrying has a name even, its called impostor syndrome. I don't know you but I know I get this but actually when I think about it logically I realise I am actually awesome :cool: hehe and I'm sure you can work on it too.

Thank you. I've read a few articles on impostor syndrome, and I can see how it applies a lot to me. Knowing there is a name for how you feel helps a bit. My company went through a 'rightsizing' episode a while back, and a lot of good people were given the heave-ho. Although things are looking rosy right now, I'm aware how much things can change in a couple of years.

I can do a couple of things to help me when this comes around, firstly I need to continue to deliver stuff in my job, which makes me less likely to be the one on whom the cross hairs fall when the next cycle in the company occurs, and secondly, I need a big, gold plated and diamond studded safety net for if it does. Its a lot easier to be out of work and looking for a job with no mortgage and a few years money in the bank, than it is with a big mortgage, a loan for a flash audi, and no savings.

NorthernMonkey1

As its the first of the month, and 1/3 of the way through the year, it's time for an update.

Things havent been assisted by Mrs NM driving the car into a wall, leaving me with a tasty £300 body shop bill for resprays

I'm sticking to the £1250 budget, but I am finding it tricky. It definitely feels like I have less spare money that I used to. Not helped at all by having a £210 car payment coming out of that amount, meaning the budget is really nearer £1000. Nevertheless I've been sticking to it, and that, along with the brexit chaos causing good share performance, it looks like were mostly on track

Car Loan -12171.06
HL ISA 59758.99
Vanguard ISA 3895.34
Pension 226106.17
Share Save 17300

294,889.44

savingholmes

Your making brilliant progress - despite the literal running into a wall. I wish I had been more focused at your age...