{"id":32790,"date":"2025-01-17T09:23:08","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T09:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/business\/investing\/stabilising-musings-on-2022\/"},"modified":"2025-01-17T09:23:08","modified_gmt":"2025-01-17T09:23:08","slug":"stabilising-musings-on-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=32790","title":{"rendered":"Stabilising \u2013 musings on 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"


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I was not going to write this 4 years of FIRE post but I\u2019ve had a number of requests for it which made me do a little thinking.\u00a0 In the end I thought it might add a little value as it\u2019s no secret that my FIRE journey has been a roller coaster of ups and downs around the personable side of FIRE with the financial side in hindsight actually being the easy bit.\u00a0 This is in stark contrast to many of the FIRE blogs out there which mostly just show the ups.\u00a0 So here goes\u2026<\/p>\n

Location<\/h2>\n

We are still in Australia and loving it.\u00a0 Thank-you FIRE.\u00a0 In fact we\u2019re loving it so much that I can\u2019t see us ever returning to the UK.\u00a0 Some day we might return to Europe, well the Mediterranean, but it\u2019s nothing more than a reflection that in hindsight Cyprus was a wonderful experience where we (well I mainly) just didn\u2019t give it enough of a chance.\u00a0 The lifestyle available to us here in Australia is just too good and continues to improve almost daily as we build friendships and integrate more.\u00a0 We just love the weather which allows a more outdoors life that suits us and we love the lack of crowds where we live.\u00a0 It\u2019s also many little things like where we are we can get a GP appointment either that day or if not the next morning.\u00a0 Something that was never possible where we lived in the UK.\u00a0 Oh, and can you believe in many of the parks here they have free electric barbecues\u2026<\/p>\n

Work<\/h2>\n

As I closed out 2021 I was working 4 days per week.\u00a0 Closing out 2022 and that is now down to 2 days a week.\u00a0 Purpose outside of my \u2018career\u2019 was something I really struggled with and so a gradual reduction in the hours of a day job, while I build a great life outside of it, is something that has been really working well for me.\u00a0 Slow and steady is winning this race.<\/p>\n

Also what helps immensely is the role I now do is 100% work from home, 99% no stress and also because I\u2019m FIRE I don\u2019t have to take any bullsh*t.\u00a0 The problem is this helps make me very successful in my role which means for my 2 days of work I now make more than the Australian average weekly ordinary time earnings for full-time adults.\u00a0 I am truly blessed.\u00a0 The only negative is this results in periodic requests to increase my hours which is about the only pressure I get in the role.<\/p>\n

2021 also saw me close out my professional registration.\u00a0 Surprisingly, there was not a single piece of sellers remorse associated with this action which I think means this part of my life is now closing in a positive way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Going into 2023 I\u2019m not quite sure what the next step is.\u00a0 I could easily keep doing what I\u2019m doing for another \u20185 years\u2019 but that might mean I miss out on another more positive experience as even 2 days a week does limit some activities like extended travel.\u00a0 An Australian Big Lap for example\u2026\u00a0 I haven\u2019t decided yet but it\u2019s likely I\u2019ll take a 12 month sabbatical, which is allowed without resigning, at some point and go from there.<\/p>\n

Relationships<\/h2>\n

I shared previously that spending far more time with my partner and when we were together having to talk more about who we are and how we\u2019re feeling rather than what happened today in our Corporate lives definitely put some strain on our relationship.<\/p>\n

In 2022 there were definitely some low points and I can fully understand why some people give up on it and go their own separate ways.\u00a0 However, Mrs RIT and I both exhibit a tenacity streak, some might call it stubbornness, so we stayed at it.\u00a0 We did a lot of reading, a lot of trying different things and importantly we never stopped talking and talking about it.\u00a0 The good news is that I would say our relationship today is probably the best it has been.\u00a0 Sure, we have lapses but we recognise them and can therefore quickly recover from them.\u00a0 I\u2019m really looking forward to 2023 on this front.<\/p>\n

Housing<\/h2>\n

We are still living in our rental and we now really love it.\u00a0 As I\u2019ve written previously being right near the ocean and forests full of wildlife is very conducive to good wellbeing.\u00a0 While we would never buy here due to flooding and fire risks we\u2019re also not in any hurry to leave either.\u00a0 A significant rent increase gave us a little kick but it was off a low base meaning we would be under no financial duress even if we were just living off our investments.<\/p>\n

This is all a good thing given the pace of our home build.\u00a0 Lack of materials, construction materials price inflation of 14.2% through 2022, lack of tradespeople, tradespeople pricing and some weather events have made things more difficult than they should be.\u00a0 Given our financial and housing situation it\u2019s positively, and surprisingly, causing me no stress.\u00a0 We\u2019re well out of the ground and while it\u2019s taking a long time the way I\u2019ve structured things our cost increases have been limited to 2.2% and should now be fixed.\u00a0 Our only real risk is if our main contractor goes bankrupt and while that would cause delay it shouldn\u2019t hurt us too much financially as we have a compulsory insurance in place to cover this event.<\/p>\n

Our first world problem is that while what we are doing is close to perfection there are some things I would do differently if there was a next time plus life has been happening while we\u2019ve been building which has included tuning in to the life we want to live.\u00a0 This is leading to conversations about \u2018settling down\u2019 a few hours from where we are building.\u00a0 2023 could therefore see us move into a home we\u2019ve built but there is also a small chance we might do it all again to just possibly get us a little closer to perfection.\u00a0 Fun times\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n

Finances<\/h2>\n

Something I do not spend too much time on these days which has really surprised me.\u00a0 About the only thing I do now is update my spreadsheet on a weekly basis over a delicious brew.\u00a0 Something I have done since I first started on this FIRE journey.<\/p>\n

I can say that for 2022 my annualised return was -5.0%.<\/p>\n

To be honest this side of my and our life is starting to feel a bit like stamp collecting at this point.\u00a0 With me doing some extra \u2018One More Years\u2019 before FIRE and with my part time work we currently (of course sh*t can happen in the future, there is never no risk) have no financial concerns and just spend on what brings us value and joy which surprisingly still ends up being not a lot.\u00a0 Once we\u2019re not paying rent our withdrawal rate would now be a low 1.x% and then every day our work further lowers this plus then we have insurance on insurance.\u00a0 We\u2019re both still building a UK State Pension, mine via voluntary Class 2 NI contributions which is finally all automated (another thing I don\u2019t miss about the UK \u2013 nothing seems to quite work), plus if things did get really bad eventually we\u2019ll also be eligible for an Australian Aged Pension.<\/p>\n

I think the war here is won unless for some reason we decided we wanted to significantly change our lifestyle which required a big spending shift or unless a very large black swan appears.\u00a0 Possible but it\u2019s not keeping me awake at night.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n

4 years into FIRE (well strictly speaking FI given I still dabble in work although I did always define early retirement as work becoming optional) and I would say I\u2019m living my best life.\u00a0 It took me a while to get into the groove but after I came to the realisation that my Purpose wasn\u2019t a one hit wonder like my Career but rather a series of smaller things everything started to fall into place.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The transition from Career drone has also been a very difficult one for me as it forced me to look at myself in the mirror and 4 years later the result is it has really improved my life.\u00a0 I live in a fabulous part of the world, with a loving partner who I now know far better, with no financial concerns and do things on my terms.<\/p>\n

Scoring FIRE out of 10 I\u2019m now giving it a 9.\u00a0 Let\u2019s see what happens in 2023.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was not going to write this 4 years of FIRE post but I\u2019ve had a number of requests for it which made me do a little thinking.\u00a0 In the end I thought it might add a little value as it\u2019s no secret that my FIRE journey has been a roller coaster of ups and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[96],"tags":[21996,21995],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-32790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-investing","tag-musings","tag-stabilising"],"yoast_head":"\nStabilising \u2013 musings on 2022 - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=32790\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stabilising \u2013 musings on 2022 - 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