Thoughts and reflections form the past week or so from my own financial independence campaign.
Progress on my goals
Boat plan
Was going to go for a shakedown sail tomorrow but it’s looking like there’s going to be no wind until after we need to be getting ready for work on Monday. Still undecided, but we’re probably going to hit the beach instead.
War is hell!
We’re gearing up to go on our big summer sail. I don’t know for sure if I’ll be able to send blog posts during that time because we may be anchored up somewhere in France if things go well, but I’ll try to share some photos.
If we can’t get a shakedown sail in, we may go from our island to the other major Channel Island as a first leg. That way, we know we can find a chandlery and do any last-minute repairs before we hit either France or south coast UK for our trip. I’m not expecting any big issues, but then again does anyone ever expect an emergency or do they just happen?
Distractions and detours
Potential new jobs update
Had a meeting with the people I’d last interviewed with. While I didn’t get that job, many hints have been dropped that they would like me to apply for a different role with them and I’m being scheduled for an assessment day in September.
I figure that if it goes well I might still jump ship; but if it doesn’t then I probably haven’t lost anything.
New toy: old games pt.2
Last week I bought an old Nintendo 3DS on eBay. Well, it’s an old “new” 3DS. There’s probably a lesson in not calling your product a name that refers to a time period or state of newness that will, one day, be irrelevant.
I remember a lecturer back in the day realising that they’d made a mistake with calling their book Contemporary Archaeology. Now long dated, it’s not exactly a contemporary read.
I’ve used some custom firmware to jailbreak the console and now I can store games on an SD card and install them directly to the machine. No need to carry around games cartridges, perfect for video gaming on a boat or when travelling.
I’ve had a quick go on New Super Mario Bros. 2 and it definitely tickled the bits of my brain that missed video games. That’s a win for me!
The library ordered my book!
I’d finished the first four books of Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archives series on Kindle.
Lady SierraWhiskyMike bought the fifth one, and obviously read it.
Little did we know that Amazon would turn off family sharing unless you agree to share payment methods. Seriously, dudes?
As a corporate lawyer we have a name for having someone else agree to pay on your behalf if you can’t pay for something: it’s a guarantee. We use it as a quasi-security in finance deals and they’re highly contentious.
Amazon is extorting its users to agree to guarantee the purchases of other family members.
Well, I have a certain saying in situations like this: Fuck That.
Feel free to borrow this statement in your dealings with the world’s most exploitative companies.
So instead I asked the library to order it in so I could borrow it for free. It turned up on Friday.
So that’s my bedtime reading sorted for a little while…
Writer’s block
I’ve agreed to submit a short story into a Guernsey anthology on the theme of Time and Tide.
Problem is: I am super unmotivated by that brief.
I’ve got until the end of the month to pull something together for a submission. Damned if I know what it’s going to look like. Err, bugger.
Maybe I’ll do something on piracy or smuggling. Always got time to write about pirates.
Then again, I might need to play to the home audience here.
Eh, whatever. I’ll have time to think while sailing.
Non-FIRE goals
My guitar rock god quest (AKA learning to play)
This week we started Hallowed Be Thy Name by Iron Maiden. I figured it was starting to get within my range and my teacher asked for some song suggestions.
That’s tonight’s job.
I’ll be taking a break to go sailing and should have some practice time then.
Fitness
Fitness went well enough I guess, I got two gym sessions in and a bit of cardio. That’s… OK?
I’ve definitely gained a bit of muscle mass with the new calisthenics routine, but I’m not sure if I’m getting leaner. Probably just need to trust the process. The rings are really fun to train with though, that hasn’t really gone away.
Still can’t do a handstand or a cool planche yet, but I’m definitely stronger. Might have been further away from those goals than I had at first thought.
Final thoughts
My week has been busy with work and stuff, but I’ve had some good stuff happen to me.
We’re not long back from a family barbecue. The feet in the cover photo belong to Lady SierraWhiskyMike. Chilling in the sun is a priority project, what can we say? You have to enjoy your life.
Actually, on that theme: I’m seeing a disproportionately high number of posts on various UK FIRE community boards and subReddits bemoaning the state of the global economy and being desperate to achieve financial independence so that they can become somehow “safe”.
It’s absolutely true that global and regional wealth inequality is going to be a problem that we’re going to have to contend with as a society. There probably need to be measures taken against the growing number of billionaires and hundredfold-millionaires because at the moment the market for investment assets of all kinds is saturated with buyers and such people can (and do) outbid everyone else for those assets, meaning that capital is likely to, ironically, trickle upwards rather than downwards. I get it, it’s bleak. On top of that: AI is likely to lead to a devaluation of human knowledge work in the near future.
But being overly worried about “security” is a good way to ensure that you’re actually less safe and less able to do the things you want to do. You risk never having enough, always being worried that you need to keep hoarding, and unwilling to take small risks like doing things you need to have a life worth living.
That’s why in these updates I share some of the positive things I do and that happen to me, rather than just talk about pure finances. I hope that everyone looking for financial independence has a vision and a plan for their freedom and isn’t living their lives in fear of the unexpected.
Anyway, enough for now. I have a dog to walk, then a cold beer to drink while reading my book. Have a great week!
My financial independence campaign continues!
