Thoughts and reflections from the past week or so from my own financial independence campaign.

Progress on my goals

Boat plan

Weather has been unexpectedly sunny today, so I’m writing this from the cockpit. Life is good!

We* gave the boat a scrub down to kill off the green slime that grew over winter and she’s a lot happier, but as a result we’ve discovered a myriad of minor leaks that we’ll need to repair in the spring.

*actually, Lady SierraWhiskyMike did this while I was writing a business plan to propose to insurers. I’m taking vicarious credit.

We need a consistent and warming period to do that because we need silicone to cure properly as part of it, but for now it’s fine to be kept at bay with a dehumidifier in the evenings.

Changes to the investment plan

Seems to me that every time I start a plan for the year, I change it soon after.

Eh, whatever.

Essentially, it’s to do with that potential self-employment opportunity I mentioned in previous Field Notes. A lot of the initial market research is looking promising, so I want to have some seed capital in case I go it alone.

I’ve halved my investment pot contributions for now, and put the other half into cash savings.

The plan is that if I push “go”, I’ll have about £10k to set up and launch with. On the other hand, if it turns out that it’s not an option, I can dump that into the investment account that it was going to anyway.

“Why not just stay in your job?”

I’ve worked my way deliberately into a well-paying career field and my savings rate is over 50%.

In theory, if I just coasted like this, I’d easily hit my CoastFI goals.

But, here’s the thing: I want to own my time.

Long term, we want to travel and I want to do other things. But, in the short term, I can’t financially afford to do that without putting pressure on Future Me to recover the financial situation.

The way I see it, the next-best-thing I can do is gain control of when and how I work, and the rewards I gain for my work.

I don’t have a problem with work ethic, I just want to be in the driving seat for the decisions that impact me.

There’s a cost to everything though, and I have to weigh up whether (a) my idea is workable, (b) my idea will get me to my goals and (c) whether the cost is worth the benefits once I have the information.

So, for now, it’s about doing the research and planning first, then seeing how I feel later.

Distractions and detours

Ali Abdaal’s book Feel Good Productivity

I’m about 40% of the way through YouTuber Ali Abdaal’s book, Feel Good Productivity.

So far, it’s OK. Not the world’s greatest read, but not bad either. Maybe it’ll pick up as the book goes on, but I’ve temporarily put it down to read some more fiction.

The big parts of the book so far boil down to: “make work a game”, “visualise what success looks like”, “give positive encouragement”, “do things that are meaningful to you” and “add an element of challenge to your goals”.

If it’s your first stint into reading books about leadership, management or productivity, it’s OK-ish.

I’ll be honest: I got bored. Maybe I’ll press forward after the trashy sci-fi I’m reading.

I signed up for a creative writing course!

I haven’t spoken about my secret sneaky ambition for a long time, but when we hit CoastFI and set off around the world (or not, whatever, I’m not putting pressure on that) on the boat, I fancy trying to be a writer.

Back in the early days of this blog (we’re almost 3 years old… weird!) I was quite open about it. In fact, this whole blogging experiment was more about giving me writing experience than anything else.

The gods know I don’t make money from this blog! To date, even with affiliate links, I have made two affiliate sales ever and I’ve paid out hundred of pounds in hosting. Money is not why I do this.

This means that when I recommend stuff, it’s genuine; and I’m free to smack-talk stuff I don’t like.

Maybe in the future I’ll bring back passive adverts to try to cover my hosting costs, but I figure that no-one who reads this blog is likely to buy something simply because it was advertised by an algorithm if it didn’t already meet a genuine need/want.

Anyway, my local library is being used to host a 10-week creative writing course, starting in April. At £225, it’s a little steep; but I’ve saved up enough cash for it and it could be an investment in my future.

If nothing else, I’ll get to meet a few people and maybe make a few friends.

I’ve put this in as a “distraction and detour” segment because it’s not part of my deliberate plan, but it could probably also be justified as an investment in myself.

Non-FIRE goals

My guitar rock god quest (AKA learning to play)

This week I’m meant to be learning Here Comes The Sun. I… haven’t practiced it.

It’s a great song though and I’ll put some time in tonight.

I’m also still trying to learn White Rabbit. A pro-level guitarist would laugh at my simple goals, but I haven’t even been playing for a year yet!

Guitar is one of those things that there’s a bit of friction to set up, but once I start going I lose an hour of my time. Easily. Music really takes me away into a flow state, it’s definitely one of the better things I’ve taken up.

I used to be a drummer, and when I was playing in bands and stuff I had a very similar experience. The problem came when I switched to electronic drums, even though I paid more for a really high-quality Roland set. It just lacked the feedback I’d gotten used to with acoustic drums.

Fitness

This week has been brilliant for training.

I’ve cycled to work four days this week, running in on the Friday.

After work, one of my colleagues set up a 7-a-side friendly football game at the local indoor astroturf. We played for an hour non-stop, completely missing the half-time break.

It was a great idea, and it’s awesome to do some socialising that isn’t entirely drinking beer. We had a quick drink afterwards, but it was mainly soft drinks as most people were driving.

So, yeah. Run ragged, but it was a fulfilling week!

Final thoughts

I’ve been feeling quite contented this week.

Maybe it’s the sun this weekend, maybe it’s the extra fitness in my week, maybe it’s because I took steps towards possibly owning my time.

You know what? I’m not going to overthink it. I’m going to head out, walk my dog, and enjoy the sunshine.

Not everything is about money.

Have a great week!

My financial independence campaign continues!