Thoughts and reflections form the past week or so from my own financial independence campaign.
Progress on my goals
Boat Plan!
Our dog is on our boat! And he likes it!
So… you know… in your face, world!
OK, but seriously. We’ve now trained our dog to be on the boat with us and he’s more than happy to share a small space with us. He’s made a home for himself beneath the saloon table.
This really is a game changer, because it means that technically I don’t need to do my job anymore.
Time to reassess how I do business
Now my share of the living overheads are effectively:
- £3,500 per year in accommodation
- £2,400 per year in feeding
- £1,000 a year in transport
- £500 a year in utilities
- An amount (let’s say £1,000?) in medical insurance
- Another amount (let’s say another £500) in dental bills
- Around £1,000 for phones and internet
- Around £1,400 for the dog
That’s only £12,000 give-or-take that’s actually needed for me to survive in a year.
Dude, I’m not saying I could actually live on £12k a year in one of the most expensive places to live in the world – I’m saying that these are my running costs before we factor in anything else.
Which, frankly, is nothing.
Even with £1,000 per month in discretionary spending, I only need to bring in £24,000 net of taxes to enjoy a lifestyle I’ve chosen. With a modest bump to £30,000, I’d be easily making headway on my financial independence campaign.
This means that I don’t actually need to spend all that time in the office doing corporate law. I could do pretty much anything.
So now I need to decide what I want to do
Which, it turns out, is a heady and daunting prospect.
One of the great things about being in a traditional profession is that your path is essentially set out. You have a roadmap for financial success. If I just sit at my desk for five years, I’m basically sorted for life.
There are much worse outcomes!
Thing is, that’s a boring way to live. I’m incredibly grateful for the head start that selling out and doing corporate law has given me, but putting in long shifts and dealing with the stress of everyone else’s administrative problems is a cost to my health and wellbeing that I don’t need to pay.
So do I want to do that?
Further work required
I’ve repeatedly said on this blog that I want to take responsibility for my own success and control of my own life.
Well, nothing comes for free.
The cost having things your way is that you need to make decisions about what’s important to you. What you like and what you won’t compromise.
I’m not quite ready to do that, so I need to do a bit more thinking and research.
What I do know is that sitting on my boat and being creative while my dog sleeps next to me is a feeling contentment that I’ve rarely ever experienced in my life. He’s been a great companion and I want to see out his remaining years with all the fuss and attention he deserves.
My first step is to design a life where I can make that happen. Armed with that blueprint, I can then go and make it reality.
Distractions and detours
I’m on leave this week – so now you know the terrible secret as to why this is late and out-of-sync.
Must Try Harder, Nil Points (etc).
Non-FIRE goals
My guitar rock god quest (AKA learning to play)
Guitar lessons are on pause for two weeks. In the meantime, I have some exercises from the last three weeks to play through.
I’m also looking at the Jimi Hendrix cover of Bob Dylan’s All Along the Watchtower. I used to sing this while on deployment in Afghanistan, usually from top of an actual watchtower when no-one was in earshot. Would be cool to add this to the song list.
Fitness
Fitness has kind of gone to pot, but I did go for a run yesterday. Assuming that the storms forecast for tomorrow don’t kick in too soon, I’ll run again tomorrow.
Final thoughts
Boat plan is well on the way to success!
I don’t yet know where this will take me (ha!), but the possibilities are so huge that I’m going to spend a bit of time exploring them and working out how I want to make the most of this opportunity to live the life that I want while still continuing my financial independence campaign.
Maybe I’ll stick with law, maybe I’ll find legal work in another form, or maybe I’ll do something altogether different. Who knows?
It’s exciting!
For now, I’m going to make the most of spending time with my best good boy. Oh yes he is! Who’s a good boy? Aww yes!
My financial independence campaign continues!
