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

Progress on my goals

Boat life

We’re currently sat in the saloon while the raindrops pop like bubble wrap on the deck. The wind is a weak raspy whisper.

Perhaps we’ll try for a sailing window tomorrow instead.

If we find a decent weather window between showers I’ll run the engine and we’ll raise the mainsail to test that our repairs to the mast have worked.

For now, I’m enjoying a sip of coffee from the moka pot we brewed on the gas hob.

While running down to the shower block sucks in the rain, living in the boat when it rains is quite pleasant. It gets a bit loud when the heavier showers hit you, but it’s warm and cosy. I’ve always loved being in a tent when it’s raining outside, and this is the same kind of thing (except you have a cooker and working electrics).

Portfolio check

I did a cheeky check on my UK pensions last night. Excluding the military pension, which to be honest isn’t worth my time thinking too hard about, I have something like £80-90k in invested assets between pensions and investment accounts, excluding any gold or crypto that I may or may not own.

That’s pretty good going for someone with no debt!

As said in previous weeks, I’m probably not too far away from my CoastFI goal. However, I’m tied for family reasons to the Channel Islands for a bit longer, and it makes sense to build this up a fair bit more before I try to coast on it.

Haven’t checked Lady SierraWhiskyMike’s portfolio in a long while, but that’s kind of hers to manage. I’d imagine it’s not too far off the same, so that’s all cool. We don’t intertwine our finances per se, we have one joint pot for the boat and then we keep our accounts separate.

Wait – you don’t use a joint account?!

Well, no.

We have very different approaches to money, even though we have the same end goals for it.

I’ll deliberately put myself in a position of scarcity so that I can spend what’s left guilt-free, because ultimately my weakness is that I treat money as a usable commodity.

Lady SierraWhiskyMike on the other hand never thinks about what’s in her account. In her own words, she’s: “tight as a duck’s arse”. Naturally, her current account balance builds up until she eventually realises “Ah, crap. Maybe some of this should be in investments?”.

It doesn’t really matter where we sit as long as investments are made and we live below our income. Neither approach really makes that much difference. However, if we combined accounts, disaster would occur. These two approaches aren’t compatible in managing the same accounts, but they work while we keep them separate.

Between us it’s all working fine.

Distractions and detours

I got a tattoo!

This week I got my first tattoo, which takes up most of my left thigh.

Originally I’d planned something smaller, but I wanted a particular motif and style that wasn’t going to work on small scale, so I worked with the artist (well, she worked and I spouted nonsense) to design something that I think is pretty cool.

Tattooing hurts, in case you’re wondering. It’s bearable, but I’d say it’s like walking through gorse scrub.

I’m really happy with the result. It’s going to be coloured at some point later, but it’s a cool black line in itself for now. Downside is that I’m told “No swim, no gym, no sun” by the lovely artist. I did the maths, and basically I can get back into training a week on Monday.

She did concede that I could do arm stuff only, but it’s the sweating and stretching of the leg skin that I have to avoid if I do that. Bicep and bench I guess, no cardio and no legs. Maybe cheeky abs as long as I take breaks?

Job stuff

My boss reckons that he has come up with a plan to retain me at work while taking away some of the friction. We’re discussing it on Monday.

I’m open to staying because the job pays pretty damn well, but the stress levels need to drop and I need a bit more of my time back.

Ironically, I’d be fine working a 9 to 5, or if the legal work was high quality and interesting. Working for 12 hours doing basic docs churn isn’t where it’s at.

Just in case that doesn’t work out, I’ve also dropped a line to a recruitment agency on the island to discuss temporary and contract work, and/or part-time. They’ve set me up with interviews before and I reckon that working 6-12 months with a long break between contracts is a good potential option for me.

You can grizz out the most mundane job for 6-12 months if you know you’re not coming back to it. Everyone knows what the deal is with temp contracts.

If I stay in work or transition to other employment, as opposed to trying my own thing without a job, I have a cheeky bit of cash to quickly throw into investments. I’d kept it in case I wanted a few months off, but if there’s a job lined up then I can take more risk. Ultimately, if that fails and I’ve already committed that cash, I could sell some investments: it’s not like I’d die.

I’m grateful to be in this position and have these first-world problems.

Non-FIRE goals

My guitar rock god quest (AKA learning to play)

More practice needed for Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton. I told my teacher and he said “It’s a hard song, no-one gets this on the first week”, which I wasn’t expecting.

Maybe I’m pushing too hard in these hobbies?

Anyway, I’ll put a few more hours into it.

Scales are going OK. We covered blues scale this week in one hand position and did a bit of improvising. I’m really down with improvising, when you nail it and get something good it feels amazing, like you’re exactly where you need to be in the world.

Obviously if you’re not in the zone or can’t find your way into it then the improvising session sucks and you go home deflated.

Fitness

I got two serious sessions in before my tattoo appointment, but now I’m stood down for a bit while it heals. I’m bouncing off the walls already, but also my leg is a little tender and running wouldn’t be much fun.

Also looking at huaraches this month. That’s a “running sandal” in this context.

The reason for this is that I’ve switched to mainly wearing Vivobarefoot shoes [this isn’t an affiliate link] after years of adapting to them for running. Unfortunately, their build quality is a little hit-and-miss: for example, I’m returning a pair of Primus All-Weather IV shoes because the upper has started splitting already, and I only bought them in April.

I tried to order some replacements while this pair get returned within the 100-day guarantee period. Oh, boy. Website checkout doesn’t want to work with my iPhone or iPad, my two internet devices.

E-mailed support and they basically said “Try another device and browser”. Thanks, dude! Must be my fault! Maybe try fixing your website?

Anyway, the lack of durability and hit-and-miss quality control has been bugging me for a while (stand fast the Primus Lite III, which is the best trainer I’ve ever bought and I replace them whenever they wear out because they’re awesome). I don’t want to spend £80-£120 on shoes every six months. So I had a look around and it seems that huaraches are rated for thousands of miles before failure.

I’m already running barefoot anyway; maybe I can deal with hiking, dog walking and trail running in sandals? I mean, they’re designed to do it, so presumably that’s an option!

Screw it. I’m going to place an order and will let you know how I get on.

Final thoughts

We’ll try for sailing – or at least motoring about – this weekend, but if it doesn’t happen then it doesn’t happen. I’m happy aboard the boat anyway, sailing is the icing on the cake.

Tattoo is cool. Haven’t told my mum yet (if you’re reading this, sorry mum!) but I like it and so does Lady SierraWhiskyMike. Ain’t here to impress anyone. Thinking of getting a half-sleeve on my right arm now that I know what to expect.

Job prospects are still pretty good. If my employer has an actual plan then I might stay and keep banking the cash, but I have options now and don’t need to rely on that. What a nice position to be in!

Really happy with my guitar journey. I don’t think I’m too far away, maybe a few months to a year, from playing with other people and having fun with it. That’s pretty cool! I was playing drums for close to 10 years before I was “good” for anything other than a garage band and cheeky jam session, so I have a lot of patience with the process. At least my neighbours don’t kick off when I practice guitar late (through headphones): can’t say the same for drumming…

I’m now going to order those barefoot sandals and see how I get on. Wish me luck!

My financial independence campaign continues!