When I sometimes see your invested amounts, I feel like a gnat with the 30-40€ I have to invest per month😀
Fortunately, I'll have €50 more to invest next month as I've stopped smoking😛 yay!
OFF TOPIC: As an introduction to my next post about our deregistration in Germany, our move to Indonesia, I think it makes sense to understand my life a little.
A few days ago I turned 54 and in a fit of sentimentality I looked back on my life once and asked myself:
"Are you happy with what you have achieved" ?
My family background
I am a child of divorce who grew up with siblings and a mother who always valued men and alcohol more than her children.
My mother and my sisters have been big fans of the citizen's allowance (formerly Hartz 4) for as long as I can remember and representatives of the "Why should I work when I can get by this way" faction. I was lucky enough to spend a lot of my childhood with my aunt and uncle, who both had good jobs, went on vacation 2-3 times a year and were simply very well off. I have this positive example and influence to thank for the fact that it was clear to me at a relatively young age that I wanted to have the same kind of life.
My education
I finished secondary school with an average grade more bad than good and then completed my training as an "industrial mechanic". Alongside my apprenticeship, I worked as a bartender in a nightclub three times a week so that I could afford my first apartment at the age of 18; I just wanted to get away from my family.
My professional background
After my apprenticeship and during my 3.5 years of further training as an industrial foreman and trainer, I worked as an industrial mechanic in a drop forge, which I would describe in retrospect as a back-breaking job. After completing my further training, I then applied for a job as a "medical technology service technician in the field" at a US company and really enjoyed the job and the working environment.
I traveled a lot around the world, got to know interesting people and cultures with the small disadvantage that I hardly had anything like a private life, but a full bank account. I then changed my employer on average every 3-5 years and slowly but steadily worked my way up from team leader, to manager, director and finally to "VP Operations" in the medical technology sector.
American employers
Since the age of 25, I have worked exclusively for American companies and start-ups in the medical technology sector. My professional experience has shown me that in many American companies and start-ups it is much easier to work your way up through performance, self-learning and specialization compared to German companies and that the salaries are significantly higher than those of German companies.
Personal goals
After my apprenticeship, my goal was to stop working shifts and lying under machines with oily hands and repairing them by the time I was 40.
After achieving this goal much earlier, I set myself the new goal of becoming a manager and earning 100k. I would never have dreamed that I would "end up" where I am today.
My family
I completely cut off contact with my mother and siblings because I personally didn't get on with their attitudes to life. Looking back, this was absolutely the right decision.
My first marriage to my "German childhood sweetheart" lasted 10 years and then ended in divorce because she thought that I could live very well with my money and other men. Thanks to property division, I got out of that marriage without any problems.
Thailand
After the divorce from my first wife, all my plans for the future were invalid and I was devastated. I then compensated for this with extreme stays in Thailand from 2011 to 2013, sometimes lasting several months, with far too many parties and previously unknown, powdery substances. It was here that I met one of my current business partners, Suki, and opened my first Beerbar together with her.
The most important person in my life
At the beginning of 2014, I met my Indonesian wife during an excessive drinking spree in Bangkok. She came from Hong Kong and was on vacation in Bangkok where I accidentally poured a Mai Thai over her dress while she was drunk.
We got talking, got to know each other over a period of months and my life returned to normal. At the beginning of 2016, after endless problems with the German bureaucracy, we finally got married in Germany.
Without my wife, I wouldn't be sitting here today, writing this post or have my job.
Real estate and beer bars
I got to know Indonesia through my marriage to my wife and fell in love with the country. It slows me down and calms me down, I am part of your family, I feel safe there and enjoy a high standard of living due to my income.
My wife already owned a few properties and land in Indonesia, so it didn't take long for us to build our first pool villa together for rent in Bali, followed by another one that we use ourselves. Step by step we then built a house on Java, which we also use ourselves. After my first Beerbar with Suki in Pattaya was very successful, I opened another Beerbar in Bangkok in 2023.
What if I die tomorrow?
Since my wife left her home country, her family and her grown-up children behind for our relationship and is the most important person in my life, it was clear to me that she should have an independent life without financial worries in the event of my death. As a result, my family was disinherited, my wife became my sole heir and in the event of her death, your children, who now call me Dad and respect me accordingly, inherit everything.
Finances
My job, our real estate in Indonesia, the two Beerbars in Thailand and existing financial reserves enable us to lead a financially carefree life and to get by at any time, even without a permanent job.
You will get a deeper insight and what is really left in the end in the next post about finances, taxes and our experiences three months after deregistering in Germany.
Am I satisfied with what I have achieved
From a financial point of view, I have achieved much more than I ever dreamed of.
From a personal perspective, I found and married the best woman in the world for me and was welcomed by her family with open arms, which is very important to me personally as I have never had a real family.
However, there is one thing I miss and that is having my own children; it seems fate had a different plan and today I'm just too old for that ☹
Final words
Start building up something early on, be it financial reserves, real estate or something else, because the time will come when you will be glad to have it. But don't forget to live, money isn't everything and time runs faster than you think when you're young and before you know it, it's simply too late for some things.
If you have children, treat them with respect, prepare them for life, share your love, knowledge and experiences with them and be their best friend.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post, I know this is not FB which is why I asked you in advance if you were interested in this and the next post.
How do you deal with the fact that the usual daily fluctuations in your portfolio (would) exceed your monthly income?
Does that do anything to your work ethic? Or would it do something to it?
Tell me about it, I'd be interested. 👍
Bye Bye $VWRL 👎 Hello
$HMWO
and
$HMEF 👋
Take this @Vanguard
I have decided to discontinue my savings plan on the $VWRL and not to invest any more money in Vanguard products in future. The reason is obvious: over all these years as a loyal fan, I have never received a Vanguard sweater. That's no way to treat your best customer, @Vanguard . Someone has to show you your limits 👎.
Instead, I'll be saving in HSBC products from May. Maybe I'll get a sweater from them one day 🤔🧐.
Apart from the sweater, there are a few less important factors that also influenced my decision and which I don't want to withhold from you:
A few weeks ago, I asked about ways to optimize taxes and costs on getquin: https://getqu.in/Ez0kiZ/ . Based on your answers, among others, I made the decision for the following reasons:
I will repeat this procedure in the future. As soon as $HMWO and $HMEF (which are saved at low cost with Scalable) together reach the size of the $VWRL I will save in one (or two) new ETFs. Distributions will only be reinvested in the ETF I currently hold. Rebalancing between $HMWO and $HMEF will not take place, as I will not swap winners for losers (besides, I'm lazy). The savings rate will remain constant for both (90/10).
Of course, the whole thing only makes sense above a certain portfolio size. For 10k in $VWRL I wouldn't even invest the 5 minutes it takes to convert the savings plan 😅.
Why Scalable's marketing department deserves a pay rise Part 2 😂
Honestly, how much do they spend on advertising? In our city, the whole city and all bus stops are plastered with Scalable advertising at regular 4-6 month intervals for 1 month ... is it the same in your cities?
#pokemonInvestment
I bought 2 new assets last week (Pokemon booster and a card)
The booster is from 1999 and the card is from 2006.
Help, my daughter is a low earner 😱
And only manages a paltry 2.33% of our savings rate.
A few days ago, I shared the first dividend my daughter received. 66 cents. A comment, presumably not entirely serious, from @CryptoPfand got me thinking: "My son has €13 in dividends so far (born in November)... Is your daughter only 3 days old? In any case, congratulations!". Just think about it, @CryptoPfand . She can't be just 3 days old because of the ex-day 🤦
No, my daughter was born in October 23. We currently invest €35 a month for her in a junior custody account in her name and €35 in a custody account in my name, which she will receive as a gift at some point. Dividends are reinvested in the respective custody account, all gifts (for her, for her birth, ...) end up in her junior custody account. Why two custody accounts? My wife doesn't feel comfortable with the fact that she will have a large amount of money at her disposal on her 18th birthday without any ifs or buts. Splitting the money into 2 custody accounts is the compromise that has resulted from this.
An average of 3,000 euros of my wife's and my income currently goes into our own savings accounts every month (in total, not in each case). The ratio of our daughter's savings rate to our savings rate is therefore ridiculously low. We even collect her child benefit instead of investing it like some others here ( @AlterMann ). I guess that makes us stingy, bad parents.
But let's do the math first. Excluding gifts of money and assuming a 6% return per year, at 18 she has a deposit of just under 27k. If we assume an annual inflation rate of 2.5%, the conservatively calculated 27k corresponds to a current purchasing power of over 17k. That's a lot of money. Or just money.
Why do we think this is a reasonable sum?
First of all, we are in the privileged position of being the parents of a healthy daughter 😍. In addition, we are lucky enough to be able to provide financially for ourselves and for her - something that cannot be taken for granted.
After that, it's important for us to pass on values to our daughter and raise her in our interests. This also includes a sensible approach to and a good relationship with money. We want to use our very good financial situation to make her start in adult life a little easier. But we also want her to understand that being able to afford almost everything is not a given. We don't think a 200k deposit for her 18th birthday, as some people present on getquin, makes sense.
As parents, we are always there for her to support her in emergencies. Thanks to our reserves, this will also be possible without any problems. However, we are not there to finance a life of luxury for her or to relieve her of all (financial) worries. We have therefore opted for a relatively low savings rate.
What do you think? Would you pay more into our daughter's savings account if you were us? How do you provide for your children? How much are you putting aside? Why exactly this amount?
@GoDividend
@InvestmentPapa
@DerMartin and all other parents
INVEST 2024
Hi folks,
there have already been a few posts about Invest in Stuttgart here in the community!
Now once again officially:
We vol getquin will also be there and are looking forward to connecting with you and learning more about our users. I hope you will come in large numbers.
Some of you already know me from getquin's Instagram account or here in the app. I will be at the fair on both days and will be wearing eye-catching getquin merch 👀
Feel free to talk to me and we'll chat about everything to do with the fair and I'll answer your questions about getquin!
PS: a little surprise is waiting for you 🔥
Don't know what INVEST is?
Here is a nice summary of all the other information:
I look forward to seeing you 🤩
Your Benne /Capital Cyclist 🚴🏻♂️