Friday, March 1, 2024

February 2024 update ($915,617 +$48,962 or +5.6%)

↑ Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund is up by $7,098 or+4.8%
↑ Eurozone Stock Index Fund is up by $5,399 or +2.9% 
↑ US 500 Stock Index Fund is up by $23,915 or +6.7%
↑ Global Small Cap is up by $5,271 or +3.5%
↑ Growth fund is up by $3,897 or +5.3%
↑ EUR is up to USD by 0.9% or $2,769
↑ GBP is up to USD by 0.8% or $614 
Total gains: $48,962

February 2024 Road to Financial Independence

Thursday, February 1, 2024

January 2024 update ($866,655 -$8,815 or -%1.0)

↑ Eurozone Stock Index Fund is up by $3,393 or +2.2%
↑ US 500 Stock Index Fund is up by $1,000 or +0.3%
↑ Growth fund is up by $1,890 or +2.6%
Total gains: $6,283

↓ Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund is down by $4,632 or -3.5%
↓ Global Small Cap is down by $4,569 or -3.0%
↓ EUR is down to USD by 1.9% or $5,306
↓ GBP is down to USD by 0.8% or $583
Total losses: 15,090

January 2024 financial independence update
January 2024 Financial Independence update.

Observations:

To earn a full basic state pension in the UK one has to work for 35 qualifying years (paying sufficient taxes).  Today this pension is about $13 K a year or $1.1 K a month.   State pension age is 67 years old.

As long as you worked at least 10 years (doesn’t necessary consequently) you will get proportion of it (divide $13 K by 35 and multiply by the number of qualifying year).  At 10 qualifying years the pension is $445 a month ($3.8K a year).

In principle this is available to anybody who has worked in the UK. There is also option to top up the missing years  by paying some money.   I checked with the pensions department and I need to pay $11K today to get to 20 qualifying years.  I also need to wait for 25 years before I get the pension.

At 3% inflation adjusted return $11K will become $23K (or $29K at 4% return) after 25 years.  20 years will give you $7.6 K pension a year.  So as long as I live over 72 years old, I will be able to get my money back.

Using this logic, I sent the government $11K today.  Only the government can take away the pension away from me.  Its not a lot by if I ever work again there is still time to get full 35 qualifying years.  To get a guaranteed $13K a year income I need to have 440 K nest egg (for $7.6K a year I need to have $251K nest egg).  In a very odd way I can say that I have $1 million nest egg today. Joking aside $1 million will give me about $2.5K a month which would cover basic living (once the house is paid), assuming that I will have some kind of job on a minimum salary should it come to it.

Tuesday, January 2, 2024

December 2023 Financial independence update ($875,469 +$40,181 or +%4.8)

↑ Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund is up by $3,257 or +2.9%
↑ Eurozone Stock Index Fund is up by $5,102 or +3.3%
↑ US 500 Stock Index Fund is up by $18,092 or +5.4%
↑ Global Small Cap is up by $12,669 or +8.9%
↑ Growth fund is up by $1,060 or +1.5%
Total gains: $40,181

 

December 2023 Financial independence update

Sunday, December 3, 2023

November 2023 update ($835,288 +$74,067 or +%9.7)

 ↑ Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund is up by $5,293 or +4.4%
↑ Eurozone Stock Index Fund is up by $12,808 or +9.3%
↑ US 500 Stock Index Fund is up by $28,638 or +9.3%
↑ Global Small Cap is up by $14,007 or +10.9%
↑ Growth fund is up by $2,757 or +4.2%
↑ EUR to USD is up by 3.0% for my portfolio its $7,765
↑ GBP to USD is up by 4.3% for my portfolio its $2,798
Total gains: $74,067

 

November 2023 Financial Independence

Wednesday, November 8, 2023

October 2023 update ($761,222 -$29,485 or -%3.7)

↓ Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund is down by $4,621 or -3.7%
↓ Eurozone Stock Index Fund is down by $6,465 or -4.5%
↓ US 500 Stock Index Fund is down by $10,015 or -3.1%
↓ Global Small Cap is down by $9,545 or -6.9%
↓ Growth fund is down by $1,794 or -3.3%
↑EUR to USD is up by 0.9% for my portfolio its $2,419
↑ GBP to USD is up by 0.8% for my portfolio its $537

Total losses: $29,485

Financial Independence journey from humble begginings - October 2023

Wednesday, October 4, 2023

September 2023 update ($790,707 -$37,778 or -%4.6)

↓ Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund is down by $256 or -0.2%
↓ Eurozone Stock Index Fund is down by $4,810 or -3.2%
↓ US 500 Stock Index Fund is down by $16,080 or -4.8%
↓ Global Small Cap is down by $7,624 or -5.2%
↓ Growth fund is down by $649 or -0.9%
↓ EUR to USD is down by 1.9% for my portfolio its $5,048
↓ GBP to USD is down by 4.7% for my portfolio its $3,311
Total losses: $37,778

Financial Independence Journal September 2023

Friday, September 1, 2023

August 2023 update ($828,485 -$28,394 or -%3.3)

↓ Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund is down by $6,387 or -4.7%
↓ Eurozone Stock Index Fund is down by $4,892 or -3.1%
↓ US 500 Stock Index Fund is down by $5,617 or -1.7%
↓ Global Small Cap is down by $5,800 or -3.8%
↓ EUR to USD is down by 1.7% for my portfolio its $5,141
Total losses: $28,394

August 2023 Financial Independence journey