October 2023 Portfolio Update
Tuesday 7th November 2023
The Lazy Blogger
Firstly, I have to apoligise to you dear reader. I have become increasingly lazy and unmotivated recently. But don’t fret - this is a good thing! I am finding myself spending more time on things I want to do, rather than things that I have to do.
My weekends are still way too busy - between hockey, soccer and every other activity in between, life on my weekends is busier than my workdays. Throw the odd late night poker and life can become pretty unbalanced.
But note how this is all a good unbalancing. My life is completely different than it was 12 months ago. 12 months ago was all work - working overtime and far too much. Being unbalanced in a completely different way. Now, life is unbalanced because I want it to be. FIRE has given me the ability to choose - and on top of that, I have learned to say no more and more.
For the Love of Work
As I get closer to hitting FI, the realisation that my life is already pretty great is starting to set in. I’ve recently been hugely inspired my a recent Money Flamingo blog post, in which Tina says:
“They say that work gets better when you don’t need the money – and that’s 100% true. But work also gets better over time as you slowly dig yourself out of the miserable hole that entry-level positions can be.
When I started my first job, for some reason, I assumed this was what work would always be like (for the next 40 years!) – low-paid, thankless, tedious, and robbing me of my time and freedom.
That’s obviously not how things usually pan out, and work has gotten (much) better and more enjoyable for us over the years.
That, combined with the F-You factor our nest egg gives us, means that we have plenty of freedom and choice when it comes to our careers (portfolio or otherwise) – and no good reason to stop doing what we are doing in the foreseeable future.”
I think these few paragraphs are some of the best summary of FIRE in a nutshell. When I first started on my FIRE journey in 2018, I didn’t really like work. Truth be told, it wasn’t the work that I didn’t like, but the fact that I was working with very little to show for it.
Fast forward six years later, and I am very well paid for what I do, have a great contract, enjoy working with the people I work with, and have near 100% flexibility in how I structure my day.
I’ve really started to struggle to find a reason recently to not work in the current job I have - and ironically, even early retirement doesn’t seem to be a great reason to stop working. My Manager recently even suggested that if I ever wanted to cut down to working less than 5 days a week, that option would be available to me.
When I reflected on all of this, I quickly realised that my life has become what Tina has been suggesting FIRE is all about. At some point - through accident or subconscious design - I have been able to build a fantastic work / life balance. It has gotten to a stage where I am now asking myself what is the hurry to retire?
The truth is, there is very little I would change today even if I was retired.
I recently asked the Limerick FI Meet Up Whats App group the following question:
What attributes of FIRE appeal to you the most?
Users in the group were able to select multiple answers. Any idea what the most popular answer was? It was:
“To have more time freedom and let things like work become more optional”
Believe it or not, this answer was twice as popular as the more conventional FIRE attribute:
“To build up a large portfolio and retire early”
It has quickly become clear that my life has become like one of those cheesy 80’s teenage movies. Where the main character goes out on a journey, looking for something, only to realise they had it all along.
Or at least, that while becoming fully FI is important, it isn’t the real reason I needed to push for change.
The fact is, with a well paid, secure work contract, a nearly €500k FI portfolio (not including equity in our primary property), three kids and a loving family to treasure, there really isn’t much more I need to add to my FIRE journey to live a pretty amazing life.
Adding another €300k to my portfolio to be able to fully retire doesn’t really make a difference.
It looks like Tina from Money Flamingo has been right all along - when you get to a certain stage in your FIRE journey, whether you actually go for full FI or not really does become optional.
Does this mean I am giving up on pursuing early retirement?
The short answer is no. The long answer is that I am likely already living a “semi-retired” life. My attitude to work is so different from what it used to be. I no longer fear things like being late for meetings, or taking a couple of hours off during the day (thank you flexi time). I feel I am like a 61 year old counting down the last few years before retirement - except that in my case, it doesn’t really matter if I were to lose my job today anyway. I have enough of a cushion, that even if I were to no longer work full time, I could get by freelancing 10 - 15 hours per week. Full time work is now optional for me.
And it is because full time work is optional, that somehow full time work is more enjoyable. I do it on my own terms - not to impress, not to get promoted, but just to find my own enjoyment in the tasks I need to do - and find a way to do them on my own terms, around my own schedule.
Somehow taking the need to climb the corporate ladder off the table, makes work that much more of an enjoyable experience. Like playing golf without keeping score, or going to a casino with someone else’s money!
Does this mean that anything will change in regards to trying to fully retire in the next four years? At this stage, no - however I am open to the possibility of reducing my workload further at some point if I wish too.
I am taking off nearly a month in December, so I am looking forward to seeing how life feels without the need to work. Will I be bored and long for working, or will I embrace the freedom? No doubt I will keep you updated along the way!
October 2023 Portfolio Report
October was a disappointing month for my stock portfolio. My real estate holding is doing well, with the four properties, the profit was a little over €3,000, but this was largely offset by a drop in stocks.
Recall my stocks are all in my pension, so my stock portfolio does not determine when I could potentially fully retire. Rather, my ability to pay down the mortgages on our rental properties is really the key metric.
But either way, it is far nicer to see the stock portfolio go up rather than down, especially as I am no longer making regular contributions.
Finally, my 6 year old took some inspiration and saved up €22 (which is great going given he only gets a few euro per week). He decided to invest in one of our properties - thus why there is an extra €22 contributed this month!
| Portfolio Summary (as at 31st October 2023) | |
|---|---|
| Opening Balance | €464,606.77 |
| New Contributions | €5,022.00 |
| Portfolio Growth | €-1,552.11 |
| Closing Balance | €468,076.66 |
Monthly Portfolio Growth Report
| Monthly Portfolio Growth Report | |
|---|---|
| Capital Gain + Dividend Income from Equities | €-4,708.65 |
| Real Estate Income | €3,156.54 |
| Total Growth | €-3,156.54 |
| % Return | -0.33% |
Portfolio Breakdown
The table below shows the breakdown of my portfolio into the various asset classes:
| Portfolio Asset Breakdown (as at 31st October 2023) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Equities (Stocks) | €138,213.08 | 29.53% |
| Real Estate | €328,537.77 | 70.19% |
| Cash | €1,325.81 | 0.28% |
| Total | €464,606.77 | 100.00% |
2023 Year to Date Returns
Here is a summary of my year to date returns for 2023.
| 2023 Year to Date Growth Report | |
|---|---|
| Opening Balance | €342,734.85 |
| New Contributions | €75,422.00 |
| Equities Capital Gains + Dividends | €11,159.28 |
| Real Estate Capital Gains + Rental Income | €38,760.53 |
| Closing Balance | €468,076.66 |
| Portfolio Return | €49,919.81 |
| % Return | 11.94% |
Lifetime Portfolio Returns
Here are my returns since I started in 2018.
| 2018-2023 Growth Report | |
|---|---|
| Opening Balance | €0 |
| Contributions (Money Added) | €331,867.78 |
| Equity Release* | €41,220.21 |
| Real Estate Capital Gains + Rental Income | €85,199.93 |
| Equities Capital Gains + Dividends | €13,653.47 |
| Other** | -€3,864.73 |
| Closing Balance | €468,076.66 |
| Portfolio Return | €94,988.67 |
* In 2020, some of the new contributions came in the form of an equity release, as we turned our primary residence into a buy to let and purchased a new home to live.
** In 2018 & 2019 I made several bad investments in peer to peer lending, forex trading and unregulated investments, which resulted in losses overall.