It's been roughly six months now since my 'last' workday. After that I went on a nice trip to South Korea and Hong Kong. When I came home I was finally going to find out whether I was truly going to be OK living only of my investments. I wasn't at all nervous or worried. I was just very interested to find out if I could stay afloat financially. I always had problems (and still have) getting true insights in my spending. I put all my monthly expenses and other payments in a (Libre Office) spreadsheet, but it never really gave me a clear overview of my spending.

The day has finally arrived. Today is my last day working for my client. If all of my calculations are correct I should not need to work anymore and I can retire at age 48.

Actually, I was already financially independent when I was around 45, but I remained working for my client. They could really use me for a bit longer and for me it was also a good opportunity to add more money to my 'nest eggs'.

Looking at the dates of my previous posts it's pretty obvious that I haven't been writing for a long time. It's not that nothing much has happened (as a matter of fact, loads of stuff happened), I just didn't know if it would be interesting enough for this blog. After all, this blog is about me becoming financially independent and not about my daily life. Also, I realize that blogging is not as hip and trendy as it used to be and not many people can find or like this blog. That makes writing articles on a regular basis seem less important.

I've been meaning to write a new article for ages now, but it just didn't happen. Often, I was busy, lazy or just didn't know what to write about. An article has to be a meaningful so that even people who don't know me like to read it. This article is going to somewhat of a 'potpourri', a blend of different issues that have kept me busy lately. Of course, I'm also going to talk about finance for a bit, because that's basically the whole reason I started this blog. I hope you like it. Leave a comment if you feel like it.

Ever since the Corona pandemic made the financial markets crash around the world, people were asking me about my investments. Apparently, other people were more concerned about my money than I was. When I first started with financial independence I was reading a lot of blogs and books on the subject.

It's been a few months since I last created an article and I knew this was going to happen at some point. It's not that I lost interest in writing articles for my blog or because I have very little readers anyway. There just isn't really all that much to write about. Or is there? Because of the pandemic I'm pretty much homebound. My client obligates me to work from home, there's a night curfew, I cannot invite (too many) guests, shops, restaurants and bars are closed and worst of all ..... I can't travel.

In the past years I've read several different articles on the topic of 'renting or buying a house'. What is better or wiser? This interests me, because I currently live in a very small house and I would love to add some space to my living conditions. But at what cost and is it worth it? Just about all the articles I've read so far all talk about the financial side of things and although this is a very important part of it, it sure isn't a decisive one. I've done some thinking and here's my view on the matter.

One of the main reasons I want to become financially free is to get rid of 'the need to work'. Don't get me wrong. I like to work, but only because it's fun and not because I need to pay the bills or have an interesting career I can impress others with.

Living in downtown Utrecht has a lot of advantages. I'm close to bars, restaurants, all the big shops and public transport. I live in a reasonably quiet street, but it's still busy enough for you to feel the vibe of a city. Driving a car in downtown Utrecht is frustrating at best and only advised when you really know the city very well. With all the construction works going on lately roads can suddenly be closed, so you need inside information on any alternative routes.

Satellite navigation will not help you in any way!

Unfortunately, It's been a while since my last post. It was actually just a month and a half ago, but I was very keen on posting an article every 2 weeks. It just wasn't possible right now.

I've been quite busy lately with all sorts of activities and I'm loving it. Well, apart from the fact that I can't travel to see my friends.

I still work from home and besides my job I fill my days doing all sorts of things. I work out, educate myself through Udemy and entertain myself on Youtube.

Here are some highlights of how I used my time during the Corona smart lockdown.