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Source: A good Day to Live

Fight fans it is a Good Day To Live! There is a contender out there with strong credentials, a vision for THE FUTURE and a conviction to see it through to the end. MR WOODPECKER is a fellow European who is lighting up the Early Retirement and Live Life to the full movement. His posts on saving for the future, experiences from all the beautiful places he visited, perspectives on early retirement and the beautiful world around us, all that through the photographs he shares from his travels.  His philosophy on life resonates to the CONTENDER tribe!

THE.CONTENDER has been fortunate to work with several people across countries in Europe. Europe is an amazing place full of extremely different cultures, working practices, traditions, sense of humor, rivalries and politics to name a few! This is why it is so good to have another European perspective from Woodpecker. His posts cover similar goals to THE.CONTENDER 's in his own unique way. Being only a few hundred miles away (UK / Germany) you can see the clear cultural differences from the styles.

THE.CONTENDER has more of a western capitalist slant to this blog whilst Woodpeckers is more easy going and philosophical. Just an observation!

THE.CONTENDER enjoys reading about Woodpecker's adventures, analysis of work life balance and what is happiness for Woodpecker and his tribe. THE.CONTENDER sees clearly that he has been dealt a great hand by living in Europe. It may have tones of bureaucracy, too many politicians and silly rules but it works. We have amazing geography and landscapes on our doorsteps, a mature society (as in stable populations and over population limited to some of the European mega cities).

Our architecture may be crumbling in places but new exciting architects transform European cities  (Bilbao Guggenheim, Dusseldorf harbor, Barcelona familia sagrada and good old Blighty's modern glass ode to capitalism the Gurkin and Shard of Glass. Shame we can't look after our crumbling (literally as well as morally) Houses of Parliament in London.... Old and New, Splendor and Shock all there to be marveled or abhorred!

Woodpecker's posts are clear and nice to read, and contain lots of personal thoughts on how to achieve work-life balance in a fast paced, modern, corporate lifestyle in a big European city. For instance Mr Woodpecker describes in one post how he considered applying for a promotion and the implications this would have for him and his tribe, read on to see what he chose to do in the end. Quite inspiring for THE.CONTENDER.

This is why Good Day To Live is a must read. It is a celebration of life an all things good in Europe. What is happiness? Why travel far when there is beauty on your doorstep? The joys of raising a family. 

THE.CONTENDER 's favorite posts from A Good Day To Live

A new era of work – Part 2: Both partners working full time – what a crazy concept! 

This is a great post considering the change in the working patterns of the "average" family from 30 years ago versus present. The post is a good critique of the crazy change from one wage earner to both parents working and the impacts this can have on your lives.

 The income and consumption illusion – Part 1: More and more will NOT make you happier!

A post on what is enough? Woodpecker considers discussed does a higher grade model of car really make you happier? What is an agreeable income threshold for happiness? All in this post an one to definitely ponder upon. What do you really need and what would your family budget look like if you re-size your lifestyle?

THE.CONTENDER's Favorite Part of the Blog

A small selection of Woodpecker's wonderful photos of Europe which are dotted all over his blog:


AGDTL - San Vito Lo Capo and Genoa
See Woodpeckers post on Sicily 
AGDL - Tropea Calabria

Keep up the good work Woodpecker!

Peace and prosperity

THE.CONTENDER

Welcome New Contender Readers! Take a look around. Find out who THE.CONTENDER is or Start at the first article, browse the all posts or just go for a Random Post. Please feel free to play with the FREE planning tools and checklists.

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  1. Fripouille11 November 2012 at 17:28

    Hello from an Englishman living in France. I came here as a result of a blogger search for people who have 'France' as an interest and I'm very glad I did! You also like rugby I see so did you see that France beat Australia 33-6 yesterday evening? The press here says that they won "out of fear" of getting another drubbing at the Aussies' hands like the 16-59 drubbing they got back in 2010.

    Your content and writing style are unique and highly agreeable to read. I'll be back to read more that's for sure.

    May I wish you an excellent evening.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Contender12 November 2012 at 12:26

      Hi Fripouille,

      I hope you received my email. England won as well at the weekend but my team Wales were as inconsistent as ever loosing 12-26 to Argentina not good.

      I am looking forward to our move to France and finally visiting Lyon.

      All the best,

      MUFF

      Delete
  2. Anonymous23 November 2012 at 12:25

    Hi MUFF, just saw your post today. Thanks for quoting me!
    Hope everything is well on the other side of the canal!
    Btw.: I like Yýour new layout.
    Carry on,

    Woodpecker
    www.gooddaytolive.net

    ReplyDelete

Are you planning for financial independence and wondering what to do with it. If so is any of the content on this blog of use to you? I would appreciate any comments you have. All the best C

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Welcome to FISH !
You have come here looking for answers. How to get out of debt? How to save and invest? How to retire early and how you want to live in retirement.

Well this is the right place for you as out tribe has been through all of these steps. We no longer work for a corporate employer and have saved enough to retire early. How we did this is shared here on this site for you.

Our little tribe found out these secrets to financial independence in our late 20’s. Since then we have taken early retirement, in our late 30's, in just 7 years. We now live in the South West of France with our two young children.

Along the way I decided to share everything I learnt. My articles and tips on aggressive saving and compound investing are there to help you meet your financial goals fast. I discuss ways to help you decide what you want by building a life plan. This helps to work out how to get where you want to be whilst avoiding the pitfalls along the way.

My expertise was built up working in blue chip corporate jobs, extensive reading and putting it into practice. I have condensed this knowledge into simple strategies to help you meet your goals and not those of the bank or the place you work.

There are free planning tools on this site that help you make a life plan. A plan for your future. The tools calculate how to reach your financial goals in a timeline that suits you. The tools help set out your life goals, make them happen and how to exceed them.

There are tips on how to simplifying your life to remove day to day headaches. These include ways to pay off debt fast buy eliminating wasteful spending habits. How to reduce your monthly bills through choices that actually improve your health and wellbeing. Identifying things you don’t need that sap your time and wallet.

There are little sustainability projects to reduce your dependence on shops and utilities whilst saving money to spend on things you want.

All of these little steps will show you how save 50%+ of your salary so you can meet your goal whatever it is. This huge saving rate can be compounded for very early retirement. I am sure you will find something here for you.

Darren Lee (A.K.A the Contender as in my blog)

 
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