FISH | Financial Independence Seeking Happiness: Finance

10 Reasons Why Financial Independence is Good for Society

Contender 0 #financialindependence, charity, Debt, downshifting, Early Retirement, Ethical, Finance, financial independence, Freedom, Habits 21:01

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3HNIdEQXagY/Uv_Ld6wX9YI/AAAAAAAADIg/954MUbjNB4Q/s1600/DSC_0006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Are financially independet people good for society" border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3HNIdEQXagY/Uv_Ld6wX9YI/AAAAAAAADIg/954MUbjNB4Q/s1600/DSC_0006.JPG" title="The road to financial Independence" width="212"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Road to Freedom</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Our little TRiBe is trying out the financially independent, idle life in France. Here are a couple of background posts: in <a href="http://getintheringwithme.blogspot.com/2013/08/happiness-in-france.html" target="_blank"> Happiness in France</a> : finally landed in France and plan for the next 4 years & in <a href="http://getintheringwithme.blogspot.com/2013/10/french-living-quelle-difference.html" target="_blank">French Living – Quelle Difference?</a> : this was a look at our expenditure in France compared to the UK. 
 
In this post here is a reflection on our current arrangement of living off investments and savings. We are now business owners instead of the wage slaves and 10 reasons why this is a GOOD thing. 
 
Wage Slave Exploitation 
 
We were wage slaves to big business. We were the ones being exploited.... 
 
THE.PaST: "Hold on there you were were doing it willingly and being paid for it right?" 
 
Willingly not so sure on that one and were we paid enough. Admittedly that is a matter of opinion. WILLING SLAVE BOOK? What can be said about it was that the companies that we worked for made large profits off our backs. Fine when you are the owner of the business receiving part of the profit (most likely through dividends) but what if the company is not listed and you are not a managing partner or the private equity firm. 
 
Sure wage slave is a harsh word it was not real slavery was it, chained to the desk and all that. Let's consider that further. We there are other ways of chaining on to his/her desk. Check out the book <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005PROO5K/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B005PROO5K&linkCode=as2&tag=thecontfinain-21" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Willing Slaves: How the Overwork Culture is Ruling Our Lives</a> on this topic. 
 
We really had to do exactly as we were told, do what the boss wanted and make him/her look good. We had to follow the company line and bend over backwards when needed or else there is the door! OR We are not making enough profits so there is the door anyway. The sword of Damocles was there and you sure knew about it. 
 
We were brought up to believe work is good for us. Sure there is some truth in it (a little). It can provide an identity - what do you do (<strike>engineer</strike> loafer!). It gives you a purpose (damn alarm clock). You get to learn new stuff (invoice processing, making toilet holders) and meet new people in places you would normally not go (or want to go). 
 
In the West we dedicate a large part of our prime years to work. To make matters worse we start work really late after getting the pass to work - University Debt. All of those years that could have been spent actually doing something productive and being paid for it - gaining financial independence could be so much earlier. 
 
I digress - back to the point, we allow ourselves to be exploited as a wage slaves to a business and we have been brainwashed into thinking it should be this way until retirement age at 70.  Now let's flip this on its head and become the business owners.

10 Reasons Why Financial Independence is Good for Society

A Road to Freedom Our little TRiBe is trying out the financially independent, idle life in France. Here are a couple of background post...

The Digital Hypocrite

Contender 0 #financialindependence, Blog, Critical Thinking, Finance, financial independence, Happiness, stock screen 19:17

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EJmGOml8iow/UveM3EHNzeI/AAAAAAAADHo/9oBcABxhdI0/s1600/Technology.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Financial Independence Through Technology" border="0" height="224" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EJmGOml8iow/UveM3EHNzeI/AAAAAAAADHo/9oBcABxhdI0/s1600/Technology.jpg" title="Useful Technology" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Useful Technology?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I started out in life fascinated by new tech. I adored the BBC computer in school, learning a little bit of programming and playing the odd game such
 as Boffin, Manic Miner and Castle Quest. I was in awe with my Commodore
 64. Technology was new, changing fast, cutting edge and innocent. 
 
Roll
 on 2014 and the technological innocence has almost been lost. Devices 
used to be were stand alone and you really had to learn how to use them,
 write some code. Now everything is connected 24/7 you can access pretty
 much anything on the web including stuff that one should not have 
access to. 
 
We have social media - plaster loads
 of personal information about you across the WORLD. Better still give 
all of the important information about you FREE to advertisers to target
 your desires and weaknesses! 
 
Without the internet is was not as easy to read a freedom of 
speech article. Alternative views such as this blog would only be 
available in a magazine such as <a href="http://idler.co.uk/magazine/" target="_blank">The Idler</a>.
 First you would have had to find it and understand its content, ideally
 reading a copy to see if it was what you would like. Then subscribe to 
the magazine and wait each quarter or year for the latest edition.  
 
Desolation of the young 
 
Technology
 is changing the young in ways we still do not understand. Providing 
access to violent video games and sex at earlier and earlier ages 
through their tablets and smart phones is including their adolescence 
and destroying their innocence. Shooting a human being becomes more and 
more real on the screen leading some to act it out in real life. 
Internet porn is heaping extra pressure on them to perform (and perform 
what) when that special moment occurs. 
 
Does this really encourage respect for each other and the formation of strong families? 
 
Further
 attacks are taking place on their attention spans. Sit down and read a 
book - no let's watch the movie instead. Interface devices encourage 
'browsing' and consumption of goods and services. Snippets of 
entertainment news have replaces the investigative journalist and the 
need to think about the content and challenges in the world. Back to the
 bedroom from the fields - it is save there with def recon armored 
pursuit 10. 
 
 
In our eldest child's pre-school in London tablets 
computers were made available to the kids. Instead of learning to play 
together, develop 3D dexterity and interpersonal skills they are tap tap
 tapping at a flat screen that is 'educating' them to work quickly and 
jump from sugar rush app to app. It is easy to learn how to use a tablet
 and play computer games so why so young?

The Digital Hypocrite

Useful Technology? I started out in life fascinated by new tech. I adored the BBC computer in school, learning a little bit of programmi...

Financial Independence Options

Contender 1 Budget, downshifting, Early Retirement, Finance, financial freedom, financial independence, frugality, Planning, Saving 18:30

<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BG85piBTkus/UuU-niALSnI/AAAAAAAADHY/88GfwH9Hgn0/s1600/TeddyFamily.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="283" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BG85piBTkus/UuU-niALSnI/AAAAAAAADHY/88GfwH9Hgn0/s1600/TeddyFamily.jpg" width="320"></a>Mr Teddy Bear: "Time to review our family finances and consider where are we going. Let's get the facts and run the cold hard numbers." 
 
Mummy Bear: "Oh daddy bear you are so cuddly when you talk tough" 
 
Baby Bear: "I want a games station, mobile computer, princess bike and trust fund...Now!" 
 
 
 
 This post is about a few hypothetical scenarios entered into the NEWLY UPDATED financial time line planner. 
 
The financial time line planner has received a little bit of tender and loving care in the last week. The following has been changed / added: 
<ul>
<li>Mortgage calculations</li>
<li>Debt repayments</li>
<li>Improved graphics</li>
<li>Financial scenarios</li>
</ul>
Here we are going to look at three different type of people and see how the timeline works for them: 
<ol>
<li>A fun loving/carpe diem 25-year old on a professional career who loves #selfies</li>
<li>A 35-year old looking to #downshift as fast a possible</li>
<li>A clued up 25-year old who is going for #ExtremeEarlyRetirement</li>
</ol>
Party on! CEO, Playboy, Sports car, Mansion, Hawaii 
 
Our
first example is the one THE.CoNTeNDeR started out in life believing would make him happy...
 This was soon dashed by the property boom in the UK effectively resigning him to having to rent for teh rest of his life. This caused a huge
 shift in THE.CoNTeNDeR's financial mindset. 
 
So here is a representation of an ambitious 
life and fun loving 25 year old looking to climb the corporate ladder. He is going to enjoy the high life and 
all the consumer goods on offer. The result shows 
the need for an ever increasing income to pay for the increasingly high 
life living costs. Although cash flow rich and materially wealthy on the outside he needs to keep the hamster wheel turning to avoid a nasty shock. 
 
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-74UIXtw9txg/UuPiBkUZPtI/AAAAAAAADG4/U19n5TSyFBs/s1600/25yrPartyOn.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="195" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-74UIXtw9txg/UuPiBkUZPtI/AAAAAAAADG4/U19n5TSyFBs/s1600/25yrPartyOn.JPG" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">CLICK ON PICTURE !</td></tr>
</tbody></table>

Financial Independence Options

Mr Teddy Bear : "Time to review our family finances and consider where are we going. Let's get the facts and run the cold hard num...

Maintaining Wealth II - We are all Investors Now

Contender 0 Black Swan, Critical Thinking, Dividends, Finance, Financial Armageddon, Gold, Inflation, Investing, Saving 16:03

<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bG9sVWwZteo/UpsEz-bQlNI/AAAAAAAADDc/swNrFYBwmhY/s1600/InvestmentChoice.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bG9sVWwZteo/UpsEz-bQlNI/AAAAAAAADDc/swNrFYBwmhY/s320/InvestmentChoice.png" width="320"></a> 
TiMe: "Dring, Dring, TiMe to wake up sheeple" 
 
THE.FuTuRE: "Shussssh! They are sleep walking towards a cliff. We are providing wonderful <strike>distractions</strike> entertainment for them. Just look at all of their happy faces. Everything is great. There is no need to think just enjoy! Until I am ready to claim my pound of flesh MurrrGH HA HA HA" 
 
CoNTeNDeR: "Oi you evil B****** we the people will not stand for your bull****. We are waking up in our droves, turning off the entertainment and thinking about what you are up to. Financial freedom from your tyranny.  We are  lemmings no more and are turning away from the cliff - watch out below FuTuRE" 
 
In <a href="http://getintheringwithme.blogspot.com/2013/12/maintaining-wealth-i-bitcoins-and-real.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a> of this post we had a look at Paper Money, E-currency, Commodities, Real Estate and bonds. Today we are looking at Stocks, Land and investing in oneself as additional wealth preservation options worth considering. 
 
Stocks - Growing Profits? 
 
What
 value can you give to a company, let alone picking the winners in the 
stock market? This issue has flummoxed investors for years. 
 
Owning
 part of a company gives you an interest in that company's profits. 
Provided the profits keep rolling in due to a competitive advantage, the
 company should have some longevity. 
 
Perhaps looking 
for companies that have a distinct brand, product or advantage such as 
extremely difficult barrier to entry are the place to be. Those 
companies will grow in value along with their sales and / or return some
 of that profit back to shareholders through buybacks or dividends. 
 
Companies generate wealth - can you pick the right ones? THE.ConTeNDeR is trying see the <a href="http://getintheringwithme.blogspot.fr/2013/11/screener-for-value-and-dividend-stocks.html">Screener for Value and Dividend Stocks Here</a> 
 
For a seasoned professionals take on stocks for the long term, check out some articles by <a href="http://www.investmentu.com/2013/October/a-near-perfect-portfolio.html" target="_blank">Alex green from InvestmentU</a> and I am a fan of his book <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0470598204/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0470598204&linkCode=as2&tag=thecontfinain-21" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">The Secret of Shelter Island: Money and What Matters</a> 
Warren Buffet even has a <a href="http://www.ivillage.com/warren-buffett-teaches-money-lessons-kids-cartoon/6-a-533797" target="_blank">cartoon series for kids on investing</a>. 
 
Tribe's opinion - Stocks allow the building of a diversified set of businesses. If stocks were not available it would probably be difficult to invest in diverse ideas such as graphene, new drugs and technology companies such as Google. Core holding. 
 
Arable Land 
 
An interesting investment class in THE.CoNTeNDeR's
 opinion. Precious renewable resources can be harvested from arable land
 year after year making it a very profitable investment class.  
 
Invest
 in woodland and you get free winter fuel and can sell the excess. 
Farmland can be planted for delicious fresh vegetables to be sold down 
the market. 
 
THE.ConTeNDeR likes the idea of some
 arable land next to his house. From a purely financial independence 
perspective 'free' heating, vegetables and eggs would reduce our living 
costs substantially. 
 
The <a href="http://www.transitionnetwork.org/" target="_blank">Transition network</a>
 are keen on this concept to help preserve the planet and combat 
resource depletion. They do a good bit on supporting communities as 
well. 
 
Tribe's opinion - We really think owing a bit of land even if it is used by someone else is a good idea and something we are looking at for THE.FuTuRe

Maintaining Wealth II - We are all Investors Now

TiMe : "Dring, Dring, TiMe to wake up sheeple" THE.FuTuRE : "Shussssh! They are sleep walking towards a cliff. We are pro...

Maintaining Wealth I - Bitcoins and Real Estate

Contender 2 Black Swan, Critical Thinking, Dividends, Finance, Financial Armageddon, Gold, Inflation, Investing, Saving 20:18

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THE.FuTuRE: "Contender you wuss, what is all this talk about income, growth and protection investments. I will take it all from you eventually. I have time on my side" 
 
TiMe: "Tick Tock, Tick Tock" 
 
CoNTeNDeR: "Precisely FuTuRe I have no idea what you are really up to. Heck I had a guess at the outlook for the year and how did that come out.....so I need a bit of diversification because of all of your conniving, plotting and outright corruption!" 
 
We are living in very interesting times especially with regards building and maintaining wealth. 
 
In this post we cover the TRiBe's options for investments in currency, commodities real estate and bonds with examples and opinions on some of the pro's and con's? 
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
 "You have much more opportunity 
to earn money than you do to 'not spend' money, and yet most people spend hours 
upon hours clipping coupons and perusing daily deal sites instead of 
brainstorming how to earn more money and solve 
people's problems." - Susan Fujii</blockquote>
In the second post we will be looking at other investment classes such as stocks and yourself followed by the TRiBe is current thinking. 
 
Paper Money Supply - Blind Faith? 
 
Since 1970 when Nixon took the world off the gold standard there has been no anchor to excessive money / currency creation. Governments have control over the supply of their currencies and they can determine the ultimate value of the currency in circulation depending on the amount in circulation. 
 
Previously if people wanted to save their labour and future buying power through the means of a currency, they could chose a checking account. It earned interest that was enough to offset any excessive increase in the currency supply. This is certainly not the case at the moment, interest rates are artificially low and people are being 'guided' to riskier investments for a return. 
 
One may ask but why is the currency supply increasing above the increase in productive capacity of the economy. Unfortunately this is easy to attribute to governments' fiscal irresponsibility. Excessive overspending is used to buy votes from the electorate. 
 
Alternatively if a country has strong institutions, low spending and fiscal responsibility - holding that countries currency is less of a concern. 
 
Fiat Money is covered by <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005GSYZRA/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B005GSYZRA&linkCode=as2&tag=thecontfinain-21" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Currency Wars: The Making of the Next Global Crisis</a> by James Rickards, and <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0718192141/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0718192141&linkCode=as2&tag=thecontfinain-21" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Paper Promises: Money, Debt and the New World Order</a> by Phillip Coggan. There is also a good video to watch by Warren Buffet highlights how <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DvuyvuHmJI" target="_blank">countries get into trouble in the first place</a>. 
 
See the video series <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyV0OfU3-FU" target="_blank">Hidden Secrets of Money</a> by Mike Maloney 
 
Tribes opinion - it is so easy to transact in paper money and in the governments interest to keep them in place we will always keep some in our portfolio. 
 
Electronic Currencies - How Many? 
 
We now have alternative currencies such as Bitcoin and Litecoin hitting the news wires for their massive gain in relative value to reference currencies such as the US dollar. 
 
Firstly there are many people in favour to the inbuilt scarcity of the digital coins. Secondly they are not issued by any government and they are scattered globally that make them uniquely difficult to manipulate. 
 
One thing that is a red flag to THE.ConTENdER is what stops an unlimited amount of new versions of electronic currencies being created? 
 
Will the herd just jump from e-currency to e-currency chasing gains - see a list of them <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cryptocurrencies" target="_blank">here (10 listed)</a>? THE.CoNTeNDeR thinks this is highly likely until the number of e-currency options goes to infinity or faith in them is destroyed. Their value will go the same way as fiat currencies trending towards their intrinsic production value of close to zero. 
 
What may save them is if the herd all commit to ONE e-currency. 
 
One thing preventing this e-currency utopia is ... human nature. We are opportunistic and after an easy meal / fast buck. Our prehistoric past moulded us that way. When we were being chased by sabre toothed tigers whilst eeking out an existence coming across a free lunch in the form of a dead Mammoth. 
 
Will everyone commit to one e-currency? I would like to think it could happen but who can tame  human nature. Will we have to live in a dystopian future where we all take the happy pill to keep us controlled? 
 
Zero hedge recently <a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-27/presenting-bitkillers-these-are-richest-holders-bitcoin" target="_blank">reported that 100 people hold 20% </a>of the bitcoin currency - a new type of Ponzi scheme in the making? Create a new e-currency holding a large percentage of the issue then cash in and move on as the perceived value burns. Who is left holding the proverbial handbag - the new entrants - good luck or what a good SUCKER!- THE.FuTuRe would be impressed! 
 
See this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_hBhymFfm8" target="_blank">utube documentary on bitcoin</a> 
 
Tribes opinion - Speculative and almost impossible to value - mine some coins by all means* but only purchase if you have some spare gambling money :) 
 
* THE.CoNTeNDeR has had a go at mining. The setup is a pain, it is geeky, based on lots of technical know how. To mine alot of coins and to really exceed requires specialise mining rigs - a currency for the people - you must be joking! 
 
Next up commodities

Maintaining Wealth I - Bitcoins and Real Estate

THE.FuTuRE : "Contender you wuss, what is all this talk about income, growth and protection investments. I will take it all from you ...

Financial Independence and Happiness Books

Contender Black Swan, book, downshifting, Early Retirement, Education, Finance, financial independence, Freedom, Investing, Planning, Saving 13:01

SPEND.IT.NOW: "You say Read Read Read - I haven't got time to read! TLTM (too long too much?). I've been fed snippets all my life. The news in 10 minutes is all you need don't you know? That's what I want concise, short, to the point, none of this 300 page novel stuff. Crikey, even your blog posts are too long CoNTeNDeR. I've gotta do other stuff you know.  
 
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t8Jvc_oIscg/UpJAPlru4gI/AAAAAAAADC8/WHpH97fVVxk/s1600/Books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t8Jvc_oIscg/UpJAPlru4gI/AAAAAAAADC8/WHpH97fVVxk/s400/Books.jpg" width="400"></a>Short is all I want! Let's start by sorting this blog out. 
 
Change it to "SMBH" Save Money, Be Happy" -  that's it nice, simple and quick to read! Genius!  
 
Delete everything on the blog and replace the front page with "SMBH". Job done. You will thank me CoNTeNDer you can pack up the website as you have done your bit and have all that spare time to fill with fun" 
 
CoNTeNDeR: "SMBH to you too!" 
 
Books are great, something to get lost in for a few hours, something to debate, something new to learn. A lot of what is discussed on this site has its starting point in a book or article. This post is all about the books we have relied upon for our financial independence and downshifting planning. 
 
Reading, Why Bother? 
 
Books, Books, and More Books, so many to read and so long. When will one ever the the time to read them all? 
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_literacy_rate" target="_blank"> </a></div>
Aren't a lot of books just fiction such as graphic crime stories and romantic slush. Yes they may be great to retreat into a fantasy world unfortunately they will not help with gaining financial independence (although they may help on the happiness side). 
 
What we are really looking for are reference and how to books and essays. 
 
It is all too easy to say "Come on, I had my share of serious books at university" unfortunately the books in university were generally just on topic. Too specific and not everyday real world challenges. 
 
For example <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0141038225/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0141038225&linkCode=as2&tag=thecontfinain-21" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Antifragile</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0141034599/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0141034599&linkCode=as2&tag=thecontfinain-21" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable</a> by Nassim Taleb are the opposite of  "Don't worry about challenges, society will look after you, go to the pub, watch a movie or go to the shops instead. It is more fun". Taleb highlights how fragile some of our support systems actually are how unforeseen events will always exist and what we as individuals can do about it. 
 
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/39/WorldMapLiteracy2011.png/400px-WorldMapLiteracy2011.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="185" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/39/WorldMapLiteracy2011.png/400px-WorldMapLiteracy2011.png" width="400"></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_literacy_rate" target="_blank">List of countries by literacy rate source: Wikipedia</a></div>

Financial Independence and Happiness Books

SPEND.IT.NOW: "You say Read Read Read - I haven't got time to read! TLTM (too long too much?). I've been fed snippets all my li...

Dividend Surprise Part 2

Contender 0 Compound Interest, Dividends, DRIP, Early Retirement, Finance, financial freedom, financial independence 08:49

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</div>
 
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9ABwzE9dk9k/UZC6VmBUgVI/AAAAAAAACpk/7mCDOPEk8Bo/s1600/ManagingRisk2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9ABwzE9dk9k/UZC6VmBUgVI/AAAAAAAACpk/7mCDOPEk8Bo/s320/ManagingRisk2.JPG" width="240"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Risky business be careful!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After taking a parting blow to the head from CHEAP.SHOT his sparring buddy THE.CONTENDER was dazed and disorientated. Is the right thing to be doing, he asked himself? This fighting THE.FUTURE stuff is quite risky. Is he risking it all on black? 
 
CHEAP.SHOT: "CONTENDER! CONTENDER! are you alright? Sorry mate I thought we were still sparring. I did not hear PLAN.AHEAD calling us over" 
 
PLAN.AHEAD took THE.CONTENDER to one side: "Look what happened, you dropped your guard. You thought you were safe and in control. This is a risky business and you need to have your wits about you at ALL times" 
 
In part 1 of this post (found here) we had a look at the pros and cons of dividend investing. Here in Part 2 we are going to have a look at the risks of investing in dividend stocks, our strategy and tracking progress. 
 
Personal Financial Goals 
 
As we are well into our financial freedom plans we have been fortunate to accumulate enough savings and investments to be very close to our desired goal. This is to buy a "nice" property in France and enough passive income to cover living costs. Currently this nest-egg is 2/3 in cash and funds and 1/3 is in dividend stocks. Ultimately we need our investments setup in the following manner: 
<ul>
<li>45% in cash to buy a property outright </li>
<li>45% in dividend stocks. We are aware the nominal value will rise and fall with the market and company performance but the income that we need will hopefully grow over time. </li>
<li>10% in our protection portfolio for emergencies cash and cash alternatives such as precious metals.</li>
</ul>
So what do I think are the risks that lie ahead for this approach if we follow this route? 
<ul>
</ul>
Mitigating Currency Risk 
 
US
 shares carry a premium (more costly / lower yield) to them but the dollar is the reserve currency 
of the world. Likewise UK and Continental European stocks carry Pound 
Sterling and Euro risk (get the money printing presses ready, Mr Carney - New Bank of England Governor) 
 
We are going to be living in France and paying for everything in Euros so what do we think are our options to reduce currency risk? 
 
a)
 Ideally we want to have much more income than outgoings if possible. This is the 
ideal situation as we can continue to invest and grow our income and 
it will provide a buffer in hard times. Likelihood low - we want to spend as much as possible on a home. 
 
b) Investments will be made in countries with strong currency fundamentals and good 
trade agreements that avoid double or punitive taxation. Global low cost
 funds can help to mitigate currency risk instead of trying to work out 
the "best" country to invest in. In our case we cannot invest in funds in the short term due to higher French taxation. Our income will be paid in multiple currencies before being converted to Euros. 
 
c) PROTECTION - our cash will be spread across different currencies and cash equivalents. Primarily this will be covered by income from multiple countries in the form of dividends, pounds, euros and some precious metals fund. 
 
d) We will monitor all investments and country risk monthly and change the mix of the portfolio as required. Our monthly dividend tracker and risk evaluator is outlined below. 
 
There are several countries and currencies that are of interest to our little tribe Canada, China, Chile, Singapore and to a lesser extent Brazil, countries located in Eastern Europe and Australia. 
 
Canada and Chile are of interest for example as they both have growing populations, an abundance of natural
 resources, are business friendly and have a lot of undeveloped land for agriculture and natural resources. 
 
For more on risk management and the low cost fund approach to investing have a look at the videos on the <a href="http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Video:Bogleheads%C2%AE_investment_philosophy" target="_blank">Bogleheads wiki</a>. 
 
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Please read on to have a look at the tribes own strategy and progress</div>

Dividend Surprise Part 2

Risky business be careful! After taking a parting blow to the head from CHEAP.SHOT his sparring buddy THE.CONTENDER was dazed and di...

Dividend Surprise Part 1

Contender 3 Compound Interest, Dividends, DRIP, Early Retirement, Finance, financial freedom, financial independence 12:46

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THE FUTURE: "Jobs are being created, resources are abundant and technology is amazing - go out and enjoy yourself - I will look after you!"   
PLAN.AHEAD: "That is all good mate but I want options. I want freedom to do as I wish. If I spend all my money today I will have none for tomorrow" 
CONTENDER: "What about dividend investing, will this work?"  
PLAN.AHEAD: "Contender, the stock market is a casino mate! you have less chance in it than in the ring with THE.FUTURE!" 
Over the past 12 months a lot of work has been carried out to develop a strategy for a sustainable dividend income for our Tribe.  
 
Part 1 of this post is going to look at the pros and cons of dividends versus capital appreciation of stocks. Part 2 is going to look at risks of investing in dividend stocks, our strategy and tracking progress. 
 
The Tribes Dividend Journey 
 
We have been investing heavily for the past 7 years in three portfolios GROWTH, INCOME and PROTECTION (covered here). It is only in the last year we have been heavily interested in increasing the share of the INCOME portfolio. In particular we are buying individual company shares for their dividends. 
 
To get to the target we are gradually selling our tracker funds from the GROWTH 
(Primarily global, European and emerging markets) and adding capital 
from dividends and adding income from Mrs C's [delete] income into individual shares. The PROTECT portfolio is staying static. 
 
In the current climate of a historically high priced stock market (P/E ratios are at towards the top of their historical trading ranges) and what THE.CONTENDER considers a stagflation environment this poses several concerns about the timing of owning MORE shares. 
 
We currently live in a very different financial landscape with lots of printed money circling the globe. This is very supportive of stocks so there is no reason to believe the stock market will capitulate just yet. 
 
<ul>
<li>Our exercise is moving money out of one group of shares (funds) to another group (individual dividend stocks) </li>
<li>We are adding some extra earned income so we are in effect nearly neutral on purchases.</li>
<li>Our objective is all about GROWING INCOME over CAPITAL APPRECIATION. </li>
<li>We are comfortable in owning a large amount of stocks but... we want to be more DEFENSIVE with the choice of these shares. </li>
<li>We are buying shares in these sectors that we consider DEFENSIVE: utilities, energy and pharmaceutical.</li>
<li>We consider their goods and services as a "need" instead of "want". </li>
<li>We understand dividends can be variable such as energy companies that are beholden to the underlying price the the commodity they are selling.</li>
<li>We hold some fixed income assets (preference shares and cash accounts) </li>
</ul>
While it may seem a little Kamikaze to keep holding so much wealth in stocks at the moment we are buying them for their income, not overall value (appreciation is desired ;). 
 
Perhaps lots of cash is better? Unfortunately like anything in life it is all about risk aversion. Cash loses value to inflation but is safe. At our point in our lives we are do [which one?] not need to be overly safe. If a problem happens we will do what it takes to get back on track. 
 
We are aiming for 80% INCOME and 20% in GROWTH and PROTECTION after the purchase of a property in FRANCE and the semi early retirement situation we are looking for. 
 
Starting a portfolio 
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"An investment in knowledge pays the best interest." - Benjamin Franklin   </blockquote>
We have read about dividend investing from several sites and blogs such as the <a href="http://dividendmonk.com/" target="_blank">dividend monk</a>, <a href="http://seekingalpha.com/" target="_blank">seekingalpha</a>, <a href="http://monevator.com/" target="_blank">monevator </a>and several early financial independence blogs such as <a href="http://www.bravenewlife.com/" target="_blank">brave new life</a>, <a href="http://retireby40.org/" target="_blank">retire by 40</a> and <a href="http://jlcollinsnh.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">jlcollinsnh</a>. 
 
We have a list of our our current holdings and the current dividend income they provide per month. We have added "what if" we bought x shares in each company to work out what the portfolio could look like to generate our desired final income (more detail will be provided in part 2 of the post). 
 
All of the stocks are researched  (Mr C spends lots of time on this) and evaluated. Decision of what to buy each month are made by having a look at share valuations and performance. We are currently concerned about buying some of the shares we have identified that have had large run ups at the start of the year (typically 10-20%). 
 
We are currently targeting the "laggards" - shares that are behind the market gains. Is this a good approach? Laggards are usually laggards for a reason? Well perhaps that is because their sector is out of favor and might be the next "performer". There is a "risk on" appetite in the market so some defensive sectors have been laggards / sold off in favor of stocks with perhaps more growth prospects. 
 
Please read on for: Are companies paying dividends the right choice? High paying dividend stock considerations. Dividend champion investing.

Dividend Surprise Part 1

THE FUTURE : "Jobs are being created, resources are abundant and technology is amazing - go out and enjoy yourself - I will look afte...

Infographic | Achieve Very Early Financial Independence - Part I

Contender 0 Budget, Education, Finance, financial independence, Infographic, Investing, Planning, Saving 09:50

Infographic | Achieve Very Early Financial Independence - Part I

Achieve Very Early Financial Independence - Part I | Create infographics <<< Click here for a spreadsheet planning tool th...

10 blogging mistakes - Contender styleee!

Contender 5 Blog, Early Retirement, Finance, frugality, Happiness, Naive, Planning, Writing 08:52

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bansky - Graffiti Creative Brilliance</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
THE.CONTENDER is writing this post about the respect and humility THE.CONTENDER has for the challenge of writing a readable, engaging and hopefully entertaining blog. 
 
What makes a blog attractive? Is it funny, short, arty or just contain as much content as possible. What has THE.CONTENDER done and considered to create this blog (the plan is at the end of the post)? 
 
Importantly what CGBEB (Contender Great Big Enormous Blunders) have been made so far. Will it \ does it meets the needs of the readership? 
 
THE.CONTENDER has been a scientist all his life and worked primarily in large corporations. He had been turned into the proverbial robot happy in herds. THE.CONTENDER wanted to write a blog which is a personal pursuit. 
 
The main problem was that THE.CONTENDER has been a corporate employee trained to give up individuality and not to peruse risks. THE.CONTENDER asked himself how in the hell does one write a blog? Never excelled in English whilst only having expertise at corporate memos and PowerPoint presentations... 
 
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How does THE.CONTENDER write something readable in a sphere where professional writers can knock me out for the count????</div>
 
To start the blog I needed a subject and a theme. The content was to be on financial and life planning - putting goals into a plan and making sure they happen. For a theme - boxing and the choice of the website url "www.GetInTheRingWithMe.blogspot.com". Life is a fight so the duel of boxing
 to win seemed to be a good fit. 
 
Secondly an alias name was 
required. MUFF was borne to convey the message  "My 
Unconventional Freedom Fight" secondly the word MUFF is quite silly and can mean several different things and used in several ways. This did not work out and was subsequently dumped. 
 
Next was to get started. I had just stopped work in Feb 2012 to look after the kids. A couple of months were required to get accustomed to looking after the little ones full time. Exhausting to start with and my wife was just getting back into work mode. So I got started on this blog in June July and turned it on in August.........Is anyone going to read it? 
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flop on my hands after all that work - time to change?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
 
 
 
The first couple of months saw very modest traffic. This told me that there was a lot I was doing wrong (as usual) can THE.CONTENDER learn from his mistakes? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Please read on for the CGBEB (Contender Great Big Enormous Blunders) I have had to correct (so far):

10 blogging mistakes - Contender styleee!

Bansky - Graffiti Creative Brilliance THE.CONTENDER is writing this post about the respect and humility THE.CONTENDER has for the challe...

Daddy Contender a Financial Frugality Case Study of Bringing Up Baby - Round 6 1m10s

Contender 1 Early Retirement, Finance, frugality, Life, Saving 22:26

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THE.CONTENDER recently quit his job to be a proud stay-at-home father. This post is about the benefits of having dad at home, the financial adjustments we had to make in particular how we reduced our spending by £269 per month with a surprising end result! </div>
 
Quitting work to look after the kids full time was quite a big step into the unknown for THE.CONTENDER . Work had dominated his life for the last 13 years. When the news leaked out that THE.CONTENDER was taking the new paternity leave for 6 months after Mrs C went back to work full time, it raised quite a few eyebrows, especially when THE.CONTENDER then quit his job at the end of his leave. Why was a top talent employee who works hard and has invested a significant amount of time in the company giving it all up? 
 
Here THE.CONTENDER wants to share the reasoning (financial and family), the benefits - CGBB (Contender Great Big Benefits) and detailed analysis of the change to our finances (including our significant cost saving exercise). 
 
The Reasoning 
 
As the grandparents live in different countries the childcare is up to us. Options we considered after child number two arrived were: 
<ol>
<li>One of us had to stop working - would this be detrimental to that persons career - was it really important to us? The kids would benefit greatly from parental care. </li>
<li>THE.CONTENDER gets a better job so his salary pays for the kids to go to nursery or nanny (current salary would NOT cover the child care costs (detailed analysis is in the second part of this post). The increase pay would probably mean increased work and travel - a worse situation for the family.</li>
<li>We both go part time and take turns - this would have reduced our ability to save for financial freedom and hence delayed our move to the French countryside. Positives are that the children benefit from both parents being part of the upbringing and we would probably be less stressed for example we would not have to worry about the rush hour commute home each night to pick them up. Would we get paid less but still work more than the allotted part time hours - probably.</li>
<li>We both stay in our current jobs and get a full time nanny / childminder or creche for five days - this would have reduced our saving rate as we would be subsidising THE.CONTENDER 's salary to the tune of around £500. Kids are brought up by someone else. THE.CONTENDER would have that cherished career though......</li>
</ol>
We chose option 1 - THE.CONTENDER quit - but why? Let's look at the family happiness and our perceived financial pain in more detail. 
 
The Benefits - CTH (Contender Tribe Happiness...in October) 
 
One parent at home has significant benefits in our opinion: 
<ul>
<li>The children have their fun loving daddy to look after them - no changes of child carer etc just consistency. </li>
<li>As parents we have peace of mind no rushing home from work to pick the kids up. No problems of juggling work when they are ill. </li>
<li><a href="http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/he137" target="_blank">Click here for a list of benefits in having an actively involved father in the children's upbringing</a> </li>
<li>THE.CONTENDER not spending (and risking) his life on the motorway going to work - avoiding work stress, tiredness and the always on call culture.</li>
<li>THE.CONTENDER has time to write this blog - cowabunga :) </li>
<li>THE.CONTENDER 's wife likes her work as it is constructive to society and is well paid (more than THE.CONTENDER ). As THE.CONTENDER wasn't enjoying himself at work, so it was obvious THE.CONTENDER should stay at home! </li>
<li>Our eldest child started nursery school which is mornings only - how do you juggle that with jobs and a one year old - lots do and hats off to them!</li>
<li>Seeing the girls grow up is PRICELESS.</li>
<li>THE.CONTENDER has time to invest wisely..... </li>
<li><a href="http://www.dadcando.com/" target="_blank">THE.CONTENDER learns new skills and has to step up to the plate quickly!</a></li>
<li>THE.CONTENDER was up for the challenge </li>
</ul>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Nothing I've ever done has given me more joys and rewards than being a father to my children. -  Bill Cosby 
 </blockquote>
Please read on to find a detailed investigation into our financial considerations and impacts and how we reduced our spending by £269 per month. This leads to an interesting overall result.

Daddy Contender a Financial Frugality Case Study of Bringing Up Baby - Round 6 1m10s

THE.CONTENDER recently quit his job to be a proud stay-at-home father. This post is about the benefits of having dad at home, the financi...

Risk Versus Reward

Contender 0 Black Swan, Compound Interest, Critical Thinking, Dividends, Finance, financial independence, Inflation, Investing, Risk 19:56

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Is THE.CONTENDER risking a knockout blow? 
 
 
THE.CONTENDER thought he would write a post on perceived Risk versus Reward when investing. THE.CONTENDER compared the THE.CONTENDER strategy against a couple of very successful savvy bloggers. THE.CONTENDER 's investment plan can be summarised in one simple statement "save as much as possible, in stocks that have a high risk \ reward profile early in life then choose lower risk stocks later". That was the easy part. The next part was devising a strategy to max out the strategy for early financial freedom. The THE.CONTENDER approach is covered in more detail in "<a href="http://getintheringwithme.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/round-5-156s-investment-challenges.html" target="_blank">Investment Challenges</a>". Here are links to a few articles from the bloggers THE.CONTENDER was talking about earlier: 
 
<div class="pagetitle">
 <a href="http://jlcollinsnh.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">jlcollinsnh</a> </div>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://jlcollinsnh.wordpress.com/2012/05/12/stocks-part-vi-portfolio-ideas-to-build-and-keep-your-wealth/" target="_blank">Stocks part vi portfolio ideas to build and keep your wealth</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://jlcollinsnh.wordpress.com/2012/05/12/stocks-part-vi-portfolio-ideas-to-build-and-keep-your-wealth/" target="_blank">How I failed my daughter and a simple path to wealth</a></li>
</ol>
<a href="http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/" target="_blank">Mr Money Mustache</a> 
 
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/05/18/how-to-make-money-in-the-stock-market/" target="_blank">How to make money in the stock market</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/06/07/where-should-i-invest-my-short-term-stash/" target="_blank">Where should I invest my short term stash?</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/09/15/a-brief-history-of-the-stash-how-we-saved-from-zero-to-retirement-in-ten-years/" target="_blank">A Brief History of the ‘Stash: How we Saved from Zero to Retirement in Nine Year</a></li>
</ol>
(Other early financial freedom bloggers: <a href="http://gooddaytolive.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">A Good Day to Live</a>, <a href="http://www.bravenewlife.com/" target="_blank">Brave New Life</a> and <a href="http://earlyretirementextreme.com/" target="_blank">Early Retirement Extreme</a>) 
 
<a href="http://getintheringwithme.blogspot.co.uk/p/muff-tools-and-check-lists.html" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="161" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XS3uu0Cxdzg/UFjZ0dd1PhI/AAAAAAAABxs/R4HUgNcjQso/s200/Muff+Tool+Kit+v6.jpg" title="PLANNING TOOLS AND CHECKLISTS" width="200"></a>First, both of these guys have made it, are financially free and are still able to save and invest each month. Both guys built significant savings through very hard work and dedication in their employment and investing decisions. Hats off to both of them. This blog highly recommends working through their sites for insights on finance and life. 
 
Next, let's start a comparison of the different strategies:

Risk Versus Reward

Is THE.CONTENDER risking a knockout blow? THE.CONTENDER thought he would write a post on perceived Risk versus Reward when investing...

10 Rules of Extreme Saving

Contender 0 Finance, financial independence, Freedom, Investing, Rules, Saving 14:23

Is a 50% saving rate really possible?</h2>
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Living in a high tax and benefit system such as the UK saving 50% of your pay seems extreme. I recently had a conversation on this point with a colleague - he could not believe how we as a family of 4 could still manage to save a 50% of our take home pay. He sat there playing with a very expensive mobile phone. He was working out how to use the latest app to track how much faster he was on his top of the range carbon fiber bike. 
 
As you can already gather THE.CONTENDER was trying to refrain himself for not stating the obvious. One of the most difficult topics I have encountered in professional social and family life is how to approach difficult subjects and significant change: 
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
So and so is really good I could never be as good as..., that is not possible....., my circumstances are special...it is OK for you but it would never work for me..... </blockquote>
So the problem is not the subject per say - surely everyone would like to be financially free. It is the person's initial mindset and perception of sacrifice that goes with it. Where has that perception come from in the first place and is it misplaced? So how do you get your point across \ engage them or should you try and discuss further, at the expense of coming across as pushy.....****!!! 
<h3>

Buy now and retire at 70 or save a lot and be financially free after 10 years? </h3>
So if you need to save 50% or more of your salary to be financially free quickly what is the "sacrifice". Expensive, fun (tropical holidays \ designer suits) are delayed. In budgeting and saving (investing) diligently you will build the capital to be financially free for you to pursue your dreams in a surprising time frame. Could this be true? 
 
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Don't forget  you could be knocked down by a bus tomorrow. So don't be silly LIVE FOR TODAY! consume, enjoy your shiny gadgets - forget about financial freedom that is only for the wealthy you are a worker bee in the middle class. If you are a good little worker and make it to 70 you can retire on us" - Anon </blockquote>
 
Advertising, peer pressure, fear and not being part of the crowd are very powerful influences on everyone in society. How is the financial independence blogosphere really going to get its point across? Are people going to give their precious time between distractions like films and the challenges of our hectic daily life to understand the benefits of saving like mad? 
 
My concern is the powerful media message to buy, buy, buy is backed by the best advertising talent and research money. It tells us how to spend our money and is very persuasive to boot. We are exposed to advertising from a very early age when we have very few defenses. Society has been educated to listen and be a good consumer of needs that are actually wants. A lack of inquisitiveness has been instilled in young minds. Subordination to hierarchy is "normal" in the western education system. Young people are at its mercy and do not have the mature skills to critically challenge the status quo.

10 Rules of Extreme Saving

Is a 50% saving rate really possible? Living in a high tax and benefit system such as the UK saving 50% of your pay seems extreme. I...

Financial Independence in 7 Years!

Contender 2 Finance, Freedom, Saving, Toolkit 08:17

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What an idea we had in 2005: could our little tribe be financially free in 7 years! Feelings of crazyness, being excited yet a sense of daunt and dizzyness all at the same time. 
 
As I update this in early 2014 we consider ourselves financially free. All those emotions followed us along the way on what has been a very bumpy rollercoster.   
 
Here is the story of how our little tribe ended up financially independent 7 years after the inital thoughts about or finances and what really made us happy.  
 
Finding Our Feet 
 
Financial independence was never spoke of in our families our our up bringing. Both my wife and I had different but comfortable up bringing. 
 
Me, my sister and mum getting on as a single parent family in the SE England Sussex countryside. We lived in a little cottage in an idyllic village surrounded by field where we ran free, collected tadpoles and rolled in the mud. We moved closer to family in a South Wales mining village surrounded by hard working families. Great times and fond memories. Money was tight but we did not want for anything. 
 
I excelled through education culminating in an engineering degree from a prestigious red brick university. Fun times were had, reckless spending and childish, stupid and regrettable pranks. Did I actually learn anything? I certainly did not have a clear direction to my life, no mentor to knock some sense into me. I was just making it up as I went along. 
 
My first "proper" job was a sea of figures, terms and diagrams. People dressed in suits jockeying for the top jobs. Still no direction. What is this career thing all about? Why does that manger make things so difficult for our department and what is the point of a deadline? 
 
Time for a change of company. A bigger beast altogether. Even more dog eat dog, downsizing the workforce, appraisals and feedback. B- my son - must do better. It was all so serious and deadlines had to be met.  
 
These early experiences shaped me. The desire to run in the wilds. Knowing that I should respect  money and save for retirement. I had to get organised, grow up and be more responsible, tame the silliness but keep some of the fun. 
 
<div style="text-align: center;">
Our Financial independence Story</div>
  
Our Environment Shaped our thoughts 
 
Our local environments have always shaped our thoughts and ideas. Fortunately we have lived in the countryside, villages, towns and mega cities. We have worked in numerous countries and cultures and visited ancient ruins and tropical beaches. 
 
At the time In 2005 my then to be wife and I moved in together in the most expensive city in the world London. 
 
We had bright lights, amazing attractions, comfortable houses and plenty of entertainment. Not forgetting the UK's status as a major transport hub for all those exciting getaways. What a great place to live right? 
 
Especially when you have money. I had just paid off my student and car loans $30K. I was finally looking at a positive balance sheet for the first time in 10 years. Our living costs were reduced as we shared the bills. We had money to spend! 
 
<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="266" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iMUiwTubYu0?feature=player_embedded" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="320"></iframe>We were renting a modest one bedroom apartment in a Victorian house. It had a huge garden with a beautiful blossoming cherry tree. It was located in an affluent area with great restaurant's, pubs and shops. 
 
Each weekend we would go out to try different cuisines. Visit sparking, thumping night clubs. Entertain our selves at the cinemas and have friends around for meals and drinks before hitting the tiles once more. 
 
Frequently we would take cheap city breaks around Europe. Lots of income was spent and little was saved. 
 
Thankfully we lived within our means and avoided all forms of debt. Our spending was controlled through a joint bank account and a budget. 
 
Changing Direction 
 
My wife and I sat down one cold dark February night in 2005 to consider our future. Sure we were having a great time but something was missing. We talked about family, where we wanted to live what type of life we wanted, family, kids and seeking some tranquillity in our lives. 
 
We had both heard about downshifting. Perhaps we could work less and live more simply 
but we needed to get rich first! Let's invest. 
 
We had no property to speak of so did not consider real estate investing. We had good jobs so did not see the need to setup our own business so for us the most natural place to start was the great casino of the stock market. 
 
Unfortunately
 no one tells you how to invest. We subscribed to a few stock picking 
news letters and rolled the dice. The result was not pretty. Too much, 
too soon and on too few. 
 
More Money than Sense 
 
Bonus Time more money to invest and spend! We wanted to buy a house - house prices always go up right and we were missing out. Well that would have to wait as London housing was so expensive. Back to the stock market. 
 
In London we were surrounded by stories of the ridiculous bonus culture of the city with everyone getting filthy rich. Warren Buffets latest stock winner. Google shares shooting to the moon. This  encouraged us to plough everything we had saved and we were earning back into shares.  
 
TFD Tribe Financial Disasters ensued. Penny shares promising the moon going to zero, the latest and greatest mutual fund idea languishing in the gutter. What was I doing wrong? 
 
Fortunately Mrs C on the other hand had taken advice from a financial adviser and her savings were growing steadily. 
 
The route to riches was through 10 bagger shares though. Instant riches. Bring it on. One was bound to hit the jackpot soon.....learn from my mistakes the next pick will be a winner. Oops!! 
 
Hindsight 
 
In hindsight I was lured by the financial press (magazines, newsletters and the mainstream financial media). It was a hard learned lesson. Luckily it was out of the way early in my saving and investment career :o) I stated to save more carefully from then on. Here is the TFD list of losses :o( 
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<li>The penny stock miners - total loss in the region of £5,000</li>
<li>The New Technology Energy Stock £4,000</li>
<li>Buying Europe just as Europe goes down the pan £3,000</li>
<li>A consumer goods technology stock - wiped out £500</li>
<li>Green energy bio fuel stock - worth 1/100th of the purchase price another £500</li>
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Stock picking for 10 bagger gains gave way to mutual funds and large cap stocks who paid dividends..... 
 
These
 dividends grew and grew. Slowly our modest passive income goals looked 
feasible, but how much did we need and what were we going to do with it? 
 
In the Meantime - We must get on the property ladder quick! 
 
We had amassed enough money for a deposit on a home by 2007. A home is a much better investment right? 
 
We looked around and were perplexed by extremely high prices. Property was in a huge boom in London. We were looking at huge mortgages on what would have been a shoebox apartment. 
 
This did not make sense to us as we could rent a much larger property (a house with a garden) at less than the interest payments on a mortgage. Additionally we did not have to spend money on decorating or repair costs, building insurance or expensive conversions let alone porter and leisure fees. 
 
Renting it was, even though there was peer pressure to buy. 
 
Please read on for the financial crisis and light on the other side

Financial Independence in 7 Years!

What an idea we had in 2005: could our little tribe be financially free in 7 years! Feelings of crazyness, being excited yet a sense...

Free Tools

Contender 0 Education, Finance, Investing, Planning, Saving, Toolkit 12:46

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Free Toolkit Manifesto - Provide simple, accessible, customizable planning tools</h2>
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Free CPT's (<a href="http://getintheringwithme.blogspot.co.uk/p/muff-tools-and-check-lists.html" target="_blank">Contender Planning Tools</a>) that cover radical solutions to life's challenges are a key part of this blog. A blog post will accompany each tool and a how to use guide. Is this a new concept - definitely not. My objective may be different though : "Provide, free, clear simple, very user friendly planning tools with the specific goal of the Pursuit of Happiness". I know this is a very ambitious, difficult, complex if not impossible task but I sincerely hope it will be a fun collaborative effort and interesting to see where it ends up. </div>
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All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.
 
Winston Churchill
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Qualified???? - CLSAD (Contender Life Skills and Disasters) 
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How have I learnt how to plan \ create ad-hock tools? 12 years work in process design has laid a solid foundation. I have found that business tools are readily transferable into social life. The challenge is to simplify and adapt their purpose. 
 
I have read a huge number of business books gone on numerous training courses. A vast amount of information and too much to remember and apply. I applied, succeeded and messed up in places but then adapted and ultimately worked hard to get results in work. The same is true in my personal life and a <a href="http://getintheringwithme.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/round-5-15-secs-muff-family-financial.html" target="_blank">later post</a> covers some of the bad decisions the Tribe have learnt from. 
 
Does this qualify me to have a go at a bunch of tools for life? Definitely not but someones got to do it. I am willing to have a go, try them out in real life situations to find out 
 
Tool Contents - CBBT (Contender Big Bag of Tricks)  
 
CBBT includes planning, strategy building, risk planning, tracking, calculations, graphs and diagrams. They cover the key points from the start of the planning process to the final long term goal (it is almost always a good idea to state your long term goal and work backwards). 
 
I have found that having a plan that you can update easily with checks \ action lists is extremely important. This makes sure you do not miss the obvious and you stay on track. A plan helps you to be realistic with yourself. A regularly reviewed plan gives you a sense of control and comfort that you are going in the right direction. If you are off track you can adapt and not panic onto bad decisions. </div>
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Free Tools

Free Toolkit Manifesto - Provide simple, accessible, customizable planning tools Free CPT 's ( C ontender P lanning T ools )...

Get In The Ring?

Contender 0 Blog, Education, Finance, Freedom, Happiness, Life, Planning, Toolkit 09:53

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FISH | Financial Independence and Seeking Happiness   
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CoNTeNDeR: "Who is next in the ring?"  </div>
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PLAN.AHEAD: "The future my son he is unforgiving, surprising and always your shadow"   
CoNTeNDeR: "A venerable adversary what do I need to learn if I am going to face him?"   
PLAN.AHEAD: "CoNTeNDeRwe constantly need to learn. THE FUTURE is there he is real and he is constantly changing. Are you ready to getinthering my lad?"   
CoNTeNDeR: "I am only on this planet once and I intend to make the most of it lets get on with it" 
 
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Welcome! Lets get straight to the chase this blog is all about gaining financial independence as quickly as possible while seeking happiness along the way.</div>
 
THE.FuTuRe "I'm one step ahead of you boy, look left, look right, around every corner I am ready to strike. Go home boy to your job, your routine accept your fate." 
 
Why the FISH Blog?  </div>
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Our Tribe have been on quite a ride for the last 15 years. 
 
We have taken some hard knocks from THE.PaST, picked ourselves up from the canvass and are  expecting surprises from THE.FuTuRe. 
 
All the time we have grown a little older and hopefully a little wiser :0) Learning bit by bit how to set ourselves up for life. 
 
We are in better shape for THE.FuTuRe after a dramatic change in lifestyle over the past seven years saving like mad to gain financial independence. 
 
This change has caused us to addressed the challenges of a growing family, education, finance and work. We have changed from short term consumer thinking to long term goals of the pursuit of financial independence and happiness. 
 
Old habits have died hard (reckless spending, hedonism, just living the now) and replaces by new ones where we can clearly see THE.FuTuRe and are taking him on on our terms. 
 
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This blog is a collection of articles and tools that we found useful in planning for Finacial Independence and Seeking Happiness. </div>
 
Here are a few backgroun articles from the site: 
 
<a href="http://getintheringwithme.blogspot.com/p/about-me.html" target="_blank">Who Am I</a> 
<a href="http://getintheringwithme.blogspot.com/2012/07/round-5-15-secs-muff-family-financial.html">Family Financial Independence in 7 Years! Almost FI this is how we got there</a> 
<a href="http://getintheringwithme.blogspot.com/2012/11/30-rules-of-very-early-retirement.html">30 Rules of Very Early Retirement</a> 
<a href="http://getintheringwithme.blogspot.com/2012/10/10-career-skills-for-early-retirement.html">10 Career Skills for Early Retirement</a> 
<a href="http://getintheringwithme.blogspot.com/2013/10/stuck-generation.html">Stuck Generation - Generational cycles and the impact on the next generation</a> 
 
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How do you become Independent? 
 
Gaining financial independence and working out what you want requires alot of research, thinking, learning and doing. Some of the key sources of information are linked from this site.  
 
Skills need to be honed in finance, health, work, education, environment. Unfortunately it is is easy to get overloaded by information and sidetracked by marketing. 
 
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This blog is primarily about providing the information in one place. Discuss how to create a personal financial 
independence plan and how to put it into action. It further considers future 
trends and why become financially free and seek happiness in the first place.</div>
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"It's all about money, not freedom, ya'll, okay? Nothing to do with 
fuckin' freedom. If you think you're free, try going somewhere without 
fucking money, okay?"<a class="extiw" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American:_The_Bill_Hicks_Story" title="w:American: The Bill Hicks Story"> American: The Bill Hicks Story</a> </blockquote>
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FISH Blog Goals 
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<li>Poke some fun at conventional wisdom</li>
<li>Share useful information</li>
<li>Investigate topics such as finance, health and education and their impact on happiness</li>
<li>Provide a set of simple planning tools for you to hopefully view \ use \ get some ideas >>>> </li>
<li>Have some fun </li>
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A bit more information on the Blog 
<ul>
<li>Work out how to be financially
independent and understand WHAT is happening in this world and
how to GROW wealth regardless of world events</li>
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a.     Real World Education – what are we NOT taught in school about finance</div>
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b.     Getting the right job and the benefits of multiple income streams</div>
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c.     Compound interest - One of the wonders of the world and its impact on growing your   savings and investments.</div>
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d.     Investigation of different investments and how to evaluate their worth 
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<ul>
<li>Applying Simple Business skills (project planning, negotiation, influencing
etc.) to plan for financial independence <blockquote class="tr_bq">
 "Children are smarter than any of us. Know how I know that? I don't know one child with a full time job and children." - Bill Hicks</blockquote>
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<li>How to get a continuous balanced real world education for life  </li>
<li>What is Self-sufficiency
and resilience what can be useful whilst not being extreme and living in a hut in the woods. </li>
<li>What can constitute a good life?</li>
</ul>
<a href="http://getintheringwithme.blogspot.com/p/stock-screen.html"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Qa8eONAOZxA/U4HmozW1lkI/AAAAAAAADPc/ttZMRslvSJk/s1600/Focus3.PNG" /></a>  
Please feel free to have a look around perhaps start with the <a href="http://getintheringwithme.blogspot.com/p/all-posts-get-in-ring.html" target="_blank">All Posts</a> page which has summaries and descriptions of the sites articles 
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"I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, 
"Where's the self-help section?" She said if she told me, it would 
defeat the purpose." - George Carlin   </blockquote>
FISH Tools 
 
THE.CoNTeNDeR has developed a Financial Independence and Seeking Happiness  <a href="http://getintheringwithme.blogspot.com/p/muff-tools-and-check-lists.html" target="_blank">Tool Kit</a>. Hopefully the tool will be a valuable addition to the financial freedom and life hacking / planning community. 
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The tool covers financial freedom, health, education and general life. It is really a continuous self education planning tool interspersed with investment choice and management. </div>
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get fired and get paid just enough money not to quit." - George
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A CoNTeNDeR after all? 
 
Whilst our Tribe has made some blunders on our road to Financial 
Independence that is part and parcel of the joys of learning from 
mistakes. On top of that life has a habit of throwing up the unexpected.
 Don't worry they are all covered in this blog. 
  
These blunders were a gift to us that helped us learn some skills that are benefiting us to this day. Does THE.CoNTeNDeR have a chance against THE.FuTuRe after his scrapes with THE.PaST? They will all be documented here on this blog. 
 
Peace and prosperity and I hope to see you soon,</div>
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<a href="http://getintheringwithme.blogspot.co.uk/p/about-me.html" target="_blank">THE CONTENDER</a> 
 
Kindly share this post >>>></div>
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Get In The Ring?

FISH | Financial Independence and Seeking Happiness CoNTeNDeR : "Who is next in the ring?" PLAN...

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)

FISH | Financial Independence Seeking Happiness