Shortening Chains
After a week and a half off with Christmas and some strategic vacation days, tomorrow morning it is back into the fray of working life. I don't mind going back, though I would have liked a little more time off to spend in other ways, as most of what we have done has been at home, prepping, and cleaning up after guests. The last few days have been quite nice, though with the weather so cold, we have stayed mostly indoors, as it is a hassle to go anywhere. That hassle will have to be performed tomorrow though.
The year just passed was one where we finally started to put more onto the home loan than the minimum. This was a huge milestone for us, as it means that there isn't as much going out as there was, as the renovation work on the house has taken everything we had to spare, and then some. This went up even higher in the last two years as after the stroke I had, we had to get people in to do work that I would have done myself. Now that we have completed a lot and slowed down on what we are doing, we can breathe a little financially.
Breathe doesn't mean spend.
Well, it doesn't mean spend frivolously for us. It means that we can replenish a little of our emergency fund and put extra payments on the house to shorten the repayment period. Ideally, I would like to cut it down to a ten year total, which means that there is another six years to go on it. That is incredibly ambitious, but with a lot of luck, it might be possible. It would be great to be without a mortgage when I am not too far over fifty.
What is interesting, is that if I had stayed in Australia where I was, I would be mortgage free a couple years ago, even paying back the minimum. I got into my first house when I was nineteen or so, had just started university and was working at McDonald's fulltime to pay for school, life and the mortgage. I had a second job on the side of McDonald's too, working with a tiny media company, which helped cover the bills.
I have always found it a bit interesting how people are unwilling to work like that, because they want to keep the young fun in their lives without the burden of responsibility. However, I don't think I missed on on things because I didn't have enough spending money. Students are "meant to be" poor, so it was pretty much the same as most other people, other than for about 40 extra hours a week, I was working.
In a hypothetical world where I stayed in Australia and just kept doing as I did in comparison to the majority of my friends who didn't start thinking about buying their first place until their thirties, They would likely still have twenty or so years left on their loans to pay, whilst I would be mortgage free. That would make a massive difference. It is like having kids at 20, which is a burden in many ways, but it also means that the children are older when one is looking to build a deeper career, and moved out of the home when established and working further upward.
I wish I had kids younger.
However, that counterfactual scenario didn't play out, so I ended up in Finland, selling the house after a year to help pay for some of my mother's end of life care, and starting from scratch in a new country, with no safety net. This means that my circumstances ended up being more like my friend's back home after all. I guess the main difference is, I am doing it in a very changed environment, compared to them.
And, if I am "proud" of anything I have done, it is in being able to establish myself here, in an environment that hasn't necessarily been hostile, but also hasn't always been hospitable to me. It has taken a lot to overcome some of the challenges I have faced, and situations I found myself in. A fair bit of "hustle" - though that word is well out of favor in the current culture. Now, people in their thirties and forties like I am, are looking for ways to be like carefree students twenty five years ago.
Live in the moment.
Is this "the moment" my government handout arrives?
2024 may be a pretty rough year I believe, but I also think that there are signs that toward the end of the year, things might start to turn the corner that everyone wants so badly to get around. My plan is to work as hard as I can, where and when I can, to improve my position for when that corner finally arrives, whether it be this year, next, or in five more years from now. If I can keep building, whilst chipping away at the mortgage, five years down the track isn't that long. But, we aren't engineered to think this way, we are far more immediate than that.
We want things now, because that is what our mind is on, now.
Our attention is generally drawn to making us feel good in the moment, rather than paying attention to all the moments that are to come in our lifetime, because we don't know where out lives are going to take us, or what is going to befall us on the journey. Sometimes, a year trip overseas turns into a life in another country, a family, and a house.
And a job to go to in the morning on a day that will also mark my five years in the company.
By choice, not by chain.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Congratulations @tarazkp! You received a personal badge!
Wait until the end of Power Up Day to find out the size of your Power-Bee.
May the Hive Power be with you!
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
Check out our last posts:
It's definitely hard to enjoy the time off when you are running around all over the place. That is how our last couple of days have been. I still get tomorrow off and today was a nice down day, so it has been good. My wife worked two jobs for a couple years so we could save up for a trailer. Putting off buying one earlier allowed us to buy a nicer one now.
Not too bad at all! I was planning on going to bed early, but we have a heating issue here and I am trying to fix it, as it is very, very cold outside and getting cold inside rapidly.
It makes a huge difference to let resources build.
Good luck with your boiler!
Repair guy was here - will be about a day before we know if what he did helps. It is definitely not user error though :)
That's great news!
Congratulations @tarazkp! You received a personal badge!
Participate in the next Power Up Day and try to power-up more HIVE to get a bigger Power-Bee.
May the Hive Power be with you!
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
Check out our last posts:
Congrats on your 5 year anniversary with the company, that’s a respectable milestone!
We actually had our mortgage payment reduced a little bit surprisingly, but it was in the form of escrow since we roll our taxes and all that into it. I increased it right back to the amount we were paying before though because that’s extra money on the principle and reduced life on the mortgage, which we’ve talked about before is a big win. I’m hoping to be out of this house in 2-3 years for our “permanent” home but who knows.
It definitely feels good to turn a good corner and get more funds focused on doing things like putting some extra towards the mortgage that’s for sure! Congrats to you on that for sure dude.
I know that there are going to be quite a number of people who are short sighted in their mindset for finances but there’s also a considerable amount of people who are being smarter with their money, out of necessity for sure but that’s a promising notion. We still need to fight to try to educate the people who aren’t as good with money because we need to protect everyone, in this battle over power from the powers that shouldn’t be, it’s a crucial matter that we fight for everyone and don’t expect others to fall before us.
There’s that famous saying, which I’ll butcher of course but it was like “they came for the peasants, but I did not say anything because I was not a peasant. They came for the craftsmen, but I did not say anything because I was not a craftsman. They came for the farmers, but I did not say anything because I was not a farmer. Then they came for (what ever his group was) but there was nobody left but me”. The more we fight for others the better we all are!
Yep, a pizza a month on the mortgage is about a year off the payback period.
I agree. There is a polarization in it happening of sorts, and I think crypto has played a big part in the retraining. People are more interested in their personal finances than before, rather than taking it for granted that someone will look after it for them.
Was just chatting with some colleagues about misaligned incentives across all things. It started as a conversation about overweight people often having less wealth. Everything is connected.
Yes. And this is why I believe that wealth generating incentives should be correlated to wellbeing. Currently, it is make money at any cost.
I'm just going to keep going into more and more debt. Playing the long game here and hoping the system collapses.
It seems a popular approach these days.
Dear @tarazkp !
I remember you were an English teacher in Australia.
But, it's amazing that you currently live in Finland!
I assumed you had various jobs abroad.
I remember you said you used to work at McDonald's.
I remember that you currently consult and educate customers over the Internet.
I saw Australians around me, and they were mainly English teachers and engineers.
They said they moved overseas because there were no jobs in Australia.
I wonder why you live abroad!
I hope my English, which is at the level of an American elementary school student, will not offend or embarrass you!😅
I never taught English in Australia - only here. And I only consult over the internet after Covid - I try to do face to face as often as possible.
It is probably better than an American's :)
My dear bro @tarazkp !
Thank you for giving a kind answer to my awkward and straightforward question!
You are a very strong person! However, humans achieve true perfection only when they meet God!
I believe God is calling you now!
Every human being has to make a choice at the most important moment of his life!
I hope you make the right choice!
5 years in a company is really good. With the popularity of switching jobs to get an increase in salary and earn more, loyalty is pretty rare. Throughout your posts I have read the reasons for it, and you are working in a nice company. Working on paying more of the debt is a good decision, and should help alleviate some of the burdens sooner.
It is. The average tenure difference between Europe and the US is massive. The US is very low. Are the companies so different, or is it to do with the culture of the people?
I'd think it is both. From the work posts I've seen in the US, a lot of them just go to work, clock in, do the work, then clock out. They don't really like socializing with their coworkers, or find the need to. Add to that the benefits and work life balance, I think the work environment is not that healthy.
Wow
Spending five years in a company is cool and that shows you love the job and you’re doing it well. My dad will be thirty years in his workplace on January4
Do you plan to spend about 20 years in your current workplace?
That's a huge amount! I only know a few people who have done this.
Yes, if they will have me and be profitable enough :)
It sucks but work continues. Life is quite busy and I agree that a lot of people live in the moment. I think it's just because they prefer to have things now. I think it's better to think about the future though because anything could happen and being more prepared is better.
Having things now, or a purposeful life now, to have better things in the future? People don't seem to see the momentary value of building for the future. They seem to see it as time down the toilet instead.
The past 20 days have been the busiest for me, it's been quite stressful. I certainly need some time off. I have a few more tasks to to take care of, and then I'll be able to "relax", I guess. Yet, I volunteered to work, I am a founder of this startup, after all. So, I'm the last one who gets to take a "vacation" right now.
I even had to postpone my marriage anniversary celebrations by a month, just because of all this work. Well, that's life I guess. You can't have it all at once.
End of year can suck! I am lucky that it isn't too bad for me, though the people I work with get hammered.
They say, that a real entrepreneur will do for years, what others aren't willing to. Good luck :)
Definitely not. But you can improve what you have over time - even marriages ;)
Wise words! And thanks man, it means a lot. 🍻
Yeah, I'll make it up to my wife, one way or the other, and it's not like she's mad or anything. She's on vacation, taking it easy for now. She just finished her MBAs. Now all she wants to do is sleep and binge-watch K-dramas. 😂
I can hardly keep myself over 4 years in a company. My maximum is 4 years. Usually I have switched most of the companies in 3 years. It just something I have done upto mid 30s and now this one would go beyond 3 I suppose. I feel 24 is going to be the year of patience and also movement. If you stay lazy this year would give punishment at later times as the 25 is when the recession, and other global issues would resolve.
Do you think there has been more gains than losses in moving more often?
And yep - 25 might be a decent year, bar some new calamity.
Good luck with paying down that stupid mortgage quicker! :D
I think we're going to be focusing on that and repairs and renos too this year.
And congratulations on five years with the company?
What is first on your repair list?
I think it is a decent company - considering I wasn't planning on working for anyone again :D
Repairs specifically? Some electrical work inside the house, and the gutters. In roughly that order.
I'm not sure if decent companies are getting harder to find or if people being less tolerant of unteneble conditions (actually ones that life is way too short to put up with that level of nonsense for, not "I'm over the top upset because someone disagreed with me which is basically bullying"). So probably worth sticking with if they stay decent.
Sorry about your ill health some years ago, I hope you fully recovered. As for the case of starting everything over as you said when you got to Finland, you can't compare yourselves with your mates who never tried. What made you blend and thrive is because of the early experience you tapped into and it is still working for you. Happy new year friend
Congrats! Sounds like the choice to move to Finland is really paying off! I still can't imagine buying a place for myself and here you are looking to finish your mortgage by the end of the decade. Impressive!
Hello tarazkp!
It's nice to let you know that your article will take 9th place.
Your post is among 15 Best articles voted 7 days ago by the @hive-lu | King Lucoin Curator by blind-spot
You receive 🎖 1.4 unique LUBEST tokens as a reward. You can support Lu world and your curator, then he and you will receive 10x more of the winning token. There is a buyout offer waiting for him on the stock exchange. All you need to do is reblog Daily Report 166 with your winnings.
Buy Lu on the Hive-Engine exchange | World of Lu created by szejq
STOPor to resume write a wordSTART