Case Study - 27. Am I FIREd yet?

[jhonny9546]

Life Situation: single, 27, Italy.
Gross Salary/Wages: €950/month --- €11.400/year
Individual amounts of each Pre-tax deductions nn
Other Ordinary Income: nn
Qualified Dividends & Long Term Capital Gains: nn
Rental Income, Actual Expenses, and Depreciation: nn
Adjusted Gross Income: €950/month
Taxes: Income Tax: €200
Income after Taxes: €750/month --- €9.000/year

Current expenses - Current COL: Living with parents.

ITEM	MONTH	YEAR
Housing	€0	€0
Bills	€0	€0
Food Home	€20	€240
Food Eating Out	€20	€240
Taxes: Income Tax (deducted from salary)	€0	€0
Trasportation: Car	€80	€960
Leisure (Books, Gifts, Devices, Subcriptions)	€15	€180
Travel	€150	€1800
Personal/Healthcare	€20	€240
TOTAL (Cost of living)	€305	€3660

Future expenses - Basic COL: Living by myself, same town, own house.

ITEM	MONTH	YEAR
Housing	€0	€0
House Maintenance	€31	€365
Bills	€100	€1200
Food Home	€200	€2400
Food Eating Out	€20	€240
Taxes: Income Tax (deducted from salary)	€0	€0
Trasportation: Car	€80	€960
Leisure (Books, Gifts, Devices, Subcriptions)	€15	€180
Travel	€150	€1800
Personal/Healthcare	€20	€240

TOTAL (Cost of living)	€626	€7512

Future expenses - Travel COL: Living by myself, same town, own house. Focus on travelling.

ITEM	MONTH	YEAR
Housing	€0	€0
House Maintenance	€31	€365
Bills	€90	€1080
Food Home	€200	€2400
Food Eating Out (extra is incl. in Travel exp.)	€20	€240
Taxes: Income Tax (deducted from salary)	€0	€0
Trasportation: Car (extra is incl. in Travel exp.)	€80	€960
Leisure (Books, Gifts, Devices, Subcriptions)	€15	€180
Travel	€400	€4800
Personal/Healthcare	€20	€240
TOTAL (Cost of living)	€856	€10272

Assets:
Savings: €20.000
ParentsHouse1 (Where I live): current value €150.000
ParentsHouse2 (Future Inheritanche): current value €150.000
Car old Fiat: €2500
E-bike: €400
Friends: ∞
Liabilities: nn

Personality test:


Comment:
Unfortunately, I learned about financial independence late.
I work part time, 25h a week as an accountant, office worker, and I am living with my parents, in a double villa, divided, a part for me and a part for my parents; my hometown is all you could ask for, but it's really too hot, and I waste 2 months of my life, to stay indoors with air conditioning (August/September). Salary/COL ratio is bad, even for specialists, if compared to other European countries.


#1Strategy
Click here for more details


Given this... I was thinking about getting a degree/specialization, or just do anything that would allow me to take a specific, "high paying" job, work fulltime, 40+/h a week, till I reach the FIRE goal asap (based on "Future expenses - Basic COL", which is €8k/year), then downshift working hours to 20/h a week, and work remote at that same job, or just find something else, locally.
I won't consider "the be my own boss" path, because of the "thinking at your business for 24/7", would make me mentally-ill.

So, for this scenario, I was thinking about expat to Switzerland to reach the FIRE goal in 5y or less, and then come back to Italy to just work on a remote job for Switzerland, if possibile, or just search jobs in Italy that would allow me to work remotely! (or just a job which would pay for COL). So in this case I am not pretending to be FIREd, because I don't want to put all my focus into just the "FIRE project", instead, I would like to differentiate with a low energy demand job, which would still pay for my COL, allowing the invested money to grow. I would allow any job that would have a working schedule, less than 4h in 5 days, or 6h in 3 days.

#1Strategy; Fired 35y.o.:
FIRE: will bring 8k a year, but I won't withdraw them.
COL: covered by the 20h job; savings reduced to 10/20%, will be invested.
PASSIVE INCOME: we are not considering inheritance.
JOB: 18/20h a week.
LIFE: I could dedicate 24-8(sleep)-4(job)= 12 hours of real life.





#2Strategy
Click here for more details



As alternative to the #1Strategy, I could have a "standard" job in Italy, until I reach the FIRE goal, in this case, in 10 years. Such as:
- Restaurant Manager: 36+ hours a week, €23k net /year, 18h avaiability.
- Condo Admininistrator: 40+ hours a week, €27k net /year, 24h avaiability.


#2Strategy; Fired 40y.o.:
FIRE: will bring 8k a year, but I won't withdraw them.
COL: covered by the 20h job; savings reduced to 10/20%, will be invested.
PASSIVE INCOME: we are not considering inheritance.
JOB: 18/20h a week.
LIFE: I could dedicate 24-8(sleep)-4(job)= 12 hours of real life.



#3Strategy
Click here for more details


But I can't understand if this is really necessary...Am I am already retired, even with the current p.time, 25h a week job? I will inherit a house in the future, which would bring at least 5k year of passive income, and also, may be I really like Switzerland that it would be hard to come back to Italy. We also know there is the hot summer problem, so I could live 10 months in Italy, and the hotter 2, I will stay in Switzerland, but in such a case, I think the cost of living will increase drastically. I do also like the USA, Japan, UK and Portugal but it's far away from home.

#3Strategy; Fired yet or at 50y.o.?:
FIRE: will bring 8k a year at 50 y.o., but I won't withdraw them.
COL: covered by the 25h job; savings reduced to 20/30%, will be invested.
PASSIVE INCOME: we are not considering inheritance.
JOB: 25h a week.
LIFE: I am dedicating 24-8(sleep)-5(job)= 11 hours of real life. (I can do what I love, starting now)




What would I do in a life without the need of money? What I love to do?
Mostly: Writing, Drawing, Music.
(Someone suggested me to write/draw/play music freelance, and do it as a "WFH job". This makes sense, but I don't know if is there any good to think about making money with your passion. That would be ruined)

Also:
Reading, Travelling, Socialization, Food, Photography, Learning, etc.



END
...updated...

[ChpBstrd]

You are obviously not FIREd yet, but it sounds like you are starting on your journey because you have "only" 20k in liquid assets. That's not bad for a 27 year old. I suggest the focus should be on your strategic path rather than the house or the weather.

I admit I am not very familiar with Italy, but those are some very low cost of living numbers. Have you confirmed them with your last 12 months' records? If so, try to keep those frugal habits as your income increases.

You say you work in accounting but there are not many jobs in your area. You are also considering other career paths. My suggestion is to pick a path that will someday allow you to work from home. This would allow you to leverage your housing situation, eliminate commuting expenses, and/or engage in geographic arbitrage. You might need to relocate and work in an office in the short-term to build the resume that enables you to obtain that WFH job, and that could be fun. You should do it. Start by getting some certifications.

Accounting is a great choice if you want to end up where I'm describing. Restaurant or real estate management will always be tied to a physical location, and won't always offer you the option to live within walking distance. Plus, those two careers have a ceiling where you can't get promoted any higher unless you start your own business, whereas with accounting you could rise all the way to CFO. Accounting also enables you to better invest your liquid assets and track your own earnings and spending.

Where I live, we have 35+ degree Celsius days in the summer with humidity above 90%. The tradeoff is mild winters and the ability to go swimming four months out of the year. We wear sandals, not shoes and never socks, shorts, and go through two T-shirts in a day. A wide brimmed hat helps with the sun.

[jhonny9546]

I suggest the focus should be on your strategic path rather than the house or the weather.

I confirm it's difficult to not focus on the weather for 70days a year.

I admit I am not very familiar with Italy, but those are some very low cost of living numbers. Have you confirmed them with your last 12 months' records?

I could do even better, but it's too much frugality at that point, that I could forget to live.

My suggestion is to pick a path that will someday allow you to work from home.

I admit that I don't like working staring at a screen, but it looks like this would be the future? I was looking into software dev. or anything related to software. Do you have any other tip?

Where I live, we have 35+ degree Celsius days in the summer with humidity above 90%. The tradeoff is mild winters and the ability to go swimming four months out of the year. We wear sandals, not shoes and never socks, shorts, and go through two T-shirts in a day. A wide brimmed hat helps with the sun.

Cool! Here winter it's 4°, but not too cold! Where do you live? :)

[ChpBstrd]

I suggest the focus should be on your strategic path rather than the house or the weather.

I confirm it's difficult to not focus on the weather for 70days a year.

I admit I am not very familiar with Italy, but those are some very low cost of living numbers. Have you confirmed them with your last 12 months' records?

I could do even better, but it's too much frugality at that point, that I could forget to live.

My suggestion is to pick a path that will someday allow you to work from home.

I admit that I don't like working staring at a screen, but it looks like this would be the future? I was looking into software dev. or anything related to software. Do you have any other tip?

I suggest taking a test at https://www.16personalities.com/ to better understand your strengths and weaknesses. It will give you one set of articles to read as your example, but also check out adjacent personality types because it is still just a short quiz, and judgement-call answers could swing the outcome one way or another. Use these insights to help identify potential directions and avoid incompatibilities. E.g. if you are a creative type, maybe accounting is not the direction for you. Or maybe if you are an extrovert maybe working at home from behind a screen will get old quickly.

Where I live, we have 35+ degree Celsius days in the summer with humidity above 90%. The tradeoff is mild winters and the ability to go swimming four months out of the year. We wear sandals, not shoes and never socks, shorts, and go through two T-shirts in a day. A wide brimmed hat helps with the sun.

Cool! Here winter it's 4°, but not too cold! Where do you live? :)

Southern United States, hundreds of km from any coast, elevation about 125m, latitude ~34. We get below freezing for days at a time in the winter, and have hot, humid summers. You change clothes and life goes on.

I've noticed that the cost of living in a place is strongly influenced by the quality of local governance and weather. Where I live, it's generally either hot or cold, with only a couple of nice months in the spring and fall, and the quality of local governance is bad (one-party near-monopoly). This means I enjoy a low cost of living that can support a higher savings rate than I could have if I lived in more pleasant or better-governed parts of the U.S.

[mozar]

My suggestion is to try to get a job in Switzerland as an accountant, make it remote, than move back to Italy. Is there a European version of LinkedIn (networking website )? As far as I can tell, accounting is in very high demand, I had to turn off my linked in because I got so many interview requests. You can apply directly to accounting firms in other countries. Or regular companies looking for accountants. You could do accounting for a few years while you figure things out, or retire from accounting as it can be pretty lucrative especially if you get chartered (?). In USA we call getting licensed a CPA.

[jhonny9546]

I suggest taking a test at https://www.16personalities.com/ to better understand your strengths and weaknesses.

Updated first post