Feels like I had a badass week.
1. Sales slowdown at work so I offered to take a 25% income hit in exchange for time off. They didn't take me up on it, but it felt great knowing I could reduce my income and not worry about it. They appreciated my support for the company.
2. GF asked me if my contract was in jeopardy as the company might be in trouble. I replied yes, but that my investments just needed a bit of time to grow to FIRE size so there was no stress if I needed to find other work as I really only need to meet my modest cost of living targets now.
3. Wanted to switch to working 4 days a week in 2016 and take a 20% income hit as part of my downshifting goal, but saw an opportunity recently to convince my client to change the whole company to 4 days/week starting Monday which means 9 months sooner and zero income change. 3 day weekends here I come!
4. Schooled my old financial advisor explaining the problem with mutual funds and high MERs this week. Showed him cFIREsim and explained my FIRE plan. His mind was blown.
5. Sold a bunch of mutual funds and transferred them Questrade to buy Vanguard ETFs.
6. Got pissed off with my bank and setup accounts with a low/no fee internet bank. Turns out the closest ATM is a frisbee throw from my front door vs. 10min bike ride for the old bank. I'll save $400/yr plus they paid me $50 to join and gave my GF $50 because she referred me.
7. Sold a photo to a regional magazine for one of their stories. Made $50 without trying. Crazy thing it was a point and shoot snap shot I would have given away. I'm a decent photographer and have sold photos in the past as well as traded them for product I wanted. But lately I've been focused on saving, investing and FIRE. Reminded me that I need to get back to selling images and trading for products as it's a fun way to reduce my income needs in FIRE.
8. Solved a health problem that's been bugging me for a month [long story] so I'm headed out for a 4 day mountain bike trip with friends. Nice to have my body working well again.
It was a great week for getting stuff done and feeling badass!
I hope you had a great week as well. :)
-- Vik
