Where have you been and where do you want to be? (Part 1)

Hi all of you intentional Scotsmen and Scotswomen out there. Welcome to the Hotel California where you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.

This post is inspired by those terrible annual appraisal sessions you have in a corporate job with your superior. “Mr Intentional Scotsman, where would you like to be in 5 years?” to which you reply with an answer they want to hear.

Anyway, this post isn’t going to be as boring and terrible as those sessions! What I want to cover here is a summary of where I have come from and the positives of the last 5 years of my life. Then I want to cover what the future holds and where I want to be. I hope it is interesting and I hope to be able to look back on it in 5 years to see if my life looks anything like I want it to be. I will try to cover as much detail as I can.

Maybe in the future, I can cover some of the downs of the last 5 years but let’s stay positive for now (since it is summer after all)!

Where have you been in the last 5 years?

Where do I begin? 5 years ago of course…

5 years ago was the summer of 2017. It doesn’t quite have the same rhyme to it as the summer of ‘69 does it?!

So summer of 2017, I was in 25 years old and in my 2nd year of working for a small engineering consultancy in Newcastle. I had also just recently come back from living in Antwerp in Belgium for 6 months where I acquired a taste for Belgian beer (a dangerous, calorific game). I loved Belgium and the way of living (and did I mention the beer). While I was there, I visited Brussles, Ghent, Bruges and Leuven along with spending most of my time in Antwerp. Some really cool medieval places with cobbled streets and quirky looking buildings.

5 years ago, I was a single man without much in the way of responsibilities and making good money for a man of my age. For the most part, I was enjoying life for what it was by going out with friends and work colleagues as much as possible and probably spending far too much money on alcohol (not sure this has ever changed which is probably a little worrying).

I managed to go on a “lads holiday” to Thailand with some of my bestmates which was a great trip and one we will remember for the rest of our lives. We started in Bangkok and made our way South to the Islands of Ko Tao, Ko Pha-ngan, Koh Samui and Phi Phi. We then flew back from Phuket. P.S. How good is the iPhone picture map for reminding you where you have been!

These places in Thailand I have to say were quite “Westernised” when we went and very much focussed on the party culture but for a “lads holiday” this is what we needed at the time. It also helped that there was some amazing scenary to take in while we were there. If I was to go back, I probably wouldn’t spend too much time in Bangkok though - I think 1 or 2 days there is enough to get a feel for the city.

View across the Gulf of Thailand at Ko Ph-ngan

Moving forward, 2018 was a helluva year!

This is the year I met the lovely Mrs. On our first date, we met in Newcastle. At the time I was playing quite a bit of poker and hustling (quite successfully I may add) at some of the local casinos. So in maybe the 2nd or 3rd bar (yes our first date got off to a flyer so we went to quite a few watering holes), I said to her: “I have won £800 this week playing poker so don’t worry, the whole night is on me”! She never lets me forget how pompous I came across when I said that.

Saying that, I must not have come across too badly because not long after we started dating, she asked me (or allowed me) to sign up for going on holiday with her on her dream (big 30th birthday) trip. So 6months after we had met, we were jetting off to Peru. I have to say, a trip like this really made our relationship blossom (but it did have its challenges - for example spending 4days hiking/ camping the Inca Trail whilst only really being able to have the equivalent of a Glasgow Shower).

During our time in Peru, we travelled to Lima, Pisco, Ica, Nazca, Machu-Picchu, Ollantaytambo, Cusco, Rainbow Mountains, Chivay, Arequipa, Puno and Lake Titicaca. It was the most amazing trip and I am so glad I agreed to it. For me, the highlights were hiking the Inca Trail to then end it with the view of Machu-Picchu. I also hiked (Rainbow Mountains - 5,200m above sea level) and played football (Lake Titicaca ~3,800m above sea level) at the highest altitudes I have been at. We travelled as part of an arranged group and still keep in contact with some of the people - most of which still seem to be travelling to some really cool places (which doesn’t help the Monday scroll through Instagram whilst starting up the work laptop).

Rainbow Mountains, Peru

Machu-Picchu, Peru

Oh and as if I couldn’t do any more in a year… I bought my first flat. A 2 bedroom flat just outside the city centre of Newcastle. I remember how nervous I was on the phone to the estate agent making the offer and negotiating when the seller didn’t accept the first offer. I was even more nervous the day I went to the bank to transfer the deposit to the mortgage provider.

Following this, I rented a room out to a lodger for a year to bring in some additional income (my first experience). But after a year, the Mrs and I had gotten a little closer (hubba hubba) and decided to move in together. I have to say, the quote “a woman makes a house a home” definitely rings true here. When the Mrs moved in, not only did she whip me into shape domestically (P.S. she is still using that goddam whip and I am sad to say that I am not sure it has been completely effective yet), she also made her mark on the place. Even the odd little house plant on the window sill or the odd cushion/ blanket that I would never have bought made the difference. My only complaint would be that she was never content (and still isn’t). I don’t think the constant scrolling through Pinterest helps this…

So as you probably guessed, a lot of this was a bit of a blur and 2019 came around quite quickly. 2019 was a year where I moved job to a bigger company with a nice little bump in the salary.

The Mrs and I managed quite a few great trips away during this year also. Travelling to Poland (Wroclaw, Poznan, Krakow and Zakopane), Italy (Pisa, Florence, Rome, Siena and Naples) and around Scotland (Isle of Skye, Ben Nevis, Fort William and Oban). I met the in-laws (or as one of my ex-work colleagues likes to refer to his - the outlaws - don’t tell mine I said that!) and both the Mrs and I managed to show each other the true flavour of each of our homelands.

I really enjoyed all trips. Main highlights for me were visiting Skye - Skye is such a magestic place in Scotland (particularly if the weather is great). Another highlight was seeing the Polish highlands in Zakopane and all the timber houses. Some really great times.

A can of beer in Zakopane, Poland

A Highland Cow in Skye, Scotland

2020 came around quick also and I managed to become a Chartered Engineer in my profession - a really big career milestone if you are an engineer and something I was very proud of. I almost didn’t get into University when leaving school so to become Chartered after 5 years of working (which is pretty much the minimum time possible) was a great achievement.

Another milestone in my life in 2020/ 2021 was selling my first flat and starting the journey of the Mrs and I buying our first place together. And as everyone knows, “tha COVID” had started spreading its way into every corner of the globe. At the start, I thought the property market may crash due to the COVID induced recession but actually it did the complete opposite - I suppose that’s what significant money printing and rock bottom interest rates does for you…

I sold my flat but had to move in with my parents for 6months before we eventually found somewhere. I actually wasn’t even able to view the property before we put the offer down - I put my complete trust in the Mrs! Not sure everyone would have that type of confidence. We moved in and we now feel we (mainly the Mrs) have put our stamp on the place. Not too long after we moved in, we decided we wanted to have a lodger to bring in a little extra tax free income using the Rent a Room scheme. Particularly since we bought a 4 bedroom house and there are only two of us. We have been really lucky so far and we are currently living a really easy going guy who we get along with really well. Eventually (unless many bambinos come along), we will likely downsize to a smaller place and use the additional equity to add to our FIRE fund. Once we achieve FIRE, we loosely plan to sell our property and add all of the equity to our FIRE fund so that we can travel the world.

In 2020, I also began my investing journey and discovered FIRE. I have to say, I have been completely obsessed with FIRE since I discovered it (as I am sure many of you also are - isn’t that why you are here?!). I remember my first investment which was in mid-March 2020. I started with the UK market and found all the stocks that had fallen by around 50% and decided I was going to buy these bargains! It didn’t take long for me to realise that they were probably bargains for a reason. I then started reading about growth and index fund investing where I largely focus on today with the “Core” and “Satellite” strategy (this can be for another post) and invest globally.

Going back to FIRE, I am sure the Mrs would agree that I probably go on about it far too much. For a period of time, all I could think about and talk about was investing and FIRE. It still is a bit of a challenge - but I mean you can’t really argue that the prospect of achieving FIRE is an exciting one.

Speaking of exciting and bringing us to the present day, the Mrs and I got engaged this year and we are looking to get married soon! We also just came back from a trip to Southern Spain that you can read about in my July 2022 Update.

Concluding remarks on where I have been

I know you might be reading this and thinking, with so many holidays and life events, how did you manage to save and invest as much as you have towards FIRE? The answer would be that normally when we travel, we travel on a budget. We don’t tend to stay in luxury hotels and pay for expensive activities. We stay mainly in budget hotels or in relatively low cost Airbnb’s. We then do activities that are largely for free (e.g. free walking tours), regularly cook our own meals and travel by public transport. In day to day life, we normally do not buy branded products and shop at relatively low cost supermarkets. Similarly to when we travel, in day to day life, we don’t go overboard with spending and pay ourselves first!

Even though I only discovered FIRE in 2020, I think I have always been quite careful with the way I managed my money. Luckily the Mrs is also wired the same way. I suppose that is what happens when a Polish woman and a Scottish man join forces.

I have also been very lucky with my career to date. I have managed to increase my salary each year and at the age of 30 I am already making money that I had expected might be possible at the age of 50 when starting out in my career. I realise not everyone will be this fortunate but I see it as an opportunity that I cannot squander. I want to have something to show for the relatively stressful engineering job I have and FIRE gives the perfect motivation.

Overall, looking back, the last 5 years have been a blast. I think putting this all down on paper brings out that perspective. Particularly when COVID has put a dampener on everyone’s life. But, as always, you have to put a positive spin on it. For me, I have managed to learn a significant amount about investing and improving my financial literacy during this time - not to mention all of the other incredibly exciting life events I have gone through. No matter what the future holds, I feel the decisions I have made in the last 5 years have put me in a good position to go from strength to strength in the next 5 years.

I hope you found this useful and that you can relate in some way to the path you are on. Everyone has a different route - just make sure you give it your best shot!

Next time

I initially thought I could cover both (1) Where have you been? and (2) Where do you want to be? but this blog post was getting far too long and I was getting far too excited so I have decided that I will split it up into two parts. I will follow up with Part 2: Where do you want to be?