Hello and welcome back to Mortgage Advisor on FIRE. This week I discuss a blog post criticising FIRE. Also, a look back at a fun time at a cat cafe.
Weekly Update
This week I worked Monday to Thursday on my last set of late shifts, and apart from Monday and Tuesday this coming week, I should not have to work beyond 6pm again. It’s a nice feeling because there is something exhausting about working until 8pm. I appreciate some people prefer working later in the day, but I’m not one of them. I will miss the long weekends though, because on the late week in my old schedule, I would get Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off.
This Friday Oana and I booked a slot at Tabby Teas Cat Cafe. It’s a great little place with lots of cats, good coffee, and tasty cakes. The cats are all really sweet and playful, and it’s definitely our sort of place. We had an amazing time, and then went for tacos at Street Food Chef. It was a nice, fairly chill, day.
The orange cat is Olaf, who I am crazy about. He’s great. For the first time he let me pet him and he was really affectionate. The white and black cat is Gomez who Oana is in love with. The white cat in the basket is Ziggy, who is missing one of his back legs, but he doesn’t let it get him down. Frida is the pretty lady on the scratching bed, and the fellow high up on the bed is Schnitzel, who has the most amazing chompers which you can see when he lifts his chin up.
The staff bring around bits of chicken which we can feed the cats, and it was so nice having them come up and take the food from your hand, feeling their teeth on your fingers. They’re so gentle, but very greedy.
I can’t post all these photos of cats without giving our Poppy a shoutout.
On Saturday we had my Dad over for some food. We had bought a turkey joint in the post-Christmas sales which we froze to save for later. Well, now it’s later. We had it with some crushed potatoes, peas, Yorkshire puddings, and some carrots that I made. I peeled them and then cut them lengthways. I popped them in an oven dish and drizzled with olive oil, and mixed the carrots around to make sure they were fully coated. I then drizzled them with honey, and seasoned with salt and a little paprika. I roasted them for around 45 minutes, and I dare say that no one has ever made carrots as good as these. It’s not even close.
Sunday is going to be a busy day as we have a meal planned with my Mom and her husband. We also need to go to Ikea which is always an experience.
Questions that need answering…
One of my pet hates is being asked the same question over and over. My answer will not change based on the number of times I’m asked something. It’s frustrating. For example; being asked over and over again if you want a drink. “Are you sure?”, “Just one?”
Related to this, and it might be a neurotypical thing, or it might just be stupidity, is when someone listens to your question, decides they don’t want to answer your question, and instead rewords the question to something more palatable, before answering that question. There are times when I’ll ask a question, where the inspiration for the question might not be immediately obvious. In those cases, rather than asking for clarification (which is fine) you shouldn’t just answer the question you have decided I’m asking.
For example, take the question; “are you going to be long getting ready?” Assume that I’m asking this question in a neutral, relaxed voice. What’s the first thing you think? Do you think I’m rushing you? Do you think I’m impatient?
Generally, when I ask this question, it’s because I’m working out how much time I have to be able to do something before you are ready. If you’re going to be two minutes I know I can’t do much, but if you’re going to be ten minutes, then I might just sit down and read a few pages.
Related to all this is when I ask someone a closed question, and their reply starts, “well…”
No. Just no. I don’t need a monologue here; just a simple yes or no.
For example, if you ask me, “Do you want pizza or tacos?” the only acceptable answer is “yes”.
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What Am I Doing?
TV: Lord of the Rings trilogy (extended editions).
Audiobook: The Matter of Everything by Suzie Sheehy.
It’s been a while since we last watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy and, except for some CGI, they’ve aged pretty well. When the films first came out my friends and I watched them at the cinema an embarrassing number of times. We watched the first film, The Fellowship of the Ring, eight times at the cinema. The next two films were also watched several times on the big screen. I might have to go back and do the books again, as it’s been at least a decade since I last read them.
I’ve been enjoying reading and listening to books on science recently. This book is not grabbing me though. I’ll be happy to finish it and move on to something else. On the face of it, it should be great as it focuses on twelve experiments that changed the world. There’s just something about the style and delivery I can’t get on with.
Financial Update
Assets
Premium Bonds: £13,150.00.
Stocks and Shares ISA: £59,189.45.
Fuck It Fund: £6,000.00.
Pensions: £68,579.73.
Residential Property Value: £228,116.00.
BTL Property Value: £147,203.00.
Total Assets: £522,238.18.
Debts
Residential Mortgage: £173,839.73.
BTL Mortgage: £104,918.52.
Total Debts: £278,758.25.
Total Wealth: £243,479.93.
Investment Income in 2023: £559.38 (target £10,000).
Some sectors of the stock market have taken a bit of a pasting in the last couple of weeks, and this is reflected in the balance of my ISA and pensions. Also, I’ve had to dip into my Fuck It Fund as it will be some time before Oana starts her new job. In the meantime, I’m taking on the lion’s share of our financial commitments. Once her job starts we will be able to replenish our savings though.
Another added benefit to Oana starting in her new job is that we’ll be able to look at interest only on our mortgage. We can then start targeting the specific parts of our mortgage debt that have the higher rates of interest first whilst leaving the parts with lower rates on interest only. We will not have this mortgage forever. The likelihood is that it will be paid off within the next 10-15 years, but by selectively paying off parts of the mortgage debt in this way, we will reduce the amount of interest we pay back overall.
I doubt we will ever get rid of this apartment. I’ve mentioned before about our area being voted as one of the best places in the world to live in Time Out, as well as being included in numerous lists of the best places to live in the UK. We bought our apartment just before the regeneration of this area took off, and we fell so lucky with the timing. I think the shine will wear off slightly in the coming years because I fear the area is becoming too crowded. There are only so many houses and apartment buildings you can cram into an old industrial part of Sheffield, and parking spaces are like gold dust.
It’s not that long now until our BTL tenants move out, at which point we have some practicalities to sort out, like an inspection, returning any deposit monies to the tenants, addressing any repair work that needs completing, and then the house will be going up for sale.
Fancy getting annoyed?
When you receive this message along with a link to a blog, you know you’re in for a wild ride.
I was sent a link to a blog that, if I’m being polite, was less than complimentary towards the FIRE movement. I’m not going to share the blog because I don’t want to give them any sort of promotion but their nonsensical ramblings amount to this;
- I don’t like having nothing to do.
- People who want to quit work so they can choose what to do with their own time are lazy.
- Based on the previous two points, FIRE is the stupidest thing the blogger has ever heard.
This whole argument is just flawed for one simple reason, and it’s the point some religious extremists use; “I don’t like this, therefore you can’t do it.”
No, that’s not how life works.
Most people who are pursuing FIRE are far from being lazy. They are generally intelligent, driven, passionate people. They feel restricted by work that they feel is unfulfilling. They crave other challenges and experiences. FIRE followers are amongst some of the busiest people I know. The thing that critics miss is that FIRE is actually two separate concepts; FI and RE. What most people are after is FI, with the idea that RE will follow at some point.
If I were to hit FI tomorrow, I wouldn’t just not work anymore, ever again. I would devote more time to studying the sciences, and perhaps follow a path in astronomy. I could do this knowing that my financial security no longer depended on working. FI is about having time and freedom to choose.
The blogger made a point that if everyone followed FIRE then the economy would collapse. Isn’t that true of anything though? If everyone suddenly decided to only buy food from one brand of supermarket, wouldn’t that have the knock-on impact of collapsing the economy? If everyone suddenly decided to stop using cards for buying things, and instead reverted to cash, wouldn’t that cripple the economy?
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great week ahead.
Disclaimer
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Well, you must obviously be v lazy for attempting FIRE, which is so blatantly displayed in your weekly efforts to write up blogs on the subject and your years of experience and learning on how to achieve it… 😆😆 some people are just too stupid for words 🤷🏻♀️
Great blog, as usual! Thank you for continuing to publish these, I look forward to them every week 🙂
Thank you 🙂
That blogger’s clickbait post about FIRE apparently unsurprisingly coincided with a book he had just published…
Ah, so you know who I am referring to… Yeah, I did wonder about the timing as well.