It's just the second NetWorth update of my journey, but so much has already changed.
First of all, after a quite short but exhausting process against our Régie, we finally got our rent discounted! 35% less, and the previous months refunded! Needless to say that we are super happy about it.
Even though... I was left with some bitterness. Should we have fought even further, losing additional time and money? Are we part of the reason why Swiss rents are so high, as we accepted a good deal for ourselves? But it's unfair that the "renter" has to feel accountable for.
The second big change for myself and my budget is that I have been hired by my company.
Let me better explain: I was working as an external contractor. They were satisfied and impressed with my profile and capabilities, which led them to offer me a full-time contract starting on the 1st of September. I have accepted.
Amazing! You are going to make even more money then! yuppy! But you don't sound too happy about it?
Well... not really. It comes out that as a consultant I was generously paid.
My new salary will be split in 2 parts: a fix amount and a bonus part.
The fix part is 8.3% lower than my current total salary, which is a higher loss compared to the 3.5% rent I was saving from my monthly income.
The bonus, would be 13.6% of the fix part, which when fully paid would bring me a 4% salary increase compared to my current salary. Notice that I have said when fully paid.
a. The bonus is not always guarantee. It might be 0, it might be more, It depends on the company's performances and on my own one.
b. I have missed the 2021 bonus, and the 2022 will be paid pro-rata to my contract time (6 months by then).
This means that until Q2 2023 I surely have a lower salary than my current one, and then it will all depends on our respective performances.
Ah c'mon! You have to sacrifice the first 2 years and half, but then you are going to benefit from it.
Yes of course. But I feel that I shouldn't sign a contract with the vision that I have to wait some time in order to get back what I deserve. Let alone what I already had.
And what If I want to change city or career (as I don't want to stay there until retirement age)? I will have to do it knowing that was in loss for this limited period of time.
And lastly, I am forced to use the 3 weeks holiday that I was saving for November, due to the contract change... And this has ruined pretty much all our plans (mine and my gf's one).
OK. I am done venting, the frustration is all out. Now I will try to just enjoy and benefit of the situation, as it can't be changed :)
And so holiday it is! We will visit my family and travel a bit around Italy.
As we are not fully covid-vaccinated yet, we will spend the whole time in a single country, and avoiding planes to move around, due to the need of a PCR/antigen test each time.
We have to scratch out Sicily from the list, but we will try to push ourselves to catch a train to the south (that means a loooong journey on a warm and crowded train). Maybe Toscany too?
Income CHF 9'809.16 (CHF +2148.60 vs May)
What? where did all this money come from?
Dividends paying day (CHF 451.24) and the refunds such as the defective furniture (CHF 490) and the previous months rent (CHF 1552)
Expenses CHF 2’944.86 (CHF +489.17 vs May)
We had a pretty expensive month, nearly 25% more compared to May. Cheaper rent doesn't mean that we will automatically have cheaper months from now on. But the difference was clearly within the housing spending.
- Housing: We had had the second half of the lawyer payment (Asloca) and we bought 2 pieces of furniture to replace the broken one that was returned. CHF 1'751.42
- Health: Health insurance and a sunscreen to protect my pale skin from the first rays of summer CHF 377.75
- Personal: I am ashamed to say that I have eaten and drank a bit more out then usual this month (x3.5 more than usual). Ashamed because Swiss food is not really good... and being passionate about cooking, I can cook way better dishes for a fraction of the price. Therefore it's a result of my laziness. CHF 486.93
- Transport: went to Zurich and grabbed some other trains during my weekends day-trip. CHF 150.40
- Holiday: As previously said, we are going to spend whole July in Italy. So far we have only bought the train's ticket. CHF 178.35
Stocks Investing CHF 211’629.17 (CHF +7’408.79 vs May)
The stocks have finally moved! But is mostly due to the appreciation of the USD.
I moved 5k into my IBKR and used them to buy some VT.
Saving Rate 69.98% (+2.15% vs May)
The higher income source has matched out the higher expenses of the month, so I hold myself to a stable (nearly) 70% this month as well.
Net Worth CHF 282’990.30 (CHF +17’727.42 vs May)
NW increased by 6.68% since May and 34.13% since the end of 2020.
I've decreased my desired WR to 3% and used the real data from the last 12 month (partially real, as I don't have 2020), in order to calculate my real monthly/yearly allowance, and therefor I jumped back to 22.27% of my FIRE journey.
