Let me start with the good news – I won the lottery! And so did my husband! On the same day… No, it was not the £1,000,000 that I had hoped for  but we each got 50 quid of ‘free’ money anyway. And before you devoted FIRE followers are tempted to tell me off for squandering my money buying lottery a lottery ticket, I’m talking of the UK’s NS&I Premium Bond lottery. Both my husband and I both put in a portion of our emergency fund. They are bonds, but instead of earning a below inflation amount of interest, they enter you in a lottery once a month at no extra cost. It’s ..read more

Is this really my first post in… a year? Gosh. Maybe I won’t have a new post for you every week or so, but I do not want to this website to become a place where I write just once a year to look back at previous year.  2022 seems to have been The Year Of The New House. After looking around for a couple of years we finally found something we liked, was within budget and close to our daughter’s school. And despite 9 month’s delays we made it all happen. We bought it and sold the flat.  It sounds so easy in hindsight but suffice to say the completion deadline slipped 6 times. The buyers ..read more

And so the Christmas holidays have gone, the new year has started and the end of January is in sight. Days pass, weeks and months even, and I realise I haven’t shown my face here for a while. When looking back over 2021 with my husband we reflected that a lot has happened, yet it felt like nothing much actually did. Lots of work (luckily!) but not enough travel. We made an offer on a larger house (the famous extra room) but after 5 months of sorting out stuff (mortgage, decluttering the loft, finding a buyer for our current place) we still are nowhere near owning the place. Busyness for the s ..read more

‘L’ is the kind of person whom one could listen to for a very long time – a gentle and calm voice, a smart lady and an interesting story. She started investing in rental properties only 12 years ago after her divorce, but in just a few years she owned up to 7.5 properties (one she co-owns with someone else).  At 55 and with two sons in their 20s, she now owns 4.5 properties including her two mortgage-free homes in London and Brighton.  Although she could stop working as she is financially independent she says she doesn’t because, among others, she likes the little luxuries in life ..read more

This is my third draft for a new post. Life’s corona-induced sameness is ongoing. Is there anything new to say? Let’s see. This week one of my LinkedIn connections wrote that she got so bored during lockdown #1 that she wrote a book. My first reaction: she had time to write a book?!?! Covid has greatly increased the lifestyle difference between people with kids and those without kids. The former have time to learn new things and develop hobbies let alone exercise, the latter are busy just getting on. The former may spend a month or two somewhere else working remotely, the latter stay put in c ..read more

If there is one thing we have all learnt this year is that we cannot control everything. Sure, we normally get to control a lot more than we can this year, but the principle remains. You may be familiar with the principle of ‘control only what you can control’. This is what is known as the Circle of Control. I can’t explain it better than Mr Money Mustache did with this simple yet super clear chart: In green is your Circle of Control – what you can directly control. If you don’t like something in this circle, you can change it. Simple. In pink is your Circle of Concern – things that concern ..read more

A few days ago while digesting my lunch I decided that, as I could not focus much on work, I could just as well rake up the large amount of leaves that were covering our lawn. It was the day the government announced that London, among others, would move up to Covid alert level 2, meaning increased restrictions on who we could meet and where. I spent almost an hour filling two big bags. Thank goodness for physical exercise and endorphins! My mood was saved for the day. Then I looked up to our four large trees still almost entirely filled with leaves. It feels symbolic for this year: months go ..read more

Yesterday I quit my job without having another one lined up.  Yes, I know there is still a pandemic out there, and there will be for many more months. Yes, it helps that I have contractually 3 months notice. Paid unfortunately at a reduced rate given the 20% pay cut my husband and I were faced with in March as lockdown was announced – but three months nonetheless. No, I’m nowhere near being financially independent, but certainly still working on it! Why did I quit? A crisis makes everyone nervous. Some clients pause all or most of their activity and reduce their fees, with the result tha ..read more

Two weeks ago I did an antibodies test. I was selected at random from the list of my GP’s patients and in a couple of days I had the test kit home. I was so happy, dreaming how that drop of blood would confirm that I had the virus, just not the symptoms – because why not – and that I would be able to resume a life more close to what it was 3 months ago. You know, like meeting more friends and going on the holiday we had booked for August. Guess what, the test was negative. 10 minutes and a drop of blood that brought me right back down to the normality of a pandemic. That result really threw m ..read more

I have been quiet for a while lately because, frankly, this year is emotionally and psychologically intense. As if Brexit and Coronavirus were not enough, the world is now in upheaval – and rightly so – about racial discrimination and unjustified killings, especially by police forces who are supposed to protect us. At first I felt uneasy about the protest given the pandemic, but somehow also in favour. One cannot look at pictures of George Floyd’s last few minutes of life and remain cold. I struggled – and still do – to fully understand why this happened, I guess because I never lived in the ..read more