Welcome to my blog! My name is Ferry, 45, and after some financial luck in the summer of 2018 I started looking into ways to grow my savings. I became quite disappointed in the interest rates of savings accounts, and then a friend showed me an alternative (spoiler alert: it’s crowdfunding and crowdlending). This came with ups and downs, so I broadened my portfolio to include the stock market.
The average historical rate of inflation is roughly 2-3%. That’s how much the value of your money decreases every year, so that is how high the interest rate of your savings account should be in order to not lose any money.. And on top of that, above a certain amount you also need to pay wealth tax.
I am not looking for high risk investments only, but I want to invest in such a way that my savings grow up to a point that the interest and returns provide me with a decent income (even when taking inflation and wealth tax into account). I want my money to grow and work for me, instead of me needing to work for my money. So in short: minimize risk and effort, maximize returns and profit.
A friend told me about crowdfunding and crowdlending, lending your money online to companies and individuals with acceptable risks and nice return rates. Later I read about financial freedom, and what you can do to have a nice income in the future that requires minimal effort.
So why are you doing this?
Good question.. First I say I want to do as little as possible, and now I’m spending energy in blogging about it.. The answer is: I love all sorts of statistics regarding my returns, and creating automated reports to see how much money I earned each month. I’m also quite enthousiastic about reaching financial freedom this way, and this blog is my way of combining those reports with expressing my enthousiasm about it. Also, it is the stick I need to keep saving a much as possible for my future, instead of going out for dinner for the second time this week. Or third time.. 🙂
If I can inspire other people to start saving and investing, to reach for financial freedom, that is another bonus. If you got inspired and have taken steps to financial freedom yourself, I’d love to hear how you are doing!
You do not need a lot of money to start investing, an amount as low as 10 euros is enough to get started. You should see the differences in returns compared to your savings account in no time!
Financial freedom?
Being able to pay your bills, even when you quit your job? That’s financial freedom and independence. There are several ways to reach this, but all of them need you to spend less than you earn. And save and invest the difference. Let this grow until the interest and returns are enough to provide you with a passive income that is high enough to give you financial freedom.
Targets
In order to reach your goal, financial freedom, set targets that stimulate you to take the right steps and keep you motivated. Multiple targets keep propelling you forward, just a single target on the horizon can be demotivational..
My first goal was to earn a passive income of € 1,000 per month. When you start, set a target that you can reach within a couple of months. Or start a blog about it, so you are obliged to publicly keep working towards that target 🙂
A passive income of €1,000 per month is not enough for stable financial independence, the first target is just to show me things are possible. I reached this goal after I diversified and started to invest via the stock market.
My second target is reaching €2,000 on a monthly basis. This return on my investments sounds like a passive income that could give me financial independence. If I can keep my expenditures under tight control.. Occasionally my average income reaches this target.
My third target is a monthly passive income of €4,000. I don’t think I have to worry about my finances anymore, and I can just focus on the fun things to do in life. Still a long road ahead though, but I don’t mind. It is a fun road to travel.
I started my journey on the road to financial freedom in august 2018, and my goal is to reach this somewhere between the ages of 55 and 60. So far, it’s already a really fun new hobby.
Full transparency
I’ll show you everything in my blog: my income, deposits, withdraws, and screenshots of my online accounts to back it up. The performance of each investment and each online investment platform, the ups and downs, my choices and (I’m sure there will be) my mistakes.
Each month I will post a monthly overview with the exact returns per investment platform.
This way I can give myself the insights into my progression towards financial freedom, and it allows me to decide better where to invest more. Or less. I hope it gives you enough information and inspiration to make better financial decisions too.
Disclaimer
Crowdfunding and crowdlending are not without risks. Money you cannot afford to loose should be in your savings account, you can loose the money you invested. This blog shows my personal investment experiences, it is not investment advise. You should always make sure you are well informed, investments are always on you own risk.
This blog contains links to crowdfunding and crowdlending sites. When you register via these links you could receive a bonus. As the referrer I might receive a bonus too, which helps me for example to pay the hosting costs for this blog. So it’s a win-win situation!
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