A day in the life of an annuitant

6:00 a.m.. It is snowing heavily. The temperature is close to zero.

From my room I look at my car covered in white powder. I think to myself, poor little thing, you must be standing there in the cold all alone outside. My neighbor passes in front of her and heads towards his car, ten meters away. He gets excited, clears the snow, while letting his engine warm up. The exhaust fumes draw a thick pink cloud around the rear lights. It's really cold. I look at him and think to myself, my poor guy, you're freezing, you're going to get snowed in on the road, then sweat for 10 hours in your office, before coming back to park that same car, in the same place, hoping that it won't snow anymore tonight. I smile, because it reminds me of someone, then I go back to my warm bed, next to my beautiful.

8:30 a.m.. Despite the snow, the daylight wakes me up and I get up. I am a rentier.

A few years ago, I was like my neighbor. I was fully invested in my job, I put in the hours and like many of my generation I would have preferred to be able to earn my living differently, to have more time for myself, more freedom, autonomy... I could have changed jobs and even become self-employed, but the problem would have always been the same: whether it was a boss or clients, I would always have had to answer to someone. So I needed another source of income that was completely passive, the goal not being to work even more.

9:00 a.m.. The European stock exchanges are opening. We are off for another day of panic on the markets. I have my coffee.

This source of income was at first much less than that of my job. Little by little, with patience, the money coming in became more numerous and more regular. What seemed to be a small, almost dried-up stream turned into a river full of life, then into a long, quiet stream. For a year now I have been covering all my expenses without working a single minute. How is this possible?

10:00 a.m.. The stock markets are falling by more than 2%. I finish reading Morningbull.

When I was at school, we played invisible friend. We would draw a name out of a hat and for a week we had to be nice to this classmate, make sure everything went well for him, give him presents. In return, another classmate would do the same to me. Our goal was to guess who this friend was. It was easy of course. For our teachers it was mainly a good way to socialize, to create networks in the class. Ultimately I have to say that it was quite nice to feel that an external force cared about our little person.

11:15 a.m.. My dear and tender brings me the mail. Outside, it is still snowing.

I used to hate getting the mail. Aside from my paycheck once a month, most of the time it was just bills. Now I get my dividend from Becton Dickinson, $0.45 per share, the 38th consecutive year of payout increases. It's my invisible friend today.

12:15 p.m.. A pork tenderloin is waiting for me on the table. It's still snowing and the SMI is losing 2.5%.

At first I bought a few stocks that paid increasing dividends, without really realizing what was going to happen. Every year, on average, they increased their distributions by more than 10%. At the end of the year, my boss called me into his office and told me that the situation was difficult, you see, business was bad, we weren't going to be able to give you a raise next year. And he bought himself the latest Porsche Cayenne. Then I said to myself, here I am busting my ass, I get nothing in return, and with my increasing dividends I do nothing, and they give me a raise of more than 10% per year.

2:00 p.m.. I wake up from my nap. There must be at least 30 cm of snow.

So I started buying more stocks, first with my salary, then directly with the dividends I received. As these increased, while I continued to buy, my passive income took off. When I say passive, it is not entirely true. It takes time and effort to research and buy quality companies. But, once the portfolio is set up, it takes a minimum of time to keep an eye on the investments and monitor the progress of the dividends.

3:30 p.m.. Wall Street opens down more than 2%. It's a rout.

With the portfolio in place, with many quality stocks paying increasing dividends, I was able to build up a real supplemental income, with very little time spent on it. Gradually, this income grew to the point where I no longer knew which one was my main income. After deducting all my professional expenses, my "conventional" job was finally no longer necessary.

5:00 p.m.. The snow falls and falls again. The Dow Jones loses 2.6%.

I am zen. The companies that make up my portfolio are essentially defensive in nature, in sectors such as food and health. Above all, these companies have managed to increase their dividend for several decades in a row, despite serious crises. The price may move, but the dividends do not fall.

6:00 p.m.. My neighbor comes home, in the snow, after a hard day's work.

I can still see myself coming home, exhausted, no longer wanting to do anything. The advantage of being a rentier is that if I don't want to do anything, like today, whether it's raining, snowing, or for any other reason, I don't do anything. On the contrary, if I want to go out, play sports, see friends, I have all the time I need. I remember that a career counselor had me fill out a questionnaire when I was a teenager. Under "sought-after professions", I had written "rentier". She had said that it was original, but surprisingly she had not advised me to go down that path.

7:00 p.m.. Family meal, with a Cabernet Sauvignon to accompany.

The other advantage of being a rentier is being able to enjoy your evening peacefully, without thinking about tomorrow. No butterflies in my stomach about urgent work to hand in, no stress about a session to lead, no fear of an angry boss, nothing. I can enjoy my Cabernet without restraint, and I only think about the good time I'm having.

9:30 p.m.. Wall Street in free fall of 3%.

I log into my bank and do some shopping. It's paradoxical, but I love it when the market crashes, since the price of my shares doesn't matter to me. I take advantage of it to buy shares at a low price. Actually, I'm not buying shares, but an annuity. And the lower the price, the more I can get from a given capital.

00:30. Miraculously, it's not snowing anymore.

I'm going to bed. I didn't do much today, but I still feel like I've done my duty. In the space of a few minutes I've increased my income. Tomorrow I'll go skiing and without doing anything my income will still increase.

 

This text is a fiction, but it is not completely disconnected in some ways from my current or future reality. Perhaps some of you will also recognize yourself in this portrait of a rentier (current or future).