Diary of a future rentier (16)

Having time off when everyone else is working. Not a sound in the house. I drink my hot coffee quietly, at the time I want. No plans for the day, no tight schedule to meet, no last-minute emergencies or phones that never stop ringing. Just time for me and that's fine. I love these rare moments of calm that allow you to empty your mind of all the usual daily worries of work.

It is for these simple moments of tranquility that I have been working for over ten years. Becoming financially independent does not happen overnight, especially for those who started this project in the early 2000s. But the important thing is to always be on track and from time to time to be able to grant yourself little moments like this for yourself, just to remind yourself why you are fighting.

Today, thanks to the indecent returns of the stock markets since 2011, I am once again at the crest of the wave. But with the disappointments of 2000-2003 and 2007-2009, I now know that we should not give too much importance to the variations in stock prices. There is a lot of speculation and excitement behind it, without there necessarily being any link with the real economy, that is to say the profits that companies make and the dividends that they can pay to shareholders. That is what is important.

The market will inevitably correct downwards again. Many small investors who entered the ship late will lose their feathers and decide to get out as quickly as possible. The more experienced will instead take advantage of this to buy back shares at a low price. The stock market is not more complicated than that, some are getting washed out while others are rubbing their hands. And it has been like this for centuries.

We should let all these people get excited when prices rise and panic when they fall. All this agitation is sterile and only enriches the brokers. To be financially independent, you need to be able to count on a stable income, which is not possible if you focus only on the fluctuations in stock prices.

I finished my coffee. It's going to be a typical April gloomy day. But I don't care...