Diary of a future rentier (28)

I started my journey towards financial independence exactly 14 years ago. At first it was just a distant dream, a utopia, maybe a hobby that would keep me busy for a while, before moving on to something else. In 2000, it was the era of dotcom values, everyone was rushing into them, with an effect that was accentuated by the influx of a multitude of stock market novices, thanks to the arrival of online brokers. It was just crazy.

The rest is history. One of the biggest washouts in the history of the stock markets. Paradoxically, I now think that it was this debacle that made this little whim that took hold of me at the time change my life. Because of my personality type INTJ, I am a bit stubborn and tenacious. This initial bitter failure gave me the will to fight, to learn and to find solutions. Of course, if I had started at a better time, I could probably have saved time, but I would not have today this experience that allows me to see the next market shocks coming (and they will come) with zenitude. I would even say that I now consider them as an opportunity.

Now I am no longer at the stage of utopia. My path to financial independence is very real, I perceive passive income regular that allow me to save even more. I estimate that in about ten years I will be able to retire from the professional world. It may seem far away, but at the same time it goes by so quickly. When I think back to my beginnings on the stock market 14 years ago, I feel like it was yesterday. I can still see myself making my first click to place my order and following the evolution of the price seconds later, glued to my screen for hours. Fortunately, all that has changed.

In short, 14 years have passed and another ten years to go, that's a long time. There are many French or English methods that promise you much shorter deadlines. It must also be said that the two successive stock market crashes of the 2000s did not help me. But there are two factors that mainly explain this difference.

First of all, I never deprived myself of anything, I always traveled as I wanted and lived as I wanted. Certainly, because of my personality INTJ, I have never been a slave to consumer society, its big brands and their advertising, but apart from that the savings I have built up are really money that is of no use to me.

Afterwards, my investment method in growing dividends has the particularity of never touching the capital, once the age of "retirement" has arrived, unlike the vast majority of other approaches. This represents an additional security, because you always have a comfortable cushion available in case of a hard blow. In addition, you do not have to worry about your life expectancy, because the longer it is, the more your fortune grows (at the same time as your income). Finally, you can leave your children a nice gift on your last trip.

Some will say that 24 years in total is still a lot. Maybe indeed, when you are at the beginning of the journey, it can seem inaccessible. But when you think that it does not require any additional sacrifice, why deprive yourself? And then if you start early, it means that you can become an annuitant during your forties... there are still worse scenarios.