April was a quick month. I’ve had a concert, celebrated some birthdays, and spent a weekend with my friends in Belgium. It was an intense month with much decision-making and changes!
Mini-Retirement #2
I love traveling, especially long uninterrupted trips are my favorite. My parents-in-law have their 30-year wedding anniversary in September. To celebrate that, they want to go to Curaçao.
One day I would love to visit there. As it’s been a colony of the Netherlands, it’s a very popular holiday destination for Dutchies. So I’m happy that we go now! They’ve booked a villa for the entire family to enjoy, with a private pool and everything.
Over the past weekend, we booked our tickets yay!!
When we booked our ticket, we opted for a one-way ticket. For the radical effect. However, return tickets are cheaper than one-way tickets. Why? No one knows. We’ve booked a return ticket from September to December. Just in time to be home for Christmas!
If you have any travel tips for Central America. Let me know below!
We’re thinking about going to Colombia (again), Panama, Costa Rica, and Mexico.
Happy side notes: KLM tickets were the cheapest, so I’m finally gonna experience that KLM joy when I’m flying. I’ve heard very good things about KLM! Especially when you’re on an 11-hour flight, it’s good to be comfortable.
After my travel to South America, this is my second mini-retirement. I’m happy that I am able to get the option to travel again!
If you’re flying a lot, I found a very good organization to help to compensate for the CO2 of your flight: GreenSeat. It’s a Dutch company that’s running carbon-neutral projects. Go Earth!
[Related Read: How I Accidentally Had 8 Months Of Mini-Retirement]
April Financial Update
This is the first month of my higher salary because last month the additional bonus and other extra’s were included.
If you haven’t been updated yet: I’ve received a 21% salary raise in February.
Read articles published about my salary raise and more career-related advice here:
- Stop Being Afraid to Negotiate Your Salary
- 21% Return in 9 Months – Your Career is Your Greatest Asset
- 5 Steps to Get a Promotion When You’ve Just Started Working
- Barcelona Trip and February Salary Raise
Here is a breakdown of my spending:
Rough breakdown:
- 280€ rent and utilities
- 85€ weekend trip
- 63€ groceries for the month
- 66€ dentist trip
- 15€ gifts
This means that I have a savings rate of 72.2% for the month of April!
My year-to-date savings rate is 75.4%, which is a lot above my goal of 60% for the year. If I’m not going to work for three months of the year, however, I need this buffer!
- Last month I had a savings rate of 85.8%, you can read more details here
- In February I had a savings rate of 74.5%, you can read more details here
- In January I had a savings rate of 62.5%, you can read more details here
My current income is mostly coming from my salary. Here is a breakdown:
Since July I’m investing in P2P lending and additionally, I’m receiving small dividends from my stocks. My goal for quarter two of the year (April-June) is to increase my income from P2P lending and dividends to 10% of my monthly income.
This is my first income goal, let’s see how that goes!
April On The Blog
Still love blogging and enjoying every second of it!
Most Popular Posts Of April:
1. 11 Truths About Money Everyone Should Know – My personal finances journey the last decade has taught me many things about money, which I’ve summarized in 11 truths about money everyone should know.
2. 5 Reasons Successful People Wear The Same Clothes Every Day – Minimalism is getting more popular, taking over fast fashion. Successful people often wear the same clothes every day, not only for environmental reasons.
3. Don’t Let Your Self Worth Affect Your Net Worth – Society links self-worth and net worth. I’m here to tell you they are not linked. Don’t let your self-worth affect your net worth!
If you haven’t followed me yet, you can go and follow me on Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook or Instagram!
Goal Setting – April Evaluation
- Submit my taxes – PASS. I’ve submitted my taxes and I’m getting a refund of €500, I’m happy!
- Sell my study books – FAIL. I think no one wants to have them. I’ll try to sell my study books until the summer otherwise I will donate them.
- Work out 3x per week – PASS. This is really part of my habits and regimen now. I’m not getting on top of my eating habits yet, but working out is a great start!
- Work ahead for Radical FIRE posts – FAIL. I was not able to work on my posts over the last three weekends since I’ve been having events and get-togethers. Let’s try again for May!
- Read through my December and January posts to check my spelling – FAIL. As noted before I’ve had a busy personal life over the last few weeks, so no extra time that I could dedicate on the blog.
Goal Setting – May Goals
- Sell my study books – it has to happen once
- Get 5% of my income from passive sources (P2P lending or dividends)
- Get ahead 3 posts for Radical FIRE
- Read through all posts to check spelling and grammar
- Adjust ads on site to liking
- Write email opt-in series – what would you be interested in?
How did your April go?
Marjolein is a financial consultant who has built over €4,000 monthly passive income and saves over 70% of her income. Read Radicals’ inspiring story, from stuck in the 9-to-5 to loving life. Feel free to send Radical a message at the bottom of this page
Very cool! Travelling for three months uninterrupted sounds great.
I’m still struggling with these topics myself. Currently I’m going full-speed regarding my career and side-hustles, to make as much as possible, to be financially free as fast as possible. However, your strategy also seems interesting. By taking time of regularly, your income will be lower so you’ll have to work for longer, but you’ll be less stressed for sure!
For me, this strategy would maybe not be to travel for a couple months, but rather to work less, like 3-4 days per week instead of 5-6 (including side-hustles).
Interesting, definitely something to think about!
Hi B, yes it´s a constant push-and-pull story. First I was also determined to be FI asap, but then I realized that now is the perfect moment to do another trip. I don’t have a house or my own car, and I have the time now. My bf graduates this summer, so I’m unsure if there will ever be another opportunity like this.
Yes it makes me work longer, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take. If I’m missing my salary of 3 months plus my travel expenses, it will cost me around €10,000 max. That’s worth it for me, it will be something to remember for sure! I’m not planning on doing any more long trips until I FI, but let’s see what happens
Working less would be another good way to slow down, do you aspire to do this any time soon?
Email opt-in series? Tell me more!
Congrats on your awesome saving rate the upcoming mini-retirement.
Thanks FOGA, I’m excited too!!
I want to write some kind of email series, when they submit their email they get automatically enrolled into an email series with valuable info. What and how is to be determined!
Congrats with 72 %! I had the same rate this month 😃
But I can’t manage your level every month. Too damn hard!
Rock on! 👊💰
Yeaaa, you’re doing an amazing job! I have my fixed expenses around this amount, so it’s the natural balance for me.
My goal is 60% average this year, with 3 months of no income, so let’s increase my average until I go traveling!
Nice post. I learn something new and challenging on websites I stumbleupon on a daily basis.
It’s always interesting to read through articles from
other authors and practice something from other sites.
Hi Joey, thanks for your kind words!