I have been very busy lately and it’s hard to find some extra time and energy to keep this blog alive. Mea Culpa!
It’s cool to see that even though I’m not consistent in releasing new content, the blog has a nice flow of visitors every week. Great to see and thanks a lot for taking the time! I do notice it and appreciate it a lot! Continue reading
It’s not going fast enough
The last few months I’ve definitely been happy about what I achieved and how my savings rate is developing. I’m able to put a significant chunk of my monthly salary aside without having to cut down on life’s value. Besides that I already exceeded my 2017 dividend income and we still have a few good months to go in terms of receiving money.
Real estate in Belgium
In the past few months I’ve been receiving multiple emails asking for my opinion on the current real estate markets (especially in Belgium and even in Germany) and if I can spread any light on how I’m searching for a property. To be completely fair, writing something about this topic is not easy… Continue reading
How travelling can become stressful and expensive (Part 2)
How did the story of our lost bags turned out? As Eurowings was not helpful at all, we took matters in our own hands. Meaning, sending emails to various sources and informing different relatives to call whatever number they could get their hands on. On the morning of day 10 something strange happened.
How travelling can become stressful and expensive.
The following event took place in Havana, Cuba. Due to bad internet service, I wasn’t able to post this. I’ve written down this story in the present and left it like this.
Asset allocation
One of the first books I read about being financially literate was “Rich dad, poor dad”. One of the concepts discussed profoundly in this book is asset allocation. Numerous articles have been dedicated to this topic. The answer on the other hand isn’t straight forward. As a matter of fact, it all depends on your personal profile and the amount of risk you want to put in the game.
Portfolio update
Following my net worth update, it’s time to have a closer look at the portfolio. Continue reading
Net worth update
The first quarter of 2018 is coming to an end and as such, provides a great opportunity to show how things went in terms of money.
This is how I initially wanted to start my first blog post in April. Suddenly, it’s the first of May. Continue reading
Real estate as investment
In the past few months I’ve been receiving multiple emails asking for my opinion on the current real estate market and if I can shed any light on how I’m searching for a property. To be completely fair, writing something about this topic is not easy because there’s a lot of (individual) factors that play a role here. Continue reading
Devoted to the cause
My current situation allows me to safe a substantial amount of money on a monthly base. The lifestyle I’m living is quite minimalistic and from pervious posts, it shows I’m on the right track when it comes to saving money. Continue reading
Cranking up my ETF game
Diversification is a well know and very important term when you play the investing game. It’s one of the core principles to apply. Your portfolio is a never ending work of art, constantly evolving and developing itself. The latter is your job. By making sure you have a broad range of companies from different areas and sectors, your defence against volatile behaviour is strong. Continue reading
The internet of things
Let’s throw all our investment strategies aside for a moment and don’t look at the companies that matter on this present-day but towards future possibilities. Continue reading
The challenges
A while ago, I mentioned the next two years I’ll walk this planet without owning a car. This turns out to be a fun and healthy experience. Without sounding to negative, not having a car also has its downsides. It’s not all fun and games. Continue reading
Portfolio update
As the end of the year is approaching fast, it means I can start reminiscing about 2017 and how I can improve my investing strategy in the nearby future. Continue reading
Net worth update
It has been a while that I’ve talked about my personal finances in terms of net worth. As we started the last month of 2017, let’s end the year with some great results. Continue reading
Is it possible to save on minimum wage?
A recent email had me inspired to write a post whether or not it’s possible to save money while earning the bare minimum? Continue reading
How not to buy presents.
It’s that time of the year again. The time were a lot of people spend a ridiculous amount of money on Christmas gifts. “The other day I came across an interesting discussion online about, and I quote: “how can one still safe money? Continue reading
A boost in my savings rate
Due to a recent change in our private situation, we’re not living together anymore. I’m currently working in Belgium and my girlfriend is studying in The Netherlands. We adapted our lifestyle accordingly and as such, our time together is limited. Weekends are even more precious at this point. Continue reading
Who knows about your FIRE plans?
Have you ever tried sharing the idea of financial independence with a friend or loved one? I sure have, more than once. Not that I’m pursuing it myself but more sharing my thoughts about reaching a stage in life where your passive income exceeds the cost of living. That and increase my savings rate. Continue reading
A car story
A couple of months ago, I experienced how life is without owning a car. And no, it wasn’t intentionally. Continue reading
My portfolio
I see my portfolio as a never-ending work of art. It consists of a mix between ETF’s and dividend stocks. Continue reading
I am a child of the world.
A few years ago I decided to make a huge decision and move abroad. Germany to be more precise. Some people thought I was crazy, others admired me and saw me as an example. Continue reading
I can see the snowball getting bigger
A familiar metaphor in the world of financial investing is “the snowball effect”. Imagine standing on the top of a mountain in the middle of winter when a fresh amount of snow has fallen out of the sky. What happens when you shape a snowball and throw it down. More and more snow will stick to the snowball, creating an unstoppable object. The same analogy can be translated to investing. Continue reading
3 months of blogging
The first 3 months of blogging have passed. I didn’t know what to expect when starting this journey. The sole purpose is to share my experiences and hopefully help a few people on the road. To be honest, I was hoping to attract at least a few people. Continue reading
My colleagues and their bad habits
I work in an international environment, together with people from various countries and cultures. The department I work in consists of approximately 40 people, divided in smaller teams. Though, the vast majority has a different background, there are certain fundamentals that correlate. Their food habits for instance. As we are all based in an office, I tend to see the eating habits of the people closest around me. Continue reading
The origin of The Melon Deal
Starting a blog or online community where we share our adventures always sounded interesting. Due to busy schedules those plans faded away after a while. I know…excuses. That’s what I realized as well. So one night I just started writing down my thoughts, step by step. Creating one article, then another… Inspiration could suddenly hit me and no matter where I was, I tried to start writing almost instantly. Creativity is a strange creature. I’ve learned over time to only write when I feel like it or when I feel inspired… just then I am able to finish a complete article in sometimes less than 30 minutes. I never thought I was able to do that. Continue reading
Minimalist I want to become
A few months ago I read a book called minimalism: Living a meaningful life. The authors, Joshua Milburn and Ryan Nicodemus completely changed their lifestyle to pursue the true meaning of life. They led a life full of indulgence, living from paycheck to paycheck,only to discover that what they are doing is just a waste of space.
The reason I started reading this book is due to the amazing, sometimes “life changing” reviews I read. However, my mindset didn’t change after finishing the book. I admired the concept and the thoughts behind it but that was it. It didn’t change me. Until…
How do we travel on a budget? (Part two)
Transportation can make or brake your travel adventures. When traveling to far away destinations it’s one of the biggest costs. We use following tricks to search for flights: Continue reading
How do we travel on a budget? (Part one)
Traveling can get very expensive, especially when you don’t foresee a budget. As exploring the world is something we love to do, we track our costs, plan our travels way ahead and research profoundly. That way, we are able to do multiple trips throughout the year. Every month we put money aside that we use for traveling. Due to our savings behavior, we’re able to safe a significant amount every year for traveling. Besides that, we always try to find great deals. Continue reading
How are we able to save at least 50% of our income? Let’s have a look at our grocery list.
Saving a significant amount of your paycheck does not happen from one day to another. It’s an ongoing process and starts with keeping track of your money. I started with tracking our groceries and restaurants expenses. Continue reading
A benchmark case
Whenever the end of the month approaches, I tend to get a little bit more exciting. You might think this is obvious as the next paycheck is about to arrive. However, I’m the most excited about calculating my new net worth. Continue reading
My savings rate
What percentage of your income do you safe? I honestly don’t have a clue and I’ll tell you why. Continue reading
How much money do we need?
In order to determine how much money we need to sustain a careless live after working, we initially applied the 4 % rule as rule of thumb. Continue reading
What’s my net worth?
Now it starts to get interesting… let’s talk money. Continue reading
Paradise near Bali
A place in the world that’s so peaceful and inspiring deserves an article on this blog. Continue reading
My ticket to freedom
I had my first experience with the stock market about a year after finishing my university education.(*) I had some money in the bank that was not being productive nor would I need it the first few years. So I started investing by purchasing shares. Continue reading
Pursuing Financial Independence
Financial independence can be defined as a state where one has enough passive income to support a lifestyle without having to work. Sounds like a hoax right? I thought so too… Continue reading
