2022 Personal Review – Mr Way

It’s time for my 2022 Personal Review – what a year it has been! 

First and foremost, Happy New Year to you all! Hopefully 2023 brings you health, happiness and prosperity.

My 2021 review promised that the blog would become a priority for us again. Unfortunately, this hasn’t happened yet, due to the chaos of setting up our new lives in the Caribbean! Fingers crossed 2023 sees us finally find the time. 

Leaving It All Behind 

The start of 2022 saw us unravelling the lives we had built in the UK. I had lived in the same place for nearly 14 years. We owned our home and had lots of commitments, both personal and professional. We also had lots of belongings! 

Selling our house was a huge undertaking, but a very interesting process to go through for the first time. Alongside selling the property itself, we also got rid of most of our belongings. As someone who had been wanting to live a more minimalist life, having to fit everything you own into suitcases is quite a strong motivation to get on with it! 

We didn’t quite manage to achieve the goal, because we’ve left a lot of sentimental belongings at parents’ houses. Nevertheless, the process has been very freeing and is something we’ll try hard not to go back on without good reason.  

As well as the physical ‘stuff’, we also had a lot of loose ends to tie up. I was the Chairman of my local tennis club, which was upsetting to leave behind. However, I hadn’t been able to play for a while due to a long-term injury, which made the decision easier in the end.  

I was at the point where I really hated my old job so going into 2022, I was VERY happy to be leaving that aspect of my old life behind.  

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A Day in Nairobi, Kenya

Africa Series – Part 5

The Journey Begins! 

We started our month-long adventure in Nairobi, having completed the 2-leg flight from the UK, via Dubai.  

First impressions weren’t great as we stood in the immigration queue for 90 minutes. It was a warm, stuffy place and the queue was a battle! Other passengers didn’t seem to have the same ‘personal space’ values as we do!  

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Review of Ultimate East Africa

Africa Series – Part 4

As you probably know by now, we spent most of the summer in East Africa! We were away for a month, with the vast majority of our time being spent on the Ultimate East Africa trip by G Adventures.  

We wanted to provide a review of our trip in the hope that it helps others when choosing a similar escapade! 

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Africa Trip – What We Spent!

Africa Series – Part 3

We gave a rough estimate before we left that the trip would cost us in the region of £5,500 each. Was our estimate right?!

A lot of the costs were already known before we left. We had paid for the flights, the tour with G Adventures and some extra hotel nights at either end of the trip. The tour costs also included a lot of food and transport etc.

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We’re Home! Africa Snaps

Africa Series – Part 2

That’s it – we’re back! (Actually, we got back at the end of August but we’ve been kind of busy….) 

Over 6 months in the planning, our Africa trip was over in a heartbeat. We saw incredible wildlife, stunning scenery and got to meet some inspirational locals. It was truly a life-changing experience for both of us. We’re so happy we got to make those memories together.  

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What a Difference the Sun Makes

Ode to Sunshine 

S.A.D vanisher 

Negativity banisher 

Energy creator and motivation shaker 

Reinvigorates smiles and unused miles 

Of muscles that wake as you shine 

The slate is wiped clean 

As faces beam at rays that rain down from the 

Blue, cloudless sky, bringing twinkles to eyes  

As collectively spirits are raised! 

Miss Way
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The Importance of Having a Goal

In What is FIRE? we described the process of achieving financial independence and having the freedom to retire early from work. That’s great, but what are you going to do with all that spare time? You need to have a goal!

“One can find time for everything if one is never in a hurry.”

Mikhail Bulgakov, Heart of a Dog
There's a lot of spare time when work is optional. What will you do with it all?!

What Are You Retiring TO?

It’s vital that you understand what you’re retiring TO rather than focussing on what you’re retiring FROM. This is what we mean by ‘have a goal’!

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A FIRE Trial Run

Africa Series – Part 1

The world is always open, waiting to be discovered

Dejan Stojanovic

For quite a while now we have been deciding what the next step in our lives looks like. After much discussion, including options such as working abroad, travel, starting a family etc (see Our Version of FIRE for more), we settled on the idea of a FIRE trial run!

OK we’re not actually retiring, or even leaving our jobs. Actual FIRE is still a distant dream. But we’re taking an extended break in summer 2019 to travel for a month!

But how does this fit with our frugal tendencies and our ambition to achieve FIRE? 

‘Be Present’

A concept which we have raised previously is to ‘be present’. What we mean by this is to enjoy the journey to FI as well as the retirement itself! It’s very easy when seeking financial independence to get bogged down in saving every last penny and forego experience until a later date. Delayed gratification is a core principle of FIRE after all! We have been trying to optimise our spending to increase our savings rate and this trip will have a huge impact on those numbers. But it’s important to strike a balance. It essentially boils down to this:  Continue reading “A FIRE Trial Run”