Frugal chicos journal - ERE in The Basque Country

[rube]

Congrats on the promotion. Very good numbers!

[Western Red Cedar]

Congratulations on the success and the promotion!

I'm curious why you you are considering trying to work remotely again from Spain. Wasn't one of the factors in leaving last time the unfavorable tax rates for foreign employment? Why not just stay in Chicago as planned, save up, and make a clean transition to a new life?

[Frugalchicos]

@rube
Thanks!! Appreciate it!

@Western Red Cedar
Thanks!! With the world how it is lately, I would like to keep all options open. Also, I would like to have the opportunity of being able to request a mortgage in The Basque Country if we would like to. I don’t like the idea of pulling the plug and being locked with decisions that were made 5 years ago. I would like to have options like being able to purchase a bigger condo if needed, welcome a second child if for whatever reason we change our mind, or have enough economic muscle if there is opportunities (purchase a cheap condo to rent, whatever).

[Frugalchicos]

Feel I have to clarify some of the words I put here lately. I believe I have been sending some mixed messages in regards to thoughts of buying a bigger house or perhaps keep working when moving back to The Basque Country.

I think these "desires" come basically from fear. Fear of things not going as planned or the economy crashing again, etc. In spite of thriving and being more successful in the last decade than what I could have ever imagined, I always remember living in crisis mode (the 2008 crisis really fucked up the Spanish economy and I don't think it has recovered yet). In think these events set me up in a way that I felt I needed to overachieve, save much more than what we probably need and play safe.

I also feel that when leaving the US, I better have things figured out, otherwise it will be hard to undo or fix anything in The Basque Country. Getting a good, stable job is not an easy task over there unless you or your family knows someone (and I don't know shit).

Anyways, dreams of surfing and hiking all day are very well alive. However, the long Chicago winter and reading too much the Wall Street Journal are probably not a good mix to keep a positive vibe.

[rube]

I have been a bit in the same situation in that it is likely be impossible for me to get a similar high paying job as I used to have and difficult to get a (new) mortgage with good conditions. So I arranged the mortgage and went parttime thereafter for another 2 years because...well to dry run, have some extra, parttime was okay and the good (high) paying job was preferable to continue for a short time above a minimum wage job for a much longer time later on.
But....the one more year syndrome was real and fear is, well, fear. Not always the best, correct rational advisor. At some point you'll need to take the decision how much and when.
I had a good excuse to quit completely, because this was the last year we could travel as a family, before our dd will fly out and that was much more important to us than getting more money.
Too much about me, but just saying that your thoughts are, at least from my perspective, completely understandable.
I'm sure you'll find the path that works for your family.

[2Birds1Stone]

@2Birds1Stone

In regards to the condo, we only think it would be nice to have an elevator for when we are old and more space for the family. Honestly, we are not asking for anything crazy, just something a bit better. But, we will not compromise the goal for it. There is also no rush on buying a condo, etc, it is only an idea/dream

I guess I just remember your excitement to renovate and redo the whole thing according to your custom plans. You're very far off from being old enough to need an elevator. I wouldn't chase something now based on an imaginary situation that's likely 40-50 years out. Heck, think about how much you may change your mind about where to live/how to live, etc over the next 3-5 decades anyway.

Congrats on the promotion, that's some serious coin! Is this a sales role where you can earn commission?

[Nicolino]

Felicitaciones por la promoción. If you guys could keep making US money while living in the Basque Country, even for a couple of years, that would be pretty sweet. I find it a good idea to err on the safe side regarding investments, I too feel that once I shut the door on the corporate world it´ll be hard to be making those big bucks again if I felt the need...

[Seppia]

I don’t see anything bad with padding the stash. I believe having a kid REALLY changes the equation.
A couple of like-minded, ere-hardened individuals has a lot of options to fall back in case “things go bad” (ie geoarbitrage) that are less available to those with kids*.
Plus the time horizon obviously changes (ie you want to give kids the option of good schools).


*excluding super humans like theanimal

[Frugalchicos]

@rube
"At some point you'll need to take the decision how much and when" - totally agree. I think I just need a year or two of working to ease the transition and make sure that all decisions made 5 years ago are still valid. Also, my imigration journey started more than 14 years ago because it was always a dream to have a good highly paid job in the Basque Country. I guess it is a milestone for me that was never able to achieve.

@2birds1stone
We are still very excited to live in our condo - it is definitely beautiful. I guess that the perception of it changed when I visited last time in February and saw it (my sister and her boyfriend are renting it from us now). The apartment was cluttered with mismatched furniture, decor (the fridge was completely covered with magnets for example), etc... We also think our room might be a bit small (might have issues opening the closet doors with the bed). But all these issues are easily fixable. We could move one wall 60cms and remove the built-in closet from our bedroom to make our room a bit bigger. This would cost us about 3-5K. Anyways, as you said, sometimes we make/imagine problems when there is none.

In regards to the new position. It is purely operational and strategic. My base salary will be 100K plus 15K bonus based on achieving goals, etc. But nothing about commission. However, I always got the full bonus , so basically counting on all the 15K

@nicolino
Gracias! yes, it would be nice 1-2 years of high salary in the Basque. I feel just the same, once I close the door of the corporate job, I will not be able to go back easily. Opportunities in Europe are not as abundant as in the US.

@seppia
Totally agree, flexibility definitely gets reduced when you include kids into the equation. It is also true that living in The Basque is already kind of geoarbritage in a way haha

[Seppia]

Sure, moving to Basque Country is a kind of geoarbitrage, but as a couple you could (for example) have a leaner stash and decide to move temporarily to some VERY low cost country like Guatemala, Mexico, Cambodia etc in case of a tough break from the markets.

Sure one can do that with a kid as well but it is much harder + I believe kids could benefit from some sort of stability.

[Frugalchicos]

totally agree. In fact, our plans would probably be different if we didn't have kids. Who knows, maybe we would quit earlier and travel around the world for some time before settling in The Basque Country.

[Frugalchicos]

Today we achieved an amazing milestone in our financial journey. We are millionaires!!! our NW finally passed the 1MM mark.

We feel very accomplished and immensely excited for such a milestone. I personally never imagined I was going to fall under that financial category. This new "title" doesn't give anything but peace of mind. I am very excited and motivated to continue this project and keep going for the next two years. I am positive we will achieve our goal by June 2025 (1MM in investments plus the properties. We are only ~235K away).

[Seppia]

WOW
Congrats, baller!

[Frugalchicos]

@seppia

Thanks boss!

[Ego]

Incredible! The runaway phase sure is fun to watch when it is coupled with a non-traditional approach like yours. This is page 36 of your journal. The wealth, work experiences and citizenships have the potential to open unexpected, unseeable doors. I would be hard pressed to predict where you three will be on page 60. Such an exciting life you've built!

[Western Red Cedar]

Congratulations! That is a huge milestone. I hope you and Frugalchica take time to enjoy it and reflect on your success.

[Frugalchicos]

@Ego

Oh boy, I hope we are chilling and enjoying life with a ton of experiences to tell . I personally hope I am speaking Basque with my dudes, hanging five with my Longboard and playing guitar like a champ!

@Western Red Cedar

Thanks!! We did make a special intro into our journal (we keep a hard journal where we write all the monthly updates). It was awesome and surprising to see the growth over the years. I will post the year over year NW growth in the next monthly entry. We are also hoping to get someone to take care of mini this weekend so we can grab some dinner together and talk about it with more time and without a kid screaming at us

[Seppia]

There is something special in celebrating something with a 3yo disrupting everything all the time with unexpected (and seemingly unstoppable) energy.

Huge congrats man, I’m genuinely happy for you and the family. You live life the right way and with your attitude there’s nothing but winning ahead

Being one, I have a sweet spot for immigrants that make it

[theanimal]

Congratulations to you 3!! That much closer to your time in the Basque country

[2Birds1Stone]

Big congrats!! Things definitely snowball from here. We hit this milestone a year ago and with the recent market runup surpassed it by a significant amount already. Keep on rockin' on!