Just Figuring Things Out

So, yesterday I explained a new strategy. The husband and myself were not very sure about it either. We’re just trying different things out. I got a number of responses in Dutch. For readers who can’t read Dutch: they don’t like this new strategy. Just buy the funds when you want to buy them against the going rate. This way we’re already euro cost averaging, so we shouldn’t be worried about the price we’re paying. Another smart remark was that the money was just sitting in an account now, without earning any interest or dividend. Yeah, that’s also true. Someone else said that stock prices usually go up after payday, which is just about now. So it would be better to invest between the 5th and 10th day of each month. And Frenchie’s comment is also very true!

Guess I am a slow learner?? 😉 It’s the human emotions that get in the way. That’s why I’d like to automate these things as much as possible. This is already the case with Meesman, but I can’t do this with BinckBank. Except for wiring the money to BinckBank on a monthly basis. Well, that’s the first step!

The husband was also determined on buying stocks in April, because it’s “his month”. And today is the last day of April, so he’s going to buy them today.

I guess the new strategy isn’t a brilliant move after all. We could put in an order like this at the start of each month and if we didn’t manage to buy stocks at a lower price we should still buy at the going  rate on day 8, 9 or 10 of that month.

Thanks for all your feedback!

We are going to get this investment vehicle going! Yes, don’t wait, invest!

Love,

Mrs EconoWiser

Buying Index Funds At A Certain Price…Well…Doh

Since I still hadn’t bought VWRL with the money I was supposed to invest in March (a baby came along which “messed up” the plan) I decided to throw the money at the fund asap. Well, not too soon. The hubby also needs to invest his budget for this month. Oh, and it’s almost May…which means it’ll be my turn again! Oh dear…

Anyway, at this moment VWRL is a bit pricey at €49.somethingish. I’d like to buy at €48.somethingish. I know, I know…market timing…a big no no. The hubby and I can’t seem to kick the habit. However, turns out the stocks have hit €48 and below in the past three months. When I purchased my first order I just paid whatever the price was at that moment. I also saw other options when I ordered these stocks, but I didn’t pay attention to them. I started to think about these options and figured out I might be able to place an order for a certain price without having to pay attention to what the stock market is doing. I went back to my BinckBank interface today and made a phone call.

I explained my plan and I was dead right about the possibilities. Turns out I can place in an order for a certain price. I can choose between an order which will be valid for one day or for one month. I chose the latter one. So, I placed an order for a certain amount of VWRL stocks at €48,50. If that amount of VWRL stocks become available at that price or less in the upcoming month I will have bought them at that price. Yay!

I love my new strategy. It means I can automate these bigger purchases. At the beginning of each month we’ll wire a big pile of money to our stock accounts with BinckBank (to me in uneven months and to the husband in even months). When the money is added to this account we’ll place an order as described above. This way we won’t have to keep an eye on what the stocks are worth on any given day.

What do you think of this new strategy?

Love,

Mrs EconoWiser

Doing Groceries The Lazy And Expensive Way

With the baby ‘n all we have gotten very lazy when it comes to doing our groceries. These past weeks we ordered our groceries via this very convenient pick up point. We use an app to create our shopping list. It’s all too easy. The only thing is that we’re now shopping with a more expensive supermarket. This automatically means we’ve spent a lot more on groceries each week for the past couple of weeks. Oh, well… I guess we’ll keep up this habit for another couple of weeks and then go back to our frugal way of shopping.

The baby is doing great! She’s added another 1.5kg on top of her birth weight. We’re very happy with our beautiful little girl. I’m also sort of coming out of isolation and have started to manoeuvre back into the real world. This also means I’ll pick up blogging again. Obviously, I took a break. I hadn’t intended on taking a break before giving birth. But, hey, life happens while you were busy making other plans. Right?!

Love,

Mrs EconoWiser

Mustachianism: An Explanation

Love,

Mrs EconoWiser

 

Last Month’s Numbers

Finally!

March 2014
Mortgage: 31.66% (0.3% increase)
Emergency fund: 303.5% (even though we’re investing bigger chunks of money…our EF won’t shrink that fast)
Stash: 9.56% (10% here we come!)
Income to spending ratio this month: 58% (now, that’s what I’m talking about! Even though we had to pay real estate fees to get the Hungarian house on the market and the hubby made a bunch of extra trips to the store to get baby supplies (jeez…those nappies have a short life span!) we nailed March!)
Income to spending ratio this year: 69% (ow, yeah, <60% here we come!)

Our little girl is doing great. We just love being a family. The hubby is totally in love with his daughter…and so am I! He turns out to be a wonderful daddy. Yes, people, I feel extremely happy and blessed!

Love,

Mrs EconoWiser