fredag 8 december 2017

Brewing wheat beer with the Coobra CB25


So the other day we had our second session with the Coobra Craft Brewer 25. This time we tried out the full volume, 25 liters of wheat beer was on the menu.

The recipe:
3,5 kg Pilsner (4.5 EBC) Grain
3,5 kg Wheat (6.0 EBC) Grain
0,5 kg Cara Plus 10 (10 EBC) Grain
10 g Hallertauer 4.8% boil 60 minutes Hop
25 g Saaz 4% Boil 30 minutes Hop
15 g Saaz 4% Boil 5 minutes Hop
1 package Safbrew Wheat (DCL/Fermentis #WB-06) Yeast

Before we started, I put both the Coobra CB25 and the Coobra Sparge water heater through the cleaning procedure described in my previous post.
Once everything is cleaned up it was time to start.

This was our first attempt with wheat grain, and I decided not to taste any of the grain before we started (given that I broke my front tooth last time on a single grain.. thank god for Swedish dental care!)
As much of our beer so far has tasted similar, we also decided to try out some new hops. Especially the Saaz was a new buy. Hopefully it will turn out good.

The water pump didn't clog this time, it worked like a charm through the whole process.

When it came to boiling, we didn't have the opportunity to boil at a window (winter outside) and the CB25 is a bit too tall to fit under a standard cooking hood we ended up building some temporary steam channel out of corrugated paper. Successfully boiled away 7 liters in 1 hour, so good results.
Project for next time is to build something more lasting in steel plate, watch this spot for details ;).

Pre-fermentation tasting was promising. Just wait and see now, hopefully bottled and ready for christmas, but probably more like new years.

Cleaning the equipment

The wheat grain makes a real mess. After a normal batch it is usually no big project to clean the equipment after use, but the wheat seems to attach itself better to the surface.


Efficiency

Using beersmith we have estimated that the efficiency is more like 58-60% then the stated 75%. So next time we should probably try out with a lower efficiency number.

Until next time: Challenge yourself to do something new

Disclaimer
I bought this product myself and this is my opinion on them. I am in no way affiliated with the manufacturer of this product.

My current plan, 2017 December


Another month, another November is behind us...
So yesterday I added another building block to the money-maker... Last few weeks the market has kinda turned for my two companies, so this month I think that I got the bank for a nice price. Got lucky as today the Swedish banks turned up again thanks to progress in the brexit negotiations. Doing this month by month grinding it really doesn't matter as I will buy each month but it is always nice to see a bargain and be able to act on it.

Received a raise that actually made an impact this time that will be paid retroactively with my next paycheck, so next month I will be investing a bit more (or buying an adventure bike, haven't decided). The long term plan is if course to put that raise into savings and investing directly instead of using it each month.. We have been able to survive without that extra money so far and the living costs are not rising currently, so no need to spend it. Will hopefully increase the building block size each month!


Until next time, why not Stabilize your economy. Buffer and Savings

Disclaimer. I am in no way an expert on capital management or investing. On this blog I only wish to share my findings, ideas and comments on current events and fields that interest me. I hope that my thoughts can entertain you. I expect that everyone reading take their time and do their own research before acting on anything read on this blog. Investing is not for everyone. E&OE.

onsdag 8 november 2017

My current plan, 2017 November


Another month has passed.
This month I invested a building block in the candy maker. The reasons behind the decision was because had dropped to red numbers, i.e. I was loosing money.
Knowing that it is a stable company and that I still have trust in the management team and chairman I decided to invest into the price drop and thus getting more for the invested money.

Until next time, why not Stabilize your economy. Buffer and Savings

Disclaimer. I am in no way an expert on capital management or investing. On this blog I only wish to share my findings, ideas and comments on current events and fields that interest me. I hope that my thoughts can entertain you. I expect that everyone reading take their time and do their own research before acting on anything read on this blog. Investing is not for everyone. E&OE.

tisdag 10 oktober 2017

fredag 6 oktober 2017

Preparing your mind for a bear market


Everything is going good at the moment... But knowing your history should make you prepared for the next market crisis that will eventually come.

When you are following the plan that I do, i.e. buying into a few companies and then increasing that buy in each month with the goal to build my own money making machine it will be hard to see market value disappear.
Since 2014 when I started investing in this way, the markets have grown stronger and stronger and I've not yet experienced the fall. How do you prepare for losing a lot of the market value that you have built up?

By not caring and sticking to the plan.
Yes, you lost a lot of market value but hopefully the companies that you invested in will still be there (you didn't invest in the hottest thing at the moment didn't you? instead look for long term survivors)
If your portfolio lost 80% of market value over night that also means that all company shares are 80% cheaper to buy. If there is long term revenue streams in the companies you invest in, then you should not really care about the markets valuation of the share price... Instead you should do the math yourself, if you see yourself holding the shares for 10 years or longer then chances are that the bear market will end and a new bull market will start.
If a disaster doesn't hit you during the fall (like losing your job and hence your investment power) you should continue to buy when the markets go down, maybe even consider increasing the investing power by selling stuff that you do not need anymore. This way, you may actually grow stronger when the markets are at the lowest and reap the rewards when the markets start to rise again.
There is no such thing as market timing, so do not try that.. Instead just buy each month and look at a falling market and red numbers as companies being on sale, and you could make a bargain!

So, if you have done so already. It is time for you to device a plan of your own on how to handle the next financial cycle of the world markets!

Until next time: Challenge yourself to do something new

Disclaimer. I am in no way an expert on capital management or investing. On this blog I only wish to share my findings, ideas and comments on current events and fields that interest me. I hope that my thoughts can entertain you. I expect that everyone reading take their time and do their own research before acting on anything read on this blog. Investing is not for everyone. E&OE.

My current plan, 2017 October


Another one has gone by but my plan still stands.
During the last month the markets have risen to new levels and there seems to be a lot of activity in the economical news. Each day there is a new prophecy and I just try to ignore them. It is interesting to actually follow a bull market when you are invested in it yourself, but still knowing that you have a completely different plan compared to the one that the market junkies try to sell.

My plan is still to methodically buy each month. And then hold them for a long period of time. I only have two options (still haven't found anything else that fits my own requirements and has good investor relations). This time, it was the bank again.

The My Plan posts on this blog are both a way to motivate myself to continue as there is not that much action in this way of investing and to inspire others to try out the dollar cost averaging method of investing.


Until next time: Challenge yourself to do something new

Disclaimer. I am in no way an expert on capital management or investing. On this blog I only wish to share my findings, ideas and comments on current events and fields that interest me. I hope that my thoughts can entertain you. I expect that everyone reading take their time and do their own research before acting on anything read on this blog. Investing is not for everyone. E&OE.

fredag 22 september 2017

Challenge yourself to do something new


Ask yourself: How long is it since you did something new for the first time?
For me, its 1 week. How long is it for you?

We get trapped in routine so easily that it is almost hard to think back to when something really new happened. By doing something new, you force your brain to do things that it is not used to do, and it will never be the same again! I am not a specialist, but I've seen The Arrival.
Don't just think that you are adaptable, actually put yourself in situations where you need to adapt, learn something new... Big or small doesn't matter, just that you do something new and you will progress your mind to another level.

So, ask yourself from time to time... How long is it? If it is too long, do something about it.. Find an evening class, pick up a new hobby and just enjoy life!

Until next time! Abrupt reminder of mortality

Brewing with the Coobra Craft Brewer 25

Finally the time came to brew a batch of beer with my home grown hops. As this was a test session, we pretty much used whatever ingredients we had at hand. Also, this was an excellent time to try out my new toy. The Coobra Craft Brewer 25 and the Coobra Sparge Water Heater 16.

The recipe 

Malt

  • 3.5 kg pilsner malt
  • 1 kg Abbey malt
  • 0.5 kg Cara 150
Hops
  • 20 g Magnum (60 minutes)
  • 120 g homegrown fresh hops (20 minutes)
  • 60 g homegrown fresh hops (7 minutes)
Yeast
  • Safale US-05
Estimated alcohol by volume: 5.5%

The process

Cleaning procedure of the Coobra Craft Brewer 25

In the manual it stated that you should run the pump with a 10 liters of water and a cleaning substance for 5 minutes, followed by running it 10 liters pure water for 5 minutes * 2.
The cleaning substance we decided to use was vinegar, roughly 3 table spoons in the 10 liters.
We decided to go with vinegar as it is OK even if there would be some rest products left after the 2 water runs. I.e. it is safe.

Cleaning procedure of the Coobra Sparge Water Heater 16


As stated in the manual, we filled the heater up with water and boiled it up and then discarded that water through the ball valve.

Mashing

Time for the mashing process. We filled the Coobra Craft Brewer 25 with the water amount we planned to use. (I actually forgot to write down the water amounts)
Setting the initial temperature was no problem on the control unit, and popping the watts up to 2500 to get the water heated in minutes.
After the water reached the given temperature 73º C , we set down the watts to 700 and lowered the temperature to 66º C.
We threw in the malt and stirred it around a little so that it got all soaked.
Time to start the pump.
The spreader was a nice touch, spreading the pumped water over the malt bed
The Coobra CB 25 pump in action
This was nice, the pump pumped for 48 of the 50 minutes, the after that it clogged up and I had to shut it down and be cleaned. When reading the manual we found out that the bazooka filter in the brewer sometimes can let through small bits of the malt and when it happens, you just open the pump and rinse with clean water and the pump is in action again.
Halfway through we started the Coobra Sparge Water Heater 16. When it indicated the correct temperature (81º C) it went from heating to keeping warm mode. After a test with a manual temperature check, we noticed that the heater was off by 10 degrees celcius. So we set the thermostate to 91 and after some minutes it was OK.

Sparging

After the timer completed it was time to start sparging. Ideally we would have used the pump bit as it was out of order we ended up using a bucket. But it was a real improvement to heat all the water to the correct temperature at once.
During the sparging we started to lift up the mash bed. For sake of simplicity it had steps so that you can lift it up little by little and leave it there to drop.
It seems that you can do it all in place with this method, but we decided to move the mash temporary to an fermenter for 2 reasons.

  • We had to move the brewer from the kitchen
  • Gives us a better view of how many liters we are dealing with

Boiling

Total volume at the start of boiling was 22 liters.
We set the started the Coobra Craft Brewer 25 again and just set the power to 2500 watts and it started to heat the water until it started to boil.
We threw in the first sock filled with hops and secured it to the brewer with a clothespin. After 40 minutes we added the second sock and with 7 minutes left we threw in the last one.
We tried to place the cooling spiral into the boiler for the last 10 minutes to let it boil to clean it. But it was really problematic with the socks in place and the silicon tubing to the spiral touched the brewer (that was hot) etc, so I don't think we will do that the next time.

After one hour, we had boiled 3.5 liters of water and were down at 18.5. This was good by our calculations.

Starting the cooling water in the spiral the the excess heat was removed in 10-15 minutes or so, quite OK time.

Tapping it all into the fermenter through a juice filter to get out eventual fragments of malt.
We also tapped a little to a tasting glass and to the test tube for the gravity check.

We were really impressed with the round taste at this point. Really has potential to become something nice. Gravity before fermentation was: 1.055.

Overall impressions

Before, we have used a friends plastic brewer modified with heat control. The Coobra CB25 was a real boost. Hopefully the water pump works a little better next time, too bad it got stuck at the end of the cycle.
Overall: Would buy again

Update July 2, 2018
We have been brewing with the Cobra CB25 during a number of sessions now.
Things we've found out:

  • Add extra boil time. Our recipes said 60 minute boil, when we started with a 15 minute pre-boil with no hops, we hit the mark. I.e. recipe for 6.2% but we always got 5.4%... with pre-boil, we get the 6.2%
  • Service the water pump. It has stopped twice for us. When it gets warm, a little plastic bit inside of it can move out of place. Open the pump, make sure the plastic part is at an OK length to be able to rotate in an controlled fashion. The length is adjustable, design flaw or feature? Who knows : )
  • Would still buy, the amount of top class beer that this thing outputs is amazing. All my friends and neighbors love it.

Next time: Brewing wheat beer with the CB25

Disclaimer
I bought this product myself and this is my opinion on them. I am in no way affiliated with the manufacturer of this product.

fredag 15 september 2017

The Alice Themed Wedding


So a month ago me and my better half got hitched. She said yes already back in 2009 but we kinda pushed the event in front of us for some years for various reasons. But now in January this year, when I was hospitalized for pulmonary embolism, we decided to get it done.

Invitations

The save the date cards my wife drew by hand. The actual invitations we ended buying and adding some extra touches by hand. This took a lot of time but was a fun part of the preparations.

Wedding website

We ended up using theknot.com for our wedding website. The actual invitations only included the link to the site and the password. All relevant information was put on the wedding website.

Theme

Whenever we've talked about the wedding during the years, we have always ended up wanting to have a theme and the theme has pretty much been Alice in Wonderland from day one.
Next question was. Which Alice? After a lot of pondering we decided on the old Disney version.
We made clear in the invitation that it was not a masquerade, but theme based details and accessories would be great!
We ended up buying 60 cat and bunny ears that people could wear, and everyone did!

Locations

For the ceremony, we decided on a local landmark bridge. Talked with the owner and got a yes of course!
For the party, we asked the brides sister if we could use their barn. And the answer was yes as well. They already had a bar and party area on the upper floor but we needed more room for the dinner and toilets etc. So we ended up building those during the spring and summer. Took more time then we anticipated and got a little stressful at the end, but damn, the best decision....

Rings. 

We went to the jewelry shop (the same that we got our engagement rings from) and decided on a pair of rose/white gold rings. No diamonds as she didn't want any.

Guests. 

52 guests decided to attend and that perfectly matched a deck of cards. So the place cards were just 2 decks of cards. One in the envelope and one at the place. I think we invited 64 from the start but as expected some were not able to attend.
We specified that there was a lot of time for families to find baby-sitters. Only the closest families kids were invited as well as some toddlers. So in the end 11 of the 52 were minors.

Party program

We did this ourselves as well. We ended up buying a laser printer and printing in black and white and adding extra color touches by hand. We colorized average of 7 programs per night, took 2 hours per night. So make sure you plan for the time if you decide on doing things by hand. It is a lot of work but gives in the end a personal touch to the party.

Drinks. 

Me and a friend brewed been in the spring, 26 bottles of IPA and 24 bottles of bitter. Together with home made mead and apple cider there was a variety to chose from for the dinner.
2 weeks before the party we went to Systembolaget (the Swedish alcohol monopoly) and ordered all other alcoholic beverages for the dinner and party.

  • 4x4x24 33cl bottles of beer. Different brands, mostly lager..
  • 2x4x24 33cl bottles of cider. Different brands and flavors
  • 10 bottles of champagne for the toast when we arrive at the party
  • 1 bottle of champagne (little more expensive) for us during the photo-shoot after the ceremony
  • 4 red bag-in-box wine
  • 2 white bag-in-box wine
  • 10 bottles of bubbly rose wine
  • 6 bottles of vodka for drinks
  • 1 bottle of Makes me smaller, vodka and a lot of pulverized super sour hard candy (a lot)
  • 1 bottle of Grows me taller, vodka and a lot of pulverized super salty hard candy (a lot)
+ a lot of non alcoholic beverages and water

We ended up returning 1/4 of the alcoholic drinks afterwards, but better that then running out during the evening.

Flowers

The bride decided to go to our local grocery store and order 200 roses. More than enough for the party and bridal bouquet (that she made herself)

Catering.

We decided to not cater anything. Instead we bought and prepared everything during the days before and handed out work assignments in teams during the whole night.

Photographer

We ended up hiring an upcoming photographer who didn't cost that much, but had an excellent portfolio to present us. A little bit more risky, but one tenth of a professional photographer.
She photographed the wedding ceremony as well as the wedding photos afterwards.
For the rest of the evening, we had asked guests that we knew liked to photograph to bring their cameras. Some excellent photos from these friends
We also bought 3 digital cameras (the cheapest ones we found, total around €60.) and placed on the tables, labeled 'Use me!'. Got an extra 400 photos of the evening from those.
Also, we had already 3 months before started to use a hashtag on Instagram (following patter #brideandgroomYEAR) and pushed our guests to post with that hashtag during the evening.

Photo booth

Cheshire cat, hatters hat, bunny's ears, a clock and playing card colors

Hand made photo booth frame fitting the Alice theme and a Canon EOS 400 on a tripod to photograph all the guests during the evening! White veil as backdrop as well as flashlight and a large reflector in the ceiling.
Turned out good, pretty much every guest made an appearance.

Best man, Brides maid, Toast master

We decided to not have any. Instead the bride explained the idea of the evening, people were allowed to hold their speeches whenever there was time etc.
It turned out work good with our guests, plus we did not stress out our closest friends by giving them the most stressful jobs at a wedding.

Work assignments

In the party program leaflet that every guest received when they found their seat there was a list of jobs for the evening.

  • Prepare starters
  • Clean the tables of dishes
  • Put leftovers in refrigerators.
  • Prepare main course
  • Barbecue duty
  • Clean the tables of dishes
  • Put leftovers in refrigerators
  • Prepare desserts
  • Clean the tables of dishes
During the evening we had also some more general assignments
  • Bar assignment. Keep track of the drinks table during the dinner and server drinks after the party started.
  • Music. 1 person selected who had access to the music
OK, this was a little controversial idea that turned out to be a good one.
During the years we have attended a number of weddings and it is always the same thing, you end up sitting at your table during the whole dinner (that is 4-8 hours) and only talk with the people seated around you. We did not want that.
So instead, by giving the guests work assignments in teams consisting of people from other tables they were forced to mix with people that they did not know from before and talk with them. As a grownup you grow to know other people mostly by working together and if you mix that into a party where people do not know each other from the start, they will end up making new connections.
The dinner ended up going on for 6-7 hours. BUT, after each course there was a natural pause where everyone not on assignment had a chance to walk around, mingle and chat with people. When the next course was ready, the bride rang a bell and everyone was seated again.

Lessons learned from the assignments was that some of the work teams could have had a couple more members to speed things up. But otherwise, turned out to be a fantastic idea to get people to talk with each other!

Conclusions

In the end, we ended up doing a lot of things ourselves and the project lasted 6 months. This probably saved us a lot of money, I have no idea what this would have costed if everything was catered, rented etc. But that doesn't really matter. In the end it was more true to ourselves to do it this way then letting someone else do it. It got a personal touch on all planes and having the dinner and party on top of a barn, the cozy and joyful atmosphere infected our guests as well. 

Planning a wedding in this way you have to know your audience a little bit, know that there are people who enjoy cooking, talking, bar-tendering, photographing etc. and wouldn't mind to be bossed around for an evening as a surprise : )

I guess I forgot to write about more then half of the stuff, if you have any questions then feel free to ask in the comments and I'll try to answer to my best ability.

torsdag 7 september 2017

My current plan, 2017 September


August went by fast this year. 4 weeks of vacation spent 2 weeks preparing for our wedding, celebrating the weekend and then trying to relax for the last 2 weeks with a road trip and camping. Best vacation in years.
But now, we're back at work and the days are getting shorter again.

Last couple of weeks I've noticed a new intensity on the articles predicting a market decline. And as I've stated before, I almost hope it happens as I think that my plan is actually would thrive in a downturn.
Luckily I don't need to be able to predict the market, I'll just stick to my plan of adding a building block to my money machine each month and in the end it will pay me back.

This month, another building block put in. This time the bank.

Short one this month as I am working on a project in the few free hours I have.


Until next time: Work to Live, Don’t Live to Work

Disclaimer. I am in no way an expert on capital management or investing. On this blog I only wish to share my findings, ideas and comments on current events and fields that interest me. I hope that my thoughts can entertain you. I expect that everyone reading take their time and do their own research before acting on anything read on this blog. Investing is not for everyone. E&OE.

måndag 7 augusti 2017

My current plan, 2017 August


Vacation at last, this year a bit later then usually. Basically people started coming back to work before we left. But this time we had a reason. We are getting married on Saturday, and we need the 2 weeks before to prepare and then 2 weeks after for actual vacation. More on the wedding on another post with all the info on preparing, budget etc.
As you can understand, I do not have that much extra time at the moment, all the time goes to preparing or sleeping. But, still sticking to the plan.

Investments this month 

The plan investment went to the candy maker, as they are a steady company that deliver but their share dropped after their quarter report. I.e. it was on sale based on my own book.
Extra investment, the same one time cash deposit that we received last month. Second half got invested this month. Didn't want to put it all in at once, so went by a small dollar cost averaging scheme and split it to 2 months to invest. Both the bank and candy maker was split 50-50. By far larger then the monthly investment.


Until next time: Work to Live, Don’t Live to Work

Disclaimer. I am in no way an expert on capital management or investing. On this blog I only wish to share my findings, ideas and comments on current events and fields that interest me. I hope that my thoughts can entertain you. I expect that everyone reading take their time and do their own research before acting on anything read on this blog. Investing is not for everyone. E&OE.

tisdag 18 juli 2017

Defining your own life


Yesterday I read a really motivational article about a girl from Sweden who decided to cycle around the globe. All talk about defining your own life is really put to the edge when a person makes a decision like that.
I have a dream of my own to go bike touring, but not on that scale and for now it is just a dream and it is OK to have dreams. But what about the dreams that you actually want to fulfill, the ones that you really want to pursue.

It all starts with a decision. You change yourself and make it clear to yourself that that dream is no longer a dream, but a goal. It doesn't matter if it is a bike trip around the world or a financial goal or anything else, the change from dream to goal is a mental one.
Once you have defined a goal, you better start planning. Do you need to acquire gear, or stockpile cash or sell everything you got? Or all of the above? Do the math, write down a list of actionable points and start working on them. For a bike touring a first step could be to actually get a bike, or save up to one. Dreaming of an early retirement, getting out of debt or buying a new car or starting a family? The change starts with you, and you alone.

There will be hard times and hard work to reach those goals and completing the actions to reach the end goal. People will probably not understand why you do things, and that is OK too. Each step you complete, you define your own future and you don't need anyone else to understand where you are headed. The only important thing is that you believe that the dream/goal is worth the effort in the end.
And on extra hard days, when you think of quitting, think back on why you started the project of reaching a specific goal.

And that is how you define your own life. You pick a dream, any dream and break it down to goals and actions needed to reach those goals. And then you act!


Until next time: Work to Live, Don’t Live to Work

Disclaimer. I am in no way an expert on capital management or investing. On this blog I only wish to share my findings, ideas and comments on current events and fields that interest me. I hope that my thoughts can entertain you. I expect that everyone reading take their time and do their own research before acting on anything read on this blog. Investing is not for everyone. E&OE.

måndag 10 juli 2017

My current plan, July 2017


This will just be a progress update making sure that I am still on track with the plan. This month some extra investing ability and thus throwing in a building block for both the bank and candy manufacturer.

Last month I've been very busy at work and not had much energy to tinker about financial stuff. A lot of extra hours have been put in and ended up in a discussion about how to collect the extra reward. Some chose to collect it as time, i.e. for every overtime hour you put in you get 2 back (or something like that), or you get the overtime payment in cash. My choice is always cash, as I need it to create the next building block in our money making machine. So basically the choice is to have a little more spare time now or have a lot of it later when you retire. So my choice is easy because I have my plan that I follow each month. But for other people, they have their own plans and I guess it works for them.

A little extra grinding now to be able to reap the rewards for real later is my plan, and I am still sticking to it.

Other then that I launched another sister blog to this one, this time related to gaming. I find it a really relaxing form of activity, normally I am not relaxed enough to read a book other then on a vacation.. But gaming gets my mind to other places and it works for me. So I thought that why not start writing a little about that too. Mostly guides and youtube videos for now but who knows where it will evolve over time.

Until next time: Work to Live, Don’t Live to Work



Disclaimer. I am in no way an expert on capital management or investing. On this blog I only wish to share my findings, ideas and comments on current events and fields that interest me. I hope that my thoughts can entertain you. I expect that everyone reading take their time and do their own research before acting on anything read on this blog. Investing is not for everyone. E&OE.

fredag 9 juni 2017

My current plan, 2017 June


Yep, another month has passed by and the last week pretty much rained by.
I have been quite busy at work for the last few weeks, and haven't really been in the mood to follow the news when not at work. Instead I've spent more time then I would like to acknowledge playing Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands on the Xbox One and building a floor to our pergola in the garden. It is months like these that routine and a simple plan makes the difference. So this month 'flip of coin', the bank. So another building block added to the money making machine.

This month is also the month of tax returns here in Sweden, so another extra block will be added in the coming week.

No big update this month.

Until next time: Work to Live, Don’t Live to Work

Disclaimer. I am in no way an expert on capital management or investing. On this blog I only wish to share my findings, ideas and comments on current events and fields that interest me. I hope that my thoughts can entertain you. I expect that everyone reading take their time and do their own research before acting on anything read on this blog. Investing is not for everyone. E&OE.

fredag 12 maj 2017

Renting or buying


If you need to ask, then rent.... Until you have saved enough money to buy.
In today's real estate market, with extremely low interest rates you might be tempted to buy directly. But make sure that you have the financial power to pay even when the interest rates raise. Check what the monthly cost would be if the interest rate would go to 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10%. Could you still pay? Would you be forced to sell?
Buying a house for 3 million SEK (around $300k, €300) on an ordinary salary is something I advice against. But that is what the asking price is for houses in a small town in Sweden today.

The thing is that renting is steadily getting more expensive as well. When we rented some years ago, it was an old apartment building with water included for around 4500 SEK. New developed apartments that are smaller and without water went for 9500 SEK. Like with everything else in life, it depends on what your goals are. For us it was a no brainer to chose the older appartment building and save up for a deposit on a house.

When we bought the house we live in today, we got lucky (or we haven't found the faults) and were able to buy a house for a small amount of money. Many of our friends did not even look at houses this far from the city (25 minutes by car, 1 hour cycling) and ended up spending 2 - 6 times more! So ask yourself, do you need to buy in a certain area or would you be willing to travel to work. We bought another car, but with the house price so low we still pay less then friends in town even if we include car payments and petrol costs into the calculation.

A friend once told me when he was house hunting that if the house is in any way attractive there will be a family with small children that are desperate that will keep bidding over their original budget (and yours). And when we started to look, that was the exact case on all houses we looked at besides the one that we ended up buying.

So, my advice is to Rent and Save and continue to hunt for a perfect house that goes for less then the market expects. Calculate in whatever renovations are needed and see if its in your budget. Make a deal that suites your budget, not the high risk budget of suburbian house owners.

These are just my thoughts. Your situation might be different so do your own research and make an informed decision. I am not an expert : )

Top 7 tips to maximize your investment power


Two and a half year into our investment strategy I feel that it is going pretty slow. Judging by the daily stress about investment advice in newspapers and on the internet I am not the only one who wants to speed things up.
But in the back of my head I have my plan that is buy and hold for a long period of time, and that pretty much filters away all the advice in mainstream media. So what is there left to go on?
Here are some tips on how to maximize your investment power and improving your current financial situation.

1 Debts

Make sure that you have a plan to pay off your debts. Not the most fun compared to spending money on investments. But as long as you have debt that you pay interest on, you are not increasing your own investment power, instead you are making someone else's investment power raise. That interest ends up as dividends to the shareholders of the bank that you owe. So, step 1 pay off your debt.
If you pay 100 per month on loans, that is 100 per month that you could spend on investments.

2 Decrease your expenditure

Another relatively easy step to take. Stop that magazine subscription and put the cash to your investment account instead.

3 Pay yourself first AND increase the amount

I hope that you already pay yourself the first thing when you receive your paycheck. What you may not do is to increase the amount over time.
There are some events that that could trigger an increase normally. For example when you get a raise. But even if you do not get a raise, just login to your bank and increase your automatic cash move from time to time. If you can live without the amount you move automatically today, maybe €10 more from time to time doesn't leave an impact. But do not rush it, the idea is to invest the excess, not the money you need to live your life..

4 Take an extra job

Really? you may ask. But yes, really. If your goal is to start living on your investment in the future then maybe sacrificing one evening per week/month for an extra buck could be OK. It's not like you actually need the money, but you want to get that little extra to boost your investment so why not?
My father did this, he used to clean supermarkets during evenings... I have done it as a bouncer at a pub. What extra job you get is up to you and your qualifications. And as you don't need it, you can quit whenever you get tired of it.. : ) Whatever extra money you did earn and add to your investment will continue to work for you for years to come. The longer money can grow the bigger effect they will make. So sacrificing a little time now may be reaped for a long time.
But note that you may have an clause about competing businesses in your contract.. Make sure you don't break it as you may end up with losing your main job instead of getting an extra. Always read your legal agreements when you sign.

5 Study

You can always spend your time on studying. Knowledge is power, and this might get you from average to cutting edge. Or at least to your next promotion.
I have always spent time home reading. Much is around subjects that I work with in my main job. But from angles that I may not have the opportunity to try out at work.
Invest your time in yourself by studying and making you more attractive on the job market. Check your local university for available evening classes or enroll at an online class. My employer gives us access to pluralsight, that is full of classes on subjects related to software development. Maybe your employer has similar programs in your field, ask your boss. And make sure your boss knows that you want to progress. This way I have been given the possibility to study during work hours. But I guess it depends on the employer that you have. Some invest in their employees, some do not.
A question that I ask when I interview candidates for my team is what do they have that makes them interesting. Home projects and study in their free time is something that I value high. That and cycling :)

6 Forget about it

Find something else to occupy your mind with. If you are investing part of your salary each month, you can forget about it for a couple of years. Trust in the compounding effect.
If you continuously monitor the progress, you will not see the progress. Instead you will be tempted to meddle with the portfolio. If you instead let the investment work for you without any meddling the results will grow. This is the power of long-term investing.
Find a hobby, join a club. Meet people and live your life. Paying yourself first and investing in index funds (the easiest strategy) will just solve the issue. The 'slow' feeling is just in your head!

7 start a blog!

or not. At some point I thought that this would be a good extra income source but in reality it's not. But it might work for you, it has worked for some people so just because my blogs aren't generating revenue.... yours might.A really sucky number seven but I'm out of ideas.. if you have any please leave them in the comments!


Sorry for the seventh tip, but for the rest the idea is to maximize the investment each month so that you can retire earlier. 10% of your income is a good start, 5% is a start but in the end you will want to grow that percentage over time so that you can fulfill your dream of retirement earlier. I read somewhere that 60% is the holy grail, seems quite far away but if you have the possibility to spend less and invest more. DO IT! The upside is that you learn to live on less.. meaning that you need less when you retire so that is also affecting how long it will take you to get there!

Hope this motivated/helped someone out there. : )
Until next time: Work to Live, Don’t Live to Work

Disclaimer. I am in no way an expert on capital management or investing. On this blog I only wish to share my findings, ideas and comments on current events and fields that interest me. I hope that my thoughts can entertain you. I expect that everyone reading take their time and do their own research before acting on anything read on this blog. Investing is not for everyone. E&OE.

fredag 5 maj 2017

My current plan, 2017 May


Another month has passed and the outside world is moving in a leisurely way.
The terror attack on Stockholm was solved fast, I am quite impressed with how fast a small country like Sweden was able to mobilize its police force and take control of the situation.
On other news, the Brexit carousel is moving forward at a steady pace but it seems like the markets don't really care as prices are still moving upward. I am currently waiting on a correction to happen but just like all other timings of the market, I'm not really counting on it.

Q1 report season passed during April, nothing new on the companies that I am focused on. They are still 2 good companies that grow.. So why should I look elsewhere?

So. Stick to the plan, continue to buy one of my 2 options, this month I ended up buying the bank. As a happy surprise my own bank Länsförsäkringar had lowered the brokerage fee from 100 SEK to 20 SEK. This actually makes a huge impact on my small transactions each month. Just to give an example:

Share price Broker fee Shares bought Total fee Total price per share Overhead per share
82,15 SEK 99 16 88,69 SEK 6,54 SEK
85,15 SEK 99 19 89,58 SEK 4,43 SEK
77,20 SEK 99 23 81,39 SEK 4,19 SEK
102,30 SEK 99 18 107,80 SEK 5,50 SEK
105,60 SEK 20 20 106,40 SEK 0,80 SEK

So, no large sums. But as I've said before, I'm just starting out. But from the example above the benefit of lower brokerage fee is clearly seen on the overhead per share. Buying with a high brokerage fee is like buying at a higher price then you thought you did.
Make sure that you always record both the market price of the share you bought and the actual total fee you paid to make a follow up.

But enough of that for now. Spring is here, 20 degrees Celsius in the sun and I'm enjoying a bottle of homemade cider.

photo of home made apple cider in a glass with bottle in background and house even further back


Until next time: Work to Live, Don’t Live to Work

Disclaimer. I am in no way an expert on capital management or investing. On this blog I only wish to share my findings, ideas and comments on current events and fields that interest me. I hope that my thoughts can entertain you. I expect that everyone reading take their time and do their own research before acting on anything read on this blog. Investing is not for everyone. E&OE.

onsdag 26 april 2017

Market Timing vs. Dollar Cost Averaging


It's been a while since I wrote about my financial views, but now when markets around the globe are going strong and doomsday prophets shout that you should sell all now to avoid the inevitable down-turn I thought I'd write a little bit on how I think about market swinging up and down over time.
As with all other posts on this blog, the time frame of my investments is long 15+ years. If you need your money for things in the near future, you may need to follow another plan.

So, what is market timing?

Market timing is the ability to foresee a market swinging up or down and buying or selling accordingly to maximize the profits. Sounds good right? To be able to sell just before a market fall and then buy again at the lowest. This is the movie and Wall Street version of how the stock-market works, the ideal that many stock-brokers and money managers strive to do. And from time to time they get it right and they are the golden child, investors pour more money on them. The thing is that it is hard to time the market continuously, the pressure added if you did it once plays along but also the fact that it is not possible to foresee the future.

What is dollar cost averaging

Dollar cost averaging is the act of buying shares over a period of time, to prevent investing a large lump sum at the once and then seeing it go to nothing as the market crashed. Instead, you buy at the highest point (if the same crash scenario) with say a fifth of the total investment, and then continue to buy once each time period, say a month, until the money is spent.
In the case of a crashing market, the price per share is lower each time resulting in more shares bought for the same amount of money. So in the end you end up with more shares then if you bought them at once and then saw the market crash.
But the same goes the other way as well, you buy at the lowest and you would receive less shares then if you invested it all at the lowest point.
The idea is, that if you are a long term investor you do not care about the volatility of the market and just continue to buy in ups and downs. When the market goes down, you get more shares, when the market goes up you get less shares.. In the long run it evens out.
For me, I do not have a lump sum to spend so my monthly investment is basically a continuous dollar cost averaging scheme.

Numbers on a single share.

After reading the Forbes article Busting The Myth Of Market Timing, I decided to try to map the data myself based on a Swedish bank (SEB, or Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB) looking back a 10 year period.
2007-04-25 – 2017-04-25
The starting point is at the middle of a down turn, i.e. share prices are dropping.


Say that you have 1000 to buy with each month and continue buying for 10 years.
So when the share hits rock bottom at 18 SEK, you buy 54 shares as the share is on sale.
At the end of the 10 year period, you have received 1253 shares.

So how to simulate thinking like a market timer? As the share is dropping at the beginning of the scenario, lets think that you try to look at signs for things to change, criteria will be 2 months of gains until you enter and 2 months of dropping price and you leave. Otherwise you hold. (don't know if this is accurate but just bear with me)
End result, 954 shares... 299 shares less then the buy buy and buy more approach.


In reality
  • Each share pays out dividend.. 
  • Each transaction costs money
  • You pay taxes when you sell for profit (at least in Sweden)
  • Change is transferred to the next month, 
  • you receive a bigger paycheck and can invest more or do something actively to increase the amount spent each month
All this leaving you with a lot more shares then the example and even less shares if you market time. This is just one example, that happens to reflect my point of view but there is a lot of research done in this area and gurus like Warren Buffet think that market timing is a hoax.

But don't trust me, do your own research and find out more yourself. In the end, knowledge leads to better decisions. : )

Until next time: Work to Live, Don’t Live to Work

Disclaimer. I am in no way an expert on capital management or investing. On this blog I only wish to share my findings, ideas and comments on current events and fields that interest me. I hope that my thoughts can entertain you. I expect that everyone reading take their time and do their own research before acting on anything read on this blog. Investing is not for everyone. E&OE.




fredag 7 april 2017

My current plan, 2017 April



This is a day of sorrow, this is the day when Sweden got targeted in a terror attack.
I do not have words, got the information around 1530 when I was leaving work. Apparently a truck rammed a busy shopping street (walking street) and. 15 hurt and 4 dead as we speak.
Svd published a lot of pictures that tell stories.

Currently following the events unfold on live TV.

My biggest fear is that this will boost the racist trolls that are taking over in Sweden. There are extremists in every society, country, political wing and religion. Don't fight refugees, fight extremism.
I do hope that the Swedish government acts in a calm way.

As this is my planned 'My current plan' I have to do this update as well as during my lunch break (3 hours before the attack) I followed my original plan and bought more shares in my favorite candy shop. This time the buy was boosted by this years dividend payouts. The dividend payout was 3 times more then last year. A good result but it is dimmed by today's events and I really do not want to think about economics today.

My thoughts are with the families of the victims of the attack. Be strong!
Be sure to follow #openstockholm on twitter where people are helping each other, actually genuine caring. Warms my hearth.

Be strong!

fredag 31 mars 2017

Update, week 11 of pulmonary embolism recovery


For the full story see:
An abrupt reminder of mortality.
Update, week 3 of pulmonary embolism recovery
Update, week 4 of pulmonary embolism recovery
Update, week 5 of pulmonary embolism recovery
Update, week 11 of pulmonary embolism recovery
Update, 12 months after pulmonary embolism
Another reminder of mortality (here we go again)

This will be my last update in this series if nothing major happens. This post is just for wrapping up things and sharing my training plan and progress for motivation for others. : )


So been a while since last update but things have moved to the better and I think I am back to normal now and starting to get a routine on the xarelto medicine. It is starting to become part of life.
This is a picture of my training calendar for the first 3 months of 2017. I've color coded it to show the time schedule from when I first noticed that something was wrong, to the hospital stay and the recovery period afterwards. When the color coding ends I was able to do a pretty hard workout on a trainer.
This week, went lunch cycling with my team and made a personal best on a hill climb. Did not see that coming.
garmin fenix 3 hr, showing run at 5:16/km pace

Also, mid Mars I started to run again to get more intensity on the lungs and as you can see, the pace has increased in a nice fashion even though this weeks run was maybe a little too much. Not far, just 1300 meters but nice progress.



2 months ago, I did not think the progress would be this fast. The doctors told me 3 months recovery until I would be back to normal but I guess it depends on the person and what state you were in before and how determined you are on getting back. Make it a goal and gradually increase the training intensity. Don't forget to rest when your body says so and stop when needed. Little by little, progress will be made and you will be back in no time!

Why I write this

I don't write this to feel sorry for myself or whatever. Just to share an experience, maybe ease for someone else that has the same diagnosis. You don't have to be old to get this, I am myself 33. I've always categorized this as something to look forward to when I get older. But life is full of surprises and luckily we humans are capable of adapting :)

Until next time: Work to Live, Don’t Live to Work

fredag 10 mars 2017

My current plan, 2017 Mars

Another month has passed and this week we had a third winter during this winter here in Sweden. I.e. another snow-storm and now it has melted away.

I haven't really paid any attention to the outside world the past weeks, been busy at work and focusing on rehab training.
So, this will be another issue of stick to the plan for our financial goals but as always there has been some smaller hiccups that needs to be handled.
Evidently I really picked the wrong field in university, should have gone to law school. We had to hire a lawyer for a estate split and man, they know how to earn.
Luckily, we have a buffer to take from so it is not actually affecting our day to day economy but for some other parts involved, not as easy. We'll see how to handle that, but for once it feels good that being a little bit boring pays the bills at the end of the month.
When this is all over, we need to sit down and figure out if we need a regular lawyer and start paying for one in advance to mitigate a little. Need to look at some figures to see if it is the smart move. But currently, not really the time to do it.

On the investment side of things this month ended up buying into my favorite bank once again. I was a little nervous some months ago if I would have the strength to keep buying in a rising market but seems like I will stick to the plan. Last year was a down year and at the end buying in both ups and downs will gain more shares in the companies and a bigger part of the dividends per year. Not counting our future on any market timing schemes, just continuing to buy and buy in established dividend paying companies.

Until next time: Work to Live, Don’t Live to Work

Disclaimer. I am in no way an expert on capital management or investing. On this blog I only wish to share my findings, ideas and comments on current events and fields that interest me. I hope that my thoughts can entertain you. I expect that everyone reading take their time and do their own research before acting on anything read on this blog. Investing is not for everyone. E&OE.

måndag 27 februari 2017

The grass is greener on the other side

picture of a girl taking a picture over the fence as the grass is greener on the other side

I think it is only human to think that it must be better somewhere else but here. Right? Is it based on the fact that you know the amount of work that needs to be done wherever you are right now and that it is easier to underestimate the workload elsewhere?

Currently looking at my current situation, worked at the same place for 6 years. Of course there are days when I think that things are hard, and look at the fence and think that maybe it is better on the other side? But then again, I've worked at other places and I know that there are positive and negative to be said of pretty much every job.

So, should I take a risk and jump to something new or stay and put in the workload needed to optimize the current situation. I know that a lot of people advocate a job-change every x months but I'm starting to disagree. Of course if you want a big jump in your salary that is probably the only way to go, but there is so much more to life than just money. A little strange to write that sentence on a blog focusing on investing etc, but hear me out as its not that contradictory in the end.
What I've been advocating is for people to stabilize their economy, start paying themselves first, paying off debt and start to save and invest for themselves. It has in the end not that much to do with getting rich, if that is what you want then by all means jump jobs and maximize that paycheck. But what I am after is quality of life, I want security and in the end be able to retire much earlier then 65. And for that you don't really need to maximize the paycheck, even if that would help.
If you work hard on getting on top of your personal finances, that debt you paid off will result in a bigger return per month then most job-changes and after that it will just escalate when that cash flow is put in investments instead.

In the end of the day, a bigger paycheck but lack of discipline will not get you closer to richness.

Of course there are things out of our control that can change the path that we are on, there are situations that would make me change my job, but at the moment it is not the pay (always open for suggestions tho :))

The same goes for investing, I am currently focusing on 2 companies and they are doing great. But from time to time, I get the feeling that I should own other companies as well. But my current strategy involves a focused portfolio and I really haven't found anything else that fits so well. So lets not rush into something that cannot be controlled and keep to the strategy that is in place.

In conclusion, don't rush into change, the workload is the same if not bigger on the other side. But if you have worked your butt off to maximize your current situation and there is nothing more to gain, then by all means go look over the fence for additional challenges that could improve your situation.

I don't really know if any of the above made any sense. It is getting late, 0125 in the night and I am watching the Oscars. So I'll blame my ramblings on that :)
Until next time: Work to Live, Don’t Live to Work

Disclaimer. I am in no way an expert on capital management or investing. On this blog I only wish to share my findings, ideas and comments on current events and fields that interest me. I hope that my thoughts can entertain you. I expect that everyone reading take their time and do their own research before acting on anything read on this blog. Investing is not for everyone. E&OE.

söndag 26 februari 2017

Update, week 5 of pulmonary embolism recovery

picture of my training room setup, update week 5 of pulmonary embolism recovery
Picture of my training room setup. Bike, trainer, computer for Netflix etc.
For the full story see:
An abrupt reminder of mortality.
Update, week 3 of pulmonary embolism recovery
Update, week 4 of pulmonary embolism recovery
Update, week 5 of pulmonary embolism recovery
Update, week 11 of pulmonary embolism recovery
Update, 12 months after pulmonary embolism
Another reminder of mortality (here we go again)

So up to 100% work week this week. It went pretty good actually. I think I was a little extra tired on Monday to Wednesday, but other than that it went pretty good.

On Thursday everything felt good until I sat in the car back home when I started to get a little pain in the lungs, most probably thanks to grocery shopping moments before. I had planned a cycling session for the day so I was in a really bad mood when I came home. First bad mood based on the situation, so far everything has gone quite smooth so I was not expecting a hiccup. After 2 hours of rest I did the cycling session anyway. And it went well. Up to 16 km/h for 15 minutes.

On Friday, I decided to do another session, this time with a little bit higher effort level. Ended up breaking sweat and 18 km/h for 20 minutes.

On Sunday, the first 60 minute session. Average speed 12, but anyway. Feels good.
Bought compression socks this week, and using them after each session as I feel that blood has a little harder to move up from the legs. Maybe that was the cause for this all after all even if they didn't find anything at the hospital. So taking the precautionary route.

All in all, week 5, according to plan. I still try to take it quite easy, not pushing anything because I don't really want a relapse.


Why I write this

I don't write this to feel sorry for myself or whatever. Just to share an experience, maybe ease for someone else that has the same diagnosis. You don't have to be old to get this, I am myself 33. I've always categorized this as something to look forward to when I get older. But life is full of surprises and luckily we humans are capable of adapting :)

Until next time: Work to Live, Don’t Live to Work

fredag 17 februari 2017

Update, week 4 of pulmonary embolism recovery


For the full story see:
An abrupt reminder of mortality.
Update, week 3 of pulmonary embolism recovery
Update, week 4 of pulmonary embolism recovery
Update, week 5 of pulmonary embolism recovery
Update, week 11 of pulmonary embolism recovery
Update, 12 months after pulmonary embolism
Another reminder of mortality (here we go again)

Back to work then. This week at 50%, meaning I can go home at lunch and take a nap. Something that I really needed to do every day. So, I am happy that the doctor wrote 50% on this week. Next week I guess will be even harder when it goes up to 100%.


Had some real progress this week. Sat 15 minutes on the trainer on Tuesday, average speed up on 11 km/h compared to 9 the week before and 20 at the same pulse interval normally.
I.e. the limit I have on myself is less than 105 bpm and get off when it starts to feel any tiredness at all.
Normally I use this for endurance training, for at least 2 hours as current endurance level according to strava is < 113bpm. This has probably changed a little now, hence 105. But compared to normally I only manage about 15-20 minutes before I feel something, normally I could go on for hours as it doesn't put any real load on the body.
Other progress is that I don't get out of breath, but too much load causes pain.

Wednesday, went for a walk to the third road sign (about 600m) and back. Did not have to stop, had some pain afterwards so body is not OK but its on the right path.

Thursday, on the trainer again. Up on 12 km/h for 15 minutes at the given pulse interval until I start to feel a little. The feeling originates from my back around the lung area. Not pain, but tiredness, hard to describe.

So a lot of progress this week. Slowly going forward. Next week is back at work 100%, hopefully I'll manage :)

Put my beloved mountain bike on sale this week as well, so if you live in southern Sweden go have a look.


Why I write this

I don't write this to feel sorry for myself or whatever. Just to share an experience, maybe ease for someone else that has the same diagnosis. You don't have to be old to get this, I am myself 33. I've always categorized this as something to look forward to when I get older. But life is full of surprises and luckily we humans are capable of adapting :)

Until next time: Work to Live, Don’t Live to Work

torsdag 9 februari 2017

Update, week 3 of pulmonary embolism recovery

girl with headphones look down the road, week 3 of pulmonary embolism recovery

Third week at home, thought I'd write an update.
For the full story see:
An abrupt reminder of mortality.
Update, week 3 of pulmonary embolism recovery
Update, week 4 of pulmonary embolism recovery
Update, week 5 of pulmonary embolism recovery
Update, week 11 of pulmonary embolism recovery
Update, 12 months after pulmonary embolism
Another reminder of mortality (here we go again)

The first week

First week went to napping and reading about OpenGL, something that I've tried to write a little about on my coding page. I was really tired and out of breath. Daily walks to the closest road sign (about 200 meters) and back. Really slow walking, out of breath when going just a little too fast. Back home, had to take it easy for a period to get back to normal. Overreaching results in blood taste and pain in back/lungs.
Had a long talk with a nurse from the hospital about Xarelto and how it is supposed to work. Evidently I get a higher dose the first 3 weeks and then it lowers a bit. Really nice to talk about it with someone that actually took their time to explain.

Second week

Had a revisit at the hospital on Tuesday, really out of breath and a little blood taste walking from the parking lot to the doctors office.
Asked my doctor and he said that I should try to activate myself but keep it under the limit of overreaching. Easy to say, hard to do as that wall comes with no warning. One step is OK and the next is out of breath alternatively pain. He extended the sick leave with 1 week 100% and then another week 50%. Told me to not take amlodipine anymore and go check blood pressure again next week.
End of week 2 I managed 2 walks per day to the first road sign.

Third week

Things are starting to go better. On Monday I decided to sit on the bike (on the trainer) for 10 minutes. Really really really slow, like pulse around 100 bpm. 

Wednesday, off to check blood pressure (evidently you have to book a time slot in Sweden to do this). 120/85 compared to 160/110 when I got the medication at the hospital. So off those pills at least.
20 minutes real slow on the bike. Felt good. Not overreaching. Still tired but, a lot better. Nice to see progress.

Today (Thursday) I walked 3 times longer then last week. so 600 meters and back (3rd road sign). It wasn't fast and had to stop 200 meters from home as I felt pain and out of breath. So even slower home, but I made it. Tired now afterwards, probably lie down a bit. Lets see if there will be a penalty for this later today or tomorrow.

On Saturday Xarelto will lower to once per day, so I guess its a bit less risky to get papercuts from there on :)

Plan for next week

Back to work at 50% for one week and then 100%. At the time of writing this sounds doable, the original plan to go back 100% on week 3 would have ended in a disaster.

Why I write this

I don't write this to feel sorry for myself or whatever. Just to share an experience, maybe ease for someone else that has the same diagnosis. You don't have to be old to get this, I am myself 33. I've always categorized this as something to look forward to when I get older. But life is full of surprises and luckily we humans are capable of adapting :)

Thanks for reading

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