Benelux FIRE Meeting 2018 Report Out : Talk and learn about money !

Past months one date was marked in my calendar… Saturday 30th of June. Last year we did attend one of the Benelux FIRE meetings in Eindhoven organized by CheesyFinance. You can read the blogpost of last year event here. (Click “here” to take you to the blogpost)

Last Saturday I drove to Utrecht, Netherlands to meet new people to talk about money. People who are interested to talk about saving money, investing and how to become FIRE. Many people are uncomfortable talking about money. When I try to do it with family or friends, it’s almost like I talk another language.. Do you talk about money with family and friends ? What is your experience…? Leave your comments.

The program was as follows:

• 10:00-10:30 Doors open and general introductions;
• 10:30-12:30 Financial speed dating 
• 12:30-13:00 Lunch and connecting/learning from others
• 14:00-17:00 Presentations. Topics include How Making Money Online, Crowdfunding and a debat about Negotiating
• 17:00-18:30 Drinks and chats

A total of 25 people attended the event to talk money and FIRE. For me it was the second time meeting with people who have the same financial objectives in mind….being debt free or financially independent or learn what others do with their money.

The group consisted of bloggers and non-bloggers. I was able to meet again the people behind the blogs that I read and what was changed in their life. Here’s the list of people that I did meet.

• Cheesy Finance
• GeldNerd
• ThePursuitOfHot
• Niettot71
• Geld is tijd
• Divnomics
• On the road to simpler life 

It was great to see how certain couples are sharing common financial objectives to achieve FIRE. Mr and Mrs Divnomics got married and purchased another rental property to generate extra cashflow.

Key Learnings from Financial Speed Dating and Presentations

The day started with speed dating. During those financial speed dates I learned about crowdfunding, travel destinations, Airbnb rentals and different opinions about financial strategy and investing money. I also heard an interesting story about a lady who is stuck in the current Rat Race due to large debt. Someone also asked me the question “What makes you happy?”. Would you be able to answer it instantly?

In the afternoon it was time for three educational presentations. Adine, author of the Dutch blog lekkerlevenmetminder presented how she was making money online and she shared stories about writing articles for commercial companies. Her presentation can be found here: Making Money Online.

The second presentation was given by Daphne. Daphne is an expert in crowdfunding. She invests money in crowdfunding projects on many different platforms. She has many years of experience with crowd-funding and also did consulting in this area of expertise. We share with you the top 5 mistakes Daphne shared with us :

1. Do not invest too much money in ONE project
2. No investments in hospitality and startup projects
3. No “Feel Good” or “Emotion” projects
4. Do not always believe what the crowdfunding platform or entrepreneur says. Do your research
5. Make sure you understand fundamental analysis of a company

Internationally you can use for example the crowdfunding platforms Mintos and FundingCircle. In the Netherlands you also have geldvoorelkaar.nl and NLinvesteert. Daphne also shared WHAT not to invest in and some insider information of certain platforms out there. The % return of those projects varies between 7 to 14%. Daphne has invested in more than 550 projects to date and had a low default rate thanks to great risk analysis and following some key investment rules.

The third presentation was given by Chris of the blog ThePursuitOfHot.He did lead a discussion amongst the audience about negotiations and what % discount you can get on certain products. Can you negotiate a higher salary? Do you have the mindset, the power and the desire to negotiate ? The discussion did lead definitely to different opinions.

5 Point 5 Miles Video

While I was attending the FIRE meeting, the rest of the family did visit the beautiful city of Utrecht. In Utrecht there is plenty of things to do and locations to visit. One of the kids made a nice video about the short visit within the city. Click on the image to watch it !

For the tourist office, go to the link Visit Utrecht

 

Going Forward

In case of a future event and no conflict with my business travel or family events, I will be present for a next event. It is always interesting to meet and talk to like-minded people about money and investing. I notice that new people come to the meetups. People who want to explore their options for investing. If you know nothing about investing you also ask this guy to help out? Or just keep on following the journey of Mr. and Mrs DividendCake to FIRE.

Thanks for reading the blogpost and as always we end with a quote.