March, 2020 - Reforged Life

Reforged Life – an easy way to get a lot of extra time in your life

When I talk to people about things that I do in my life and try to encourage them to change their lives, I often hear the very same answer: “I would like to have time for such activities, but unfortunately I don’t have one.” or “I don’t have the magical power to extend the day, so because of that I have enough time for everything.”

I think, in fact, it is true that some people may have such a busy schedule that there is simply no space for anything new. But when you take a closer look at the average schedule of the day, you’ll see that some things consume so much of your time that’s pure madness.

For me of the most important thing in my life is my free time. When I don’t have enough time for myself, I feel unhappy. That’s why I hate wasting my time when I don’t have to. Therefore, I followed some rules that allowed me not to waste too much time on meaningless activities. On this post I would like to share few tips, that can give you a lot of additional free time.

First and the most important rule is to choose activities that are close to your home.
Yes, it’s really that simple. This single rule can save you many hours monthly.
One of the most time-consuming tasks is getting to work and returning home from work. In some cases, this task may take 2 to 4 hours a day!
This task has two main factors:

The distance from your home to the workplace – just pick the workplace that is as close to your home as possible. The ideal situation is when you can walk or drive to your job in less that 10 min. If you can’t change the job, maybe you can change the home?
The way you get to your job – is the way you chose to get to work is the fastest possible way? The same distance can be covered very quickly or very slowly, depending on the chosen means of communication. So, if you are stuck in your car in traffic everyday, maybe is good idea to go with subway or some electrical vehicle?

But of course this is not just about work. It is the same case with all everyday activities you do. Just make a fast calculation and you will see that small changes can give you a lot additional free time.

Get a car
I know it is obvious, but I will write it anyway. Car is one of this special things which can change money for time! It will help you save so much of your time that you can’t even imagine.

Get a electrical vehicle
If you live in a big city, I definitely recommend buying an electric vehicle. It is also a very strong time saver. Plus, many models will also give you a lot of driving pleasure.

To sum up I would like to show you quick calculation I made, so you can see some numbers:

Far away from home	Times a day	Minutes	Times per week	Total min per activity
Work	2	60	5	600
Training	2	30	5	300
Studies (weekends)	2	40	2	160
			Weekly	17,67
			Monthly	70,67

Close to home	Times a day	Minutes	Times per week	Total min per activity
Work	2	10	5	100
Training	2	10	5	100
Studies (weekends)	2	20	2	80
			Weekly	4,67
			Monthly	18,67

			Difference	52,00

As you can see with only 3 main activities the difference is huge +50 hours monthly. And the savings will be the greater the more activity in the month you have. Take some time and make your own calculation and you will see how much extra time you can get for yourself.

Do yourself a favor, make a change and enjoy the many extra hours of free time!

Reforged Italian Dream – Episode 2 – purchase taxes and fees and living costs

Ok., so we finally are finished our consultation with an Italian Accountant. To be honest we didn’t learn anything that we couldn’t find on the internet already, but what’s very important we were able to confirm the information we found and discuss it in more detail. So, below you can find what we found so far. I think is quite complete guide for buying a House in Italy.
At the end of the post I will also write few words about the costs of living in Italy.

Purchase guide and Ownership taxes
During the research I found amazing purchase property guide made by Studio Legale Metta for 2018. It is in english (not so common when it comes to Italian companies) and is written in a simple and easy to understand language.
You can find there all you need to know about the proces of purchasing a property in Italy and about the taxes and fees related with this process. You can also find there information about ownership taxes and fees.
You can download full guide here.

Business costs
Because we want to move to Italy with our businesses we are curently building here in Poland we wanted to know how the tax system looks like in Italy when it comes to self-employment.
Below you can find information we gathered (remember that it is March 2020 and this numbers may change in time):

The VAT
VAT is 22%.

The Income Tax
Income tax in Italy is progressive and has the following thresholds:

€ 0 to € 15,000	23%
€ 15,001 to € 28,000	27%
€ 28,001 to € 55,000	38%
€ 55,001 to € 75,000	41%
Over € 75,000	43%

The INPS (social security)
This is quite a big tax, so be aware and remember that this one will consume a lot of your income.
Standard equasion for INPS is: (Total Income – deductible costs)*27-28 %
But INPS has an annual minimum contribution of about 3 500 EU (for partner in marriage company) and 3 800 EU one person company. So minimum of 7 000 EU for 2 people company (marriage type).

Accounting cost
Of course, the exact numbers depend on the amount of work the accountant will have to do, which is related to the number of documents and invoices you will produce monthly. But we can assume that the costs would be between 2 500 – 3 000 EU annually.

Abroad income, properties and assets
If you own a house or other property you will have to pay 0,76% on the market value annually.

If you have financial assets including bank account you will have to pay 0,2% with a minimum of 34 euros for each current account.

If you have income including rentals or interests from financial assets or any income, you will have to pay taxes on it at the regular tax rate (progressive from 23% to 43%) but you may be able to deduct from the amount payable the taxes you have paid already in you country. It depends on whether specific income abroad is regulated by a double taxation agreement.

Tax incentives
In some cases you can take advantage of the preferential taxes that the Italian government has prepared as an incentive to attract human capital to Italy. You can download this guide below:

Tax_incentives_for_attracting_human_capital_in_Italy Download

Local differences in taxes
Please note that in Italy each region and often each municipality or even city or village may have their very own rules and taxes. So, it is crucial to check this before you decide to buy a property. With that issue I would recommend you to contact Italian accountant.

Living costs
This issue is very crucial for us. It’s because we live in Poland and here, we have Polish Zloty (PLN), which is more that 4 times weaker currency than Euro (1 Euro = 4,25 PLN). We have to calcutale everything very carefully, so when we take our businesses to Italy they will withstand currency change and much higher taxes.

I will certainly write a dedicated post about the cost of living, but for now I can say that we have estimated that we need around 4,000 EU per month.

Inmotion V10 is a great vehicle, but it is not suitable for everyone. Think twice before you buy it.

I was looking on the electric vehicles market from the beginning (yes I’m that old :)) and I was waiting until the bateries will be more powerful and the specs I want will be affordable for me.
So this time has finally come and I decided to buy one for me. I wanted to have something that could help me to move around the city without a car. My main activities are no too far away from my house, so driving a car two or three streets does not make much sense.

I was looking for vehicle who has this three things:

Big wheel, so it will be dealing nice with different surfaces
Long range, so I can go deep in the city and back
Speed around 30km so I can move fast and have some fun

All additional features were of course welcome but not so important for me as those three.

So after quick research I found that there is something I was looking for. Inmotion V10 electric monocycle. I used the black friday sale and I got my first electric vehicle 🙂

But this post will not be a standard review when the owner pointing out why he loves his new gadget. I would like to tell you very important thing that I think you should know about this device.
Inmotion V10 is really great monocycle! But it’s definitely not for everyone. If you are not careful, it can catapult your face into the pavement so quickly that you won’t even notice.
I think that is should be quite obvious for everyone that a monocycle which can go 40 km/h may be dangerous. Specially with unexperienced rider. Unfortunately I didn’t find even one video on YouTube about it, so I decided to make my comment on this.

Issue 1 – Learning curve
The learning curve is really steep. It means that you have to put a lot of time and effort just to learn the basics like: getting on, moving forward, braking, turning, keeping the balance. And learning this will not take you an hour, it’s gonna be much, much more.

Then, when you finally will be able to get on the monocycle easily, you’ll acess to it’s all capabilities. And to use them safely you have to master riding techniques and this task will definitely be a difficult process. It will require a lot of time, effort and mindfulness to do this right. I think that this may be too much for most people. And if you simply would not be eager to learn the technique you will propably end up injured quite badly.

Issue 2 – Riding on one wheel it’s hard
Maybe this is obvious but I still want to say this – riding on one wheel vehicles is hard and unintuitive. Although when Inmotion V10 it’s turned on it will keep the tension in the motor, so when you stand on it, it will not flipp backwards or forward but it still can easily fall off on side.

Another thing is that when you stand on the wheel you will work like a little sail. Every stronger side wind can affect the wheel behavior. The wind can push you and your wheel off the track. Also a sudden gust that occurs, for example, when you leave from behind a cover or building may cause the wheel to wobble and when it happens it’s very hard to take control back and it probably will lead you to a fall.

Issue 3 – Power
With great power comes great responsibility. This famous sentence from Spiderman movie is quite well known. But I’m not so sure if people really see the message. People often underestimate the power of vehicles and at the same time overestimate their skills. The perfect prescription for an accident.
You should know that Inmotion V10 has the power that can deliver fast acceleration and max speed aroud 40 km/h. Everything will be ok., when the speed you ride will always meet you skills level. But I don’t believe that avarage rider will use it this way. So, if you are not patient enough and you cannot dose the power right, you can seriously hurt yourself.
You should also understand that good and safe riding at 20 km/h is something really different than good and safe riding at 35-40 km/h.

Isseu 4 – Weight
Despite the fact that Inmotion V10 is able to ride well on many surfaces, it climbs well uphill and even doing very well offroad, there still will be some situations when you will have to pull it up and carry with you for some time. Just remeber that this wheel weighs 20.6 kg. It’s good to make a small test and try to pull up 20kg with one hand and walk few steps with it.

Summary
I don’t want you to misunderstand me. I really think that Inmotion V10 is amazing, well designed vehicle and the performance it can deliver is top notch. I can guarantee that if you take the time and effort to do it right, you won’t regret it and I will have a lot of fun riding it.

But I just want to tell you that riding on Inmotion V10 it is not easy. If you are a person who does not like challenges and does not like to spend a lot of time and effort to acquire the right skills, this vehicle is simply not for you and riding it can end up with serious injuries.
So, please take your time and think twice if this kind of electric vehicle is right for you.