Financial Update – July 2020

Each month I will post an update on my finances to both give you, the reader, some insight into my situation and to give me markers of my progress on my financial journey. My updates consist of two parts:

• Financial Progress Table – Tracks joint net worth progress.
• Spending Table – Compares monthly spending to an average (for us) budget, keeping us accountable for additional expenses. I will also include my personal discretionary budget as well; I will not include my spouse’s discretionary spending, which I do not see.

Financial Progress

Each net worth goal in the Financial Progress table is broken down into undisclosed units of money. Our goal is to hit “Financial Equilibrium.” This means, more or less, FIRE at roughly 4% withdrawal rate.

Spending

We’ve created a joint budget which represents the average amount we can expect to spend each month. This is average amount we need to comfortably live in case of a job loss, emergency, etc. I expect to frequently mostly keep in line with our budget when amortized over the year, even though amounts may vary from month to month.

For privacy reasons, there are two things I do not include in our joint spending updates: our monthly mortgage and charitable donations (pegged at 10% of our net income).

Here is my own personal discretionary spending for the month. I try to spend $450 or less each month for my “fun money” since that’s the allowance that’s apportioned to me and my husband.

Monthly Summary

Sold off all the equities in my brokerage account. Eyeing some real estate investments in the near future maybe?

I am in a foul mood today. Things on my mind:

• The food spending is getting truly ridiculous at this point. I’m going to eat out less in August.
• Tired of feverishly working 60-70 hour weeks, feeling extremely burnt out. I’ll be taking a vacation this month so I don’t wither like a leaf and float away.
• The “t” on my laptop keyboard is being dumb, as in it’ll delay going to my computer a half millisecond or type itself 4 times out. I hate it and it functionally is rendering my computer useless for writing.
• Also, I am fairly annoyed at my husband right now because he keeps not calling the health insurance company to get reimbursement for his therapy sessions, so we’re like $3000 in the hole for that YTD.

Grumblegrumblegrumble.

How were your finances in July? 

Financial Update – June 2020

Each month I will post an update on my finances to both give you, the reader, some insight into my situation and to give me markers of my progress on my financial journey. My updates consist of two parts:

• Financial Progress Table – Tracks joint net worth progress.
• Spending Table – Compares monthly spending to an average (for us) budget, keeping us accountable for additional expenses. I will also include my personal discretionary budget as well; I will not include my spouse’s discretionary spending, which I do not see.

Financial Progress

Each net worth goal in the Financial Progress table is broken down into undisclosed units of money. Our goal is to hit “Financial Equilibrium.” This means, more or less, FIRE at roughly 4% withdrawal rate.

Spending

We’ve created a joint budget which represents the average amount we can expect to spend each month. This is average amount we need to comfortably live in case of a job loss, emergency, etc. I expect to frequently mostly keep in line with our budget when amortized over the year, even though amounts may vary from month to month.

For privacy reasons, there are two things I do not include in our joint spending updates: our monthly mortgage and charitable donations (pegged at 10% of our net income).

Here is my own personal discretionary spending for the month. I try to spend $450 or less each month for my “fun money” since that’s the allowance that’s apportioned to me and my husband.

Monthly Summary

I miss the outside.

How were your finances in June? 

Financial Update – May 2020

Each month I will post an update on my finances to both give you, the reader, some insight into my situation and to give me markers of my progress on my financial journey. My updates consist of two parts:

• Financial Progress Table – Tracks joint net worth progress.
• Spending Table – Compares monthly spending to an average (for us) budget, keeping us accountable for additional expenses. I will also include my personal discretionary budget as well; I will not include my spouse’s discretionary spending, which I do not see.

Financial Progress

Each net worth goal in the Financial Progress table is broken down into undisclosed units of money. Our goal is to hit “Financial Equilibrium.” This means, more or less, FIRE at roughly 4% withdrawal rate.

Spending

We’ve created a joint budget which represents the average amount we can expect to spend each month. This is average amount we need to comfortably live in case of a job loss, emergency, etc. I expect to frequently mostly keep in line with our budget when amortized over the year, even though amounts may vary from month to month.

For privacy reasons, there are two things I do not include in our joint spending updates: our monthly mortgage and charitable donations (pegged at 10% of our net income).

Here is my own personal discretionary spending for the month. I try to spend $450 or less each month for my “fun money” since that’s the allowance that’s apportioned to me and my husband.

Monthly Summary

I’m finally starting to claw my way out of the wretched non-stop working spree I’ve been in. It’s been a wild few months, and I am tired.

Despite places starting to open back up, my husband and I are staying inside as much as we can. He has a condition that puts him at greater risk of mortality for COVID-19 (at least according to some of the initial data coming out of Italy) so we’re not going back out into the world… ever?

I’ve started to cancel subscriptions for things that I just can’t partake in for the foreseeable future (like my gym membership, which I’d been continuing to support the workers there). I’ve still been stress eating takeout a lot, but I think that’ll get better as work slows down from 80-100 hours a week to a mere 40-60. I’ve been wanting to go on a trip for a while– to the beach, up to Maine. But then it’s like, you never know if someone is infected at the cabin you rented, etc. Anyway, first world problems with everything going on right now.

I’m kind of surprised how quickly, even as everything is still closed, that our old disputes, petty grievances and fundamental ruptures of society alike, have come flooding back. I feel like there was a brief moment we were all focused on one scary thing together. And now that thing is still there, but we remembered oh yeah there’s also climate change and racism and xenophobia and wealth inequality, etc and we all kind of hate each other again.

How were your finances in May?