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?
Yet Another PF Blog 
Were you not able to do any safely distanced outdoor activities this month? I didn’t go outside at all today, it being Monday and therefore absolutely miserable for workload, but some days we get out for a nice long walk away from people.
June was a little less expensive thankfully, I’ve been starting to worry a bit about whether our 2021 income could reasonably be expected to be the same or not but of course who knows? There are a million variables, hardly any of which are under our control, and it’s simply unknowable. Doesn’t stop me from speculating though.
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We went hiking after I posted this month’s update and that helped a lot. Mostly, I just miss regular city life– seeing friends, going to museums, sitting at cafes, etc. It’s just the little day to day things.
I’m sorry to hear you’re starting to have income worries. I think we’ve been shielded so far, but I worry about a lot of folks going into August, especially if Congress doesn’t prolong the unemployment expansion. So many folks are going to have a very rough time ahead.
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