Just finished putting together the November numbers and they look okay. Still on track to hit a 38% savings rate for the year which is a full 10 higher than last year. At this point its just a matter of continuing to put away any savings either into a house fund/cash or taxable investments. My net worth has increased 25% so far this year. Not sure how long that kind of growth is sustainable, but most of the growth came from savings and not investments. So we'll see. Refinance on the condo is going smoothly, should be ready to sign off in a week or two. That will decrease the equity in the rental, but increase the cash flow. Payback period of 19 months. Two goals going forward is to trim down the food costs and buy a SFR. We've budgeted for the food costs as I buy dinner to bring home now that DW is only 2 weeks away from bringing second child into the world and can't really cook. I'm hoping we can cut our food costs down to their normal $400/mo level by April (from their current lofty $650/mo). The SFR is probably going to be easier. Just building up the cash for a 20% down payment and waiting for my current refi to finish. Then its just finding the right house at the right price.
Phayen's Journal
Hi All! Happy New Year. Finished my first full year on my way to ER. Highlights. Spending is down 11%, NW is up 24%. Savings rate has jumped from 28% to 39%. All good news. Will keep tightening the bolts on certain items that get away from us. My goal of refinancing was completed last week so all settled there. 2013 will be exciting. I'll have almost $13K in bonuses vesting. So income will continue to increase, while hopefully we can keep expenses flat (or tracking inflation). Goal next year is to finally cross the 50% savings rate for the year.
Details:
Total Spend: $46.2K ($15.4K/pp not counting new child)
Total Savings: $29.5K
NW: $161K to $200K. ($29.5K savings + $10K gains)
With a full family of 4, an investmnet property, renting a house in a new city with a new job its hard to keep track of what our goals really are. This journey has really helped me to focus on what we're spending on as well as what we're savings towards. Just want to say thank you to everybody for the encouragement!
Details:
Total Spend: $46.2K ($15.4K/pp not counting new child)
Total Savings: $29.5K
NW: $161K to $200K. ($29.5K savings + $10K gains)
With a full family of 4, an investmnet property, renting a house in a new city with a new job its hard to keep track of what our goals really are. This journey has really helped me to focus on what we're spending on as well as what we're savings towards. Just want to say thank you to everybody for the encouragement!
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Spartan_Warrior
- Posts: 1659
- Joined: Fri Dec 02, 2011 1:24 am
Hi Phayen. Congrats on the newborn! I find your journal very interesting as your starting point in terms of age, salary, and housing expenses is pretty close to where I am now (though your net worth/savings was higher!), and I'm also interested in having a family at some point. It looks like you've done very well the last few years. Good luck in the new year.
Thanks SW! I always look for other journals for people who have kids too. Seems those journeys are generally slower than those for single people. Glad to see someone is reading it. That really does enforce the writing aspect for me.
We've made most of our changes and with a family of 4 its going to be focusing on small changes in spending mixed with larger changes in lifestyle, ie building skill sets and approaching problems from more angles.
Good luck to you too!
We've made most of our changes and with a family of 4 its going to be focusing on small changes in spending mixed with larger changes in lifestyle, ie building skill sets and approaching problems from more angles.
Good luck to you too!
Hi All,
January was a good start to the month. 57% savings rate. My ESPP's vested and came out to a 34% gain in just 6 months. Expenses were in line with what I had thought as well, which was higher than normal given we had family in town for a few weeks. NW increased from $201k to $206k.
I'm struggling with two things right now that I'm not sure how to move forward on.
The first is my ESPP's. I feel like this is a big no no against asset allocation as 4% of my NW is tied up in one stock. Should I just sell these and rediversify against my normal PP. Consequences would be short term cap gains tax, and potentially missing out on further gains.
Secondly, I'm tired of renting. We rent a small house (1100 sq ft), for 1795/month. It's expensive, no doubt. But its the cheapest place we can find within 10 miles of work (I'm only 3 miles away). Homes in the same area are selling for approx. $400K. If we put 20% down, I came to the conclusion that our monthly outgoing cash would be about the same. We would come up ahead only by counting equity. Pros would be that we could start to customize the house and settle in. Our current place isn't very nice at all and makes it inconvenient to do basic tasks. I find that if the outgoing cashflow is approx. the same, then it would also most likely be a poor investment opportunity as well. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks for reading.
January was a good start to the month. 57% savings rate. My ESPP's vested and came out to a 34% gain in just 6 months. Expenses were in line with what I had thought as well, which was higher than normal given we had family in town for a few weeks. NW increased from $201k to $206k.
I'm struggling with two things right now that I'm not sure how to move forward on.
The first is my ESPP's. I feel like this is a big no no against asset allocation as 4% of my NW is tied up in one stock. Should I just sell these and rediversify against my normal PP. Consequences would be short term cap gains tax, and potentially missing out on further gains.
Secondly, I'm tired of renting. We rent a small house (1100 sq ft), for 1795/month. It's expensive, no doubt. But its the cheapest place we can find within 10 miles of work (I'm only 3 miles away). Homes in the same area are selling for approx. $400K. If we put 20% down, I came to the conclusion that our monthly outgoing cash would be about the same. We would come up ahead only by counting equity. Pros would be that we could start to customize the house and settle in. Our current place isn't very nice at all and makes it inconvenient to do basic tasks. I find that if the outgoing cashflow is approx. the same, then it would also most likely be a poor investment opportunity as well. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks for reading.
I second appreciating the journal. Please keep it up, it is inspiring.
Could you fix up your current rental and have the some of the cost taken out of your rent? That might be cheaper in the long run considering closing costs and would maintain your mobility. The landlord might appreciate someone doing the work/arranging for it and you would have things more to your liking.
Could you fix up your current rental and have the some of the cost taken out of your rent? That might be cheaper in the long run considering closing costs and would maintain your mobility. The landlord might appreciate someone doing the work/arranging for it and you would have things more to your liking.
Just a quick update for Feb. Slightly lower savings rate of 42% which is mostly timing with last month's high savings rate. NW went from $206K to $209K (mostly due to automatic contributions to 401(k) and ESPP). I'm currently 16.4% done with my goal to get to $250K NW this year (from $201K). Pretty on pace. Overall savings rate for the year is currently at 46% which is a little light from my goal of 50%.
I haven't sold my shares, which seemed like a bad idea as the price quickly dropped 3%. Today the prices recovered above where I received them though. I don't know how to feel. It seems like this is a bad asset allocation as I'm extremely invested in my company at this point in time by my reliance on a salary alone. On the other hand, I do believe my company will do well. For the interim, I'll hold until we decide to buy a place or I hit the long term cap gains mark, whichever comes first.
CS - Landlord won't consider it. They are retired and use the money for living expenses. They don't really care about the condition as long as it is habitable. The low cost of the rent justifies the low quality (and it probably is fair, similar sized homes go for a few hundred more a month). We'll just keep making small improvements for now. I do think they'll let us go month to month once we hit our end lease date which is nice and gives us some options.
I haven't sold my shares, which seemed like a bad idea as the price quickly dropped 3%. Today the prices recovered above where I received them though. I don't know how to feel. It seems like this is a bad asset allocation as I'm extremely invested in my company at this point in time by my reliance on a salary alone. On the other hand, I do believe my company will do well. For the interim, I'll hold until we decide to buy a place or I hit the long term cap gains mark, whichever comes first.
CS - Landlord won't consider it. They are retired and use the money for living expenses. They don't really care about the condition as long as it is habitable. The low cost of the rent justifies the low quality (and it probably is fair, similar sized homes go for a few hundred more a month). We'll just keep making small improvements for now. I do think they'll let us go month to month once we hit our end lease date which is nice and gives us some options.
Another quick update. Savings Rate for March was 69% largely driven by extra income from tax refunds. In addition, my Q1 savings rate is at 57%. Well on pace to hit 50% for the year. As far as my goal to getting to $250K NW, I went from $209K, to $217K. Also ahead of schedule here. This is primarily due to accumulation rather than appreciation.
Work has been terrible. I've been doing two people's jobs for over a month now. Things like this make me want to quit. I know it is temporary, but there is still no benefit to working extra hours. Can't wait to have a stockpile of money saved up so I don't have to try this hard.
Work has been terrible. I've been doing two people's jobs for over a month now. Things like this make me want to quit. I know it is temporary, but there is still no benefit to working extra hours. Can't wait to have a stockpile of money saved up so I don't have to try this hard.
April went well too. Really high food costs that we still need to get figured out. I'll reread MMM's blog on food, cause we are obviously still doing something wrong. Over $800 for 4 people (and 2 of those are kids). Overally savings rate was 52% for the month, and still at 55% for the year. NW went from $218K to $223K. Mostly from 50% of my 401(k) matches vesting. Should be able to hit my $250K goal by October at this rate, 2 months early.
We've opted not to move. We don't like the place, but it isn't worth moving and giving up more money each month to rent another. We also came to the conclusion that we'll be moving somewhere else in the next couple of years (mostly work/social circle related) so not going to buy a place.
We've opted not to move. We don't like the place, but it isn't worth moving and giving up more money each month to rent another. We also came to the conclusion that we'll be moving somewhere else in the next couple of years (mostly work/social circle related) so not going to buy a place.
Re: Phayen's Journal
So not too much to report. NW has increased from $223K in April to $233K in June. $8K over pace, should get there soon even if things keep slowing down as far as the PP is concerned. Savings rate is at 58% for the year so far. This is projected to slowly wind down to 50% by the end of the year due to property taxes and some other planned trips. So its nice to have that buffer.
I've been reading a lot regarding how people are questioning the PP and aren't sure if it makes sense to continue on with this. I feel like this is the exact time people should be looking into it. Personally, I think everything is overpriced. At least the PP keeps me in a heavy cash allocation. I'm keeping with it through the losses. If gold falls much more, I'll just buy more. If stocks go up a bit more, I'll sell them. The simplicity is key. I do keep a small portion (5%) as just dividend investing, but even that is 50% cash as I sell each stock as it hits 20% gains (which is plenty for me for the year).
The money aspect is pretty boring at this point. Just trying to make more, and figure out where we want to live next.
I've been reading a lot regarding how people are questioning the PP and aren't sure if it makes sense to continue on with this. I feel like this is the exact time people should be looking into it. Personally, I think everything is overpriced. At least the PP keeps me in a heavy cash allocation. I'm keeping with it through the losses. If gold falls much more, I'll just buy more. If stocks go up a bit more, I'll sell them. The simplicity is key. I do keep a small portion (5%) as just dividend investing, but even that is 50% cash as I sell each stock as it hits 20% gains (which is plenty for me for the year).
The money aspect is pretty boring at this point. Just trying to make more, and figure out where we want to live next.