Gilberto de Piento's Journal

[Gilberto de Piento]

I love that quote by Epictetus.

I think it's a great quote too. At this point in my life I enjoy having simple fun a lot more than expensive possessions. It's a nice place to be.

If you still have a ways to go until you reach FI, then I would suggest getting a more stimulating job. I could have switched jobs four years ago but I chickened out, I wish I had made the change.

Thanks for the advice, I'm going to keep working on it. I'm definitely a long way from FI. The spreadsheet predicts 25 years.

[Gilberto de Piento]

I pulled my $10,000 CD emergency fund a couple of years early today. I had to forgo $108 of interest. I'm going to deposit about $2000 in my checking account so that I have a $5000 emergency fund. This would cover about four months of living expenses, assuming I bought only what I needed. The rest will go into Vanguard VTSAX. Think positive thoughts for the US economy.

[spoonman]

I applaud your move. I used to have an emergency fund just sitting there getting gnawed away by inflation. I was in no mood to put it in a low interest CD, so I just bought reliable dividend paying stocks. I've been a very happy camper since.

[Gilberto de Piento]

I posted this in the money questions subforum but I'm putting it here too because I like it. How long to FI at different percents saved:

[Gilberto de Piento]

August 2014

My worst month yet in percent saved at 28%. This was the first time I've dropped into the 20s. This was due to some "emergency" repairs on the car consisting of four new tires, an alignment and a ball joint for $700. I've been looking for a low mileage car on craigslist but I haven't found the right one yet. The car has cost $230 a month over the last year (not including gas) and is no longer reliable enough for the distances I sometimes travel.

I also spent $200 on a new phone and phone plan so that I could switch from tracfone to republic wireless. My ZTE Valet tracfone had a broken on/off switch that was making it very difficult and sometimes impossible to use the phone and it was out of minutes/texts so it needed to be refilled. Either way I was spending money so I decided to spend a little more and get something better. So far I like both the service and the phone a lot more. I could have waited on this or bought a $20 flip phone and more minutes but I just didn't want to.

I set up an automatic transfer to Vanguard of $1750, or about half my paycheck, every month. I'm hoping this will help with the above problem of not saving enough. It was easier when money was automatically deducted for my 457b.

My internet has increased to $58 a month. I may call to complain in hopes of a reduction or may try a different service as I am using the fastest and most reliable available right now.

Alcohol & Bars 17.39
Auto & Transport 700.78
Business Services 17.98
Cash & ATM 200
Charity 28.94
Clothing 24.53
Gas & Fuel 141.40
Gift 23.94
Groceries 346.30
Health & Fitness 9.52
Mobile Phone 200.50
Mortgage & Rent 950
Restaurants 108.71
Shopping 7.37
Television 58.01
Trade Commissions 4
Total -FI $2835.37

Paycheck 3269.56
Amazon 132.42
Google 225.30
Checking 10.06
Sold lawn tractor 300
Total +FI $3937.34

Savings $1101.97
Monthly Savings Rate: 27.99%
Net Worth: $96,182.80
SWR: 35.37%

I'm still on track for $100,000 net worth this year:



"You deserve what you accept"
-Author Unknown

[spoonman]

What kind of speed are you getting for $58/month? That seems like a rather steep price. My service just got upgraded to 5x the original speed at no additional cost (Time Warner Cable internet).

[Gilberto de Piento]

Option A is 30 mbps at $58 a month. It started at $29 per month and keeps moving up.
Option B is "up to" 45/18/6mbps for $30/$20/$15 a month. I had Option B's 6mbps a few years ago and it was more like 3mbps and very unreliable. It was always going out and the company was always sending people to work on it.
Option C was 5mbps for $15 a month a long time ago when I last tried them. I just went to their website and it doesn't even describe the speed or pricing.

I really don't need fast internet but I do want reliability. I'm going to call Option A and see if I can get the price reduced. Any suggestions on the best approach?

[mxlr650]

I really don't need fast internet but I do want reliability. I'm going to call Option A and see if I can get the price reduced. Any suggestions on the best approach?

If there is both DSL and Cable available in your area, it makes sense to own modems (latest vDSL, and DOCSIS 3.0 — Actiontec and Motorola are good). If activation timelines are one or two weeks, then you just switch with one week overlap so you can avoid pussyfooting while canceling the service. Once the service is activated, you will not be charged till you register, so you can always cancel if you do not need it or better yet, deactivate the existing service with two week notice. I pay $45 for 25Mbps Comcast and it includes Streampix which I do not have time for, but I also have a DSL modem (I was DSL customer before) in case Comcast acts up.

[George the original one]

You people with big city problems... if I could get 5 Mbps at the retirement home without paying for five 15 mile T1 lines, I'd be happy.

[Gilberto de Piento]

If I lived in Oregon the only thing I'd need internet for is to look up the next mountain to climb or trail to hike or river to kayak.

[Ydobon]

Don't people challenge their providers to offer a better price in the US?

Here in the UK, it's rare for savvy consumers *not* to change utility provider/mobile phone provider/broadband provider/insurers at least every couple of years. I've been on 'new customer' retention offers for years, it helps to keep the costs down

[Gilberto de Piento]

It's interesting that normal variation in the stock market now causes my net worth to bounce up or down by a paycheck on some days. This is expected and I'm still definitely practicing "buy and hold" but it is interesting that a good day in the stock market makes more than going to work for two weeks.

I tried to find a distribution of daily percent gain/loss in the market but I couldn't find it in a few minutes of searching.

[spoonman]

Whenever I see a significant fluctuation, up or down, I just tell myself that those fluctuations are just "monopoly money". The day I see a 20% or greater drop over the course of two weeks, then I'll definitely flinch, but as long as my dividends keep coming in I won't dwell on it too long.

[Gilberto de Piento]

September 2014

Not a bad month, back above a 50% savings rate due to earning about $500 in consulting income and not having any large unexpected costs.

I think this is the first journal where my net worth went down. Its strange to think about having less even though I made money all month. As spoonman said, it's not real money yet so I'm ignoring it.

Cash & ATM looks worse than it really is. I took out some cash because my debit card was compromised again and it's temporarily not working. I still have the money, I'm just not counting it here because I don't want to have to count the dollar bills in my wallet every month.

SWR is slowly moving down. Moving under 20% will be a good arbitrary milestone.

Alcohol & Bars 10.54
Auto & Transport 34
Business Services 52.32
Cash & ATM 290
Charity 10
Clothing 14.52
Gas & Fuel 175.09
Groceries 177.57
Health & Fitness 6.85
Mobile Phone 12
Mortgage & Rent 950
Restaurants 59.39
Shopping 6.85
Television 58.01
Trade Commissions 4
Total -FI $1857.14

Paycheck 3269.56
Amazon 144.18
Google 229.69
Consulting 520
Checking 7.52
Total +FI $4170.95
Savings $2313.81

Spent 44.53%
Saved 55.47%

Net Worth $95,958.41
SWR 23.22%

I'm still on track for $100,000 net worth this year though I've actually lost net worth from last month due to the market moving down:



“You only ever grow as a human being if you're outside your comfort zone.”

― Percy Cerutty

[spoonman]

Keep going! 100K is right around the corner!

[mxlr650]

I'm still on track for $100,000 net worth this year though I've actually lost net worth from last month due to the market moving down:

Way to go GDP!!

[Gilberto de Piento]

I bought a mint condition, nearly new bike trailer from craigslist this week so that I can use it to get groceries. Getting groceries is one of the last reasons I have for driving so it will be good to use the car even less. I already have panniers but they just don't hold enough and the food gets squashed.

The grocery store I go to is three miles away (there are two closer but are very small and expensive).

The trailer is really a kid trailer and cost $40. I've used them before, I just haven't owned one.

Unfortunately I did the math on this and it will take a long time before this pays for itself:
gas mileage: 25mpg
gas cost: $3.50
round trip: 6 miles
3.50 / 25 * 6 = $0.84 per trip
$40 / $0.84 = 48 trips to break even on the trailer

This is more about using the car less and the bike more than it is about saving money so I think it's ok. If I don't like it I can sell it in the spring and make money on it.

[George the original one]

If you shop weekly, then payoff in a year is good enough. That leaves the next XX years as an accumulation. Plus, the trailer depreciation is minimal compared to the car.

Personally, though, I don't sweat one-time capital expenses of $40.

[spoonman]

I second GTOO's assertion. I think that the decrease of wear and tear on the car will probably more than offset the $40 over a year, even as low as a few months.

[Gilberto de Piento]

It's funny how much thinking I was putting into this! Thanks for talking me down.