rePete's Journal

aquadump · Post by **aquadump** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 5:50 pm

March 2011 Numbers

graph link.
The big step up this month is due to selling my car, to go car-free. Next month will see a similar trend up, as that will be the start of eliminating the monthly expenses.
For over a year, I’ve been thinking about going car-free. I’ve consistently been labeled a dedicated bike commuter by my peers for the vast majority of my life. The pursuit of FI put me over the tipping point of getting rid of it. I’m excited for the experience. I’m not sold that this will be a permanent decision nor am I anticipating a future date when I’ll get another car. I simply decided I wasn’t married to my car and wasn’t enthusiastic about owning it at this time, so I sold it.
I truly enjoyed the car-selling process. I had a dent taken out that has bothered me for the past year; it was quite entertaining to watch the dent-removal artisan do his work. I got a few good workouts detailing the car, and then I flipped a hefty dollar to have it professionally detailed. Again, it was quite educational to learn a few new tricks on how to clean a car, mainly his preferred outside-the-box cleaning products and methods.
And as obvious, this is good for bottomline

*Selling my car and decluttering was profitable, so any expenses -- like the new tools or services I used this month in order to sell the items -- involved were not included in the monthly expenses mainly because they are not going to be re-occurring expenses. I’m just clarifying that this is a simplification in the finances. The profits from the sales are much greater than the expenses.

aquadump · Post by **aquadump** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 11:40 pm

April 2011 Numbers

graph link.
2010 Q1 Finance Results:

+86.7% savings rate*

+27.7% net worth increase

+reached my rent expense cross-over
*Selling my car and decluttering was profitable, so any expenses -- like the new tools or services I used in order to sell the items -- involved were not included in the monthly expenses mainly because they are not going to be re-occurring expenses. I’m just clarifying that this is a simplification in the finances. The profits from the sales are much greater than the expenses.
The trend upward continued this month. The results look nice.
However, I’ll be backing off from the crowbar method this month, and easing into some luxuries. I’ve thought about this for a month and still feel the same way: so I’m sticking with the decision. My ideal quest was to attain 25X and then add comforts while maintaining 25X.
The major reason I’m doing this is that I sense burnout, the same kind of burnout I can sense while training for endurance events. I may go back to the crowbar method in the future, but I need a rest, so to speak. My decision also has to do with these numbers being almost purely theoretical, as I don’t have a practical investment plan yet.
I’m setting my budget -- as in my upper limit -- to 25% spending of my income. This is an arbitrary number. I’d like to buy higher quality groceries, which is a much greater value to me than a dining out experience. I’m not limiting the expense types or setting a direction, just the 25% limit.
One thing I’m surprised that isn’t in Jacob’s 21-day makeover, perhaps because it’s implied and obvious, is to take time to take care of your stuff. This means cleaning and repairing. This can be part of the decluttering process, if you haven’t been taking care of things (guilty!). Nonetheless, it is much more enjoyable to use something that works functionally just as well as they day it was created (or possibly better). For me to have a clean and mechanically-sound environment and equipment is a bit of pride too. My goal is to continue this trend.

George the original one · Fri Apr 01, 2011 2:01 am

86.7% savings rate means saving 6.5 months of expense each month you're working! Man, no wonder you want to relax a little.
Your whole climb has been very impressive. Have you projected a likely date that you'll reach 25x expenses? Just looking at the line, it would seem to be 3-4 months down the road, though I'm sure that a less aggressive approach will extend the time a couple more months... so 6-9 months from now?

aquadump · Post by **aquadump** » Fri Apr 01, 2011 4:45 pm

Thanks George! Most of it didn't really seem that hard. I just have some wants to streamline things around the house a bit, and I want to experiment in cooking a bit.
At uber-ERE (87%), the line would level out since most expenses are reduced (budget cuts) and assets are converted (decluttering sales). That uERE projected date would be October 2011. Decreasing to 75% actually takes it out more than 3 years.

Surio · Post by **Surio** » Fri Apr 01, 2011 4:54 pm

@rePete,

that isn’t in Jacob’s 21-day makeover, perhaps because it’s implied and obvious, is to take time to take care of your stuff. This means cleaning and repairing.

It isn't in Jacob's posts. But it makes up a big part of Dominguez's YMOYL in Chapter 6, Section "10 Sure ways to save money"

HTH.

aquadump · Post by **aquadump** » Thu May 19, 2011 6:42 pm

I should note that I made an oversight, taking care of stuff is Day 17.

aquadump · Post by **aquadump** » Thu May 19, 2011 6:43 pm

May 2011 Numbers

graph link.
As expected, my savings went down. 79.8% savings didn’t break the arbitrary 75% budget, so that’s good. I expect that May will probably be similar numbers. I assume my spending will decrease later this year, but there isn’t a stringent plan.
This month, GF and I moved into our own place. This is the first time living without roommates for both of us. The upside is peace of mind from a roommate situation that kept getting weirder. The downside is an extra $75 in rent, which is $22500 (25x) to $29700 (33x) more capital required for the perpetuity. Apartment hunting is an interesting activity to do as a couple. For instance, I require a grocery store less than a mile away, and she requires a comfortable feeling apartment (??).
This is late because I spent the first week of May working on a farm, where I helped plant corn. My connection is that the farmer is my friend’s dad. The second week of May I visited my parents. I made a shoe shining box out of maple in my dad’s workshop and picked up some pointers.

aquadump · Post by **aquadump** » Tue May 24, 2011 3:41 am

Due to some job transitioning, I'm starting a 2 week mini-ERE today. I have absolutely nothing (and everything!) to do for the next two weeks. I'm planning to stay local. I have a few projects in mind and still a long list of books I want to read

I'm curious whether I'll be content or bored at the end of the two weeks.

aquadump · Post by **aquadump** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 4:40 pm

June 2011 Numbers

graph link.
Not shown in this month’s calculation is my one time fee of buying a car. I have a new job that is 14 miles away and we have 10 months remaining on our apartment lease. I’ve commuted 14 miles by bike before, and while it is fun to do a few times per week, I am not interested in focusing that much time commuting.
I bought a small, used car with a lot of miles on it. My car insurance for having this car, versus having a non-owner’s policy, goes up by $4 per month. My goal is to have an unreliable car, both to ensure I stay in cycling shape and to provide potential opportunity to fix something. Not exactly a mainstream idea, but I don’t need reliability at this point in my life.
Excluding the car, my savings was 73%. I’m amazed that I went on two weeks of vacation, bought some new “fancy” work clothes, did some project purchasing, and still managed to save this much.
One other note is that I added smart phone with data plan to my “sins.” As part of the negotiation process for my new job, I countered and was able to get over 4X the price of the phone bill. This way I can still save 75% and it provided a real incentive for me in the confrontation process. The phone isn’t a must have thing, but I like technology and want to see what all the hype is about. The job includes an even higher raise before this counter, so I’m expecting to accumulate at the same pace or faster, now.

Maus · Post by **Maus** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 6:50 pm

@rePete

I love the conceptual framework you hint at: salary negotiation grounded in expected ERE savings rate. If I end up seeking a new gig, I'll try to go into salary negotiation with that framework in mind.

aquadump · Post by **aquadump** » Fri Jul 01, 2011 11:41 pm

Maus, Actually, the budget framework is so ingrained to me now that it was "normal" thinking for me!

aquadump · Post by **aquadump** » Fri Jul 01, 2011 11:42 pm

July 2011 Numbers

Nothing too eventful for me this month. Just plugging along

rjack · Post by **rjack** » Sat Jul 02, 2011 11:15 am

I don't see the actual image for the graph.

aquadump · Post by **aquadump** » Mon Aug 01, 2011 12:06 am

rjack, my apologies. I saw this but forgot to respond. Hopefully it's fixed this month.

aquadump · Post by **aquadump** » Mon Aug 01, 2011 12:06 am

July 2011 Numbers

This month I opened up a Vanguard account and started slowly into index funds. My main drive for this was from reading A Random Walk Down Wall Street. I’m not sure that I’ll only buy index funds, but it seems like a good place to start for me.
My savings now is consistently above my (arbitrary) 75% number, to where it feels normal as opposed to any kind of strain.

aquadump · Post by **aquadump** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 11:04 pm

September 2011 Numbers

This month had some gifts, traveling, and an unexpected health care expense. I expect to see the trend in the graph rise in the cooler months which I think translates to less spending, for me.
I am inadvertently posting this on my 5th anniversary of being “a professional.” As of now, my net worth over total money earned in that period is roughly 60%. It’s not a great number, but not too shabby either. Even though my actions are pretty consistent from 5 years ago, I think what I’ve gained most is learning how to succeed in a corporation. I used to think that it was skills learned in education, but I am finding out that being well-liked and having the right answers (sometimes white lies or generally vagueness) can be just as important.
C’est la vie: onwards and upwards!