February 2019 Update
Some big announcements/news this month!
Baby
Baby is 5 weeks old!
She had her 1 month follow up for her heart yesterday. It didn't go as well as we had hoped. The hole in her heart has completely healed and they say it likely won't appear again, along with the obstruction it had caused, however, she needs monitoring for something else now. I had mentioned it a while back in one of my updates and totally forgot, but she does have a mild elevation in pressure in the arch of her aorta. They can't see anything with the echocardiogram because they can't get a good image, so they are going to take a wait and see approach and do a CT scan when she is older.
So we are now on monthly scans for the next couple months and bi-monthly until 1 year old. After that every 3 months until she is 3 years old. When she turns 3 (or there about) she'll have the CT scan and if it shows any blockage or bend in the arch, they are recommending surgery to fix it even if she is not showing any issues.
We also talked to them about transferring to Minneapolis for this when we move, so we'll get a second (and third) opinion before anything happens. I'm not convinced she'll need surgery but we'll cross bridge that when we get there.
Ultimately this has been a major blow to the happiness we've been experiencing, but it's not the end of the world. I need to figure out how to make the most of this and have it be a positive contribution to my life.
She is a super healthy and REALLY BIG little girl, in the 85th percentile for weight and height and growing like crazy. She's gained 2.5 pounds in the last 5 weeks and is holding her head up already.
I've never been more exhausted in all my life.
Minnesota
We are putting in an offer on a house either today or early tomorrow. Our expenses will fall as I outlined previously if we get it. Next month I will likely adjust our expense metric accordingly. Looking forward to this!
Both DW and I feel now more than ever that moving is the right thing to do. With the heart condition baby has we need and want the support of family and friends and are looking forward to living in a small town again. We are super excited to move!
The plan is to move in late May or June once the weather turns nice.
Work
As outlined in my last update, my work situation has changed a lot now that my buddy is gone. I'm now going to be traveling solo 3 times this year and will need to fend for myself at work. He helped me out a lot while he was here and I'm super sad he has left, but he has some important reasons for doing it including being super over worked. In the end, I only have 13 months until I'm out the door anyway.
There also could be some cuts in the coming months as my employer tightens its belt. There is a lot of bloat where I work and I am not too concerned about being let go, but it's good to know I'll be FI later this year and not next (once we move).
Finances
We had a great month financially, topping 280K in FI Funds as of today. SWR of 4.74% and 21.11 years puts us in a very good spot.
If we close on the house in March, our SWR will drop well under under 4% next month. I almost feel like this is cheating my way to FI.
Our FAI topped 10,000 this month! It jumped a lot this month (the most ever actually), a combination of dividend hikes and investing in some REITs in my IRA which I maxed this month. I've decided that my post-FI taxable portfolio has a place for REITS as I won't be taxed on the income anyway if I can keep my income under 24K (plus misc stuff) annually. The result will be income that exceeds our needs by a lot.
Expenses/Savings
Total Spend - $817.76
Total Savings - $7,299.54; 90%
Years Saved - 21.11
SWR - 4.73%
TTM Expenses - $13,311.68 (+ $71.54)
Total FAI - $10,137.54 (+ $728.27)