snow_leopard's journal

Where are you and where are you going?
snow_leopard
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snow_leopard's journal

Post by snow_leopard »

Hi all. I’m super glad to be posting my first entry. I’m inspired by all the journals and comments on here.

A little about myself - I'm 40, married, live in Texas, and work as a web developer. My hobbies are hiking/backpacking, reading, climbing, music. INF/TJ.

A while back I was in credit card debt and ERE blog and book as well as some other books/blogs helped me to dig myself out and get control of my finances and have a different perspective. I'm very grateful for that.

I’m still trying to figure out my goal(s) and what is possible in regards to my situation of when I can be FI. I'd like to stop being dependent on one source of income so I’m considering starting a side business. And I’m interested in reducing waste around the home so I’ve been reading up on that lately and making changes.
Last edited by snow_leopard on Tue May 08, 2018 9:31 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Viktor K
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Re: snow_leopard's journal

Post by Viktor K »

Totally off ERE-topic but how's climbing in Texas? I'm from there. My hometown had a "saw off all the bolts" policy several years back and has one measly gym that supports climbing/crossfit/ninja warrior (aka crap for climbing). Good job starting your journal. I've recently hatched an idea to self-teach myself web development. It is a high paying field, isn't it? Without too much spending, I think the path to a 4% SWR can't be too far in the future for you.

ira_kart
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Re: snow_leopard's journal

Post by ira_kart »

ironical user name, is n't it? some called "snow_leopard" from TX? :) welcome to the family.

wolf
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Re: snow_leopard's journal

Post by wolf »

snow_leopard wrote:
Fri Apr 13, 2018 9:13 am
A while back I was in credit card debt and ERE blog and book as well as some other books/blogs helped me to dig myself out and get control of my finances and have a different perspective. I'm very grateful for that.
Welcome snow_leopard! That sounds like a good start. Keep on.

snow_leopard
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Re: snow_leopard's journal

Post by snow_leopard »

Thanks for the welcome!

@Viktor - It's flat as a pancake where I am but a massive indoor bouldering gym opened nearby. I'm pretty new to the sport but I love it. I think when I get a little better at it I'll make the drive to try an outdoor spot, maybe Enchanted Rock. Web dev is a great field! There's a ton of resources online to learn.

snow_leopard
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Re: snow_leopard's journal

Post by snow_leopard »

I've been making some changes over the last few months including cutting some things out of my budget as well as changing some lifestyle habits. They've been good changes and have kind of simplified things for me.

I'm trying to get some spreadsheets started and want to work on some charts. But I'm having some trouble figuring out what method/calculation to use for the savings rate. I know everyone does it slightly differently (gross, net, pre-tax, post-tax). I'm open to suggestions. I've been looking at others' chart formats on here. :)

I rent. Car is paid off and a few years old. No debt.

401(k): 97,000
Roth IRA: 31,000
Taxable Accounts: 19,000
Checking: 22,600
Crypto: 1,600
HSA: 5,000

Total: 176,200

Monthly income (after taxes, 401(k), and benefits) is about 5,000.
I put 12% into 401(k) and company matches 6%. (There are other benefits, bonus and an additional match).

March expenses: 2,400
April expenses: 3,000 ($850 of this was federal tax payment, and a $200 skills course which is a great investment to me)

I think May will be better.

Gilberto de Piento
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Re: snow_leopard's journal

Post by Gilberto de Piento »

Regarding Texas climbing, Hueco Tanks is a destination bouldering area that draws people nationwide, partially because you can climb there when the rest of the country is frozen.

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Viktor K
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Re: snow_leopard's journal

Post by Viktor K »

I'd actually heard to that place when I was living there but I didn't start climbing until I lived in Colorado! Had no idea.

@snow_leopard Are you tracking expenses by category on a spreadsheet already? If not, that made the biggest difference for me starting out. Good job either way on cutting your spending by more than $650 March to April, if you exclude the federal tax payment and the course. That's just over a 25% reduction in spending.

snow_leopard
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Re: snow_leopard's journal

Post by snow_leopard »

@Gilberto I have heard of Hueco Tanks, it looks awesome!
@Viktor Thanks for the encouragement! I do track expenses, although, for a while it was very loosely. So trying to be more diligent and mindful now.

May Retro

I export my transactions from Mint, pull them into Excel, edit stuff out that doesn’t need to be there like transfers between accounts or business expenses, and clean up the categories. Then I do a pivot table with the categories and amounts to see the overall picture.

My SO and I split shared expenses pretty evenly. We split the rent. I pay the auto insurance, cell phone, internet, and utilities. SO pays for the groceries, restaurants the majority of the time, and a couple other things.

Auto & renters Ins (2 cars) 247
Hobby - 82
Books - 32
Clothing - 85
Food - 434
Gas - 109
Gifts - 41
Gyms - 116
Mobile Phones - 183
Internet - 138
Music - 11
Rent - 550
Shopping - 194
Utilities - 99
Vacation - 52
Grand Total 2373

Well, I was really trying to do significantly lower than March which was $2400 expenses, but I barely squeaked under that. It definitely tells me that even though I’m being more aware and thinking about my purchases, I may not be affecting the overall result.

I had to go on a business trip unexpectedly, so I bought a couple of things to wear (some of my work clothes are getting shabby anyway), some treats for colleagues, and did sightseeing ($160 for these).

‘Food’ includes food & drinks whether it be extra groceries, restaurants, alcohol, coffee, drinks, etc. I still spend a buttload on food, even though my SO covers most of it. Man, I am a pig! Haha. I used to go out to eat lunch at work regularly, but I’ve been bringing my lunch a lot more. I spent $75 on work lunches. That’s a lot better than before, but I guess I need to work on the rest that ends up in this. I may start splitting the category up to take a better look. Also, this kind of doubles as entertainment for me and keeps me in the social loop.

Net worth went up about $7800. Moved max $5500 from checking to Roth. Have not chosen the investment yet.

In non-finance news, I started a compost. Pretty stoked on that!

snow_leopard
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Re: snow_leopard's journal

Post by snow_leopard »

Hi. Well, I meant to update this journal on a monthly basis but that didn't happen. Unsurprisingly, I also did not stay on track with my money!

Right now I stand at $188k, which is only a few thousand over what I had last time I posted in May of last year. I watched my portfolio get fat and then got lazy with saving and allowed myself to spend loosely. Then the market took a nosedive. And I used all of my HSA on a health expense. Etc. I'm piecing myself back together now, though, and going to do a full retrospective on how to mitigate falling off the FI wagon too hard again.

Other than the finances, I had a great last half of the year. I finished a masters degree, and the tuition was completely covered by my employer. I really enjoyed working on the degree but I'm so loving not having lectures, reading, and writing hanging over my head after a long day of work. I did a ton of traveling and the most of that was covered by either my employer or my hobby. I learned how to make a lot of new healthy recipes. I've gotten myself up off the couch after the holidays and gotten back into fitness and feeling good (and with a friend, too, so that's extra nice!). I read a lot about meditation and learned how to better control my anxiety through practicing. I read a lot more books last year and I've read 4 books this month so far. I started a BulletJournal and I really enjoy this system and spending time using it.

So I have no doubt I can do much better in the future, and I don't want to beat myself up about it because that really doesn't help me as I'm already very self-critical (which, incidentally, is another thing I'm working on).

I think what will help is to better define a realistic goal that I can hit at a regular and frequent interval. And also to save first, then allow myself a bit of breathing room to spend so that I don't let myself swing wildly in the opposite direction again.

snow_leopard
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Re: snow_leopard's journal

Post by snow_leopard »

A little update... The good news, my NW is up to around 214,000. Most of that is due to my employer's generous benefits. The bad news is that I will find out in a couple weeks what my layoff date will be. It wasn't a total surprise, but I'm still sad for many reasons, including some of the financial benefits, great colleagues that are like family, and the very generous time off. I was able to do so much travel for different reasons. I also was able to learn a lot and get a lot of great experience there. Sometimes maybe I was not excited to go to work, but I never dreaded it. There was always some aspect that I have enjoyed every day.

The thing I'm struggling with now is I feel pretty unmotivated and burned out. My skills need an upgrade and were a little too suited to this company. And I can't seem to get myself in gear to work on things and practice at home. I really like what I do, I just don't want to do it! HAHA. But for real, I think that a slight shift in focus would probably fire me up again. But this is a major hurdle I'm trying to overcome. Self-motivation is usually not much of a problem for me.

Many of my colleagues have families so they are very concerned about the change. And I am, too. But I don't have kids and I feel like career experience-wise overall I'm in a pretty good spot. I'll be getting a severance package. I have basically fantasized about this moment for years, that I could take some time off work to travel or do something different. Or just find a job that I felt I had a little more control over or more interest in the subject matter I'm working on. But being around folks that are either already jumping ship or are basically ready to hit the ground running has made me a little hyper-sensitive. In the past I've jumped into jobs that were bad situations because I've felt rushed or pressured either by my financial situation or by family members worrying about me. If possible, I would really like for this to propel me to something better and more meaningful. And maybe get to enjoy a little bit of freedom before settling into a new grind.

On the expenses front, I have been more mindful about what I'm spending. Before if I wanted to go to a show, I'd just go. It's not that any of them are particularly expensive, but they do add up. So, I've been a lot more selective. I've also sold some stuff I wasn't using. And I've been cooking a lot more and I really love to cook! It's not that I didn't enjoy before, but now I appreciate the process of doing it, it's not just a chore anymore.

Aside from that, one of my goals this year was to read more books. I'm up to 9 so far! I'm sure that's not a big deal for some people but in the past reading books was not a huge priority, I never cracked 10 or 12 in a year. I have always read a lot but usually it's been more articles. My goal for the year is 30, so I think I'm well on my way. I mostly read non-fiction, but I'm trying to mix it up a little.

I did read the book Nomadland recently. Wow, that was extremely depressing and one reason that I would NOT want to take a break working (pre-FI obviously). Several of the people profiled were in great financial health and then found themselves in a situation where they're in their 60s, 70s, or even 80s, working 12 hours a day for Amazon in a warehouse, and living in their RV or van not by choice but out of necessity. Amazon actually has a program for this workforce. Which countries did Trump say were shitholes again? ...

Anyway...I still go climbing although I have not improved much! I don't go on a schedule so I think it's harder to improve, and I also don't have a buddy or buddies to go with. But I have a blast just going and getting some exercise, it's addictive. If anyone has trouble sleeping, I recommend climbing. It's exhausting and that shit'll knock you out at night. :)

prognastat
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Re: snow_leopard's journal

Post by prognastat »

It sounds like you've already been doing things to put yourself in a good position for moving from this to another job.

If you are reducing expenses and saving a lot you should have a significant enough buffer to be able to look for a good new job rather than having to jump on the first thing you find.

snow_leopard
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Re: snow_leopard's journal

Post by snow_leopard »

Thanks for the replies.

@bigato I've thought about your comment and suggestions, appreciate that. I don't think I could do all of them, but I could definitely do some.

@prognastat - Yeah, I think you are right. For some reason I tend to let anxiety get the best of me.

An update, my NW is a little over $220k. Looks like I should be at this job for another 16 months or so, which is much further out than I was originally expecting. I have plenty of time to improve my skills and build some projects. I also want to put some time into thinking about exactly what I'd like to be doing or what type of work environment. Based on that timeline, I have a pretty good idea of where I can be at NW-wise when this chapter closes.

I was really struggling with motivation around the last time I posted. But I have made an effort to do a little work at home a few times a week, and that has really improved my mindset. It's just a matter of getting started and blocking out specific time. And not spending time staring at the phone.

I've read 5 books in the last 5 or 6 weeks. (Incidentally, one was Jaron Lanier's recent book about social media.) Right now, I'm reading How to Survive Without A Salary since I think I saw it on the book list in the resources section. I think when I finish that one I'm going to chill on the reading obsession, otherwise, I'll just use reading as a tool to procrastinate. :P My goal is to read 30 books this year and I'm almost halfway. But I more want to enjoy it and learn, and not really so hung up on the number.
_____

Not sure if folks include their matching in their savings rate. I am set to 12% plus 6% match - so 18% total. And am aiming to save an additional 55% after taxes. So that puts me at an initial savings rate of 73%. In theory, we'll see how it goes.

snow_leopard
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Re: snow_leopard's journal

Post by snow_leopard »

April was not a good month, spending-wise. I spent about $4000. $1000 of that was taxes. I also had to get a couple new tires for $250. Spent a ton on food and lunches with coworkers, more than usual because we were too busy to hit the grocery one week and also it was pretty stressful at work so we were all looking for a little comfort. I also bought some pet supplies the SO usually covers - $100. Spent about $90 on books, a couple technical books and a few others. I also bought some 1-time household/healthcare things. I bought a few other things I don't really NEED, none of them that expensive but things really do add up. They are things that I will get a lot of use/enjoyment out of, though.

I also have a boot camp workout class now, I got a month free in January and signed up for 6 months. I really like it because it's outside, social, and is an appointment so I'm more likely to work out, but I probably won't extend it due to the cost.

Despite that, I managed to sock away some money and move the needle a little and the NW is 224.2 today.

Looking back on this, this coming month I aim to bring my lunch/eat groceries 4 days/workweek and go out once per week. And I will not buy any books (or go to the library). And I am looking into cutting the internet expense. And not buy random crap.

I finished How to Survive Without A Salary and I really enjoyed that book, I thought it was pretty funny and kind of a delight. I especially enjoyed one of the last chapters on how economists do not account for quality or for things like effect on the environment, as well as how we are so focused on economic growth, but it doesn't really matter if the quality of life is getting better.

snow_leopard
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Re: snow_leopard's journal

Post by snow_leopard »

My NW is the same as last update 6 weeks ago. $224K.

I had an expensive month in May, some dental work to the tune of $3000, but it was something that needed to be done and also partly cosmetic, and I'm really happy with the result. Also, the market took a dump around then but is starting to recover a little bit. I failed spectacularly with the food spending in May. I also bought some books, a haircut, and a new spare tire for my car.

June is going much better. So far I've spent about $2k, and that includes ponying up for a one-time expense of flood insurance which was a little under $200. Peace of mind since our city government has not done anything to mitigate the flooding problems. All my bills are paid in the first half of the month. I've been better about food and I haven't driven as much - both due to being able to work from home a little more than normal.

My goal is to have NW of $315K when I get laid off next October. That includes adding monthly savings, monthly retirement savings, and severance package after taxes, more or less. There's some wiggle room, because I know if I am too strict I tend to swing wild in the opposite direction. So basically if I save $1500 per check I should be good. The more I break this down into more manageable shorter-term chunks, and automatically sock it away, the more success I will have reaching the goal.

Since I finished a master's degree, I have had a hard time deciding on and committing to any goals. So it feels pretty good to at least put something down.

I have been considering not putting 12% in my 401(k) and instead putting 6% to get the full matching, but then save more after-tax, that way I could use the money before retirement. I'm still mulling this over.

I'm going to Colorado for vacation next week. SO owed me for last vacation so has paid for everything for this one. We'll be staying in the mountains and hiking around Indian Peaks Wilderness and Rocky Mountain National Park. Super excited for a change of scenery!

Other than that, I've been reading Windfall - The Booming Business of Global Warming. Pretty interesting book especially when it comes to the opening of the new trade route through the Arctic. I have read plenty from the perspective of looking at changes in environment, but this book is more about the adaptation from the business side (part of it anyway). I also got over a mental block in bouldering and have been able to climb a lot of V3s. The issue was I should have just gone and tried more of them and just went for it rather than feeling like I need to complete all the lower problems first. And I've been working on my React and JavaScript skills and getting in a better habit of doing code practice a few times a week. I was going through a really bad slump and a lot of anxiety over the last 2 months, but I feel like I am getting over that and starting to take on more challenges and not be so afraid or let anxiety get the best of me. I'm not really sure how I got so anxious over the last few years, but I have realized how much it is holding me back and causing me unnecessary worry.

snow_leopard
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Re: snow_leopard's journal

Post by snow_leopard »

Hi. It's been two months since my last post. Colorado was awesome. We got up at the buttcrack of dawn to go hiking and saw a lot of elk and moose splashing around in mountain lakes. I had a giant, fresh homemade cherry ice cream cone at a local ice cream/used book store shop in a tiny town. I came away with a couple books, including Endurance, the one about the expedition to Antarctica. There's also a dead Norwegian guy cryogenically frozen in the middle of the town.

Aside from some travel expenses in June, July had a sizable wedding gift for a family member. And apparently I will need to go back and take a closer look at what I was doing, but my guess is I got a little carried away with some of my interests and maybe also was a little bored on the weekends and didn't save as much. Also, the market's been a rollercoaster and my portfolio took a bit of a hit.

So I stand at around $227k. I'm off track according to the chart that I've made for myself that extrapolates to next October. But the number's still going up overall. And I think I can get back on track and I'm also just glad I have a chart to compare with! And mentally and emotionally I've been in a better place. More motivated.

I tend to spend a lot of time reading about the "ills of the world", which is pretty easy to do these days. But I think it's affected me too much and so I've decided to dial it back. Not to mention it is just taking up time that I could be doing something else. You go where you put your focus, and I don't want to spend my energy and focus on stuff that's going to maybe affect my physical and mental health and life in a bad way or cause me more anxiety than usual. I want to acknowledge the negative, but focus on the positive, and do something positive, and try to lift the people up around me instead of dragging them down in criticisms of what is going on around us. I also really want to get out of my routines and ruts and auto-pilot and let some new things in and either rekindle some old dreams or strike up some new ones.

snow_leopard
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Re: snow_leopard's journal

Post by snow_leopard »

Hi. Last update was about 2 months ago. I was at $227K. Today I'm at $242K. Still making progress.

I haven't been watching my spending, unfortunately. But I have been somewhat better at 'paying myself first' and getting a certain set amount into savings. I paid for a southern California desert vacation that's coming up in a few weeks and I'm super stoked about that. We got 2 round trip tickets for really cheap. Really excited to do some hiking and have a nice change of scenery.

I just finished reading A Random Walk Down Wall Street. I took a corporate finance class like 20 years ago so a lot of it was a refresher on things I forgot. Overall, I enjoyed it but some of it was pretty boring to be honest and sometimes no matter how much I want to understand this stuff, it seems to go from making perfect sense to really fucking complicated out of nowhere. That said, for the last few years I have invested money in things I found interesting for fun and to learn even though I knew I wasn't supposed to do that. I was doing it with the money I had outside of my 401(k). But now that has grown to like $80K. As a result, the money in my individual brokerage accounts are out of whack in terms of asset allocation. I have 3 or 4 mutual funds, a robotics ETF, and a smattering of single stocks, some of which are already probably covered in my mutual funds. Some I bought because of dividends, some were growth, some were in industries I was just interested in like a water utility, cannabis, and one that deals with using CRISPR for pharmaceuticals, etc. Generally just areas that are ripe for change.

So what I am thinking of doing is selling and buying maybe 3-4 things in the right allocation. Possibly a US index fund, an international index fund, maybe a bond index fund, and a REIT. Or maybe a lifecycle fund since they do the rebalancing for you. I always feel like no matter how 'simple' it's supposed to be when talking about diversification and risk management, for me, when it comes to actually making the decision of what to pick it becomes very complicated because of the sheer amount of options.

As far as general life stuff, we have done a lot better job at cooking most of our dinners and I also only eat lunch out 3 times a week. It doubles as socializing and also keeping up with what's going on in the workplace. I've been working on changing my behaviors around food and diet, too. And quite honestly, I've had a really bad problem with anxiety for a while, but I have somehow figured out how to kind of just let it go and have been trying to have more fun. The job situation is kind of toxic, but at a certain point it is just pointless to spend energy and time worrying. And I have just made an effort to do more fun things like go to see my friends bands, go to baseball games, go to my friends birthday parties, do stuff with my family. In general just saying yes to things I maybe wouldn't have before because I had some certain schedule of activities I thought I had to be doing instead. Like I mentioned above, I also stopped staying up late into the night reading everything about crap going on in the world. I'm still informed, but I don't feel like I need to be living in that rabbit hole. That has definitely helped. One thing I still need to work on is cutting down my social media time.

That's about it for now! My goal is to hit $250K at 12/31.

Also, I had a goal to read 30 books this year and I'm almost done with number 23. I should be able to reach that goal. I don't think I'm going to do that again, though. I think I'll stick with a more manageable amount like 12, because I have a lot of other hobbies and things I like to do.

snow_leopard
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Re: snow_leopard's journal

Post by snow_leopard »

I can’t sleep so I figured this is a good time to update. My NW is a little over $254K today. My last goal was to hit $250 by 12/31 so I’ve already reached that. I have saved a lot but I think the market is doing the heavy lifting for me right now. From here my new goal at 12/31 is $263.

I took a baby step toward getting my asset allocation sorted out. I sold a bunch of individual stocks and now I’m holding it in cash because at some point I need to buy a house and that is going to be a chunk of the down payment. Going forward anything I invest will be in mutual funds, although I have yet to choose which ones.

Trip to California was great, beautiful weather, beautiful views, very relaxing.

I finished a couple more books and now I’m in the middle of The Left Hand of Darkness and also Ultralearning.

My life is definitely in a transition period and will be for a while. In addition to the job change next year, a creative project that I’ve been working on with some friends for almost 10 years looks like it will be coming to an end. For me, it lost momentum a couple of years ago but I didn’t want to let go and tried to reignite my passion for it. But for a variety of reasons we’re no longer able to accomplish much and there’s a lack of at least display of commitment or energy from some, as well as just some logistical hurdles that can’t be helped. It sucks but I’ve been through this a number of times before, and sometimes it’s time to shut the door so another one will open. I have a feeling a totally different kind of door will open, or I may do something with less reliance on other people. Working with other people is what used to make this so fulfilling, though. It’s a big part of my identity.

I have been more conscious of filling my head with news and have been feeling much better. I’m still informed but I don’t feel the need to follow things that closely. After a while it’s just the same story, anyway.

Over the years I’ve read a lot about the changes in our economy and jobs and people having a tough time. Lately I’ve taken more notice of people I know or my friends and acquaintances that have have trouble or struggled. A lot of them struggled with gaining an education, or were putting their emphasis on hanging out or just not that smart about how to make their living. Easy to do when you’re young, but now we’re in our late 30s/early 40s and some of them are just now starting out or starting over. Some of them actually purposefully seem to be downwardly motivated and making their own lives harder. I am not judging at all, everybody has to follow their own path, but I do not want this to be me. I remember the stress and anxiety that I had when I struggled earlier in my life and I do not want that again! So I’m also trying to take stock of who I’m spending time with and what is influencing me. Sometimes I want to be a lazy blob, but it is super important to keep momentum and ‘keep your nose to the grindstone’.

I watched the Bill Gates mini documentary the other day. It covers Microsoft but the emphasis is on his work in the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and their focus on 3 big issues: improving sanitation in 3rd world countries, eradicating polio, and alternative energy to mitigate climate change. I found it really inspiring and it motivated me to want to read more, learn more, and work harder.

That’s all for now! :)

snow_leopard
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Re: snow_leopard's journal

Post by snow_leopard »

Howdy folks. Looking over my last post roughly 3 months ago a few things have changed. I did meet my goal of $263K by the end of the year. Things were a little up and down with the market. Around this time of the year I get a few monetary bonuses at work. Today my NW is around $285K. I also owe a few thousand in taxes, but I’m not going to let that spoil the party, I’ll let it spoil the party in April. :)

My SO and I have been renting the same very cheap place for almost a decade. We outgrew this place a while ago and really need more space and something in better shape. It’s way cheaper than it should be and it really helped allow me to save. We are finally going to buy a house. We want to live centrally due to traffic sucking really bad here and also since the activities we do are in town. So we are on the hunt. It’s probably going to cost us around $350K. Finding anything for less money without quality of life issues is tough. I hate that the prices are so high now. But we can get a nice, new place close to work and everything else for that. The interest rates are good now. The prices seem to just be going in one direction - UP. But honestly, our city is pretty affordable compared to most large cities in this country. A lot of people younger than us are spending a lot more and putting a lot less as a down payment (and have student loans, etc.). So all things considered, I’m OK with it. I’ve been living like someone in their twenties for a very long time and I’m in my early 40s now.

Other than that, the creative project that ended caused me a lot of frustration and some hurt, but also a sense of relief. And honestly, looking back on it, I feel so much better now! One person involved basically stopped communicating with me, mostly because they have a lot going on in their life, and I totally understand. I’m a loyal friend and I like having a few very close relationships. But I think I finally understand that most people don’t want to do that and it’s better just to be more focused on yourself. It’s a disappointment because I find these kind of relationships really rewarding, but finally really taking it to heart will save me a lot of trouble. It will probably allow me to work more on what I personally want out of life, and also to let the past go and try some new things. And I still have other creative projects going on, so I have plenty on my plate anyway.

snow_leopard
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Re: snow_leopard's journal

Post by snow_leopard »

Popping in for a quick update. It was a very stressful 2 months, but things are feeling more settled into the weird, new normal. We found a house and closed at the end of March.

What a whirlwind. Things kept breaking at our old rental place and we had to have two technicians come to fix things! We also had to do the move ourselves. We have some at-risk and underlying conditions in the fam, including my SO, so we had to be extra vigilant about technicians in the houses and cleaning during the whole process. Ugh, moving is so terrible, I had forgotten. Plus we'd been there for a long time, so jeez we accumulated a lot of shit for such a small place. I'm definitely not letting that happen again! But things are awesome at the new place.

I tend to be overly cautious and ridiculously slow with making changes and decisions, but I'm glad I made the leap. And, no, it's not a very ERE move. I'd live in a tent, but SO is not on board with that lifestyle, they love creature comforts (and honestly I like some of them, too). Honestly, I'll be glad if I can just do the 'R' part of ERE. My half of the mortgage, pmi, taxes, and insurance is $1150. Our interest rate is about as low as you can get. I cut out some old expenses, so things evened out and there's not a huuuge difference between my total expenses before and now.

We've cooked every meal at home and haven't been driving so that cuts down on spending. We have twice as much room, a dishwasher (hallelujah), and the place is brand new and is beautiful and has nice views of big trees and the sunset. It's in a great neighborhood, in a great location, close to work, and close to the things we do on a regular basis (when there is not a pandemic). Our parents gifted us cash for a washer, dryer, bed, and bed frame. There were a ton of miscellaneous expenses like flood insurance, boxes, rugs, cleaning supplies, a couch. But we're all set now. The environment has really lifted my mood, as opposed to the old place which was like a closed shoebox inside.

New NW is $272K including equity. $237K without equity. I will probably just use NW not including equity because I'm more interested in seeing how I build the liquid assets. I will adjust my goals after this and aim for those for the rest of the year.

Stimulus check - so I owed taxes last year and paid with a credit card that gave me cashback. I haven't filed this year's taxes yet because I owe a pretty big chunk. So they don't have my bank info. And their website gives me a 'we don't know what to do with you' message. I guess I should do the 2019 taxes before the window closes. For 2019, we will be above the married filing joint limit for the maximum payment, but will still get a good chunk of change (for 2018 we would have gotten the full amount). I don't know if they'll send it to to me or just take it out of what I owe.

I hope everyone is doing well and healthy and either enjoying the pause that the pandemic has brought, or is at least fighting the good fight out there.

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