Gilberto de Piento's Journal

[Gilberto de Piento]

U mad bro? <navy seal copypasta>

Just kidding, this isn't Reddit, and I know what you mean. I might even argue that "safe" should "possibly safe" or "safe-ish" or "used to be safe and probably still is but who knows?" Here's a corrected version:

[Gilberto de Piento]

I now have over $300,000 in just my investment accounts!

I posted something similar back in November but that was also counting the cash I have in checking (way too much). These milestones might be a bit contrived but they make me feel like I'm making progress.

[Gilberto de Piento]

I am getting a couple percent raise this year. It doesn't keep up with inflation but I will take what I can get and will give me an extra $100 or so per month.

[Gilberto de Piento]

Over the last few years my annual car registration has doubled even though the car itself hasn't changed. It is always something.

[Gilberto de Piento]

Bored, bored, bored at work today.

[Gilberto de Piento]

January 2020

Expenses were high. The still recent feeling decision to include a portion of my annual property taxes is adding $200 while my brain hasn't mentally adjusted for that when I consider my overall spending number. Even without including the taxes my spending is historically high.

This month the high expenses were due to automotive maintenance. Hopefully this is going to taper off soon though it might require replacing the car which will be a huge hit. It also is due to home repair costs which will also hopefully wind down soon (and are a good investment anyway, assuming the housing market doesn't tank).

The high spending was offset by a three paycheck month so I still have a good savings rate. I'm still putting away a lot of money and am currently on track to put away enough to meet my $30,000 per year goal (not including the house payment which is kind of savings too).

Expenses
Alcohol & Bars 9.39
Auto & Transport 362.63 (fixes, maintenance, car is in the part of the lifecycle where the things that wear out are doing exactly that)
Bills & Utilities 125.92
Business Services 27.98
Charity 25
Doctor 30
Gas & Fuel 30.75
Groceries 251.87 (not bad)
Gym 46.95
Home Improvement 125.35 (still getting the house up to speed)
Mortgage & Rent 790.73
Parking 35 (parking ticket!)
Public Transportation 65
Restaurants 28.83
Shopping 20.52
Taxes 200 (annual property taxes broken out by month)
Total -FI 2175.89

Income
Paycheck 3892.67
Amazon 21.58
Internet Ads 29
Checking 6.47
457b 2250
Total +FI 6199.72

Savings 4023.83
Savings wo 457b 1773.83
% Spent 35.1%
% Saved 64.9%

SWR 8.1%
SWR with Internet Income 8.1%

Years Remaining 8.9
Years Remaining with Interest 5

Teachers open the door. You enter by yourself.
Chinese proverb

[Gilberto de Piento]

I got through my winter list of house repair projects today! There is always more to do but a while back I made a list and told myself I am done until spring once I got through it. If nothing comes up that should allow me to avoid house expenses and free up time for other things for the next couple of months. I am trying to maintain a healthy work/life/working on the house balance.

[Gilberto de Piento]

I did my taxes. I owe the feds just under $1000 (just under the threshold for getting a penalty I think) and the state about $100. I increased the amount taken out last year but it still almost wasn't enough. It is a good problem to have as it means I am making extra money. I should look into paying quarterly.

When doing my taxes I got confused about how to report a tiny amount of foreign taxes paid as reported on my vanguard 1099 div. TurboTax gave me two options for how to handle it. I did some research and just guessed. It was a hassle over $3. I should have asked here but I wanted to get it done while I had momentum.

[LiberateMind]

Nice progress. Congrats on hitting 300K networth

[Gilberto de Piento]

Nice progress. Congrats on hitting 300K networth

Thank you!

[Gilberto de Piento]

February 2020

Huge spending this month due to income taxes. Without taxes it was a normal month.

I also spent some money to buy food and other things for the coronavirus. Hopefully I won't need any of it but having extra food on hand seems like cheap insurance.

Expenses
Auto & Transport 153 (Car registration)
Bills & Utilities 103.29
Business Services 27.98
Charity 90 (Donated to a few causes, trying to do more this year)
Clothing 63.29 (Needed new shoes for exercising, wore the tread off of the old ones)
Doctor 30
Gas & Fuel 45.39 (Filled up the tank early due to coronovirus prepping)
Gift 98.01
Groceries 329.95 (High due to coronavirus prepping)
Gym 46.95
Home Improvement 37.46
Internet 23.73
Mortgage & Rent 790.73
Pharmacy 47.43 (High due to coronavirus prepping)
Public Transportation 65 (The bus, probably where I will contract coronovirus)
Restaurants 32.27
Shopping 6.95
Taxes 1390 (Had to pay taxes on my extra income, plus the usual monthly property taxes)
Total -FI 3381.41

Income
Paycheck 2590.82
Amazon 40.9
CafePress 26.3
Internet Ads 123.7
Checking 6.31
457b 1500
Total +FI 4288.03

Savings 906.62
Savings wo 457b -593.38 (Negative means that if you don't count the 457b savings I didn't save anything at all)

% Spent 79%
% Saved 21%

SWR 14%
SWR with Internet Income 13%

Years Remaining 39.3 (Don't be alarmed, this swings wildly when there is high monthly spending)
Years Remaining with Interest 11 (Same here)

Life is hard. It’s harder if you’re stupid.
John Wayne?

[Gilberto de Piento]

March 2020

I've been quarantined for about two weeks and taking it very seriously. I know a few people who have had the virus but thankfully everyone is OK.

My only direct contact with another person has been with my partner, though I am holding calls and web conferences with friends and relatives like everyone else. I've also been working remotely. Quarantine actually hasn't changed my life much which is kind of sad, need more friends and things to do when things go back to normal, but I already knew that I am isolated.

My laptop is warning me that the hard drive is failing. Files are backed up and I have a rescue disc but I need to decide if I want to get a new drive or a new computer. The computer is 10 years old so it has some other problems. It could be upgraded with an ssd and more ram but there are other issues. Probably better to start over. I think I'm going to get a desktop but I don't want to spend much on it.

Expenses
Alcohol & Bars 12.97
Bills & Utilities 95.65
Business Services 27.98
Charity 205 (donations to services for people affected by coronavirus and a political campaign)
Doctor 15
Groceries 332.94 (stocked up for quarantine)
Gym 46.95
Home Improvement 51.46 (seeds and soil for garden)
Internet 23.73
Mortgage & Rent 790.73
Pharmacy 22.14
Taxes 200 (monthly portion of annual property taxes)
Total -FI 1824.54

Income
Paycheck 2590.82
Amazon 91.07 (nice!)
Internet Ads 119.7 (even better!)
Checking 2.68
457b 1500
Total +FI 4304.27

Savings 2479.73
Savings wo 457b 979.73

% Spent 42%
% Saved 58%

SWR 8%
SWR with Internet Income 7%

Years Remaining 6.6
Years Remaining with Interest 4

One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever heard goes something like this: If you want success, figure out the price, then pay it. It sounds trivial and obvious, but if you unpack the idea it has extraordinary power.
Scott Adams

I made a new chart (design stolen from someone else's journal but I can't remember which one, sorry!). It shows spending smoothed across 12 months and a point in time of total FIRE assets (the assets are not smoothed) by three different withdrawal rates. Just another way of looking at the same data.


This chart shows FIRE assets. The market drop took a big chunk out of the value of my investments.

[singvestor]

Love the charts.

For replacing the laptop used, refurbished thinkpads are a great choice. Easy to fix and maintain if something fails, which rarely happens

[Zanka]

Nice graphs, I very much enjoy reading your journal.

[2Birds1Stone]

I too have been enjoying very much.

[Gilberto de Piento]

Love the charts.

For replacing the laptop used, refurbished thinkpads are a great choice. Easy to fix and maintain if something fails, which rarely happens

Thanks! I will look into the thinkpad.

[Gilberto de Piento]

Nice graphs, I very much enjoy reading your journal.

I too have been enjoying very much.

Thanks!

[Gilberto de Piento]

April 2020

I really thought I was going to have a great low spending month and then my car insurance and house insurance came due. If I had remembered when those occur I would have known it was going to happen but I didn't remember. Instead I got my hopes up for a low spending month and then was let down. I know I could smooth them out by dividing them up into months but I have resisted doing it. There are already a ton of calculations going on and I don't want to add to them.

I also had to buy a new hard drive for my very old computer as the old drive stopped working. The amazing thing is that since the replacement drive is an SSD the computer went from being very slow to very fast (for basic uses, not for processor intensive tasks). Right now I have six chrome tabs including one playing a youtube video and it is super smooth. That wasn't possible before. The speed of the SSD even seems to have addressed the issue of it only having 4gb of ram. I don't know how that works but I'm guessing the RAM isn't as necessary when the hard drive is fast.
* If you have an old, slow computer, consider looking into whether a SSD would fix it. If you don't need much storage the 250gb drives are only about $40.
* Don't wait until the hard drive dies. It is much easier and safer to image the old drive to the new one and replace than it is to start from nothing.
* When I saw my old drive was dying I started using an online backup service to supplement external hard drive backups. I hate having another recurring bill but paying $6 a month to protect my files and pictures isn't that bad. The old external drive never seemed reliable, plus it could be lost along with the computer in a fire or theft since they are physically next to each other.

The loss in assets (see first chart below) is about half back from the recent bottom. I think the coronavirus and economic troubles are far from over but the market seems optimistic. I don't pretend to understand it.

Expenses
Alcohol & Bars 45.33 (Trying to support local beer)
Auto Insurance 191.82 (Every six months)
Bills & Utilities 117.43
Business Services 58.47
Charity 20
Gift 3.5
Groceries 247.44 (Low spending here)
Gym 46.95
Home Insurance 322 (Annual)
Mortgage & Rent 790.73
Shopping 78.04 (Bought a new hard drive for computer)
Taxes 200 (Annual property taxes converted to monthly)
Total -FI 2121.7

Income
Paycheck 2590.82
Amazon 18.16
Internet Ads 29.7 (I think the quarantine and economic problems may have hit this)
Checking 2.22
457b 1500
Total +FI 4140.9

Savings 2019.21
Savings wo 457b 519.21

% Spent 51%
% Saved 49%

SWR 9%
SWR with Internet Income 9%

Years Remaining 9.1
Years Remaining with Interest 5

We are all going to die anyway, and no matter how long you live, the moment will come when you look back upon your years and they seem short, a flash of lightning in the dark of night, and you realize that the purpose of life is not after all to survive in maximum security and comfort, but that we are here to give, to create that which is beautiful to us.
Charles Eisenstein, Sacred Economics

[Gilberto de Piento]

I received my $1200 government stimulus money today. I'm planning on mostly leaving it in cash but I also want to use it for some food bank donations and support for local businesses that need it.

I've got almost $20k in cash right now. It seems like good insurance in unpredictable times.

[Gilberto de Piento]

I've been working from home for about two months now. Honestly I'm not working much because no one is really asking for output from me and because I get held up whenever I need input because everyone is moving very slowly.

While I like not having to go to the office and not having to put much time into working, life is very unfulfilling and disconnected. I don't hate spending a lot of time around the house but I don't like it either. Now in addition to long-term life trajectory limbo my life also has a daily routine that is unmoored.

A motivated person would use this time wisely by trying to make more money or further their career or otherwise improve their lot in life. I've made some small steps in this direction but there are some barriers to doing anything big. Again, a motivated person might get work done but so far I really haven't taken advantage. On again off again depression doesn't help, the distraction of the internet doesn't help, and a bad workspace doesn't help but these are mostly excuses.

I feel like this is a good dry run for being retired. It has taught me some things about what works for me and what doesn't. For one, I am capable of sitting around doing not much for some time but it doesn't suit me long term. Just hanging out is easy but unfulfilling and having little to keep me busy along with some other problems are making me angry and depressed. Also, I thought maybe my partner and I would come together to find things to do but my partner has retreated further instead.

That said, this time is only comparable to a poorly executed retirement situation. If I really was retired I could find a fun job to do or volunteer or travel or take on a project I care about. Instead I am tied to a work phone and computer waiting to see if I need to jump into action. I also can't join up with other people who are free because of the danger of covid. This experience hasn't put me off retirement but has confirmed my suspicions that retirement will need to be structured appropriately or it will just create new problems.

"The cure for depression is action."
Yvon Chouinard

Thanks for reading. Hope you all are having a good day and staying safe.