July 2021
July was another unusual month. It was a three paycheck month so I brought in about 50% more money than usual. I sold the old car for about $2000 and also had some other unexpected income. I also didn't spend a lot. The extra income and low spending resulted in some monthly numbers that look great!
Don't get too excited though as one month of exciting numbers doesn't mean I can quit my job. A record high 80% savings rate and a 4.4% SWR is fun anyway so I'm trying to celebrate it a little. The first chart with the blue, red, yellow, and green lines is probably the best thing to use to see how I'm really doing since it displays one year rolling expenses rather than one month expenses. That said, since last month's car purchase is included in the calculations that chart looks odd too!
The finances are rolling along but the numbers and charts don't capture it very well right now. Some additional context and thinking is necessary to understand the situation.
Expenses
Auto & Transport 5 (ad to sell car on craigslist)
Auto Insurance 29.11 (monthly car insurance cost)
Bills & Utilities 165.79 (a little high due to air conditioning and higher water use)
Business Services 33.98
Entertainment 14.91 (two video streaming services, one has been cancelled now that we've watched everything of interest)
Fast Food 7.42
Gas & Fuel 27.58
Groceries 255.91
Gym 28.49
Home Improvement 27.83 (it never ends!)
Home Insurance 28.04
Mortgage & Rent 790.73
Pharmacy 12.13
Shopping 82.96 (miscellaneous purchases, this category is going to be higher than usual for awhile)
Taxes 200 (approximate monthly property taxes)
Total -FI 1709.85
Income
Paycheck 4078.26 (three paycheck month!)
Internet Ads 29.7
Checking 1.47
Gift 2475 (2200 is selling the old car, rest is actual gifts)
457b 2250 (three paycheck month)
Total +FI 8834.43 (much higher than normal income)
Savings 7124.58
Savings wo 457b 4874.58
% Spent 19.4%
% Saved 80.6% (record high savings rate)
SWR 4.4% (record low withdrawal rate due to low spending and record high FIRE assets)
SWR with Internet Income 4.3%
Years Remaining -0.4 (The spreadsheet is set to use 4.5% as SWR for this calculation so it thinks I am financially independent for this month so this number is weird. Maybe I will set it to 4% for consistency with the charts. I think 4.5% is how the spreadsheet was set when I copied it from another forum member, not something I decided to do.)
Years Remaining with Interest 0 (same thing for this number)
It is good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it's good too, to check up once in a while and make sure you haven't lost the things money can't buy.
George Lorimer
Note the spike in rolling expenses from last month's car purchase:
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the amount I'm going to have to save is going to really mess with my finances. College in general is a f'd up system and is only getting worse.
