I don't mind the mess bill each month. It is part of Navy life, just like wardroom dues. Plus, the convenience can't be beat. I can cook quite well and can eat cheaply if need be. However, when you work all day, seven days a week for most of the year, having to think about food preparation would suck. Meal times are our social time and the way to break up the day. I just need to make better choices: hence making 50% of my days vegetarian.
Wow, this pretty much exactly sums up my experience with dorm cafeterias in undergrad. I could eat cheaply if I tried making my own food in the communal kitchen, but with my schedule and all my friends using the cafeterias, it was just easier to fall in line with the crowd.
I always tried to fill up on the salad bar, but you may not have the same luxury depending on how far away from port you are and time between supply re-stocks. When I was REALLY BROKE I would do things like "water soup" (bowl of cool water with ice cubes for texture. Squeeze of lemon and/or packet of splenda stolen from fast food place for flavor) to fill up my stomach as much as possible for minimum cost. Maybe you can try doing a similar exercise of loading up on whatever the lowest calorie density option available to you is.
When I was REALLY BROKE I would do things like "water soup" (bowl of cool water with ice cubes for texture. Squeeze of lemon and/or packet of splenda stolen from fast food place for flavor) to fill up my stomach as much as possible for minimum cost.
Eating "water soup" may be the most hard core thing I have heard of. The closest we have come to that was when we had to divert to a humanitarian mission and skip our resupply which resulted in us getting low on food. They put "Hot V8" out on the chow line. I appreciate that they called it what it was rather than calling it a soup. They also must of had a lot of canned mushrooms because we were served a lot of sauteed mushrooms.
There is no preparing your own food on a ship unless you are heating up noodles in a microwave. We have pretty fresh vegetables and salads the first 10 days out of port and then after a RAS (replenishment at sea). I'll just work on making smart choices.
I read through MedSaver’s journal yesterday and, in addition to the envy it evoked (I chose the wrong specialty), I discovered I liked his system of recording his progress. So, I am going to borrow his format and add some granularity to the reporting. As I am attempting to get my 2024 spending under $40k I thought a little more detail may be useful. In future journal entries I will discuss ways I will cut my spending in 2024
INCOME:
Frugaldoc’s gross military compensation 2023: $263,352. This is higher than normal as my 2022 Retention Bonus was delayed (thanks Navy) and paid this year. (Not all my compensation is taxable. When in a combat zone even less is taxable. This year $210,123 was subject to Federal Tax and $106,890 to FICA)
Net income 2023: $206,689. This is an estimate as I have not completed my 2023 taxes. I withhold an extra $900 per month to compensate for taxes on any investment income.
Monthly net: $17, 224
2022 Tax Refund: $7,329
EXPENDITURES (2023): $64,983 (sorry about the formatting) Category Total
Yen Cash Expenses -211
Ship expenses (mess bill/wardroom)-2475
Household/Personal Care -676
Rent/Mortgage -18351
Electric/Gas/Water/Sewer -613
Phone/Internet -1669
Food -7169
Transportation -398
Fees/Financial Services -147
Giving (charity) -1134
Insurance -488
Entertaining -50
Auto Maintenance/Replacement -500
Computer Replacement/Electronics -375
Office expenses -179
Household furnishings -812
Home Maintenance -29
Medical -330
Clothing -2961
Gifts -3016
Software Subscriptions -468
Education/Job -10402
Travel -9421
Fitness/Athletics -1431
Media (books/music/audiobooks) -738
Fun Money -568
Some Notes on expenses:
1. Tracking cash expenses in two currencies is too much trouble so I just mark any Yen ATM withdrawal as “Yen cash expenses”.
2. Not all expenses were consistent expenses. My move to Japan and 5 months on the ship eliminated a lot of expenses for a period (e.g. rent)
3. This does not include CapEx budgeting. There are irregular expenses that I budget for each month. For example, $250/month for auto repair/replacement. Unless that money is spent it doesn’t show up. I don’t even own a car now so that fund will just grow until I return stateside.
4. I am somewhat inconsistent with my categorization. With my position there is an expectation that I pick up the tab for group functions with subordinates. That expected noblesse oblige means picking up the tab for meals running from $50-$1000+ at times. Sometimes it comes out of my ‘food’ budget and at other times it comes out of my ‘job’ category.
Are you shoveling as much as you can into the TSP? As I understand it, you can access that money penalty-free once you have split from your employer, so to me that seems like a bucket to fully fund each and every year.
I think you added a lot of money to your stash this year, resulting in a pretty nice net worth growth. (I'm guessing your invested assets also grew due to the recovering stock market).
I'm looking forward to your posts about how you plan to spend less in 2024. Happy New Year!
The TSP is like a traditional US 401K: if I withdraw prior to 59.5 years of age I would incur a penalty of 10%. I did max it out this year, contributing $22,500.
I use YNAB for budgeting purposes and tomorrow (January 1st) I will budget the $40k I have allocated for 2024. I have moved money around so I only have $40k in my checking/savings accounts. All of my pay is going to an off-budget investment account so I won't even see it. Hopefully this will be a step in the process of divorcing my spending from my income and curing the income addiction.
In the last month I have also simplified my finances substantially. Being at sea for months on end with bad internet and no two-factor authentication means I need a more automated system.
Ah, now I read that you must be at least age 55 and you must have left the job, so that's a few more years to go for you before you can take money out penalty-free.
Anyway, you also have money outside of retirement accounts that could fund your expenses until you can tap into the retirement accounts without an early withdrawal penalty.
I'm curious what your next year will feel like; it's a fun experiment, I think. Good luck!
I had been waiting several months for it to arrive but my Kuhn Rikon (6L) pressure cooker finally completed its long journey and found me in Japan. Wow! What a difference. I have a gas stove and I made a batch of pinto beans a few weeks ago and they took several hours to cook. It felt so wasteful seeing that blue flame burning away for nearly two hours (and I had soaked them overnight). Last night it took about 15 minutes to cook two cups of dried beans. What a resource saver.
Can I ask, what times or moments do you like most about your current job and life situation?
I was walking the other day (I often love going for walks by the way, I love the views although they're nothing special) and I thought about you and how your profession probably is rewarding or interesting sometimes and boring some other times. And maybe funny yet some other times. (Like the time I talked to a patient who said she took depressants).
And do you already notice a difference with your new way of budgeting? Or maybe it's too early?
It is too early to note how the budget is going. I will admit that it was weird not seeing my bank account increase whenever I was paid. I will have to get used to that as well as the slowly dwindling balance as the year goes by. We are headed on patrol very soon so that will keep my expenses low as long as I don't blow a bunch of money during port calls. Fortunately we don't have any exciting port calls scheduled during this patrol so there is little risk of that. Last summer (or I guess winter since we were in the Southern Hemisphere) the money was flowing like water when I was in Australia. The height of my folly was a desperation purchase in Brisbane of a $2300(US) Cavelli cashmere blazer for a date I was having that night with a flight surgeon I was smitten with. Quickest sale that guy probably ever made. I was kicking myself for the purchase almost immediately until I saw my date emerge from her hotel in her dress. Seemed like a totally sensible purchase at that point. But nothing ever came of that so maybe I should regret the purchase. Still, it is a nicely crafted piece of clothing.
The real test of my spending will likely come this spring when I am back in the US. My sister and I go to the Berkshire Hathaway meeting each year and that can be a pricey weekend. But one does meet a lot of interesting people there and it is a great place to rub elbows with some very intelligent folks. After that, I had plan on scouting out some properties in Vermont/New Hampshire. I am going to try to travel cheaply but I could see that being the point when my budget gets broken.
Now as to my job....that may take a while to express. There are so many things I love about it and a bunch of petty frustrations. So, let me sleep on this and come up with a decent answer. I will say though, if a gun were put to my head and I was told I had to pick a career that I could never retire from I would choose being a physician every time.
You asked about the moments I enjoy with my current job and life situation. From an overarching view of my career, I love medicine because I find it endlessly interesting with a never-ending opportunity to learn and improve. That's why I focus most of my efforts on expanding my abilities in that. Contrary to what is often espoused on here, I don't think shifting my attention away from medicine would make me more robust/resilient. Sure, if I became hyperspecialized I could see that but that isn't what I do. I am a Family Medicine physician who has mostly worked as a hospitalist. But I can manage heart failure, treat sepsis, deliver a baby, cast a broken arm, manage someone on a ventilator, do minor procedures, etc. Learning how to make shoes out of discarded tires and pipe cleaners would not serve me (or society) as well as becoming more skilled with point of care ultrasound (POCUS). Now I am saying this as a person who has a fairly decent basic skill set. I grew up on a large farming operation so acquired a fair number of skills from that. That, plus my parents always letting me have my own garden, has made me pretty adept at growing plants, raising livestock, operating farm equipment, etc. I worked as a repairman in bike shop during undergrad so have that skill set covered. A love of entertaining has made me a pretty decent cook.
Now, as to my current job. I like it because of the autonomy. As a department head, I am left alone to manage my department with little interference from anyone. I answer to the XO and CO and that's about it. I also enjoy that my job is basically to decide what needs to happen and directing that it happens and leaving the implementation to others. Also being on a forward deployed ship seems to provide a constant stream of new experiences. For example, in the coming weeks I will be spending time learning to shoot the new service pistol (SIG Sauer M18) while we are at sea. Never shot a gun while out on the ocean before. Eventually I will have sucked the marrow out of this experience, but I think it will remain largely interesting for the next 16 months I have left before moving on to a different assignment.
Spending
My goal of spending <$40K in 2024 seems to be on course with January spending of $2043. I have been at sea for a few weeks so there isn't much to spend on. We have some port visits coming up which can really eat into one's budget if allowed to. I will try to use Marriott points for any hotel stays and limit the dining out to cheap options. Starting off the year on a good footing is important because I suspect May will be an expensive month with a trip back to the States to visit family and attend the Berkshire meeting.
Fitness
Nothing positive to report here. They moved some gym equipment up onto our deck should I care to row or get on a spin bike. I hate going down into the bowels of the ship to do a cardio workout so this convenient equipment really has removed any excuse I have for not exercising. Hopefully next month I have better things to report.
Reading
I have been reading a fair amount of critical care literature of late which is always satisfying. We are at the point in the patrol where we do a large number of mass casualty trauma scenarios so my reading time has been somewhat limited. But it should expand in the next few weeks. I really need to start working on Plato's dialogues but have really been enjoying "The House of Rothschild" by Niall Ferguson.
Work
I am starting to have a bit more confidence in my leadership decisions as time goes on. I have a significantly different leadership style than the previous Senior Medical Officer so all parties have had to make adjustments. I have 16 more months with this assignment and hope to have increased the capabilities of this department significantly.
On a totally different note I walked into a random knife store in Okinawa and was awed by all of the beautiful knives they have. If I end the year significantly under budget I may splurge on a high quality Japanese carbon steel chef's knife.
Some people have Damocles' sword menacingly above their heads, you have Okinawa's knife tantalizingly in front of you to make you do well over the year. Speaking of carrots and sticks, you have already jumped on that rower by now, haven't you?
With 48 hours in Okinawa, I have been working on catching up with some financial bookkeeping. I even managed to get my taxes completed. With numbers in hand, I was able to update my income and savings rate numbers:
2023 Net Income: $211,354
2023 Savings rate: 69.3%
That seems like a good savings rate, but I know I can do better. Fortunately, in the last three years there has been a notable downtrend in spending: $102,735-->$84,452-->$64,983. I am doing well so far to maintain a sub $40k annual spend this year but am worried about travel expenses busting the budget. In the not-too-distant future we will be in Osaka for a few days, and I don't want to miss out on life experiences just so I can satisfy my impulse to be frugal. Port visits tend to not be cheap.
I have been rereading 'The Almanack of Naval Ravikant' and may have some comments to make about that in the future. There is a lot of what he says that I find thought provoking. Granted, I don't believe in the extreme outsourcing he advocates but I do find there is much wisdom in what he says.
My detailer presented me the opportunity for an assignment in Rota, Spain if I was willing to extend my assignment on this ship for another year. While another year at sea isn't the most amazing prospect, an assignment in Spain is highly sought after in the Navy. My mind immediately started making all sorts of plans: buy a house in Spain, retire from the Navy and explore Europe for a year. Then move to VT and establish a home there and keep the Spanish home for winter.
But then I read about the squatters in Spain. Seems to be a real problem if you leave your property empty for any period of time.
I am curious if any forum members have much experience living in Spain, especially along the southwest coast. Would love to hear people's perspective.
This one is a yes. I read this post, immediately got a strong intuition of, "yes. right move." Go and be open to how things develop. The squatters are a derail. Am sharing said intuition in case it might help, do with it what you will.
Am living in Spain right now, as always in the winter of recent years. Pretty much a perfect place in my opinion. I prefer renting a house whenever I do need one - rather easy and there is no hassle dealing with the bureaucracy. You could always rent first and then buy once you build up local knowledge and contacts.
Living in Spain does sound lovely but the way the seas are throwing our ship around tonight (and it is a big ship), I don't think I am wanting to extend another year here. I can always vacation or live in Spain after the Navy. As an alternative to extending here, I could go to Djibouti for a one year assignment. Pretty isolated might might be unique adventure.
The more I think of it, I believe going to Newport, Rhode Island next year might be the best course of action. It will be in a clinic (which isn't my thing) but I'll weekends and holidays off and can buy a place and have a garden. Maybe even a dog. On long weekends I could scout out locations in VT/NH for my forever property.
. My contribution? I cook a pretty mean beef stew these days, so.