classical_Liberal wrote: ↑Thu Jul 20, 2017 8:30 pm
Good Progress!
I've been having issues reallocating cash in this low inflation/high asset valuation economic environment as well. I'd like to keep my cash at 10% in the long run, but am currently sitting at about 30%. It's slowly been building over the past six to nine months, at the moment I guess I prefer the total liquidity...
Yea, I have way too much cash, 3+ years of living expenses.....but I am very risk averse LOL.
Allagash wrote: ↑Thu Jul 20, 2017 11:52 pm
Very impressive, you are in a tremendous place for your age and making great progress. Nice detail in your journal.
I think two big keys for you are low rents and low groceries. How do you keep rents at $550/mo? And where do you live in the U.S. to have $550/mo in rents (including utilities)? My guess is you split with your SO?
Do you have home internet? I didn't see this in your expenses.
So glad you add vehicle depreciation in your expenses. SOOOO many people leave this out! I bought my car for cash 2 years old in Jan 2012 for $14k (including tax and registration) and I could get $6k for it today, so my depreciation has been $121/mo.
Is restaurants under entertainment?
I'm impressed with how you spent $3.70 per day in 2016 on food. I spent $6.16 per day in 2016 as a single guy and I eat simpler than anyone I know. I guess you get economies of scale splitting with your SO.
I spent $38,700 in 2016, so I get an F. I dream to spend what you did $25k, Where you really kill me is rent (I pay $1,250 no including utilities you pay $550 including utilities). I also have to cover my own health ins being FI self-employed, and I have costs related to my S Corp (accounting, payroll, etc...)
You have a good life too and do a lot of travel on that $25k. Having a $550/mo rent including utilities helps a lot.
Hey there Allagash, thanks for stopping by! I'll try to answer your questions here instead of line by line.
My SO and I live in a small 1 bedroom basement apartment in a rental house. We have a long hallway and a storage room so space is perfect for our needs. We also have access to a large fenced backyard with a BBQ and outdoor patio furniture that the family upstairs never uses.
While we do live in a pretty HCOL area (Suffolk County, Long Island NY), our rent is $1,100/month and since we are not on separate meters it includes water, electric, and WiFi. We do not watch television, and use an unlocked Amazon Fire TV Stick instead. So you are correct, $550 is my half.
Groceries is also for my half. We do a lot of cooking, and shop primarily at Aldi.
I am lucky that at work we have a fully stocked pantry with milk for coffee. For breakfast I either have some oatmeal or a scoop of protein with milk. My breakfast rarely costs more than $.50/day.
For lunch I usually have 8oz of lean protein (chicken, pork, beef) which rarely costs more than $1-2, with some rice, pasta, or veggies.
My office caters a lot of lunches for meetings, when these meetings end the leftovers are often put in the pantry for the rest of the office to enjoy. I will often take a few extra pieces of sandwich, pizza, or other food and put it in tupperware and enjoy it for the next day or two.
Early morning meetings are sometimes catered with bagels, where I do the same thing with leftovers.
During the holidays my SO and I take advantage of leftovers that we freeze. We fish and have friends who hunt so we get some meals by way of barter as well.
I don't think that $200-250/month grocery budget is crazy low for a couple that eats mainly unprocessed food.
Restaurants and bars fall under Entertainment category. We use Groupon, Living Social and other deal sites to score meals at 50-70% off retail at nicer restaurants. We also know the good happy hour spots where you can enjoy a nice out with a meal and drinks for <$20.
As a couple our spending is ~45-48k/yr if we count vehicle depreciation and health insurance which is deducted pre-tax. That's about the median household income in the US. We get a lot of utility out of our money.
I'm a HUGE lover of travel hacking and we have 100's of 1000's of airlines miles and hotel points. I also leverage account signup bonuses for checking/savings accounts. in the past 12 months I have made $3050 from these bonuses.
I am always working toward a sign up bonus on a travel/hotel CC.
The $1300 is for my half of the groceries. Split with my SO. We do not have kids. Food is cheap here if you avoid the processed crap. We eat a lot of chicken ($.99-1.99/lb), ground turkey ($1.99/lb), London Broil ($2.49-2.99lb), rice, beans, potatoes, frozen mixed veggies, seasonal fruit/veggies (always cheap buying stuff in season), oats, peanut butter, yogurt, eggs ($.69/dozen), milk ($1.99/gallon).
At least now I won't fret about people here ruining their credit when they churn cards.