July came and went in a blur of sunshine and fireworks. This was the first calendar month we spent entirely within the contiguous United States since July of last year! Even then, it still felt like we were traveling as we bounced between families in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The more relaxed pace was beneficial for our sanity, but what kind of toll did it take on our checkbook? Check out the financial details below in my July 2023 financial update!
In our inaugural blog post, I briefly introduced you to our goal of achieving financial independence (“FI”) by the age of 35 and shared that we are already over halfway to our target net worth of $1,250,000! Since that time, our net worth has climbed to over 95% of our goal. Here’s last month’s update in case you missed it, and here’s how we fared last year in total.
This post is the latest in a regular series of monthly financial updates to track our progress to FI and beyond. Bear with me – I’m a little obsessed with spreadsheets and track every penny we make and spend in excruciating detail. I’ll do my best to summarize that activity in a way that gives enough insight into our financial maneuverings without boring you to tears.
Net Worth
Here’s where our net worth ended up through July 2023:
| | BALANCE | CHANGE FROM PRIOR MONTH |
| ASSETS | | |
| Cash, Checking, Savings | $66,565 | ($3,748) |
| Investments | $1,253,308 | $41,749 |
| LIABILITIES | | |
| Credit Cards | ($4,964) | ($566) |
| Car Loan | ($28,866) | $287 |
| Misc. Other Debts | ($140) | $0 |
| NET WORTH | $1,285,903 | $37,722 |
With the help of Mr. Market, we finally hit (and exceeded) our target net worth of $1,250,000! Stay tuned for a future post about what’s next for us.
Let’s check out each individual category:
Cash, Checking, Savings
This consists mostly of our emergency fund held in a high-yield online savings account at Ally Bank and Series I savings bonds. The rest is held in a “big bank” for depositing our paychecks and paying bills. After the sale of our home, we decided to keep about 2 years worth of living expenses in some form of savings. We’re spending out of that balance now instead of selling investments.
We anticipate having a baseline budget of about $50,000 for the next few years, so we stashed $80,000 in savings and purchased $10,000 each in Series I savings bonds in 2022. The Treasury announced I-Bond rates of 4.30% starting in May, which is roughly in line with what we could earn in a basic online savings account. We will likely start cashing these bonds out in the next few months and move them to our more easily-accessible savings account, currently earning 4.25%.
Investments
Most of our investments track the S&P 500, which had another strong month in July. With our cash buffer there’s no need to actually sell any investments any time soon, giving the market time to continue its recovery. The only real reason for me to track market performance is for these monthly updates.
Credit Cards
Just the balance on our various credit cards (we use these extensively to fund our travel hacking exploits) as of the end of the month. We pay these off on time and in full each month, so the change in this balance will usually manifest itself in the expenses below.
Car Loan
We were hoping to run our 2009 Toyota RAV-4 into the ground someday in the distant future, but that day came sooner than expected. In January we purchased a shiny new Subaru Forester and *gasp* financed it all, with payments beginning in March. The plan is to likely pay off the loan in full during our next stage of employment before leaving the workforce again, whenever that may be.
Misc. Other Debts
Usually just my administrative accounting of who owes what for various fantasy sports leagues. Baseball season is upon us!
Expenses
Here’s a look at our expenses for the month of July:
| EXPENSES | Budget | Actual | (Over)/Under |
| Home (mortgage, property taxes, maintenance, etc.) | $1,128.25 | $0.00 | $1,128.25 |
| Utilities | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Automotive | $449.75 | $1,135.89 | ($686.14) |
| Groceries | $308.33 | $231.41 | $76.92 |
| Dining Out | $135.42 | $563.46 | ($428.04) |
| Health & Beauty | $568.33 | $471.82 | $96.51 |
| Cell Phones | $33.33 | $0.00 | $33.33 |
| Travel & Entertainment | $1,235.00 | $844.07 | $390.93 |
| Pets | $87.50 | $280.47 | ($192.97) |
| Merchandise | $135.67 | $275.57 | ($139.90) |
| Other Expenses | $293.42 | $1,058.00 | ($764.58) |
| Total Expenses | $4,375.00 | $4,860.69 | ($485.69) |
July was supposed to be a low-cost month, which obviously did not happen. Let’s take a look at individual categories:
Home Expenses & Utilities
No home = no home expenses. We do anticipate returning to work and (likely) renting a place of our own later in the year. Until then we will continue traveling and staying with family.
Automotive
Payments on our new car began in March to the tune of $471/month. This month included the final true-up of our regular insurance coverage and multiple trips between Minnesota and Wisconsin resulted in a few tanks of gas.
I budgeted conservatively for insurance this year and also had a pretty good chunk budgeted for maintenance. But with the new car, most of that budgeted maintenance will be shifted to paying the loan instead. All in all, the new car shouldn’t cost us much more out of pocket this year than the old one would have.
Groceries & Dining Out
We chipped in for groceries while staying with family, but reuniting with friends and family led to a hefty dining out total yet again. We also splurged on a postponed Father’s Day dinner out, making up a large chunk of this total.
Health & Beauty
This category includes our monthly health insurance premium (~$435) minus a $25 incentive credit, and some minor beauty items.
Cell Phones
As I’ve explained previously, we both have cell phone plans through Mint Mobile that only cost about $15 each per month for unlimited talk, text, and 5GB of 4G LTE data (an increase from 4GB after they were bought out by T-Mobile).
We love Mint Mobile and highly recommend their services for a much more affordable option than some of the big names out there. I’d be thrilled if you used this referral link and signed up with them. Right now, you can sign up for 3 months of service just to try it out before committing to a full year. All of their plans are just $15 a month right now! Mr. Rebates is also running a $5 cash back deal that you could use to stack your savings, and Rakuten is offering $5 cash back as well if that’s more your style.
Travel & Entertainment
Mrs. FIby35 participated in a bachelorette party in Vermont (paid for partially in previous months) and visited a friend in Texas this month ($11.20 total + Delta points), while I continued my golfing habit and made my annual pilgrimage to Target Field to see the Seattle Mariners take on the Minnesota Twins. Total cost of my entertainment this month was just under $100.
Pets
After receiving a clean bill of health in June, our dog required a trip to the vet for what turned out to be a tick-related illness. Fortunately, he seems to be fully recovered after about a $180 vet bill and $93 for new tick medicine.
We also dabbled with grooming him ourselves and it actually didn’t turn out too terribly. We will be purchasing a grooming razor/vacuum combo and a grooming scissors soon and it should pay for itself within 2 months or so.
Merchandise
Unfortunately, we left most of our dress clothes down in Florida upon driving north in April so this month we had to buy some for an upcoming wedding.
Other Expenses
In exciting news, Mrs. FIby35 is now a travel agent! After a start-up cost of just over $800 and plenty of training, she is following her passion for travel planning even though our travels will be far less frequent than they have been over the past year.
Conclusion
Despite a bit of overspending, July was an enjoyable month of friends, family, and nice weather. Also, my period of Funemployment will be coming to an end soon – I’ve accepted a position back in the workforce starting in August! As much as I would rather spend my days traveling, reading, and lounging with our dog, I do miss receiving a paycheck.
“Wait a minute…I thought you hit your FI goal! You don’t have to go back to work!” you say. Technically, you are correct. I’ll explain later 😉
What should we do now that we finally hit our FI number? Leave a comment below!
