Our first full month of Funemployment was spent almost entirely in our new home state of Florida (still haven’t gotten used to that). At this point in my life, I’m convinced one of man’s greatest creations is the covered lanai, as we spent hours lounging in it each day. Was it hot? Absolutely. But I’d take that over the still-chilly Minnesota Spring we left behind. Unfortunately for our journey to financial independence, June wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows as the stock market got hammered yet again. Just how bad was it? Read on for my June 2022 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 90% 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 June 2022:
| | BALANCE | CHANGE FROM PRIOR MONTH |
| ASSETS | | |
| Cash, Checking, Savings | $104,825 | ($5,167) |
| Investments | $1,025,844 | ($90,524) |
| Home Equity | $0 | $0 |
| LIABILITIES | | |
| Credit Cards | ($3,520) | $735 |
| Misc. Other Debts | ($40) | ($20) |
| NET WORTH | $1,127,109 | ($94,976) |
That’s not pretty. 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. 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 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. At a current interest rate of 9.62%, that was a no-brainer. The interest rate is tied to inflation, so as long as inflation stays high we will likely buy more of these when we are able to in 2023, building a sort of I-bond ladder.
Investments
The S&P 500 shed another 8% in June, so this got ugly in a hurry. I try not to look at it too much throughout the month since it’s out of my control, but it still is a bit discouraging. Luckily, we won’t have to actually sell any investments any time soon, giving the market time to recover.
Home Equity
No more home = no more home equity.
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.
Misc. Other Debts
Usually just my administrative accounting of who owes what for various fantasy sports leagues. I’ve started to collect entry fees for fantasy baseball, which will be paid out to the winners after the season.
Expenses
Here’s a look at our expenses for the month of June:
| EXPENSES | Budget | Actual | (Over)/Under |
| Home (mortgage, property taxes, maintenance, etc.) | $1,114.27 | $11.00 | $1,103.27 |
| Utilities | $122.50 | $110.41 | $12.09 |
| Automotive | $350.77 | $1,594.66 | ($1,243.89) |
| Groceries | $300.00 | $280.91 | $19.09 |
| Dining Out | $116.67 | $382.98 | ($266.31) |
| Health & Beauty | $337.50 | $578.93 | ($241.43) |
| Cell Phones | $41.67 | $0.00 | $41.67 |
| Travel & Entertainment | $1,386.67 | $1,137.37 | $249.30 |
| Pets | $110.83 | $226.84 | ($116.01) |
| Merchandise | $141.12 | $199.85 | ($58.73) |
| Other Expenses | $561.33 | $0.00 | $561.33 |
| Total Expenses | $4,583.33 | $4,522.95 | $60.38 |
Technically, we came in under budget. However, with almost no home expenses to speak of, we should have been significantly under budget. Let’s take a look at individual categories:
Home Expenses & Utilities
This year’s budget was heavily front-loaded in anticipation of selling our house in Spring. Therefore, the only actual expenses this month were some final utility bills. Coming in $1,100 under budget was The Spreadsheets’ saving grace in June.
Automotive
We spent nearly the entire month of June in Florida, driving north to visit family in Wisconsin at the tail end of the month. Gas accounted for about $325 of this total and we paid just under $500 for Florida drivers’ licenses and vehicle registration. The rest is semi-planned maintenance, as we were due for an oil change and replacing brake pads.
The total is a little high for this month in particular, but it was all budgeted for at some point in the year so I’m not too concerned (yet).
Groceries & Dining Out
Groceries were pretty much dead on in June – we had a few trips to Aldi in Florida and helped stock the fridge upon our arrival in Wisconsin.
Dining out was a bit of a spending spree again this month, though it was pretty much the only fun/entertainment we paid for in Florida. We hit several of the local breweries, restaurants, and beachside cafes, and we don’t regret any of it. Maybe we can rein this category in a bit in July…or maybe not.
Health & Beauty
This category now includes our monthly health insurance premium (~$415) and should therefore be a little over budget each month. The rest of our health & beauty needs in June consisted of replacement sunscreen (lots of sun in the Sunshine State) and items for our upcoming trip.
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 4GB of 4G LTE data.
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Travel & Entertainment
We paid a net of $25 at the Hyatt Place Indianapolis Carmel plus some food on our drive from Florida to Wisconsin. The pet fee was actually $75, but Mrs. FIby35 received a $50 statement credit by using her Chase Hyatt Business credit card to pay.
As we tend to do from time to time, we booked another trip to Las Vegas – this time in July. This included $382 for round trip plane tickets from Minneapolis to Las Vegas and the deposit on two hotel rooms (one of which will be reimbursed by friends). Mrs. FIby35 used her status with both MGM and Caesars to secure the rooms at super low prices.
The remainder of our travel expenses this month were to pre-book some things for our Europe trip later this year. This included transportation between Paris & Brussels, Brussels & Amsterdam, Amsterdam & Stuttgart, Stuttgart & Munich, and Munich & Berlin. We’re still doing well sticking to our budget for the trip, so this is just shifting expenses between months.
Pets
Unfortunately, June required a quick trip to the vet in Florida. Everything was resolved within a day or two and he’s good as new (not to mention a few pounds lighter after all the exercise he got in Florida). Total cost: $96. The rest of this category included a date with the groomer and restocking his food supply to last at least through the end of the year.
Merchandise
Mostly last-minute items in preparation for Europe: new shoes, a backpack to fit European airline carry-on dimensions, and some other miscellaneous things. There shouldn’t be much spending here the rest of the year since we’re living basically out of our suitcases these days.
Other Expenses
No unbudgeted emergencies this month. Let’s hope that luck continues.
Conclusion
As disappointing as the stock market has been so far this year, I can’t complain at all about the overall direction of our lives. Florida was incredible – the weather made such a positive impact on our mood and we were more motivated to get outside and exercise. Definitely a huge improvement in our overall mental and physical health.
We spent countless hours relaxing by the pool, walking our dog in the neighborhood and on the beach, and catching up on books and podcasts. After completing just three books in the first five months of 2022, I finished eight in June alone:
- Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
- The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell
- Greenlights by Matthew McConnaughey
- The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
- Killing Floor by Lee Child
- Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell
- What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell
- David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell (bit of a Gladwell kick this month)
Most of July will be spent with my family and friends in Wisconsin. I’m incredibly excited and thankful to be able to spend so much time with people that I haven’t seen for more than a few days at a time over the past 9 years of working. Yet another benefit of setting yourself up financially to make positive changes in your life!
How was your June? Any good book recommendations for me to check out? Leave a comment below!
