Another month in the books so it’s time for another FIby35 Financial Update post. March was quite generous overall, as the S&P 500 closed near an all-time high (yet again), Mrs. FIby35 received her annual bonus, and we’re experiencing the first signs of Spring here in Minnesota. Let’s see how all that positivity played out in the numbers, shall we?
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! 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
With that, here’s where our net worth is at through March 2021:
| | BALANCE | CHANGE FROM PRIOR MONTH |
| ASSETS | | |
| Cash, Checking, Savings | $16,876 | $681 |
| Investments | $759,613 | $53,399 |
| Home Equity | $102,503 | $558 |
| LIABILITIES | | |
| Credit Cards | ($1,702) | $3,215 |
| Misc. Other Debts | ($160) | ($40) |
| NET WORTH | $877,130 | $57,813 |
Some generous company profit sharing and the seemingly endless market run-up continues to carry our net worth towards our goal.
Cash, Checking, Savings
This consists mostly of our $9,000 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.
Investments
Several different accounts are included here, most of which are true “retirement” accounts. It also includes our taxable brokerage account at Schwab. Over $25,000 of this increase was due to our own contributions, with another $26,000 coming from market gains and just over $1,300 in dividends, which are mostly paid out quarterly.
Home Equity
Purchase price of our home, less the outstanding mortgage balance. I don’t worry about adjusting the value to whatever our Zestimate is on a particular day because it doesn’t matter until we sell.
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. February’s balances were quite a bit higher than normal at month end because the payment didn’t post until March 1 so this month looks a lot more reasonable.
Misc. Other Debts
Usually just my administrative accounting of who owes what for various fantasy sports leagues.
Expenses
Here’s a look at our expenses for the month:
| EXPENSES | Budget | Actual | Over/Under |
| Home (mortgage, property taxes, maintenance, etc.) | $2,259.05 | $1,568.92 | $690.13 |
| Utilities | $218.41 | $362.32 | ($143.91) |
| Automotive | $480.21 | $215.12 | $265.09 |
| Groceries | $375.00 | $415.57 | ($40.57) |
| Dining Out | $116.67 | $78.21 | $38.46 |
| Health & Beauty | $266.96 | $225.63 | $41.33 |
| Cell Phones | $16.67 | $0.00 | $16.67 |
| Travel & Entertainment | $369.32 | $1,130.87 | ($761.55) |
| Pets | $119.17 | $110.98 | $8.19 |
| Work-related | $8.50 | $179.26 | ($170.76) |
| Merchandise (furniture, decorations, clothes, etc.) | $250.30 | $223.77 | $26.53 |
| Other Expenses | $269.75 | $0.00 | $269.75 |
| Total Expenses | $4,750.00 | $4,510.65 | $239.35 |
Not too shabby for making a last minute decision to extend our trip Phoenix, which began in the last days of February, a few days than originally planned. Spending below our budget is always a good feeling for me, particularly with the large, lumpy expenses we have coming up in the next few months.
Some analysis on individual categories:
Home Expenses & Utilities
We were again able to stay way under budget in home expenses, but that will all come crashing down in May when we have to make our first half property tax payment. I’ll enjoy this while it lasts. Utilities were again over budget, as we made our quarterly payment for trash & recycling, and heating costs have generally been higher with Mrs. FIby35 working from home. I may just have to suck it up and accept that the budget was a little too thin here to begin with.
Cell Phones
You’ve heard the spiel by now – we both have cell phone plans through Mint Mobile that only cost about $15 each per month. I’m fortunate to have my bill reimbursed by my employer, so this is a relatively miniscule cost for us during the year. 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 – you won’t regret it!
Travel & Entertainment
As mentioned in last month’s financial update, we celebrated my 31st birthday with a trip to Phoenix for some sunshine and baseball…and then we casually decided to extend our trip 2 more days and flew to Las Vegas. Luckily, Vegas was pretty kind and we didn’t lose our life savings on the slots.
I also took a short weekend trip to Charlotte, North Carolina with a friend of mine, as he had some expiring travel vouchers to use up. Flights and hotels were basically free due to travel hacking, so the only real costs were food, drinks (there were a lot of drinks…), and a couple city tours to get to know the place. As it turns out, Charlotte has a pretty solid craft beer scene. If that interests you, I highly recommend the Charlotte Beer Garden, which proudly boasts the world’s largest craft beer selection of 400+ beers on tap. Time and money well-spent in my opinion.
No travel plans for us in April (for now), so the over-spending will even itself out a bit.
Work-Related
Most of this is the costs of a couple virtual conferences, which I will be reimbursed for in April. Can we go back to in-person conferences yet?! I really miss the free food…
Conclusion
Overall, March was another solid month for us financially and the warmer weather improves everybody’s mood around here. With our net worth eclipsing $877,000, we are now over 70% of the way to our target of $1.25 million! If the positive market trends continue, our FI date could come up even quicker than expected, so we’ve started to have some more detailed conversations about what the hell we’re actually going to do when that time comes. Exciting and terrifying at the same time.
How did your March spending end up? Feel free to comment below!
