March was a busy month in the FIby35 household. We were on the move seemingly every few days with personal and work trips, and The Spreadsheets were similarly active. What does that mean for our budget? Read on for my March 2024 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 reach that goal…so we increased it to $1,875,000. 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
Here’s where our net worth ended up through March 2024:
| | BALANCE | CHANGE FROM PRIOR MONTH |
| ASSETS | | |
| Cash, Checking, Savings | $67,273 | $5,213 |
| Investments | $1,504,509 | $57,036 |
| LIABILITIES | | |
| Credit Cards | ($4,293) | $674 |
| Car Loan | ($26,591) | $301 |
| Misc. Other Debts | ($80) | ($60) |
| NET WORTH | $1,540,818 | $63,164 |
Yet another new all-time high as the stock market continued its upward trajectory. We cleared the $1.5 million mark for the first time!
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. Now that we’ve re-entered the workforce, our goal is to continue socking away as much as possible (within reason) and building our savings back up to about two years of living expenses.
Investments
Most of our investments track the S&P 500, which rose another 3% in March. We contributed $9,900 of our own to add to $47,100 in market gains this month. With our cash buffer and regular paychecks, there’s no need to actually sell any investments any time soon, giving the market time to climb. 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. So in January 2023 we purchased a shiny new Subaru Forester and *gasp* financed it all. The plan is to pay off the loan in full 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. Fantasy baseball season is upon us so the league fees are rolling in.
Expenses
Here’s a look at our expenses for the month of March:
| EXPENSES | Budget | Actual | (Over)/Under |
| Home (mortgage, property taxes, maintenance, etc.) | $2,124.42 | $1,914.00 | $210.42 |
| Utilities | $136.67 | $126.37 | $10.30 |
| Automotive | $790.80 | $1,321.40 | ($530.60) |
| Groceries | $500.00 | $577.68 | ($77.68) |
| Dining Out | $150.00 | $163.86 | ($13.86) |
| Health & Beauty | $487.33 | $523.28 | ($35.95) |
| Cell Phones | $41.67 | $31.74 | $9.93 |
| Travel & Entertainment | $1,174.67 | $800.84 | $373.83 |
| Pets | $154.17 | $276.25 | ($122.08) |
| Merchandise | $175.11 | $392.82 | ($217.71) |
| Other Expenses | $515.17 | $111.74 | $403.43 |
| Total Expenses | $6,250.00 | $6,239.98 | $10.02 |
Quite a bit of spending in March, but we still squeaked in just under budget in total.
Let’s take a look at individual categories:
Home Expenses & Utilities
A full month of rent and utilities. Utilities included internet, electricity, water/sewer, and trash.
Automotive
The budget includes our $471 monthly loan payment and conservative estimates for insurance, gas, and maintenance.
In addition to the loan payment, March included our 6-month insurance renewal. So while we were over budget, this was expected.
Groceries & Dining Out
We upped the grocery budget for 2024 to encourage ourselves to buy healthier ingredients without worrying too much about the price. March ended over budget mainly due to timing, as we went shopping on the first and last days of the longer month.
Dining out was reasonable this month, as the majority of our spending on food was in groceries or the travel category below.
Health & Beauty
This category includes all health and beauty related spending: gym memberships, beauty products, wellness treatments, etc. It does not include our monthly insurance premiums – I account for the cost of health insurance in our budget when paying out of our own pocket but that cost is absorbed by our paychecks while working.
We re-upped on a few health and beauty consumables this month, but nothing notable or unexpected.
Cell Phones
As I’ve explained previously, we both have cell phone plans through Mint Mobile that provide unlimited talk, text, and a certain amount of 4G LTE data. My plan is about $15 per month for 5GB, while Mrs. FIby35 recently upgraded to the unlimited data plan at $25 per month. Still fantastically affordable. Even better, Mrs. FIby35’s employer reimburses her bill, so her charge to upgrade will be reimbursed next month.
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. Mr. Rebates is also running a $5 cash back deal that you could use to stack your savings. Rakuten is offering $5 cash back as well if that’s more your style.
Travel & Entertainment
March was a month of mini-travel. We spent the first weekend in Savannah, Georgia and Mrs. FIby35 took trips to Sarasota, Florida (personal) and Dallas, Texas (business).
Savannah had been on our list to visit for quite a while and we finally made the road trip, stopping at Jekyll Island along the way. Despite a rainy weekend, we found Savannah to be charming and full of fantastic food. The food tour we took of the historic downtown area was insightful and included several delicious dishes. We also splurged on a fancy steak dinner our first night there to celebrate my birthday. Overall, we would visit Savannah again.
We stayed at the Andaz Savannah using Hyatt points, travel hacking our way to $960 in savings over two nights. The rest of our travel this month was paid for in cash.
Pets
Our pup required a vet visit this month but luckily it turned out to be just allergies. The pollen count has been off the charts here lately, so we will have keep him on medication for the time being.
Merchandise
Mrs. FIby35’s quest for new clothes continues…
Other Expenses
We paid to file our taxes since TurboTax was offering an early-filing discount, though we have not paid the actual taxes owed yet. The rest of this is the net of Mrs. FIby35’s work expenses reimbursed from previous months and those incurred for the future.
Conclusion
No complaints with the results this month. We spent a fair amount of time doing what we love (traveling and eating) and the weather is getting more spring-like every day. The stock market continued to rise while we plowed more of our hard-earned cash into it. As I write, the first few days of April have not been as promising, but that’s too be expected. Overall, yet another successful month.
How did your month end up, financially or otherwise? Leave a comment below!
