As the old saying goes, April showers bring May flowers. Such was the trend in The Spreadsheets, as memory of a gloomy month in the market in April was erased by sunshine and rainbows in May. How far did our net worth climb? Read on for my May 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 May 2024:
| | BALANCE | CHANGE FROM PRIOR MONTH |
| ASSETS | | |
| Cash, Checking, Savings | $72,921 | $2,118 |
| Investments | $1,531,206 | $80,482 |
| LIABILITIES | | |
| Credit Cards | ($9,780) | ($2,136) |
| Car Loan | ($26,001) | $299 |
| Misc. Other Debts | ($80) | $0 |
| NET WORTH | $1,568,266 | $80,763 |
It’s been a bit of a seesaw that last few months, and May saw us on the rising end of it. The S&P 500 climbed an astonishing 4.8% in May! We don’t expect that to occur every month, but it’s nice when it does.
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 or a similar index. We contributed $10,800 of our own in May to add to $69,300 in market gains. 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 some of the league fees have rolled in.
Expenses
Here’s a look at our expenses for the month of May:
| EXPENSES | Budget | Actual | (Over)/Under |
| Home (mortgage, property taxes, maintenance, etc.) | $2,124.42 | $1,914.00 | $210.42 |
| Utilities | $136.67 | $129.16 | $7.51 |
| Automotive | $790.80 | $526.21 | $264.59 |
| Groceries | $500.00 | $624.75 | ($124.75) |
| Dining Out | $150.00 | $471.84 | ($312.84) |
| Health & Beauty | $487.33 | $317.39 | $169.94 |
| Cell Phones | $41.67 | $498.37 | ($456.70) |
| Travel & Entertainment | $1,174.67 | $576.32 | $598.35 |
| Pets | $154.17 | $248.13 | ($93.96) |
| Merchandise | $175.11 | $1,736.91 | ($1,561.80) |
| Other Expenses | $515.17 | ($1,111.39) | $1,626.56 |
| Total Expenses | $6,250.00 | $5,931.69 | $318.31 |
Like the stock market, our spending continues to fluctuate month by month. The staple categories seemed to be pretty stable, but lots of variation from budget in the discretionary areas.
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, May included just a bit of gas and a car wash.
Groceries & Dining Out
We upped the grocery budget for 2024 to encourage ourselves to buy healthier ingredients without worrying too much about the price. May was a longer month and happened to include trips to the grocery store at the beginning and end of the month.
We have also informally upped the dining out budget, as we want to continue to explore new restaurants in the area. We went a little crazy with dining out this month, but that included concessions at a baseball game, a trip to one of my favorite breweries, and two pricier but delicious dinners at restaurants nearby.
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.
Nothing really notable or unexpected this month.
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. Her annual renewal came through in late May, to be reimbursed in June.
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
No actual trips taken in May, though we did incur some expenses for upcoming travel to Alaska and Minnesota. This month was more of a stay-cation, as we did (and ate) more things locally.
Pets
This looks a little high but that’s because of his semi-annual flea/tick and heartworm medications. Some restocking of food and supplies rounded out the spending this month.
Merchandise
Mrs. FIby35’s quest for new clothes continues. This month entailed an exorbitant-for-us amount of spending on clothes, though much of it was returned in June.
Other Expenses
A couple of our credit cards renewed this month, but that was more than offset by reimbursement of work expenses Mrs. FIby35 received from previous months. This tends to swing wildly up and down each month depending on the timing of reimbursement.
Conclusion
I seem to say this every month, but there was plenty of activity for us in May. Though no actual vacations were taken, there are always some in the works. And in the meantime, we continue to scour our local area in Florida for the best food and drink. As an added bonus, the S&P 500 buoyed our enthusiasm with a banner month. Overall, yet another successful month!
How was your month, financially or otherwise? Leave a comment below!
