November 2020 Financial Update

As the seasons begin to change here in Minnesota, so change the details of our financial comings and goings.  Our goals, though, remain the same. 

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 (finally?) halfway to our target net worth of $1,250,000!  Here’s last month’s update in case you missed it.

This post is the latest in what has become 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.

With that, here’s where our net worth is at through November 2020:

	BALANCE	CHANGE FROM PRIOR MONTH
ASSETS
Cash, Checking, Savings	$12,027	($2,163)
Investments	$643,163	$71,925
Home Equity	$100,280	$551
LIABILITIES
Credit Cards	($2,048)	$2,295
Misc. Other Debts	($120)	($100)
NET WORTH	$753,302	$72,508

Cash, Checking, Savings

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

This is exactly why there were no worries with performance in the previous two monthly updates – a $71,900 increase!  In one month!  About $9,500 of that was from our own contributions, but the remaining $62,000 was entirely the work of Mr. Market, obliterating the losses of the August and September and then some.  Several different accounts are included here, most of which are true “retirement” accounts.  It also includes our taxable brokerage account at Schwab.

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 (future post on our travel hacking exploits to come) 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.

Here’s a look at our expenses for the month:

EXPENSES
Home (mortgage, property taxes, maintenance, etc.)	$1,865.64
Utilities	$287.48
Automotive	$443.33
Groceries	$329.43
Dining Out	$126.07
Health & Beauty	$678.59
Cell Phones	$0.00
Travel & Entertainment	$619.49
Pets	$135.30
Work-related	$11.46
Merchandise (furniture, decorations, clothes, etc.)	$255.60
Other Expenses	$294.00
Total Expenses	$5,046.39

November was much more in line with our average monthly budget of $5,000, so I feel good about that.

Notes

Home expenses returned to normal after paying the second half of our property tax bill in October.  Just our mortgage and some small maintenance items in November.

The automotive category includes $339 for new brake pads and rotors on Mrs. FIby35’s vehicle.  Not something I would prefer to spend on, but a necessary evil given that we are essentially only using one car right now (brakes are probably important, right?).

The health & beauty category is a little out of whack here because of some one-time expenses incurred by Mrs. FIby35.  No serious accidents or maladies here, just some diagnostics.  Unfortunately, the financial fallout from those diagnostics will probably continue trickling in over the next month or two.

Cell phone expenses in November were $0, as I did not submit my reimbursement request for October yet.  We both own our phones outright, and pay Mint Mobile for service once a year (~$200 each for 3GB of 4G LTE data and unlimited talk/text).  I had a couple referral credits on my last renewal, so for 12 months it came out to $146.02.  Divided by 12 = $12.17/month.  No need for outrageously high phone bills when we are connected to wi-fi more often than not and receive adequate service elsewhere.

We were fortunate (and brave) enough to take another vacation in November.  We met up with some friends of ours for some fun and relaxation in Cancun – a long overdue trip we had planned with them over a year ago.  Not to mention, they got a smoking hot deal for 5 days/4 nights at a resort and didn’t even make us sit in on the timeshare presentation with them.  The cost here represents our half of the suite we shared, along with transportation and tips.  Flights were booked using Southwest rewards points, so the only cash paid out of pocket were the international fees they charged.

The Other Expenses category is pretty nondescript and usually contains a couple hundred dollars each month, so you’re probably wondering what exactly flows through here.  This month, it happens to be the annual fee for three of our travel rewards credit cards – the ones that allow us to score the awesome deals we take advantage of on nearly all of our trips.  The fee for a mid-range travel rewards card is usually around $100 a year, but if you work the system properly that’s a pretty small price to pay.

Conclusion

Overall, the market was a huge boon to our net worth and we were able to enjoy some sun while not going too crazy with the spending.  Looking forward to seeing what December brings!

*Technically, The Almighty Spreadsheets project we could reach FI sometime during 2024 if the market cooperates, which would put me at age 34 and Mrs. at age 33.  But in the interest of being conservative, we’ll stick with “by 35.”  It also provides this blog with a more succinct name than “FI by 34 and a half.”