We’re coming down the homestretch of 2023 and I, for one, will be happy to turn the page on the budget in another month. We knew our re-entry into real life would be costly. But it’s hard to believe after September and October that there was anything left for us to buy. Yet Black Friday came and went and our credit cards took yet another beating. How bad was it? Read on for my November 2023 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 our goal…so we increased it even more. 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 November 2023:
| | BALANCE | CHANGE FROM PRIOR MONTH |
| ASSETS | | |
| Cash, Checking, Savings | $63,723 | $1,746 |
| Investments | $1,260,868 | $109,003 |
| LIABILITIES | | |
| Credit Cards | ($8,640) | ($4,065) |
| Car Loan | ($27,754) | $269 |
| Misc. Other Debts | $0 | $0 |
| NET WORTH | $1,288,197 | $106,953 |
The S&P 500 climbed a massive 8.9% in October alone and our investments followed suit. That certainly helped ease the pain of those sky-high credit card bills.
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 and Series I savings bonds. The rest is held in a “big bank” for depositing our paychecks(!) and paying bills. After the sale of our home in May 2022, we decided to keep about 2 years worth of living expenses in some form of savings. We had been spending out of that balance instead of selling investments for the past year and a half. Now that I’ve re-entered the workforce, my paycheck is enough to cover our expenses.
In September we began redeeming some of our I-bonds. Since interest rates were at or below what we can now earn in savings, we cashed out the original $10,000 we each purchased last May. Per the terms of the Treasury, we forfeited the most recent 3 months of interest to do so, but still earned about $1,700 along the way. Unfortunately, redeeming the remaining I-bonds will have to wait until at least the one-year mark in January.
Investments
Most of our investments track the S&P 500, which roared in November. With our cash buffer and regular paycheck, 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. In January we purchased a shiny new Subaru Forester and *gasp* financed it all, with payments beginning in March. The plan is to likely pay off the loan in full during our next stage of employment 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. Payouts occurred at the conclusion of fantasy baseball season in October.
Expenses
Here’s a look at our expenses for the month of November:
| EXPENSES | Budget | Actual | (Over)/Under |
| Home (mortgage, property taxes, maintenance, etc.) | $1,128.25 | $1,160.53 | ($32.28) |
| Utilities | $0.00 | $191.00 | ($191.00) |
| Automotive | $449.75 | $575.12 | ($125.37) |
| Groceries | $308.33 | $356.75 | ($48.42) |
| Dining Out | $135.42 | $120.94 | $14.48 |
| Health & Beauty | $568.33 | $315.76 | $252.57 |
| Cell Phones | $33.33 | $0.00 | $33.33 |
| Travel & Entertainment | $1,235.00 | $2,660.13 | ($1,425.13) |
| Pets | $87.50 | $374.96 | ($287.46) |
| Merchandise | $135.67 | $987.47 | ($851.80) |
| Other Expenses | $293.42 | ($193.51) | $486.93 |
| Total Expenses | $4,375.00 | $6,549.15 | ($2,174.15) |
Despite our best efforts to complete the bulk of our discretionary spending in previous months, we still managed to compile a lengthy Black Friday shopping list. As you can see above, we crossed everything off that list and then some.
Let’s take a look at individual categories:
Home Expenses & Utilities
The 6 week free rent period at our new apartment expired in mid-November. Therefore, rent was only about half of what it will be going forward. Utilities included internet ($55), electricity ($103), water/sewer ($25), and trash ($7). We’ll see if those are outliers or the norm over the next few months.
Automotive
Payments on our new car began in March to the tune of $471/month. Our insurance coverage limits are also slightly higher now to accommodate the umbrella policy purchased in September.
I budgeted conservatively for insurance this year and also had a pretty good chunk budgeted for maintenance. But with the new car, most of that budgeted maintenance will be shifted to paying the loan instead. All in all, the new car shouldn’t cost us much more out of pocket this year than the old one would have. November included about 2 tanks of gas on top of the loan payment.
Groceries & Dining Out
Despite coming in over budget, these areas were actually pretty reasonable. We have been spending over $400 a month on groceries on average, so nothing too noteworthy here.
Health & Beauty
This category no longer includes our monthly health insurance premium, as we joined my new employer’s insurance plan starting in September. I account for the cost of health insurance in our budget when paying out of our own pocket; that cost just gets absorbed by my paycheck while working.
Coming in under budget this month is misleading, as the actual anticipated health & beauty spending was significantly less. Ahhh, Black Friday deals. A blessing and a curse.
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 5GB of 4G LTE data (an increase from 4GB after they were bought out by T-Mobile).
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. Right now, you can sign up for 3 months of service just to try it out before committing to a full year. All of their plans are just $15 a month right now! 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
Mrs. FIby35 took a trip to Austin, Texas this month for a relaxing getaway with a friend. Flights were paid for in previous months, and she travel hacked her way to about $1,400 in savings by using Hyatt and Southwest points.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t resist the allure of the Caribbean. On the docket for February: a week-long stay at an all-inclusive resort in Jamaica. No travel hacking here, the discounted Black Friday rates and relatively cheap flights were all paid for in cash.
Pets
November is typically when we restock the coffers for our dog, and this year was no exception. Food, treats, meds, grooming, he got it all.
Merchandise
Yet another flurry of purchases and returns. The biggest culprit here though is Mrs. FIby35’s new work setup, which will fortunately be reimbursed in December. I replenished some of my wardrobe and we bought some Christmas gifts as well.
Other Expenses
The negative amount here is the reimbursement Mrs. FIby35 received for her October trip to Kentucky for a job interview. While her dream job of Stay at Home Dog Mom is coming to an end, she’s at least a little excited about her new job and very excited about earning a paycheck again.
Conclusion
I’d like to think November was our last big spending month for a while, but maybe that’s wishful thinking. We have now accumulated just about everything we could possibly need (I think) to live comfortably and enjoy Florida for the foreseeable future. I have to admit, after disposing of most of our possessions 18 months ago, it can be a little overwhelming to see how much stuff we’ve accumulated again. Just the necessities for a new season of life, I suppose.
Cheers to a happy holiday season!
Did you score any awesome Black Friday deals, or just splurge on something anyway? Leave a comment below!
