Another month in the books, and it was a doozy. This may go down as the worst financial month in FIby35 history: a deadly combination of unprecedented spending and poor market performance. I teased in last month’s post that September would be a spending explosion and it did not disappoint. Let’s dig into the gory details below in my September 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 September 2023:
| | BALANCE | CHANGE FROM PRIOR MONTH |
| ASSETS | | |
| Cash, Checking, Savings | $68,040 | $1,947 |
| Investments | $1,171,598 | ($57,758) |
| LIABILITIES | | |
| Credit Cards | ($11,950) | ($8,845) |
| Car Loan | ($28,320) | $277 |
| Misc. Other Debts | ($160) | ($20) |
| NET WORTH | $1,199,208 | ($64,399) |
The S&P 500 made a more precipitous drop in September, our worst performing month of 2023 so far.
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 fell 6.6% in September. With our cash buffer and newly-found employment 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 September:
| EXPENSES | Budget | Actual | (Over)/Under |
| Home (mortgage, property taxes, maintenance, etc.) | $1,128.25 | $2,602.06 | ($1,473.81) |
| Utilities | $0.00 | $55.00 | ($55.00) |
| Automotive | $449.75 | $973.85 | ($524.10) |
| Groceries | $308.33 | $661.75 | ($353.42) |
| Dining Out | $135.42 | $96.97 | $38.45 |
| Health & Beauty | $568.33 | $293.35 | $274.98 |
| Cell Phones | $33.33 | $0.00 | $33.33 |
| Travel & Entertainment | $1,235.00 | $687.93 | $547.07 |
| Pets | $87.50 | $351.93 | ($264.43) |
| Merchandise | $135.67 | $6,949.63 | ($6,813.96) |
| Other Expenses | $293.42 | $191.82 | $101.60 |
| Total Expenses | $4,375.00 | $12,864.29 | ($8,489.29) |
We knew September would be an expensive month furnishing an entire apartment nearly from scratch. Even so, this is painful to look at.
Let’s take a look at individual categories:
Home Expenses & Utilities
We’re back to having our own place of residence! For that privilege we paid the first month’s prorated rent, a security deposit, some moving costs, and the internet bill. We also initiated policies for renters’ insurance and a new umbrella policy that we had been discussing for a while. Fortunately the 6 months of free rent we signed up for starts in October.
Automotive
Payments on our new car began in March to the tune of $471/month. I shopped our insurance coverage around and ended up switching insurers, therefore paying to begin a new 6 month policy. Our coverage limits are also slightly higher now to accommodate the umbrella policy mentioned above.
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.
Groceries & Dining Out
Grocery spending was pretty high this month, as expected when you’re stocking a fridge and pantry from scratch. Dining out was kept to a relative minimum at least.
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.
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, and Rakuten is offering $5 cash back as well if that’s more your style.
Travel & Entertainment
The majority of this was for a ticket to see the Packers take on the Raiders in Las Vegas in early October. Flights and hotels will be paid for on points (of course). Booked way back in May, prices have skyrocketed since that time. It pays to have a plan (and execute!).
Pets
An emergency vet visit totaled most of the spending in September. Luckily, our dog has had no issues since then.
Merchandise
If the budget wasn’t already shot to hell, this category put the nail in the coffin. Remember back in May 2022 when we sold our house and most of our possessions? Turns out you typically need some material things if you’re going to settle back down again. We furnished a 2 bedroom apartment almost from scratch in September.
Other Expenses
Two credit card annual fees and a tiny prorated portion of another before that card was cancelled. Fortunately, we put all this apartment spending towards the sign-up bonus on a new credit card. That should pay for a transoceanic flight or two down the road.
Conclusion
I think the unfortunate conclusion I’m coming to is that no matter how long we choose to work this time around, the heavy lifting in our financial life is out of our control. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to have an income again. But even with a well-paying job, our net worth is still at the mercy of the S&P 500. We will do our best to monitor our spending, but a couple hundred or even thousand dollars extra won’t break us.
It’s a big change in mindset from our recent past. But hopefully that change will allow us to enjoy this segment of our lives and not get too bogged down in the budget. You can guarantee I’ll still be tracking everything to the penny. But loosening the purse strings a bit probably isn’t the end of the world.
How was your month financially? Leave a comment below!
