We’re 75% done with 2017. Madness. Let’s check in on my goal to decrease my spending from $22,491.86 last year by $4,491.86 to $18,000 this year. Continue reading “Q3 Budget Check-In 2017”
Category: Finance
Dividend Season
It’s that wonderful time of year again: Dividend Season! When I feel like free money is reigning down on me. It feels like my cash is just sitting in something boring like a bank account so I usually forget that it’s actually at work within 3,300+ businesses within the US and as a result those businesses pay me money every quarter for doing basically nothing. It feels like Christmas! This quarter I received $670.17 from my Vanguard account (which sadly doesn’t include my 401K or HSA), which is a 30% increase from the $514.02 I received last year and a 143% increase from the year before that ($275.23). And it will just keep increasing because of the miracle of compounding. AH! So exciting. The end of Q4 in December usually brings the largest dividend payouts of the year…on literal Christmas. I can’t wait to open my presents!
Retirement Inevitability
[The Matrix has a quote for every occasion]
An article I read this morning made me realize something: early retirement is inevitable. I currently have almost a $200,000 net worth (so close!). I could stop saving now, not touch my money and let it grow. If I did that then based on historical averages I would have enough money to retire at 43 years old. That’s 12 years before my mom and 19 years before the earliest social security payout options without me adding another penny to my accounts. I could suddenly quintuple my lifestyle, live like that for the next 15 years and still retire earlier than I could have ever imagined. That’s INSANE! I might start thinking of all the money I invest from this moment as money that’s buying back my time between 32 and 43 years of age. I’m slowly rolling back the clock. I like that visual. Even if I do nothing I will get there. And fast. Let’s do this!
Have I Always Loved Money?
Looking back I think I’ve always been fascinated by money. I tried to negotiate prices with the tooth fairy (proof below), was a bank for my siblings (a bad one) and loved collecting foreign currency. My aunt and uncle would often bring me coins from wherever they were living at the time. I also bought fake foreign currency with the little chore money I received. I was such a normal kid 🙂 .Breaking The Unofficial Beauty Ban
It’s been 3 years since I’ve had any type of salon, beauty maintenance. Prior to that I would have my eyebrows plucked every month or so and hair cuts whenever things got out of hand. When I got into financial independence I started cutting all unnecessary expenses and as a result started doing these things myself. I didn’t see the point anymore despite my eyebrows costing maybe $40 a year and hair $50 every few years. It was still wasted money. Instead I started just plucking my eyebrows when they got unruly and cutting my hair a little when the ends looks raggedy. I’m lucky it’s hard to see weird cuts in curly hair 🙂 . Continue reading “Breaking The Unofficial Beauty Ban”
$500 for 10 Minutes of Work
I’ve mentioned that part of my morning routine is catching up on the financial blogs that have been published since the following morning. I find which blogs I’ll read through twitter. I have a twitter list that only includes my financial bloggers and it’s very helpful to keep up not only with their blog posts, but latest news. It’s how I found out one of my favorite and most inspiring bloggers was having a meet up in Seattle and I ended up hanging out with him (and others) all night. It was amazing. Continue reading “$500 for 10 Minutes of Work”
Brexit 1776 and Asset Allocations
On this 4th of July I’m reminiscing on this crazy country I live in. Despite my pessimism it’s a pretty great place to live. We do have a large amount of opportunity and diversity that slightly combats all our issues. I’m happy to live here and wouldn’t roll the dice again if given the chance. That’s one way to show someone’s true feelings 🙂 .
H1/Q2 Budget Check-In 2017
We’re halfway done with 2017 and this year is flying by. Let’s check in on my goal to decrease my spending from $22,491.86 last year by $4,491.86 to $18,000 this year. These are my averages for the first half of 2017: