Not too long ago I wrote what I thought was a pretty freaking amazing blog post. Then unbeknownst to me, as I hit the publish button, the entire thing was gone. You’d think I would have known by now… So this my readers is my second attempt at writing a June posting. Arguably this version will be bigger, better, faster, stronger.

In May I went on a work trip to beautiful Colorado Springs. I stayed at a resort that is known around the country as being one of the top places in the entire state. Drinks were shared, stories of business were told along with some amazing sights. The city was about a mile high and I completely was not ready for it. Next time I will do more research before going someplace with such a huge change in elevation / climate. My nose will thank me.

After settling back in Dallas for another week, I made a trip up to Boston to drop off the cat I’ve had around for months. Its owners owed and promptly paid me $500 for associated expenses including cat food, cat litter, cat litter box, toys, treats, veterinary bills. They also covered my airfare and shuttled me around.

Boston is a beautiful city. Some of the sites I got to experience include Harvard University, Paul Revere’s house & statue, Quincy Market, New England Aquarium, Cambridge and Dedham. It’s a lot more walkable than Dallas, and the parking garages were a bit on the pricey side. The cost of real estate was kind of insane. $500k was the starting point for many pieces of property, with many exceeding that. On the flip side, my odds of finding a partner are higher, it’s more socially progressive, and closer to my aging parents. The $64k  question… 5 years out do I still want to live 1500+ miles away from family..

Upon returning to Dallas, I was blessed with a nail in my rear tire. Got the tire plug patched at a nearby Goodyear service center before work and was good to go. The repair was $25, I opened up a claim and got $12 back. When I bought the tires in April they included Road Hazard Protection. Luckily it was a cheap repair and I didn’t have to file a claim for a completely new tire…

 

I think my soul yearns to travel more. I made excuses for years about wanting to find the right person to go with. Only to realize I’m not getting any younger. Plus  you can’t bank vacation time, either you use it or you lose it. I’ll end this with a quote by Paula Pant of Afford Anything “You can afford anything, but not everything”.

June 2018 Financial Update

Happened way earlier than expected, I hit a major milestone in my retirement last week. June 2018 less than two months away from my 35^thbirthday I hit a total of $40k. Started with a 401k right before 30, I was also burdened with almost $40k of student loan debt at the time. It’s a great feeling to have things turning around completely in the other direction.

With this major milestone being, I’m shifting gears again. Going to max out my Roth IRA, switch to / max out an HSA-based insurance plan as part of my open enrollment. Once the Roth is maxed out, then I might just stop playing with this 1.9% car loan and pay more principal payments until it’s 0.

Why this change? It boils down to a couple of key points…

1. I would like to have more money liquid. The future is uncertain and I’d like to have money available to cover 3 months worth of an emergency fund.
2. The market may be due for a correction soon. I’m not one to believe in market timing. However…if tomorrow my investments lose 20% of their value, I would be feeling a bit of remorse by having it all wrapped up in something I can’t access penalty free until I’m 59 1/2, or possibly longer if lawmakers decide to start changing the rules.
3. I am tired of having debt. Specifically I’ve written about eliminating debt for over 6 years. I’d rather have the $541/mo in my pocket or other investments rather than lowering my cashflor.
4. Tax free vs taxable investments. I like the concept of having eggs in both baskets. I’m of the opinion that tax-free growth of any investment is a bit of fallacy and Uncle Sam will try to find a way to penalize people or bring it to a halt. Maybe that won’t happen.
5. It’s a bit of a stress relief to be able to move a couple hundred more dollars each month into my emergency fund.

Current Debt:
Car Loan: $16,571.34
Current Investments:
401k: $39,256.41 (it’s dipped a little bit over the past few days)
Roth IRA: $270.81

This is more of a money update type blog, but I needed to get this off by shoulders…

Recent news stories have been a bit of a wakeup call for us to all pay attention to the quality of our mental health. There have been a few moments of me feeling down, nothing too severe. I try to be aware of this and react accordingly. I am happy for people who have found a significant other. In my case like 3 of them got married or found the love of their life just a few months after things didn’t work out with me. One recently changed his relationship status to in a relationship. Another I was interested in dating, but said I was going too quickly because I actually wanted to meet… is dating someone now. Then being told things like to be a good Christian he couldn’t act on his sexuality. Maybe I should just put all this stuff into an excel document with a brief summary of what happened. That should be my homework fo the night..

I can relate to folks who say it’s a new day, and there are other fish in the sea. Just get fed up with the dating scene, guys who say they’ll meet up on a certain day of the week, you message them and then no response. Yet most of the apps show when they were online last. Then 10 days later I get a hey handsome. I honestly think there have been over 150 types of experiences. Maybe it all did happen for a reason though.

In the meantime it’s time to focus on getting buff, increasing the ole Sexual Market Value. Maybe I’ll end up moving if this keeps up a couple more years. Dallas has been great for my career, but my love life sucks. Almost 4 years of being single…