It’s officially Fall 2020. Things are starting to cool off a bit in Dallas. There has been so much talk about the election, Tesla battery day, TikTok, Covid, flu season, the supreme court, you name it.

My gains in September came in a bit short of what I expected from August. It’s important to know that the stock market is both cyclical and unpredictable. Some health issues I though were gone in August resurfaced. I’m making smarter decisions daily to hopefully leave them past me permanently.

As of 9/30/2020:

$401k: $89,217.07
Roth IRA: $5,511.23
HSA: $567.02
M1: $783.04
September 2020 Total Investments: $96,078.36
August 2020 Total Investments: $96,846.23
(Down $767.87 or .79% from last month, up $36,200 or +60.4% to last year)
A flat month is discouraging but it also was down almost 3% a few days ago. No car payments makes this a helluva lot easier. I remind myself of this when I see a sexy new car roll out off the showroom floor like the new Acura TLX.

I’m inspired by BeatTheBush on YouTube. Dude is in the SF Bay area, a retired engineer and popular Youtuber. He just turned 40 reached a net worth of $1.6MM. At my current investment rate of $1800/mo and an 8% rate of return, I’ll hit $193k at age 40 and $1.1MM at age 50. I do need to accelerate this though. Especially since I want to live in a nicer place either a townhouse, condo, or more upscale apartment. There is always the risk that the stock market doesn’t have the same historical gains of the last few decades.

As soon as my most recent Amazon.com order posts, I will have qualified for the $600 cashback offer on my Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card. That will basically cover my current balance so that’s exciting. I’m eager to go travel somewhere where I’m not staying at a friend’s place or with family for weeks. Not sure if that is in my future, the only way to get to NY is really for me to fly to Boston first and stay somewhere for a while. Like my friends, but I’m more of a see people for a couple days and go kind of guy. Staying for weeks at a time would make me a bit anxious. With a potential surge in covid cases, who really knows what the rest of 2020 will have in store.

After 580 days and $2500 later, I finally have my braces off. Still trying to get my retainer. The first impressions I did on Monday didn’t come out properly so I had to drive 40miles round trip to get them redone and go back again to pick them up. Fun times.

Last but not least I posted this video last night without me talking. Has 2 views and like so far (no it’s not me…) haha. One of my friends who runs a podcast said not everything needs to be perfect and I really need to take that to heart. Not to mention workflows. I have a state-of-the-art MacBook Pro 16″, 27″ 4k HDR LG display, five devices capable of recording video for my channel and a living room area I can play around with for filming purposes. The big-ass flourescent light I purchased was a bust, it makes me look blue and also takes up too much space in my dining room. Might try to sell it on Facebook or somewhere for $20 and buy a ring light instead.

October 2020 Financial Update

I’m trying to grow as a person, don’t think that will ever stop. Finding more people who share common interests has been a boost to my self confidence, and a super effective way of helping to keep my mental facilities in check. People especially ones who live alone need to interact in person with other humans. I’m all for responsible social distancing. I also know how taxing it is to feel completely cut off from the world, sort of in your own self-imposed solitary confinement.

Stay safe out there. Hope your jobs are safe. Never stop learning. Remember to work on at least one hard thing each day. Even if it’s for a short period of time. Ok it’s 12:40AM here… for that reason I’m out.