I’m about a day late on this one so apologies! Working to get better at getting things off my chest more….

Recently a young guy in Oaklawn was shot and killed while just a 2 minute walk from one of the bars I frequent regularly. Whenever incidents like this happen I think about how it could’ve been me. As a general rule between being old and concerned for my safety I try not to stay out too late. I feel sorry for the young man and his loved ones. No one deserves that. Apparently the person who did it was asking for money. I still refuse to live in a bubble and feel like a prisoner.

Dude I went on two dates with since August has essentially ghosted me. I had a romantic date and dropped about $100 for the both of us. He literally never initiates conversation with me via text. I tried to give him space and ask him how the process of moving was going… Still crickets afer 10 days. He also showed up to our first date almost 15 minutes late.

Then someone else I was interested in and met a few times took 5 weeks and 4 days to respond to one of my texts. Never answering me about his relationship status. Then taking 5 days to respond to one of my texts back. I’m taking that as a sign he is dating someone and just talking to me on the DL.

There are some other stories I left out intentionally. That said I think I’m giving up on dating for a while. Even when I don’t get too emotionally invested I end up wasting my energy. Ironically when I’m interested the least that’s when the most prospects start communicating with me.. hahaha

I may possibly be getting some type of merit increase in the next few weeks. I’m stoked about that but think I will be left underwhelmed since I’m on the lower quartile for my position and # of years experience. It’s unlikely my salary will be reset based on market rates…. Oh and this little thing called inflation…. Still some money is better than none.

I bought crypto literally right before the crash. Dropped $1,050 and slowly building up the emergency fund again back to where I was. I was tempted to invest more but figured I’d err on the side of caution. The S&P 500 is down 3.6% from where it was a month ago. The market is volatile but for now I will keep dollar cost averaging into low cost funds. Still a 1.4% dip Month-Over-Month isn’t the end of the world.

10/1/21:
401K: 147,601
Roth IRA: $15,921
M1 Accoun: $3,133
Crypto: $1,433
Buffer Fund: $4,314
HSA: $1,758
Total Investments: $174,160

8/28/21
401K: $150,508
Roth IRA: $15,937
M1 Acct: $2,810
Crypto: $659
Buffer Fund: $5,015
HSA $1,768
Total Investments: $176,696

Age 65 retirement looks less and less appealing by the day. Who wants to slave away for another 27 years and hope you’re in good enough shape to enjoy it. Not me! I’m more and more aware of that as my parents approach retirement age. Yesterday my grandmother would’ve turned 82, it’s hard to believe it’s been over 22 years since she’s been gone. I still miss her.

Took a few pictures over the last month to kind of capture some of the highlights. Pumpkins, my car after a wash, and Oktoberfest. The food was amazing!

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Also got a physical recently. Overall my numbers aren’t horrible but not ideal either. Vitamin D deficiency and cholesterol are the main things. I honestly am looking to drop about 50 pounds, then possibly looking at a bit of a life makeover. Intermittent fasting and keto have really been helping me in that regard. I hit a peak of 259 pounds mid August right before travelling. I’m about 250 now, was steadily a pound a day for a few days then gained 5 pounds back in 2 days and now back to dropping again. Not eating or drinking away my feelings can be challenging at times but I’m worth it.

Also on a positive note after 6 months of having to breathe in smoke from my neighbors I decided to speak up and wrote a friendly letter to the apartment management. The issue is now 90% better and I rejoice in being able to not inhale their second hand smoke.

Hope you guys / gals are well. I feel like I type to myself sometimes on this blog but it holds me accountable at least.

Posted a new video recapping the month! I also hate this shirt but that’s beside the point. 😀

The cold I had last month is a distant memory. My parents are now fully vaccinated. I just returned from a trip to Seattle. I think I was slowly losing my mind having the same daily routine day in and day out. Humans are meant to explore the world around us even if it is in small doses.

After 12 years of chatting online, I *finally* got to see an online friend in person. He is roughly 14 years my senior, tall with salt and pepper hair. Comes across as the type who can naturally connect with anyone. He gave me a little tour of the city, we walked through Pike Place Market, down Elliot Trail, to one of the Piers. I’m glad to have quality people like him around, sometimes it’s easy to scare people away with drama, or just grow apart.

I posted the top pictures from each of the 6 days on another account of mine but sharing a few with this audience.

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Seattle Trip – August 2021

The trip wasn’t cheap, one of the more expensive ones in recent memory infact. However I needed this. So many years have gone by already and I’ve missed out on potential opportunities to branch out. Also exploring opportunities to make new friends with similar interests. I venmoed money for the vrbo. Flight on my credit card without any point redemption. Definitely earned points for all the eating / drinking I did.

Someone I was supposed to have dinner with last night stood me up. No sorry I need to reschedule or acknowledgement even though he’s been posting on social media. He did this previously in April, I’m guessing his work schedule changed again. I’m letting it go as it’s clearly his problem. 😀

So let’s talk about the money situation.
8/28/21 (including next wk 401k contribution):
401K: $150,508
Roth IRA: $15,937
M1 Acct: $2,810
Crypto: $659
Buffer Fund: $5,015
HSA $1,768
Total Investments: $176,696

7/30/21:
401K: $145,693
Roth IRA: $15,419
M1 Acct: $2,564
Crypto: $451
Buffer Fund: $5,013
HSA: $1,752
Total Investments: $170,893

Net worth for the month is up +$5,803 or +3%! This is partially because the S&P 500 is essentially near all-time highs.

Compared to a year ago I’m up $75k or 73%!
August 2020
401k: $90,043.43
Roth IRA: $5,572.82
HSA: $552.55
M1: $677.43
Emergency Fund: $5,000
August 2020 Total Investments: $101,846
August 2019 Total Net Worth: $49,665
August 2018 Total Net Worth: $27,405
August 2017 Total Net Worth: -$20.78
August 2016 Total Net Worth: $-13,713

Sometimes it feels like growth happens at a snail’s pace. Then you look back and think wow I’ve come a long way!

My projections for 5 years with no further contributions:

If I can keep up at this current aggressive pace of close to $2500 / mo on average with the same assumptions…. Quite a big difference. So the big question is can I hit a half million in 5 years? I’m on my way, but 5 years still feels like a long way out. Likely will have a different job by then, not sure where I’ll be living. I might scale things back a bit depending on any big life changes that might arise.

September 2026 estimated total in 5 years – close to a half million but not quite there.

That’s the update. I want this process to go faster. No spouse and no kids. I also don’t want to be a workaholic. Dating someone exclusively would be nice. So far I’m nowhere near there. Takes weeks to months to actually land a date. Then planning a second. Or something even more casual, getting rejected because you want to have a little conversation, or want to be more “responsible”. It gets really tiring after a while.

We each have 24 hours in a day. It’s my job to make the most of them. Hope you are all making progress in your debt freedom / wealth building journeys! ❤

I need to figure out the lighting situation on my videos. I think it’s the HDR video setting that is impacting color accuracy. Recorded and posted two on Sunday regardless. Cheers!