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!

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.

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!

As I write this I’m in the middle of recovering from a cold that has lasted me the majority of the week. I’m working on healing my soul in addition to my body. I went on two dates last week with a gorgeous guy in his late 20s and he completely ghosted me the whole week. I’m going to say he probably had other things going on. Getting out of the marines, going to school for software engineering, moving back to the area, and getting a part-time job. I was a little hurt at first, but I’m getting better at not getting attached to people right away. Journaling has helped.

Some changes – Added contributions that will show next Tuesday for simplification purposes. I am also including my emergency fund as part of my investments going forward. I don’t plan on including my car which is worth about $17k today or any other possessions I may sell over the course of the year.

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

6/28/21
401K: $139,579
Roth IRA: $14,842
M1 Acct: $2,283
Crypto: $400
HSA: $2,120
Total Investments: $159,225

Net worth is up 7.3% or $11,668 from a month ago. Compared to a year ago I’m still up 95%!! Vs July 2019 my net worth is up 368%. I haven’t purchased any more crypto after getting burned on DOGE, still down $126 or 63% as of this posting. My holdings in ETC, BTC, ADA, LTC are also down in value. My M1 portfolio is still up 25%. 401k 1 yr RoR is 44.12% / 17.89% YtD. Roth IRA is 43.79% 1 Yr RoR. I don’t know how long this is sustainable with the market hitting all-time highs. Have to research Fidelity’s High Dividend options again, but I think the higher fees were a big turnoff. Balancing with growth stocks I can access in a non-retirement account without penalty before 59 1/2 might make more sense if the market starts to go lukewarm.

7/28/2020:
401k: $81,450.93
Roth IRA: $4954.67
HSA: $661.87
M1: $485.98
July 2020 Total Retirement: $87,553

This month has been a real doozy health-wise. I had a blister the size of two grapes on the back of my heel. Have some slight scarring but mostly back to normal. Got a minor laser procedure done on my nose that I’m happy with. Then the latest sinus / ear infection that has left me congested and bitchy. Got tested for Covid as a precaution, at least that came back negative. I also re-injured myself by not wearing proper bike gear. Tsk Tsk.

There are some things professionally that have me a bit irked. I can’t control it though, I think all jobs have some element of crap you have to deal with. The question is would you rather put up with the known vs the unknown. Without going into too many details, I do think growth is important.

I took a staycation earlier in the month and on the last day decided to take a little road trip to Denison Texas. Less than 75 minutes from Dallas it was just far enough to get away from the big city, but not far enough where I felt like I needed to book an overnight stay. The pictures are a bit deceiving how high up I actually was. I’m going to say at least 100 feet up, my fear of heights kicked in immediately. It was a breathtaking view though, a reminder of how life isn’t all about work, hitting goals, and worrying about things.

I had the best time at a friend’s apartment last weekend. Outdoor barbecue, burgers, hotdogs, drinks, cornhole and fun conversations. I really value the friendships I have lately, even if we aren’t necessarily “best friends”. It’s nice to feel appreciated.

Earlier this month I also saw some rad fireworks pretty close up and posted them to my other YoutTube channel. A different friend invited me to a 4th of July party, the first one I’d been to in 3 years.

Even if things aren’t perfect I still am thankful for everything I have. I know someone from high school who has lupus, is on dialysis and also having serious complicatons with her pregnancy. Someone else I know from my home state just split up with his ex after being together for years. Another has his arm in a cast due to a fractured wrist and thumb after a sports accident. Another couple I know is getting a divorce. I have relatives who are on unemployment. I’m sure there are lots of people who wish they earned what I make now and had rent under $1000/mo.

That’s mostly it. I’ve spent way too much on food this week as I haven’t been in the mood to do any cooking and food shopping while you’re hacking up phlegm isn’t fun. Postive vibes, we are all going through something. Some people are open about it others not so much. It’s almost 3am, time for bed…