Tag Archives: personal finance

House Hunting at $416k – June 2025

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5/31/20254/29/2025Difference% Change6/2/2024YoY Diff% Change
401K$ 328,591$ 306,755$ 21,8367.1%263,270$ 65,32124.8%
Roth IRA$ 53,866$ 50,234$ 3,6327.2%40,864$ 13,00231.8%
Brokerage Accts$ 3,278$ 2,827$ 45115.9%2,822$ 45616.1%
Cash$ 26,917$ 22,862$ 4,05517.7%4,487$ 22,430499.9%
HSA$ 3,523$ 3,400$ 1233.6%3,395$ 1283.8%
Total$ 416,174$ 386,078$ 30,0967.8%$ 314,838$ 101,33632.2%
Credit Cards$ –$ –$ –#DIV/0!697$ (697)-100.0%
Auto Loan$ –$ –$ –#DIV/0!10,209$ (10,209)-100.0%
Net Total$ 416,174$ 386,078$ 30,0967.8%$ 303,932$ 112,24236.9%

Happy to say my net worth is above $400k again for now. It’s mind blowing how quickly things can change from one month to the next. At a bare minimum I want to have $1M by 59.5, but $2M would be ideal. It will be a gradual thing though, not trying to burnout or risk everything to get rich quickly. Up $112k in a year is pretty good and a 7.8% improvement from May.

Recently I’ve been running into isuses with the apartment rental. 4 trips needed to be made for the ceiling leaking only to find out that the leak is coming from the unit upstairs not mine. Or at least one of the leaks. It’s been over a week with 1-3 buckets in my bathroom near the ceiling drain pain. I moved in here December 2014. I’ve opened 39 maintenance related tickets and spent close to $125k on rent. I’ve accumulated an impressive investment portfolio at least by my standards and the sacrifice was worth it. When I moved into this apartment I was earning close to $65k per year and still laden with student loan debt. That is not the case today. I am debt free and rapidly stockpiling cash.

April 2012 in my post ‘ Why We’re Buying a Townhouse‘ the market was different, interest rates were 3.65% for an 1800 sq ft place built in the 1970s. That was with my ex at the time and we both moved in right away. The house value was around $140k, fast fwd to 2025 and that very same townhome which one could consider a starter home is now valued at $300k. It would be bad luck to buy something on the same block as where I used to live and the entire community while nice reminds me of that chapter in my life. One that is long since gone.

I made an offer on a place down the street from me, it seemed promising. The place had an offer but it wasn’t accepted, then I made my offer quickly only to find out I had been outbid. Am I sad about it? Not really, the square footage was over 2200 which is a lot for 2 people especially since one of us wouldn’t be moving until a year from now. A few of the rooms needed some painting work, the electrical system had aluminum wires, a few of the light fixtures were old, and the immediately adjacent unit was being renovated. Then there was an HOA for $192 which was sort on the cusp of what I’d be comfortable paying. It even had a nice loft area I could envision using to work from home.

The townhouse that never was for me

I’ve driven by over 12 different properties and toured through 3 of them. The 2nd one had a beautiful pool in the backyard but the roof was buckling in certain areas, there was some rotting wood in the back that would cost a lot of money to replace. The pool was also very much above ground and could be a huge liability if it started leaking for some reason. The last one I made an offer on and still waiting to hear back whether the seller accepted. Some things I like about it

  1. The overall area seems a slight bit quieter
  2. Home is built in 1983 as opposed to 1972
  3. Exterior-wise less maintenance would have to be done
  4. Zero HOA, this is close to a month’s mortgage payment over the course of a year
  5. Less sq footage means less money to heat and cool the property
  6. Both had lots of natural light
  7. Able to park a camper in the driveway if my parents happened to come and visit
  8. Location is less than 17 miles from the gay part of Dallas and 20 miles from downtown – Someone I know of bought in Arlington and they’re 30 miles away from anything their care about and the home is from early 70s and was complaining about the shower suddenly stopping working
  9. The roof has been replaced in the last few years and according to the owner has a warranty

My offer hasn’t been accepted yet, and there are a few steps that would need to take place afterward. I’ve been looking online for the past few months and talking about it on this blog for years. We’ll see if I’m one step closer or back to the drawing board. Planning to put down a small down payment in the interest of keeping more of an emergency fund on hand since the timing is a pretty small window between saving more money and an estimated closing date. Technically my apartment lease is up 8/13 so I need to get this all done by then. So if it seems I’m doing this all quickly there’s a reason for it. Especially with 2 weeks in Europe coming up. I am not planning to touch any of my investments though it’s temping at times.

Sold my extra living room loveseat for $58 – My living room feels so much more open now. It was also a 10+ year old piece of furniture, change can be a good thing.

Buying a home will be an adjustment in terms of my monthly overhead. However a lot of people at this stage of life purchase real estate. I don’t want to be renting an apartment in my 50s. I have a huge % of my net worth tied up in retirement and it’s time to start diversifying a bit. The goal is to have my bf move in with me next year once his lease is up so that would be a huge help with some of the overhead.

I was doing well with my sleep until recently with everything going on. Things will get better, I just don’t like when in a limbo period. Also worth mentioning no one else is helping me with this down payment nor have I asked. Maybe that will change one day, but highly unlikely. Anyway it’s 2:30am here, will post something else later in June for any new developments.

Great Depression 2025? March 2025 – $394k

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If you follow social media closely you’d think we’re in the middle of the great depression. The current administration is doing layoffs left and right. Across NOAA, USAID, IRS, SSA, Labor Dept, EPA, NHTSA, FEMA, TSA, HUD, Dept of Defense, NIH/CDC, Dept of Energy, Dept of Education, Department fo Veterans Affairs, U.S. Forest Service, Personnel Management, National Nuclear Safey Admin, GSA, FAA. About 30,000 people most of whom were contributing valuable services to the nation.

Layoffs.fyi screenshot March 2, 2025

Let’s not forget the private sector, going off https://layoffs.fyi there have been a slew of them across many different sectors. Thousands more high paying mostly white color jobs wiped out in an economy where it’s harder to find a job than ever. With over 1.6 million unemployed looking for job and the process taking at least 6 months having you balance sheet right can mean the difference between being homeless or having cushion to lower stress.

For me, my employer last week went through a round of layoffs. I wasn’t directly impacted but there are people I’ve worked with over the years that were. It makes me sad and wonder will I be next. How do I make myself Indespensible to the team to show my value. Also what skills do I need to brush up on to add to my value in the marketplace. My job is far from perfect but I try to give it 100% daily and be an effective leader of people.

Mr. Money Mustache recently made a post Wow, have you seen the stock market lately? I encourage you to take a look at. TLDR is the S&P500 has had a crazy run up and we may be due for a correction. It’s still going to be profitable in the long run and the economy will continue to grow. Ignore the headlines, enjoy you life and keep on investing. I’m very much inclined to agree with him. I look back at the top news stories from 20 years ago. That was 7,300+ days ago. Most of the headlines elicit a wow that happened kind of response but aside from national disasters they don’t impact our day to day lives much. If your eyes are glued to the latest updates on X, Fox / MSNBC / CNN, etc. you’ll drive yourself insane. Give me the archive version and keep the party moving.

If I do end up getting laid off…
1. Company has a severence package in place – I’d rather not disclose the amt but it’s significant and would be close to 22 weeks worth of pay.
2. I currently have a stockpile of cash that I’ve been saving for a potential home purchase – Almost $12k
3. There are things I could sell for close to $1k if neded
4. I have a Roth IRA that I can pull from without penalties. My cost basis might not be exactly right but it’s close to $30k
5. 401k hardship distribution – Not ideal given the need to grow the investments, and 10% penalty
6. 401k loan
Per Fidelity: With a 401(k) loan, you borrow money from your retirement savings account. Depending on what your employer’s plan allows, you could take out as much as 50% of your vested account balance or $50,000, whichever is less. An exception to this limit is if 50% of the vested account balance is less than $10,000: in such a case, the participant may borrow up to $10,000.
7. If I really really had to I could break my lease and move back in with parents 1600 miles away but that literally would be the option of last resort.
8. Unemployment would cover some of my expenses – Maximum weekly unemployment benefit is $577 available for up to 26 weeks. That’s $15k.
9 Sell my car currently valued at $34,400 on Carvana and get something 10 years old and significantly cheaper. A 2015 version of my vehicle is about $18k. That’s $16k right there.

Hopefully things stay secure and I never have to leverage any of the above options. I do believe in being prepared just in case. I’ve been keeping my momentum going on this blog for 13 years I don’t want to start going back now.

Enough about that, what the heck have I been up to the past month?
1. Filed taxes for 2024. I paid sooo much in taxes and still owed a little under $200.
2. Sold the wheels from last month on eBay. Got a few lowball offers and ended up settling at $85 plus the cost of shipping. My payout was ~$107. I’m not sure how the math works on that. I’m sure they’ll bill me for it again later.
3. Was getting over a bit of a nagging cough that wouldn’t go away. It’s 90% better now but super annoying and was at my whit’s end.
4. Covid / Flu shot – It’s the season of people getting sick including 3 people on my dodgeball team
5. Finished dodgeball – Fun season and I managed to avoid getting injured so that’s a plus.
6. Saw this cute art exhbit in Grapevine TX dedicated to Wicked. I saw the movie “only” once but go a little crazy with the soundtrack hahaha.

7. Getting back into the fitness journey flow. It tires me out sometimes but it beats the alternative option. I also am learning I don’t drink nearly as much water as I should be. My energy levels are higher, my skin is clearer, along with other benefits.
8. Friends and I did an escape room for a friend’s birthday and watched the Superbowl together. Kendrick Lamar deserves all the accolates he’s been receiving lately. Not Like Us and Humble are my jams.

Ok ok let’s talk about a net worth update.

3/2/20252/2/2025Difference% Change3/1/2024YoY Diff% Change
401K$ 320,732$ 324,256$ (3,524)-1.1%$ 247,070$ 73,66229.8%
Roth IRA$ 52,922$ 53,272$ (351)-0.7%$ 37,111$ 15,81142.6%
Brokerage Accts$ 2,321$ 2,016$ 30415.1%$ 2,189$ 1326.0%
Cash$ 14,303$ 11,975$ 2,32819.4%$ 3,589$ 10,714298.5%
HSA$ 3,537$ 3,562$ (25)-0.7%$ 3,067$ 47015.3%
Total$ 393,814$ 395,082$ (1,267)-0.3%$ 293,026$ 100,78834.4%
Credit Cards$ –$ 166$ (166)-100.0%$ 440$ (440)-100.0%
Auto Loan$ –$ –$ –#DIV/0!$ 15,314$ (15,314)-100.0%
Net Total$ 393,814$ 394,915$ (1,101)-0.3%$ 277,272$ 116,54242.0%

My net worth in the middle of the month got as high as $404k then with some of the recent economic updates it went down. Am I at the mercy of the markets? Yes and I’ve been recently trying to diversify slightly away from that while also leveraging Dollar-Cost-Averaging.

I’m not quite a dividend investor. However I am chugging along slowly with my 4-4.5% in a high yield savings account. So far my little balance has yielded my $80 since December. My FEPI investment (cost basis ~$1008 current value $942) paid $20 in dividends in Feb, $20.86 in Jan, $21.16 in late December. Mid December I got a $536 dividend payment from FZROX in my Roth IRA. For My 401k I Got a $3,079 dividend from FSKAX. I got a few other dividends, $7 here, $2.50 there. It all adds up

Am I bummed about my net worth being down from the start of February? Not really. $1k decline is really nothing in the grand scheme of things. I’m still up over $116k from where I was last year. I also expect to see extra income come through this month and will likely end up with 50% more cash than I have today. A year ago I had about 3 months rent set aside in cash. The average person would struggle to handle a $500 unexpected expense without using a credit card. Meanwhile I’m living the debt free lifestyle with a healthy amount of cash reserves. So even if the $2k/mo I’m setting aside on top of other expenses / investments makes me feel “forced poverty” sometimes, it’s for a good purpose.

Throughout the week I look at homes for sale, the prices are coming down. Currently there are 3 homes in the development I once lived in. They aren’t selling. The homes I think are nice average out to be about $385k most of them are 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom. That’s a $77k downpayment. I have 18% of that right now and my lease ends mid-August 2025. That’s basically 5 months away…
3 bedroom homes in the area:

So the next question… Do I need a 3 bedroom home for 2 people? Well, I do work from home and dedicated “office” space would be nice instead of working from my bedroom or living room. Plus if my partner moves in with me he should have his own space. Same for if my parents come to visit though that hasn’t happened in over 6 years…

2 bedroom homes:
These two bedroom homes are priced a bit lower but not *that* much cheaper. I will say the some of these look a bit more modern. About $30k cheaper in some cases the savings are more. Those savings of $40k-$70k add up. I can look in other areas too, a change of pace could do me a bit of good.

I looked at condos in the area as an option, but one had an $812/mo. GTFO here with that nonsense. Another option had that fee at $609/mo. With the insurance included I guess it’s not soooo bad but stil let’s say that’s $200 of it. “All Facilities, Association Management, Insurance, Maintenance Grounds, Sewer, Trash, Water”. You don’t have a garage to park your car in, or a driveway and still have taxes on top of that. Another property it didn’t include insurance on for $451/mo. Then no guarantee they won’t jack up the HOA dues again the next month. These units also don’t move quickly. One property has been on the market for 190 days and they also historically don’t appreciate at the same rate as stand-alone homes.

I’m still looking and hoping the prices keep coming down more. There are so many units on the market right now. I also hope that I don’t lose my job since that could push things back a longggg time. In any case I’ll keep saving and to have the ability to do that I’m thankful. Going to focus on the things I can control and try to adapt to the ones I cannot to the best of my ability. Off to enjoy the rest of my Sunday now. Cheers!

Feb 2025 Starting the Year Off Right? Sorta… – $395k

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January was a weird month for me. I started out at a friend’s gathering then I got sick and developed a nagging cough that wouldn’t completely go away. I took a really strong antibiotic which the nurse practitioner said to take it if I needed to. It just made me feel worse. I’m about 90% good now but the cough still comes and goes.

  1. After getting a scrape on one of my wheels I bought a new one… For almost $550 brand new at a discount from a company that supplies parts for Acuras. I unsuccessfully tried to get a guy to come out and repair them who ghosted me, then the place I got repair done from previously wants to charge $200 and keep them 2 days plus they’re about 32 miles away which is not very convenient. I have the old one on eBay right now but no bites. Slowly lowering the price down to see what happens.
Brand new wheel

2. We had snow, likely for the only time this year. Everything basically came to a grinding halt. I enjoyed pictures of it from afar online.
3. Bf and I went to this really wondeful light snow on the outskirts of Dallas called Astra Lumina. We both really enjoyed it and it was pretty empty. 100% worth it.

4. Getting back in the flow of playing sports. I wore these leggings out for the first time and it was an adjustment. My body is a little stiff from yesterday but at least myt face is good after getting hit right in the face with a dodgeball.

5. Checked out fun restaurants and bars including Boxcar and Copper and Vine. I’m giving myself more grace with drinking, light drinking 1-2 drinks a week is my limit. I’m all about the vibe. These places aren’t cheap but it’s good for us to go out and occasionally indulge after long week.

6. I made a few clothing purchases and cologne. Trying to do samples to figure out what I like and use those sparingly for when I go out. Altogether it was about $280 and one item I gave away to my bf since it didn’t fit, another I bought twice since I thought I threw it out by accident so now I have 3 packs of samples.
7. For Retirement – The Roth IRA is maxed out for 2024. This Friday I’ll make my first 2025 contribution. I hate making the contributions honestly but it’s for my future. I was “only” able to contribute 96% or $22,125.05 to my 401k last year out of a $23k limit. YTD I’m at $1,840 plus matching. Each month this year I project to see a NW increase of ~$2500/mo or $30k/yr from the estimated return rate of my investments.
8. Housing – I’m still saving for a home but at the rate housing prices and interest rates aren’t coming down this may take longer than expected. Almost $10k a month in to the near year is a good start though. One of my IG friends who is a realtor essentially said come be my neighbor, the place looked amazing but $500k though. Most people under 40 aren’t going to be able afford that. Maybe couples, situations with 3 people on the mortgage, families with generational wealth, or the top 10%, but still. That’s a $100k down payment and $3k a month not including utilities, maintenance, HOA, etc. $300k is about the sweet spot in terms of what a home looks like and what I think I’d be able to afford. I believe in math. Do I have a little FOMO when I see someone in Forney that has a whole house and probably has half my salary? Yes a little bit, however that would be 40 miles from my bf’s job or up to 2 hour drive after work on a weekday. That and no one I know lives out there. Fuck that haha.
9. For time preservation, algorithm, and mental health reasons. I’ve decided to try and be 80-90% apolitical online but it’s hard. Even with the exclusion of certain mutes words and , me not personally posting political content it’s E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E. That and the number of things to get outraged over seems to be rising exponentially. A cousin in Kentucky came across a flyer related to a divisive group’s meetings and was hoping it’s fake but it ‘s real. It’s always been there but now the people are coming out of the woodwork. The best revenge is living a good life so that’s what I’ll keep going. Also not going to any of those areas that want to take us back to the dark ages of segregation.
10. Stepdad’s home is finally sold, he’s been handling the finances of it since 1997 and the proceeds are significant. He worked 2 jobs for years to keep it all afloat and I’m glad he doesn’t have to worry about it anymore, though now he wants to build a home on a parcel of land he owns to avoid cap gains taxes. It sounds crazy to me, but then again I don’t want to deal with tenants especially in NY.

Ok here are the actual numbers…

February 2025 Net Worth Update
2/2/202512/27/2024Difference% Change1/31/2024
401K$ 324,256$ 315,581$ 8,6752.7%$ 232,746
Roth IRA$ 53,272$ 51,574$ 1,6983.3%$ 34,506
Brokerage Accts$ 2,016$ 1,644$ 37222.6%$ 2,031
Cash$ 11,975$ 11,896$ 790.7%$ 4,448
HSA$ 3,562$ 3,559$ 30.1%$ 2,725
Total$ 395,082$ 384,254$ 10,8282.8%$ 276,456
Credit Cards$ 166$ –$ 166#DIV/0!$ 87
Auto Loan$ –$ –$ –#DIV/0!$ 16,536
Net Total$ 394,915$ 384,254$ 10,6612.8%$ 259,833

I’m up about $11k over last month and $135k to last year. I get paid on Friday and trying to keep my spending in check. The credit card payments are scheduled to bring it down to 0 but haven’t posted yet. I might hit $400k net worth this month but it’s a little iffy since right now at least it looks like I may owe $1200 in taxes. Am I excited about this milestone? Eh a little bit. Most of my money I’m not touching until hopefully until I’m 59.5. It’s all relative though, I consider myself one of the fortunate ones… Especially with all the ruckus happening with the federal government and tech sectors. Not to mention all the wildfires in Los Angeles. My problems are important to me but also small by comparison.

I have a really bad case of cabin fever right now but it’s supposed to be warmer this week. Doing things with friends in your 40s on a whim is near impossible. I think they assume I’m busy when I’m not or when I do ask them they are busy. What can you do though… Basically plan stuff on my own and maybe I’ll run into people I know. A big chunk of my 20s / 30s was spent hoping people would like me, to a fault. Now I’m like yeah it would be nice but not losing sleep over it. I can do fun stuff too and being fancy if I choose to be isn’t breaking my finances.

Last but not least one of our family friends going back to the 1980s passed away recently at the age of 84. She was one of the nicest people I’ve met and never complained about anything. She came to NY from the south almost 50 years ago with nothing. She made many friends, became like family in many ways, worked at a nursing home and volunteered at a church. I haven’t seen her since I left NY but my mom would stay in touch. The years go by quickly, make the most of them. I watched an hour long service from the church on YouTube. It was very touching.

Stay strong even if your finances are down right now. Long term history suggests things will continue to go up so that’s that I’m going to focus on. Much love to you all.

2024 Debt Free Alpha – End of Year Post – $250k -> $384k

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12/27/2412/1/24Difference% Change12/21/23YoY Change% Change
401K$ 315,581$ 319,005$ (3,424)-1.1%$227,680$ 87,90138.61%
Roth IRA$ 51,574$ 51,308$ 2650.5%$33,551$ 18,02353.72%
Brokerage Accts$ 1,644$ 1,346$ 29722.1%$1,863$ (219)-11.77%
Cash$ 11,896$ 7,603$ 4,29356.5%$2,739$ 9,157334.33%
HSA$ 3,559$ 3,561$ (2)-0.1%$2,637$ 92234.98%
Total$ 384,254$ 382,824$ 1,4300.4%$268,470$ 115,78443.13%
Credit Cards$ –$ 166$ (166)-100.0%$336$ (336)-100.00%
Auto Loan$ –$ –$ –#DIV/0!$17,746$ (17,746)-100.00%
Net Total$ 384,254$ 382,658$ 1,5960.4%$250,389$ 133,86553.46%

2024 Progress

Typing this one up a few early as I will be driving home from San Antonio New Years Eve. It has been quite a year, one which for me will go in the history books as my best year ever. Never before in my life has my net worth been this high before. To cross the $300k threshold and be a stone’s throw away from $400k. I am up $134k from the start of the year and mostly flat to where I started off December due to fluctuations in the market. When I started this blog I was negative $47k in debt, I saw the Sallie Mae / Navient loans show up on my credit report history. Those were some really dark days and I’m glad I drove myself to write about my struggles with that experience. No one cares about my finances as much as I do and that continues to be the case.

  1. One of my bonuses came through last week and it all went right into my Wealthfront account. I moved money over from the Apple Savings account that paid a lower interest rate. With the sign up incentive I’m getting a sweet 4.5% APY until March then back to 4%. My primary financial institution money market pays only .2% and the checking is 0%. Would be .4% if I did a certain amount of debit transactions monthly but even on $2k that’s $80 for the year and risky if I run into any issues with fraud or need other protections. High yield is where it’s at. Here’s the link to Wealthfront if you want to sign-up and get an extra .5% for 3 months: https://www.wealthfront.com/c/affiliates/invited/AFFD-TFLJ-KLGR-FZTR
  2. Car debt sucks but I give myself a bit pat on the back for paying mine off within a year. $17k isn’t chump change. I tell myself you can’t get a new one again until it hits 100k miles. I’d make an exception if the alternative gets more than twice the fuel economy.
  3. Fancy gyms are a luxury – Will I go back to Equinox again? Only if I lived closer to one, $215/mo is still a shit ton of money to workout especially if you aren’t using all the amenties. Did I feel like a wealthy person going there? Sure. With personal trainers though you could easily double that cost per month. It was nice seeing Ferraris, high end Mercedes and Tesla SUVs in the parking lot.
  4. Dogs are expensive, mine toward the end was close to $250/mo between vet visits / medication, grooming, food. Would I get another one? Yes but in a bigger space and it needs to be one that bonds with me.
  5. Your home is your sanctuary. When I had the ant infestation that persisted for months I felt like a prisoner to a colony that did as it wished, invading my personal space, my kitchen, my laundry room area, the area around the front door. I bought some LED lights to give my place a little different vibe. Warm if I want, or any other range of colors in the RGB spectrum.
  6. I don’t need to have the best of the best when it comes to tech. For both my laptop – in both size, memory, and cpu cores…and Phone – in terms of storage capacity I downgraded. Happy with both purchases. New AirPods Maxes came out but just a different connector with no other changes, new color for the same Apple Watch Ultra 2. I’d be a fool to drop cash on either product when mine is near identical.
  7. Bf moving closer me to me has been a blessing. I was able to help him after a minor fender bended he experienced this month, we spend more time together in general, it’s been way easier to take him to work or run errands vs living in a bad part of Fort Worth.
  8. With bad health you are poor. My blood pressure is a good example of that. When I was taking the medication my stomach was always upset. Then when I was off it my numbers were sky high, not far from where people would be admitted to the ER. Switched to a new one and it’s been working better.
  9. Debt – I don’t villainize debt anymore the numbers just need to be in the right ratios relative to savings / investments and income. My unofficial rule is pay off all normal sized debt in a month, for anything that is more of a stretch pay it off in 3. I’ve also been incredibly blessed to have been steadily employed since 2013, something I don’t take for granted. I know 3 people who are looking for jobs right now. I’ve seen TikTok videos of people getting laid off right before Christmas. It’s rough out there.
  10. Travel – Quebec, Toronto, Houston, Little Rock – Getting outside of my little 700 sq ft bubble has been extremely invigorating to my soul and I hope to do more travel.
  11. Experiences – I can be a cheapskate but I very much appreciate a unique experiences. We went to a fancy restaurant in downtown dallas a few weeks before Christmas and plan to go another one on this coming trip. Holiday light shows, friends christmas parties. It can add up but after working hard for the entire year a little here and there on my salary, it isn’t going to break me.
  12. Cash – Not physical cash but having money liquid. I’ll still max out my retirement accounts, but diversifying outside of that is a big part of my strategy into the new year. Will I have enough for a downpayment? Hopefully, but having all my money tied up to where I can’t access it until I’m 59 1/2 or longer just doesn’t sit well with me. This way I have runway if unforeseen circumstances occur or a buffer for my upgrade to a 2br or 3br place. I say place because home ownership #s just don’t jive with me yet. 20-25% lower we can talk but right now no deal.

In my 2025 Financial Goals post – My goal is to be up to $455k next year and I’m sticking to that. 18% or $70k higher than where I’m at now. If we hit an 8% Rate of Return that means “only” $38k more I have to earn / save to get there. Hope you’re all thriving out there. Here’s to 2025!

To the Two Comma Club – Dec 2024 – $383k

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Assuming I stop investing completely and market returns stay at current rates I’ll double my portfolio from the current $373k as of a few days ago to $735k in 8.5 years or 2032. Then double it again and hit ~$1.5M in 2040. I will be 57 years old then and presumably retired or very close to it.

In practice I’m putting about $1,986 of my own money aside monthly in 401k plus let’s say $745/mo of matching. Not including Roth, crypto, or brokerage account. So that’s $2,731. At that rate I will double my portfolio to $756k in 5 years. If I could hold that pace for 5 more years I hit $1.3M 5 years from now or 2035 at 52. That’s independent of money I’m putting into a Roth IRA, high yield savings account, bonuses / the rest of my income, or may go to a potential home.

Not stressing about any of this really. If it happens great, if not I will keep focusing on things and people who matter in my life. 2024 has been a year of uncertainty,. A friend got laid off a few weeks ago, a former coworker was looking for employment for close to a year and took a demotion, another who left voluntarily got laid off elsewhere not only once but twice.

I spend a ton of money this month but mostly for good things.
1. Tire – Got a new set of tires – $1,392.13 – TLDR on this is I drove to Arkansas and my tire started to make a bit of a noise. I had the car aligned several times, along with tires balanced before so this was odd. The Discount Tire rep said 3 of the tires balanced but the one I had issues with wouldn’t balance. He then showed me irregular wear on the tire and what looked like a liter of liquid sloshing around. The car is AWD so it’s recommended to replace all 4 tires at once. So the car I bought October 2023 at Grubbs Acura of Grapevine, TX had tire sealant the time I purchased it. I e-mailed a few people there and got a pretty generic response. I was fuming because it could have resulted in the tire sidewall exploding and I drove 10k miles with the tire in that state. I was able to pay if off that week with money I had saved up. I was pissed though. The car rides much quieter and I get road hazard coverage / free rotations for multiple years.
2. Europe flight and seat upgrades – American Airlines $1,737.23 – I knew the expense was coming. Did I want to make the payment this early? Not really but I’m going to have a blast
3. Dodgeball team membership – $90.50 – Since the kickball season stopped and we’re not doing cornhole I wanted some type of social outlet with people I knew. Missed the early brid pricing by a few days oops.
4. MacBook Pro $2,899 plus tax – Got $2,252 for the old one. Wasn’t going to replace but the big bulky 16″ barely fit on my desk. and discouraged my from going out anywhere with it. The specs are a slight downgrade in terms of amount of memory and GPU cores but the system is faster than my own one so real world it just uses more of its RAM and a tiny bit of swap space.
5. Wicked tickets… j/k on that one but great movie. The acting, special effects, and the music. This film had a huuuge $145M budget.

Inside of old tire wearing abnormally and new tire

The 2024 Edition laptop – M4 Max MacBook Pro

Sharing a couple pictures from my camera roll in November.. Lots of Christmas. experiences. 😀

On the health front I was sick for a few days but my blood pressure also was sky high 152/97. I was drinking lots of water, taking garlique and dandelion root, going for walks whenever possible. It was working for a while until it wasn’t. The other medication I was on just ruined my GI system. High blood pressure is the silent killer so I openly accepted going back on another medication with the hopes of getting back into normal range. Numbers are back to normal again. Since the election I’ve been down about 10 pounds so it’s helping. I also no longer am active on X / Twitter instead favoring Mastodon and Blusky. The X algo would constantly show me performative outrage, political content I never asked for, its owner’s comments non-stop, and videos that go viral for all the wrong reasons. The platform is polarizing, toxic, and quiet honestly a waste of time. Garbage in, garbage out.

My net worth is at an all-time high. I am having doubts about being able to afford a home by August 2025. A common rule of thumb is to not exceed 28% of your take home on housing expenses. That with my aggressive retirement investing would be about $1708 (good luck finding a mortgage payment that cheap) and then a Ramit Sethi video said add 50% to that to account for all kinds of additional expenses. So $2,562…

Up $24k in a month due to a recent surge in the market. Doubtful this momentum will continue but I’m pushing as much as I can. $400k by March? Def a possibility. It doesn’t feel real though. 12/2/23 I was at $233,478 so a +64% or +$149k gain in a year. I’m extremely thankful and vividly remember the -$45k I came from when starting this blog. Still working on stacking cash but it takes time.. Alright it’s after 3am I should be in bed now.

12/1/202411/1/2024Difference% Change
401k319,005297,76421,241+7.1%
Roth IRA51,30847,9773,332+6.9%
Brokerage Accts1,346882465+52.7%
Cash7,6038,686-1,083-12.5%
HSA3,5613,49071+2%
Total382,824358,79924,025+6.7%
Credit Cards166–166
Auto Loan–––
Net Total382,658358,79923,859+6.6%

Good News & Responsibility – Nov 2024 – $359k

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So it’s been a year since I said goodbye to my dog Sasha. It doesn’t carry the same level of sadness it once did but I am still reminded of her presence. Kind of thinking about getting a dog again, but not in the 700 sq. foot apartment.

I got a raise and bonus at work and feeling good about it. Is it life changing? Not exactly but it’s helping me keep up with inflation and I am extremely thankful to be receiving anything. Especially in today’s environment.

Last month I set a lofty goal to start saving $1k per paycheck toward my home fund. Have I been able to stick to that? Yes. I have $4k currently saved. FHA is 3.5% or $350k is $12k. I’m on track to have more than that by the time my 42nd birthday rolls around.

I’ve had a few celebrations and done some gifting but all of that was paid for any not much in the grand scheme of things. For his 31st birthday I got my bf mostly practical items and we went out to high tea at The Adolphus in Downtown Dallas. For a friend’s birthday we covered his dinner at Goldie’s, along with alcohol and drinks. Was it cheap? No sometimes you need to spend a little more for the experience and to return the kindness of others.

After much deliberation I’m keeping my 16″ MacBook Pro M3 Max. It’s got 48GB of RAM, 16 CPU cores, 40 GPU cores, 1TB of storage, beautiful screen. No need to drop $1300 on a new 14″ one that has very similar specs. Save / invest that money and when the next shiny thing comes out the current latest and greatest will be on sale. Heck there are people still rocking the M1 Max for professional needs and those came out 3 years ago. For next year’s Europe trip I can bring the iPad Pro with me and use it as “desktop” for a week and a half. Also I rarely push this system to the absolute limits and trying to get better at not leaving a ton of windows / tabs open in my browser. Also testing out the Brave browser instead which is much better than Safari with memory management. As I type this up, the CPU is about 90% idle.

Next week will be a trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas and probably Little Rock as well. Going to take a scenic drive and have never been to either city. Some nice restaurants, lots of sight seeing, hoping the weather cooperates.

Speaking of driving, I had an unexpected situation hitting some debris on a dark service road. Thought it was a brick or something to that effect. Oh this is a tiny item my car isn’t lowered or anything, surely it will clear it. I was mistaken and have a $301 bill to prove it.. The service cut me me a break, the original quote ws about $100 more. I tried to be extra nice and also got the other warranty work done so it was productive even though the lack of a loaner car for 4 days was a little bit annoying. The aluminum plate piece would scrape on the ground every time there was a little raised part of the road.

The kickball season has come to a close for me, it was fun to have plans on the weekend to do something outside of the apartment. It kind of gives me a little more life too, being around people in their 20s and 30s. Much more sense of adventure than I have sometimes. It’s eye opening how they were talking about $100k being a good salary to live off of in Dallas. I remember trying to hit that target for years and years. Then it happened. Now I don’t really realize I earn quite a lot compared to the average person.

FOMO is a real thing for me and I am not really where I expected to be at this age. Sometimes you work toward a goal and fall flat on your face. I am not letting that discourage me though. I will soon have the most cash I’ve ever had on hand since I had a windfall in 2022. I’m not used to not investing every single dollar and having a little bit left over. I do feel guilty about not maxing out my 401k. 35% of the money I don’t put in retirement is just going to the tax man. For a couple hundred in my pocket it’s not really worth it since I’m missing out on potential tax-deferred growth. So back to maxxing out I go.

11/1/202410/1/2024Difference% Change
401K297,764297,589+175+.1%
Roth IRA47,97747,091+886+1.9%
Brokerage Acct882549+333+60.7%
Cash8,6863,547+5,139+144.9%
HSA3,4903,465+25+.7%
Total358,799352,240+6,559+1.9%
Credit Cards0832-832-100%
Net Total358,799351,408+7,390+2.1%

Up $7,390 in a market that has recently taken some hits. There is a strong possibility of hitting a $400k net worth in the next year. Last year as proud as I was of my progress I was “only” at $217k so up 65% or $142k in a year. ::cough::

I don’t have anything to complain about right now. Saving toward a new place to live, my investment acct is up, I’m not letting money burn a hole in my pocket. I have a well paying job and a loving supportive partner. Losing a few pounds though I’m still up 40 pounds since covid and working from home. I didn’t gain it all at once so I can’t reasonably expect to lose it that quickly either. Steady consistent effort over time, that’s what it’s all about. That, not making dumb decisions, and a little bit of luck.

Still haven’t decided if I’m going to visit family in December since I basically have the week of christmas off. Weather is a big unknown but I do still have a Southwest credit that hasn’t been utilized. I’d also need to rent a car otherwise I’d be stuck at home with parents home most of the entire trip which also isn’t ideal.

I voted early last month, election day will soon be upon us. I wanted to find good reasons to support one side but kept coming up short. I’ll leave it at that. Also Harlan if you’re reading this I and probably others can’t leave any comments on your blog, I tried 3 times and it kept loading. 😛

I found my 1st grade school pictures from October 1989. That was 35 years ago and I remember most of that era at least from a 6 year old perspective. There is one person who I can’t remember the name of but everyone else is still around and doing well from what I can tell at least. Hope you guys and gals are doing well out there.

I also see Joe’s blog https://nomoreharvarddebt.com/ is public again even if it’s dormant. It’s still a good resource on how to think differently from society with personal finance even a decade later. Maybe the Gen Z crowd will discover some of the advice from your elders is good. 😉

Autumn Dreams – Oct 2024 – $351k

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I count my blessings everyday. I’m in fairly good health, have friends who care about me, a boyfriend who loves me and tries to save money, a paid off car in full with title meaning it can’t be repoed, the latest in tech gadgets that I love to tinker with, and am on the road to becoming a millionaire.

The title of this month’s post is Autumn Dreams. Each day I find myself thinking about life after moving out of this 700 sq ft apartment.
Why – I need a change of pace, working from home 40 hours a week and spending at least another 40 at home, this sized place doesn’t make me feel happy. It’s dated, and dark inside. I have no garage and the kitchen is small. Property values are also starting to come down. If I take the the next step and we live together, doing it in a 1br isn’t going to work. December also will mark a decade of living in this complex. The rent started around $785 I’ve also been here soon for an entire decade, it’s now $1,270 so 62% higher.

What are my options?
1. Buy a condo
2. Buy a house
3. Buy a townhouse
4. Lease a house
5. Lease a townhome
6. Rent a 2 br apartment

When – My lease is up August 2025. I should be able to save a few thousand at least between now and then. Will it be enough for a 20% down payment? Likely not. 10% on the other hand? That’s doable. Also giving myself a little bit of grace since $1,270 is still a decent amt to pay in rent while also trying to everything else. Really don’t want to ask my parents for money in the event my stepdad sells his house considering I earn more than both of them combined. I also think my salary is too high for any type of down payment assistance. With an FHA loan I could start with a 3.5% down payment but that could quickly result in being underwater.

What I’m doing now?
1. I trimmed my 401k contribution percentage down to 6% at least temporarily. At age 41 98% of my net worth shouldn’t be tied up in retirement accounts. I would much have this spread by closer to 50%. With my new contribution rates I’ll be putting in about $1,300/mo into retirement plus matching vs. $2,459 previously. Staying at that contribution level and 8% annual return rates I’ll have have $1M in 2034.
2. Currently aiming to add $1k per paycheck into a High Yield Savings account (4.25% APY). So far I only have $1k there but with roughly 24 checks left between now and the time my lease is up every bit counts. Also putting dollars into investments that have a little more but the opportunity for more reward too.
3. For taxable investments I’m doing a conservative $300/mo to have compounding continue working in my favor, though this is subject to change.

Current finances – At a macro level my investments have all gone up vs last month. Net worth up another $11k from last month. $351k total. A year ago I was at $225k or 56% higher. Oct 2022 I was at $178k or 97% higher. In January 2024 my net worth was $250k, so I’m up $100k since then due to a record breaking market rally (ignoring today, that sucked haha) and steady contributions. It’s true what they say once you get past the first $100k the next round gets easier.

10/1/20248/31/2024Difference% Change
401k297,589289,322+8,627+2.9%
Roth IRA47,09145,392+1,699+3.7%
Brokerage Acct54922+527+2,394%
Cash3,5472,032+1,515+74.5%
HSA3,4653,574-109-3.1%
Total352,240340,342+11,898+3.5
Credit Cards832349+483+138.3%
Auto Loan000N/A
Net Total351,408339,993+11,415+3.4%

Upcoming expenses:
1. Replacement of MacBook Pro. Currently I have the 16″ but likely switching over to the 14″. 16″ while extremely powerful is super bulky to me and most of the time I have it plugged into 2 external displays. I estimate it will be about another $1,500 to get a new M4 Max with the specs I want. I also could get one of the current generation models at a discount either new or certified refurbished. Or not purchase anything at all and wait for the redesign. Potentially faster Wi-Fi, faster graphics, more cpu power, more memory and storage
2. Europe trip. Need the money for it in November, final expenses yet to be determined. I think it will be around $1200 for the entire trip.
3. New York trip – This one is a maybe but likely would be December or January. Those generally run aroune $800 between flight, parking, car rental. There is the option of me working on the trip like I did earlier this year. Though that wouldn’t feel like much of a vacation.
4. Clothes – I need new ones, particular ones that fit me properly. Likely $200 will go to some refreshes over the next couple weeks.

Without going into details I’m expecting a bit of good news with regard to my ability to hit my financial goals. For that I am thankful especially in the current environment. CVS is laying off 3000 workers, GM 1600, 17% of workforce at Panera, 650 at Microsoft and that doesn’t even include previous months.

Easier said than done but I’m going to focus a bit more on cashflow right now. In the event things go south I’ll have a nice nest egg built up. If they don’t I’ll keep stacking up cash, dividends and diversify outside of retirement funds and the S&P500.

As far as life is concerned things are going well. Experienced some great restaurants, the arboretum, state fair of texas, movie and tv watching nights with friends. My bf and I celebrated our one year anniversary about a week ago. I remember there was a time I wondered if I’d ever find a relationship again especially in my 40s. My blood pressure is at a managable level without prescription medication. Here’s to living in the moment, planning for tomorrow, being responsible, and stuff.

The Change Starts With You – Aug 2024 – $317k

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In 5 days I turn 41. I stared this blog when I was 29. That’s a long ass time. Despite few people reading, keeping track of things helps with my own internal motivation.

  1. Most recently my employers was offering a 2 for 1 match on charitable donations. I chose to invest a tiny amount in the National Kidney Foundation, in honor of my late father.
  2. Almost a month ago me and my boyfriend went to beautiful Hochatown, Oklahoma which is adjacent to Broken Bow. It was a great balance of tourist town, quiet and serene. I definitely would consider doing another cabin weekend. Maybe in a few months. Also doing some initial planning around a Europe trip next year.
  3. Friends and I saw Missy Elliott in concert a few weeks ago in Fort Worth. Also performing were Busta Rhymes and Ciara. So much energy and strong performances. We planned the trip back in April and the price was really reasonable. $136.50 per person including parking.
  4. I’ve been getting more into biking but definitely taking another hiatus. My body let me ride without major issues once this month but the second time not so good. Considering selling the bike and taking up other hobbies.
  5. Equinox recently increase prices to $221 per month up $10 from what I was paying previously. There are plenty of amenities that I really was not taking advantage of including the unlimited classes, spin classes, the saltwater pool, sauna, showers and locker room area with the big kicker is if I wanted to use a personal trainer that would be $135 per session on the low endso for a “”normal for session per month training regiment I would be paying $540 plus the $221 or $761 per month. To me that amount seems egregious when roughly 70% of fitness results are diet related and not training related. So I instead chose to join a more no-frills type gym that works out too roughly $53 per month and has more convenient hours. I estimate my annual savings at roughly $2000 per year. That’s the equivalent of my annual vehicle fuel expenses, or one to two vacations per year.
  6. At a macro level I’m considering what the next steps would be in my career. One potential area would be to work on or at least consider a masters degree in marketing. Well I do have an MBA, I earned that all the way back in the late 2000s so much has changed in my industry since then, I also selfishly have some slight paranoia about being surpassed by someone younger with either more industry experience or stronger, credentials than myself. Western Governors University offers such a program for roughly $4800 for a six month term and on average or I should say roughly 61% of students complete the program within an 18 months that would make it more likely for me to be eligible for either a senior director or vice president of marketing role. According to salary.com, the average Senior Director of marketing in my state earns between $166,000 and $209,000 per year. At the vice president level, the range is between $214,000 and $288,000. One of the big questions is how much I want to push myself particularly since I’m starting to slow down a bit in my 40s. Would pay for itself, and then some what I think, in terms of the power of compounding. Think defensively especially in this economy. Anything to help me stand out in the event I need to look for a new role seems like it would be a smart decision.
  7. Without going into a ton of details, I do have a tiny windfall over the next year or so. I will gladly take this over the other alternative, which is $0. There are certain stipulations that I must adhere to you, but overall, I think it will help me get to my goals a tiny bit faster.
  8. I have been dealing with an ant infestation earlier in the month. Loyal readers may recall that I originally started encountering this problem all the way back in fall of 2023. The management of the complex has been empathetic toward me and did give me the option of canceling my contract with just a 30 day notice. I have the paperwork sitting on my dining room table but have not yet signed it. The most recent update is the pest control company came drilled some holes in the walls sprayed in some foam along with treating the exterior by sealing some additional cracks that the ants were walking through to enter the building. I don’t wanna make a hasty decision that will cause me to suffer financially. Moving to a two bedroom apartment given the options I’ve seen would be somewhat expensive and cause me to take significantly longer to set aside money for a home if I choose to go down that path.
  9. I’m really starting to think more about how much money goes out versus how much I earn and I would like to keep more money in my pocket instead of having it go to other people. That is one of the fundamental reasons why I’m opposed to buying a Tesla vehicle. Why should I make Elon Musk richer? I’m currently shelling out $1400 a month in car payments, that should go away in December 2024. Then add $170/mo in savings by going to the cheaper gym. That’s the equivalent of a $1500/mo I can set aside for other things like saving for a home. After eight months worth of that $12,560 set aside or at the bare minimum working harder for me. Assuming a home purchase price of 280,000 that’ll be about 4.5% and I should be able to set aside another $7,500 on top of that. Another option would be to rent a home and let those dollars just keep working harder for me.
  10. Also why am I paying $62/mo for a cell phone in perpetuity? There is the Apple One Premiere cloud backup subscription $37.95, then T-Mobile $70/mo. Altogether that too is around $170/mo. 🤔
  11. Despite things not being 100% perfect in my life, I’m super grateful for everything that I do have. I read stories about high salary, individuals getting laid off from popular companies and I really do feel for them. The latest is with Intel, which is laying off roughly 10,000 workers. I see the videos, read the blog posts and I know how rough it is out there. One guy on YouTube was trying to find a corporate job for eight years, and lives with his parents at 48. Totally boggles my mind. A relative of mine who doesn’t really talk to me anymore was going through some stuff too. I see panhandlers on the road daily.
  12. Got my 0w20 oil change, rear differential fluid replaced, and tires rotated all under my certified preowned package. I knew the oil change was covered but not the other 2. Saved about $115 off of that.

Here is an update of my financial numbers. The market took a nosedive on Friday otherwise I would’ve been up quite a bit. Then again you have to look at these things long term. Flat month over month isn’t end end of the world. I do have about $2500/mo going into investments though so technically I’m down. Who knows in a week or two I could be back up again. Paying over 15% on my car monthly is extreme but will keep the repo man away so I stick at it. It feels like I’m moving at a snail’s pace but… YTD I’ve paid my car loan down by over $10,000 or 58%. Most people probably wouldn’t do that.

8/3/20247/1/2024Difference% Change
401k271,447273,612-2,165-.8%
Roth IRA42,54442,536+80%
Brokerage Accts4,1203,079+441+14.3%
Cash2,4993,222+537+16.7%
HSA3,6173,799-182-4.8%
Total324,888326,248-1,360-.4%
Credit0000
Auto Loan7,4978,853-1,356-15.3%
Net Total317,390317,395-50%

August 2024 Net Worth Update

Sharing a few pictures from the month of July. Enjoy life.

Forecasting The Future – May 2024 – $292k

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My Life and Month in pictures.

  1. On a whim we decided to see this Barbie Experience activity at a nearby mall here. It wasn’t crowded when we went and I really enjoyed the level of detail that went into each exhibit.
  2. A CosMc’s (branch of the McDonald’s franchise) recently opened here. I really was impressed at the exterior design and concept. However the execution left me wanting more. So many ultra processed ingredients, high fructose corn syrup, snacks loaded in sugar. My drink tasted bitter and I didn’t finish it all. Can’t say I plan to go back anytime soon.
  3. Visited my family in New York after about a year and a half. My flight credit was due to expire and the timing was about right so I figured why the heck not. I ended up working 4 out of the 5 days there 10-6. I saw one of my friends who got married in 2022. He and his wife are doing great. I don’t know how they have so many pets, I could only handle one maybe 2 small dogs. Not 5, 2 cats, and birds. My parents are getting older, in the back of my mind I need to start making effort to see them more often. Especially since they haven’t been here in about 6 years. This 1 bedroom apartment is tight for any type of company. While there helped do a little bit of decluttering, helped set up a new 2021 M3 MacBook Air, and wiped the 2018 so that my stepdad could use it. The sales guy at Microcenter was a bit on the pushy side and I basically told him no to the warranties, and some anti-virus software that really isn’t needed. Passing down the Mac hw was much more useful than the paltry $160 being offered for it. They still had the 17″ MacBook Pro I used in grad school (2006-2008) now with a swollen battery! The screen wouldn’t turn on, the keyboard was barely functional and the bottom case was a bit bent. I literally try to keep all my computers and cars close to mint and shook my head about it. There was another computer from 2007 I also tried to wipe as much as I could without the system install DVD. I enjoyed the trip but not the constant exhaustion or sleeping in my old XL Twin bed.
  4. Last summer I had a small ant investation in my laundry room light fixture. The pest control company did multiple treatments and the went away for a while. However for the last 2 months they’ve been back. Tonight they came out with a vengence, nearly 100 of them right outside of my door feeling displaced by activity I took days earlier to eliminate them. I bought any baits at home depot right before closing only to read the fine print they aren’t god for Carpenter Ants. It’s got me really thinking about moving though, I’m overdue for an upgrade. Was trying to hold out until my car payments were gone but not so sure anymore. I work from home and my desk is just a few feet away from these annyoing insects. I got a response from maintenance this morning. They are going to treat the mount on Monday. Fingers crossed I don’t have two nights in a row of this stressful experience but I’m not so hopeful.
  5. Prior to the NY trip I called Expedia to try and settle the matter. Was on hold over 2hrs 15 minutes and no one picked up the phone. I had the sense to use the chat with an agent who took an entire hour to resovle my issues. I was tempted to give up but that was $500+ of my hard earned money.
  6. Yesterday I took my car in for an alignment check and tire rotation. The young guy working there really liked my red seats. I asked the service advisor about my rusting lug nuts and he brushed me off just like the other dealership I went to. May just buy some black ones and home they don’t mess them up.
  7. Solar Eclipse – DFW was on a direct trajectory to see it and there won’t be another one like this for approximately 20 years. A dear friend gave me a pair of the glasses as to avoid permanent eye damage. Definitely one of the experiences where pics don’t do it justice.
  8. Not sure how fast I’m going to go on this but I reached out to Fidelity and reclassified my old employer stock purchase plan as a regular brokerage account. Also so glad I only put $20 in because the company went bankrupt not too long after I left. I wonder how my old coworkers who said to invest 100% in it with the belief it’s going to go up is feeling now. I’m adding $50 every week to it in addition to the $25/wk with my M1 acct. So a whopping $75/wk or $300/mo + the $2172/mo in my 401k and $742/mo into the Roth to play catchup for 2024. $3,214 feels like it’s close to the max I’m comfortable with given my income levels. Ideally I think I’ll need a total of $1-$1.5M invested, $2M to feel comfortable.
  9. Cleaning – I’ve had this steamer since moving into my apartment and for the most part it just collected dust. Earlier this week I grabbed it, started sweeping and using it again. How much dust accumulates on a floor and next to my washer / dryer was really an eye opener and kind of nasty to be honest. I will make doing this part of my weekly routine. I also cleaned out a pretty big chunk of my closet.
  10. Bf moves – He’s moving a lot closer to me for work / quality of life reasons. He really works hard between two jobs and I definitely am proud of him. His apartment might actually be nicer than me despite the age / income gap lol. I haven’t seen the specific unit in person but soon.
  11. Sports – Playing kickball and cornhole still. The latter has been a total bust, I haven’t been playing as well as before. We did win today’s kickball game so I’ll take it.
  12. Life and Death – Someone years ago I knew through the dating app scene but didn’t really have that dating connection with… recently passed away at 33 years old. He was funny, sassy, and I knew lots of people. Looking at a few of his pictures he lost a ton of weight and was looking a bit unhealthy to me. Not sure if it was gastric bypass related but what I’ve read on social media indicated it was unexpected. We last chatted in 2021 and I feel for his family and twin brother especially. RIP Justin.
  13. Health – It has been a struggle. The new whey protein isolate shake I bought absolutely destroys my stomach. People say the sugar substitute sucralose is part of the problem. I don’t know that for sure but not worth these crazy side effects. So back to the vegetarian option. I got my bloodwork done from my doctor and I’m going further into prediabetic mode so it’s been time to make changes. I tried to get Wegovy / Ozempic but insurance won’t cover it until I hit the $2,450 annual deductible. I’m only about $900 into it and it resets in August so that’s a no.
  14. iPad Pro – Apparently mine is about 90% battery. Lately with the latest release version of iPad OS the system has been rapidly depleting that just playing Youtube. Apple is offering $400 to trade it in as of today and a 3rd party offered me slightly less. Not sure if I need the latest and greatest for what I essentially use for watching YouTube and doing some light web browsing. Most of that AI stuff can apply to my Mac and iPhone. I say that now at least without having seen the final product.

Specific to my personal finance I know I’m doing better than most people. I was watching this video ‘Something Terring is Happening to Boomers’ and the guy said 50% have no savings and avg savings is $100,000. I’m near 3x that with about 20 years to go until I’m anywhere near that age cohort. For te presenter in that video he talked about income being greater than assets. My bare minimum expenses to live is about $3k/month or $36k. To have that in passive high yield savings acct income I’d need to have $720k with a 5% return rate. Still a long way from that The car debt is still a bit of a thorn in the side but I’m paying $1400/mo to knock it down. I started off financing $21,500 so 46% of the way there at 5.99% in 6 months.

5/4/20243/31/2024Difference% Change
401K254,172257,260(3,088)-1.2%
Roth IRA39,98639,0209662.5%
Brokerage Accts2,4152,367482.0%
Cash3,8463,39245513.4%
HSA3,0562,69336413.5%
Total303,476304,731(1,255)-.4%
Credit Cards065(65)-100%
Auto Loan11,55513,587(2,032)-15%
Net Total291,921291,079842+.3%
May 2024 – $292k Net Worth

So a game I started playing – Star Trek Online has you as the captain of a ship and you get into battle just like the tv shows / movies. April felt like I kept getting hit with phasers and photon torpedoes in the stock market. I just tell myself it’s paper money and being flat net worth wise month over month isn’t that bad. I see the stories of people at Tesla and other companies who lost their jobs and am like okay you’ve got it better than most. Same with homeless people with signs asking for money or sleeping under a bridge. A year ago my net worth was $186k so +57% in a year. I’m going to Vegas in June and need to buy tickets soon and car insurance hits next month. So even though I feel like I have a little bit of extra cash right now, it goes fast.

Anyway I’ve got to squeeze out a gym workout before we see this Challenger movie and do a cuatro de mayo dinner beforehand. Peace =/\=. If you’re still reading this, how are you doing?

2023 Year in Review – January 2024 $250k

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Looking back, January 3, 2023 my net worth was $173k, was aiming to hit $200k. Here we are now at the end of 2023 and I’m reflecting on the year.
Accomplishments , Big Purchases and Life Changes:
-Got promoted in August and now earning the most of my entire life. Stress levels go up and down but overall I’m satisfied with where I’m at for now, 3 years from now might be different story. The top 10% in the state have an income of $239,765 according to an article on Yahoo Finance. Maybe one day I’ll get there, but even if I don’t I can have an amazing life without it.
-Weight – Literally the same weight I was a year ago. The fact that I didn’t gain any I suppose is an accomplishment, but I really was hoping to lose a significant amount.
-Switched phone plans – T-Mobile has been a really good experience overall, much improved over the distaster that was AT&T. Basically hey we’re going to charge you for 5G even though there isn’t a tower where you live and not tell you at all about it.
-TV – Bought a 65″ TV and had a friend help me mount it to the wall. Mini-LED, bright colors, deep blacks and really makes the room look a lot cleaner. Crazy good deal on it at $649.99. The TV I bought in 2017 is now what I keep in the bedroom and gets used on rare occassions.
-Gym – Switched from Anytime Fitness to Equinox. I was going to CVS and the first Anytime Fitness location I went to which was rundown, super tiny and never had any of the equipment updated wasn’t there anymore. I just saw a For Lease sign in the window. So far it’s been a great experience, it’s clean, new, never super congested and has some nice amenities. Still haven’t registered for any classes yet but I want to give it a go for something lighter intensity.
-Car – Bought a CPO one to replace the lemon-adjacent 2023 Acura Integra. The TLX wowed me between the extra power, SH-AWD handing, comfortable seats, 17 speaker ELS audio system. It did involve me financing an additional $16,700 and putting $2k down. I used money from a cancelled warranty to go right to the principal. The total amount I’ve financed has dropped from $21,500 down to $17,746 or -$3,754
-Dog – I told her once that I’ll keep fighting as long as she wanted to. I knew that day was coming and tried everything possible within reason to prolong her life as long as possible. Losing her on Oct 31 was one of the biggest life changing events of mine since moving into this apartment in 2014. I still know I made the right choice after having her on 3 medications, battling 3-4 health issues at once. I didn’t go into a deep depression or anything but went through several waves of grief. The apartment still feels eerily quiet without her. Between the noise she would make eating or drinking from her bowl, the baby growling at me when she wanted a treat, the snoring, the very specific way she would sniff out treats like a pig. Still not sure if I’m going to get another dog anytime soon.
-401k – For all practical purposes I maxed out my contributions for 2023. Came in about $200 short due to a calculation error on my part. I didn’t listen to all the people saying the economy was going to implode. I mean it still could in the future but dollar cost averaging has worked in my favor
-Roth IRA – Contributed to it but still working on closing the contribution gap. Have $2,587 to go by April 15. $3,913 of contributions so far for the year is nothing to scoff at though
-Concerts – Saw Janet Jackson live in June which was significant since I’ve been listening to her music for over 30 years. Buying tickets on presale is a game changer given these incredibly high prices.
-Movies – Since getting my AMC Stub’s membership I’ve seen 20x more movies in the theater than I used to. In order from most to least recent – The Color Purple, Saltburn, Wonka, Wish, Hunger Games; The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, Next Goal Wins, Priscilla, The Marvels, The Exorcist: Believer, Strange Way of Life, The Creator, Dumb Money, A Haunting in Venice, Bottoms, The Equalizer 3, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Strays, Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story, Barbie, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Joy Ride, Indiana Jones And The Dial of Destiny, Elemental, The Flash, The Blackening, The Little Mermaid, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Air, Chevalier, Renfield, The Super Mario Bros Movie, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Creed III, Cocaine Bear

Other Items / Reflections:
-I didn’t do any traveling this year. I was supposed to go to Chicago in August for my 40th and got sick with a double ear infection.
-Last week I got Covid-19, for the 3rd time. I thought about doing a last minute trip, but my mom would still be working so that kind of defeats the point. A New York Spring 2024 trip is in the cards. Also want to plan some type of trip with my boyfriend since he loves travelling and is good company
-I started a new Instagram account to track my fitness. That will essentially be my accountability partner along with the YouTube content. Short updates only, I can ramble on and get off topic with the best of them so nothing more than 5 minutes a video is ideal.
-Dining Set – Guy came on time and was kind enough to drag each of the three boxes to my living room instead of just leaving it “on the street” or outside door. Tipped him $10 as a thank you. Assembled 4 chairs yesterday after a bunch of mini mental breakdowns. Got dizzy between outgassing of the equipment and only having cold brew coffee to drink while intermittent fasting. A neighbor saw me struggling with carrying the old dining room table to the curb and offered to help. Not even 2 hours later the table and all of the 5 chairs were gone. I view that as a donation to charity.
-Credit Cards – Effectively down back to 0 again. The M3 Max MacBook Pro paid off, car insurance for 6 months, 1 years of renters insurance, all the clothes I bought for Black Friday / Cyber Monday
-Met an amazing guy I first matched with on July 10th through Tinder and met in person with on Sept 24th. Lucked out since he easily could’ve unmatched me or met someone else after I went silent since I thought someone else wanted to be exclusive and dumped me 2 weeks after my birthday. No one is perfect but I feel like we have a lot in common and he actually shows an interest in dating me.
-Turning 40 was a huge milestone for me. I’ve taken a long hard look at where I’ve been and where I plan to go on this journey called life. I see people who are successful financially but they look old and some of them are in really poor physical shape. Others don’t let go of the party scene and they’re still getting crazy and drunk every weekend. My body no longer lets me do that so I’m mostly a non or semi-social drinker.
-Time is a precious resource – Whether it be regarding chasing after people who show no effort, or simply how I use the hours in a given day. I think back to the year 2000 sometimes and about all that was happening in that era and how far things have progressed since. The reality is the difference between 1976 and 2000 is the same as 2000 and 2024. People get old, have kids, move, die, move up, lose everything, become politically extreme or one-sided about everything. Or they just want to find peace and experiment with something different.
-Cars are expensive. Even a moderately higher end car like my 2023 Acura TLX for $46k + tax. I put $2k down and still increased my loan balance to $21,500. The BMW I wanted was impossible to find and too expensive, maybe in a few years. Lifestyle creep is a real. Be reasonable but get something you like is how I like to approach larger scale purchases. The author Ramit Sethi whom I’ve looked up to for some time drives a 20 year old Honda Accord but will spend thousands on a jacket he will keep for years and years. We all prioritize spending in different areas.
-Doing the math saves you a lot of trouble down the road. It helps negotiating salaries, large scale purchases like a vehicle or a home, or how to plan to hit a debt payoff goal by a certain date. Even on my salary with interest rates the way they are I can’t afford the $325k home I was looking at. With a minimum amount down still looking at over $3100/mo in expenses. To get to the well-respected 20% down I’d have to start saving now for 3-4 years down the line. I did a little quick math. It would take $81k to be able to do a 20% down payment and cover the buyer’s closing costs. Even if I don’t buy a house I should start setting aside some fuck you money just in case things go south.
So $81,000 in…
4 years is $1,687 / month or $844 biweekly
3 years is $2,250 / month or $1,125 biweekly
2 years is $3,375 / month or $1688 biweekly
1 year is $6,750 / month or $3,375 biweekly

12/31/2312/2/23Difference% Change1/2/23
401K$227,680$215,535$12,1455.6%$155,964
Roth IRA$33,551$31,319$2,2327.1%$23,403
M1 Account$1,863$1,712$1518.8%$446
Cash$2,739$2,522$2178.6%$7,002
HSA$2,637$2,494$1435.7%$3,100
Total$268,470$253,582$14,8885.9%$189,915
Credit Cards$336$1,407-$1,071-76.1%$0
Auto Loans$17,746$18,697-$952-5.1%$16,909
Net$250,389$233,478$16,911+7.2%$173,006
January 2024 Net Worth Update

My overall net worth is up about 45% YoY or $77k. Month-over-Month it’s +7% or $17k. I feel really good about both of these. Life isn’t all about money and I think often about my health, and future. Focus on what you can control, everything else is up to chance in a lot of ways. $250k net worth, the little piece of paper in my home office had $150k written down for 2023. Started this blog in April 2012 at -$42k or -$63k in current dollars.

Some pictures from December 2023. North Park Mall, new dining room set from Nebraska Furniture Mart, standing at Granite Park in Plano outside of Surburban Yacht Club, and on the way back from the Equinox after doing a crazy hour long set on the elliptical.

Wish you all a Happy, Fun-Filled, and Healthy 2024. My #1 piece of advice to both you and myself is to spend more time living life, focused on you and your loved ones, life goals, and less on social media worrying about what other people are doing.