June 2023 FIRE Update

Lifestyle

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Hey everyone! I hope you’re enjoying summer to the fullest. This is the best time of the year in the Pacific Northwest. The weather is great and we’re doing all sorts of fun activities around town. Portland got a ton of bad press over the last few years, but things seem much better this year. There are fewer crazy people downtown. The stores finally removed all the boards from the windows. The city feels lively and it’s pleasant to walk around again. The city leaders are trying hard to get rid of our dumpster fire reputation. Visitors should be pleasantly surprised. There are still problem areas, but the main tourist spots are pretty clean. Our neighborhood is a lot calmer so I’ll take that as a win.

On the financial side, we had a great month. Our income was good and we didn’t spend too much. we had a nice positive cash flow month. Our net worth also increased a good amount due. It is almost back to our all-time high. I almost feel wealthy! It’s nice timing because summer is the perfect time to go out and splurge a bit.

Alright, I’ll share how I’m doing with my 2023 New Year goals. Then, I’ll go over our net worth and cash flow. Let’s go!

2023 Goals

Here is my 2023 goal spreadsheet. It works really well. Try it out if you can’t keep up with your New Year goals. The key is to go over the spreadsheet once a month to track your progress. That way, you can see which goals need extra attention and work on them.

Most line items are looking okay…

Financial Goals

Invest in Real Estate Crowdfunding. I plan to invest in at least one RE crowdfunding project this year. In January, there was a capital call and I sent in $3,000. That’s a start. I’ll invest more as we accumulate more cash. My projects on CrowdStreet are doing quite well so I plan to invest more over the next few years. It’s a great way to generate passive income.
FI Ratio > 120%. This is my main goal for 2023. The FI ratio is passive income divided by expense. This shows we can maintain our lifestyle with passive income. Things are a bit slow this year. Our FI ratio is 104% after 6 months. However, the rest of the year should be better. I’m pretty sure we’ll hit 120% by the end of the year.
Net worth back to all-time high. This one is entirely dependent on our investment. I don’t have much control over it, but let’s get back to ATH! Oh wow, the stock market did so well in the first half. Our net worth is almost back to its all-time high. We just need one more good month. Let’s go! Our previous high was in January 2022.

Health Goals

7,500 steps per day. Wow, this goal is tough to accomplish. My steps per day dropped like a rock after I came back from Thailand. It was cold in Portland and I had a tough time leaving the house. My average is 5,752 steps per day and dropping. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’ll improve much.
Cook 1 vegetarian/fish per week. I want to cook a healthier meal at least once per week. So far I have cooked 32 healthy meals. That’s steady progress.

Personal Goals

Disneyland, zipline, or hot air balloon ride. We visited Disneyland in March. It was great. We enjoyed the trip tremendously. RB40Jr wasn’t impressed with the classic rides, but he loved the newer more thrilling rides. I’m glad we went. Done!
Happiness > 8. June was a good month for me. Life was mostly uneventful. I was able to relax and found my center. I’m back to my baseline happiness level. I give June 8 points. It’s nice to be able to have more fun family time in the summer.

Get rid of Awebber. WIP. This is one of my biggest business expenses and it doesn’t seem that useful. I’ll move to a cheaper alternative this year. It’s hard to get going on this front. I’ll work on it this summer.

Net Worth (+13.9%)

The stock market did great in June. I sold some tech. stock and reinvested most of the gains in Treasury bonds. I wanted to lock in some gains for the year. It was a great month to be an investor.

I’ve been tracking our net worth since 2006. Usually, it is very motivating to see the progress. The power of compounding is unbelievable. However, 2022 was demoralizing. Our net worth dropped along with the stock market. 2023 looks great, though. We are almost back to our ATH. The important thing is to keep investing even when the market goes down.

***Important*** My best advice is to stay the course. Do not stop investing. You have to keep investing when the stock market is down. Eventually, the stock market will recover and you will do very well as long as you keep investing through the downturn.

Here is a chart of our net worth from Empower. (Personal Capital is now Empower.) Sign up for a free account at Empower to help manage your net worth and investment accounts. I log in to check our net worth and use their free tools frequently. It’s a great site for DIY investors.

June 2023 FIRE Cash Flow

This FIRE cash flow chart includes my online income, side gigs, and taxable passive income. Mrs. RB40’s income isn’t here because I verify that we will be fine after she retires. June was a good month. Cash flow was positive and we saved over $2,000.

June 2023 FIRE Income: $5,009

Our FIRE income was good in June. The dividend income was great. The extra income from food delivery was helpful too.

Real estate crowdfunding: $151. Our real estate crowdfunding income is doing quite well. You can read more on the RE Crowdfunding Passive Income page.
Dividend Income: $1,892. Good dividends.
Rental income: $764. All quiet at the rental properties. That’s the way I like it.
Blog income: $1,009. Blog income is slowing down.
Odd jobs: I made $1,171 from being a delivery driver. But I also spent more than usual on gas. It seems to be a stable side gig so far.
Interest: $22.

Spending: $2,612

In 2023, I plan to spend about $50,000. That’s the same budget as last year. We did pretty well in June. This is about how much we spend when we’re home.

Here are some details. I’ll only focus on a few categories to keep it simple.

Housing: $1,235. This includes mortgage, utilities, furniture, repair, and maintenance. Our housing expense is pretty low because we live in a duplex. We split many expenses with our tenant.
Clothing: $81. Mrs. RB40 purchased some stuff.
Entertainment: $182. We ate out about once per week last month. Also some small splurges like donuts and other snacks.
Groceries: $401. My target for grocery expenses is $600 per month.
Parent: $250. My brothers and I send $250/month to our parents to help with expenses. They live in Thailand so their cost of living is much lower.
Transportation: $196. I’m being more efficient with the delivery side gig so I didn’t use as much gas.

Saving: $2,397

June 2023 wrap up

June was a great month for us. We had a lot of family time because RB40Jr was out of school. It gave us a chance to do more fun activities together. Most days, we went to the park to play tennis, baseball, and frisbee. It’s great. Also, there are many free events and activities in the summer. We are enjoying summer tremendously.

Our finance was good too. The stock market had a big rally and we felt more relaxed about spending money. It’s a good feeling.

That’s it today. Did you have a good month? I hope you’re enjoying summer too.

Passive income is the key to early retirement. These days, I’m investing in commercial properties with CrowdStreet. They have many projects across the United States. Go check them out!

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Joe started Retire by 40 in 2010 to figure out how to retire early. After 16 years of investing and saving, he achieved financial independence and retired at 38.

Passive income is the key to early retirement. This year, Joe is investing in commercial real estate with CrowdStreet. They have many projects across the USA so check them out!

Joe also highly recommends Personal Capital for DIY investors. They have many useful tools that will help you reach financial independence.