I always enjoy seeing everyone’s financial independence “FI” progress updates. I am a nurse and now nurse practitioner on a journey towards financial independence, and I’m always inspired when others face similar challenges while reaching their financial goals.
COVID19 has wreaked havoc on our nation’s health and economy. Real estate prices and the stock market don’t seem to reflect the massive unemployment and pay cuts that are happening. My spouse also experienced a 10% pay cut until the end of 2020. It’s an interesting time to pursue financial independence.
Net Worth FI Progress
We ended our last FI progress update with a net worth of $258k. We are ending June 2020 with an approximate net worth of 270K. An increase of almost $12k in 1 month during the COVID19 pandemic isn’t too bad.
Investing Progress June 2020
Our total investments increased $7,813 in June 2020. $5761.92 of this was from our contributions into our tax-advantaged retirement accounts. This means our investments earned $2051.09 in June 2020. Compound interest is a powerful tool towards FI progress and motivating to see at work.
We are essentially dollar cost averaging with our automatic paycheck deductions in our retirement accounts. Our investment allocation remains at 12% bonds and 88% stocks. More specifically we invest in intermediate term treasury indexes for bonds and a mix of total US stock market and S&P 500 index funds for stock investments. Our portfolio performance was slightly better than the S&P 500 index due to dollar cost averaging and our bond allocation.
Cash Savings Progress June 2020
In June 2020, we had $4,187 in cash savings with $1000 earmarked for our IRAs. We are currently saving the rest for a house downpayment. We hope to buy a house in the next 1-2 years.
June 2020 Budget
Budgeting is a significant tool towards our FI progress. We do zero-based budgeting with YNAB, meaning we give every dollar a job. This doesn’t mean we spend all our money. It just means we allocate everything for specific tasks or goals. Our actual expenses and money outflow are listed rather than overall budget allocation. Our total expenses for June 2020 was $6555.48.
Monthly Bills for June 2020
$5157.80 was spent on either rent or fertility treatments with $57 for the water bill. Our electricity, gas, sewer, and internet bills will probably all show up in July’s expense report. I had multiple calls in May 2020 with our internet provider in order to finally get a better discounted price. We recently finished a year of promotional internet pricing with a large price increase. This resulted in a larger than average payment in May that covered June’s internet bill.
Everyday Expenses for June 2020
$860 was spent on everyday expenses. Groceries make up the bulk of our monthly everyday expenses with a goal of $350 per month. Our gas spending is down because of reduced travel with COVID, and our coffee spending has also significantly decreased with the on going pandemic. I needed new summer clothes and basically stole multiple shorts and t-shirts from Old Navy after all the sales and discounts.
Not included on the chart is our fun money. I bought several books and other items as did my spouse.
Yearly Expenses for June 2020
Our main yearly expense was the car taxes due for our Toyota Yaris, renewing my driver’s license, and renewing the PO box. We spend a total of $374 this month towards our yearly expenses.
Rainy Day Expenses for June 2020
We did not have any unanticipated expenses for June 2020. Rainy Day funds include our Emergency Fund and Car Repairs. I have also included Income Taxes although they should probably go under Yearly Expenses. July 2020 will unfortunately see a large tax bill for us which will put a small dent into our FI progress.
Giving for June 2020
We gave $163 during June 2020. This doesn’t reflect the amount we set aside each month for giving. We usually set aside a good chunk of money each month to give to our faith community, which we give semiannually. Monthly we’ve set up auto payments for our charity sponsorships.
FI Progress Analysis
We continue to remain on track for FI in approximately 9.5 years. The primary way we’re currently experiencing FI progress is through the monthly income from our jobs. As mentioned before, we had a 10% pay cut which hurts a bit.
June 2020 wasn’t a great month for the stock market which is a major instrument for our FI progress. That’s okay and to be expected. I also anticipate minimal FI progress gains in July 2020 due to a large tax bill that is due.
Our monthly spending of $6555.48 was slightly high, missing our target budget of $5000 per month spending. If fertility treatments are subtracted, we actually spent $3652.87 which is $1,347.13 under our $5000 per month goal. Spending for July 2020 is already anticipated to be significantly above the target goal due to a large tax bill.
Our budget is pretty well optimized with no excessive expenses. We are at the point where increasing our income is more impactful than cutting further expenses. We are still saving for a house which will likely increase our housing expenses but will hopefully result in captured equity. I also don’t anticipate fertility treatments extending for much longer.
It’s easy to get lost in the month to month ups and downs and miss the big picture. The big picture FI progress has us on track so far!
In all, it was a pretty boring month financially, but that’s because most everything is set on autopilot. I can still optimize our IRA savings by automatically having it withdrawn and invested every month. Otherwise we are gradually cruising on our journey towards financial independence. A June 2020 gain of $12k towards our FI progress is right on track.
Our next stop is FI progress July 2020!