April showers, bring May flowers. Let’s hope so!

The Money Related Numbers

23.45% (previously 22.95%)

This is our invested assets/target number. Our invested assets span across a variety of investment vehicles such as 401k, HSA, IRA, Roth IRA, ESPP (Employee Stock Purchase Program) and standard taxable mutual funds.

112 months (previously 113)

The number of months until my 45th birthday and our finish date.

108.07 months (previously 109.21)

The number of expected months until we reach our target number based on our current expected monthly contributions, assuming a 10% annual return.

The Expense Related Number

8.65 times annual spending (previously 9.63)

This is how many multiples of our annual spending we have saved up towards our goal. For example, if this value was 9.1 and we spent $10,000 annually, we would have $91,000 saved up.

34.58% to minimum FIRE (previously 38.51%)

The minimum number to achieve FIRE is 25 times our annual spending. This number shows how close we are to the absolute minimum.

41.95 times annual spending at goal number (previously 36.87)

We have a goal amount that we’d like to reach. Given our current annual spending, this is how many times our annual spending we’ll have saved when we reach our goal number.

Where We Saved This Month

401k – $2805 total (employee and employer)

HSA – $645

Roth IRA – $1000

ESPP – $738

Taxable Investments – This will start after we’ve built up an extra cushion in our savings account, probably closer to the end of the year.

What’s Happened and What’s Happening

Tax season! That exclamation point doesn’t really express my feelings about having to pay as much as we did. You’ll notice that most of the expense related numbers have moved in a negative direction compared to the previous month. That’s due to a dramatic increase in spending this month from a spring break trip to Florida and paying our federal tax bill. For what it’s worth, our Florida trip cost less than the tax bill.

On the bright side, our money related numbers got better. There was an extra paycheck that helped cover some expenses and gave us an extra boost in what was invested this month. We should be very close to getting our savings account padded. We call this the emergency fund to the emergency fund. Once that’s done, we’ll be kicking up the taxable investments!