A month of many expenses

What happened this last month?

On the income side of things, we had a pretty good month because of it being a company stock and bonus month. Because of that, we used this as a good month to pay for some things we had been waiting to buy. First, we paid to reserve a place for our summer vacation. Second, there were expenses related to a horse show weekend for one of our daughters. Third, we had several vehicle related expenses. Some of them were maintenance items or repairs, while others were optional things that we decided to purchase this month. Those make up the primary large expenses this last month.

Our annual expenses over the last 12 months have started to trend down. This was expected and it should continue over the rest of the year. This is important for us to achieve the expense related numbers necessary for our investments to last the long term. You’ll notice that are target number decreased this month, but is still above the goal that we had set. The markets have certainly not been in our favor over the last month, but this presents a good buying opportunity for the long term.

Where did we spend the most?

Our monthly expenses were up down compared to last month. Annually, they’re also up quite a bit from last February, but working their way down annually.

• $2245 Summer vacation
• $1029 Horse show weekend
• $517 Running boards
• $502 Fluid changes
• $453 New key & window repair
• $280 Show tickets
• $258 Truck bed cover
• $225 Eye doctor

The Money Related Numbers

Completed! – 104.86% to target number (previously 106.93%)

This is our invested assets (401k, HSA, IRA, brokerage, etc.) divided by our target goal number.

41 months until original FI date (previously 42)

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

Completed! – 0 months until calculated FI date

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

The Expense Related Numbers

12.05 times annual spending (previously 11.73)

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.

48.21% to minimum FIRE (previously 46.90%)

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

11.50 times annual spending at goal number (previously 10.97)

We’d like to save 25 times our annual spending. This is how many times our annual spending we’ll have saved when we reach our goal number. If it’s 25 or greater, than our goal number will be enough to cover our expenses. If it’s lower than 25, we’ll need to either cut our expenses or increase our goal number.

How Much We Invested

203.59% Month to Month Change In How Much Saved (previously -0.79%)

This number shows the change in what we saved in our investment accounts this month compared to the prior month.

186.12% Month to Month Change in How Much Saved With Employer Contributions (previously 4.03%)

Same as the prior number, but with employer contributions counted.

-5.37% Month to Month Change in 12 Month Savings Average (previously -1.64%)

This number shows the change in our 12 month rolling average. This helps to smooth out months over time.

-4.99% of 12 Month Average Net Income Invested With Employer Contributions (previously -1.48%)

Same as the prior number, but with employer contributions counted.

How we track the numbers

I’ve been using Empower (referral link) to track our numbers. I put them into a spreadsheet that calculates the numbers you see above.