Another car and layoffs

What happened this last month?

We’ve went through several 12 month periods where our expenses have been increasing. First, it was to put siding on the house, then a new roof. That was followed by a horse, truck, trailer, and another car. Fortunately, we can’t foresee there being any additional major expenses (items over $5000) coming again anytime soon. This is important because we need our expenses to start to align with the reality of what our expenses will really be in the future when we’re no longer working.

We weren’t originally planning on purchasing a vehicle this month, but we found an electric vehicle that we really liked at a great price and extremely low mileage. We ended up stretching ourselves more than we should have to purchase it with cash. This means we had to take anything that came in this month to cover it. This will set back our savings rate for a month or two to replenish our savings accounts.

As if to confirm buying a vehicle when we weren’t quite ready wasn’t a good idea, the company I work for did layoffs within a week of getting the vehicle. Fortunately, I didn’t lose my job, but it certainly reminded me that it could happen at anytime and has further caused me to want to ramp up efforts to save more and keep a large buffer in place. Through all this confusion at work, it’s caused me to consider how I can move to the “financial independent” aspect of FIRE more quickly. In the previous two layoffs, our team was relatively unaffected, but this time we lost 3 team members and the team was split up and I was put on projects that I don’t have a ton of passion for.

Anyhow, enough about that. We also prepared our oldest for a move to college, and our youngest got her license. She ended up purchasing our Prius, which is why we were looking for a replacement vehicle.

Where did we spend the most?

Our monthly expenses were up a lot from last last month. Annually, they’re also up a little from last June, and working their way down annually.

• $31865 Car
• $1381 Property taxes
• $1196 Horse expenses
• $785 Dorm room and college fees
• $619 Medical expenses

The Money Related Numbers

Completed! – 115.91% to target number (previously 113.17%)

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

36 months until original FI date (previously 37)

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

Completed! – 0 months until calculated FI date (previously 0)

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

13.02 times annual spending (previously 13.17)

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.

52.07% to minimum FIRE (previously 52.66%)

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

11.23 times annual spending at goal number (previously 11.63)

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

-31.72% Month to Month Change In How Much Saved (previously -66.17%)

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

-29.32% Month to Month Change in How Much Saved With Employer Contributions (previously -64.49%)

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

-10.75% Month to Month Change in 12 Month Savings Average (previously 0.54%)

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

-9.99% of 12 Month Average Net Income Invested With Employer Contributions (previously 0.43%)

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.