Optimizing for the future
What happened this last month?
In November, we went an a trip to several national parks for our 20 year anniversary. It was nice to get away now that the kids are old enough to be on their own for a while. I’m personally looking forward to more in the future. I know for this trip I didn’t feel like I had to the time to fully optimize for costs, but I feel like when I have more time in the future, we can probably optimize it a bit more.
We decided to plan a last minute trip to go out West and do some things this year while our daughter is home from college. It should be a fun trip and is relatively unplanned so almost anything is on the table.
I think I’ve mentioned before that we’re using US Mobile for our phone service. Our annual renewal was this last month for 3 of the lines. Each line was $210 for the entire year including tax. If you’re paying more than that, you should consider switching to save money.
Where did we spend the most?
Our monthly expenses were up about 50% compared to last last month. Annually, they’re up about the same from last November, and are still increasing.
- $2897 Christmas trip
- $1625 Anniversary trip
- $630 Three annual cell phone plans
- $421 Vet checkup
- $300 Truck body work
The Money Related Numbers
Completed! – 126.09% to target number (previously 125.42%)
This is our invested assets (401k, HSA, IRA, brokerage, etc.) divided by our target goal number.
32 months until original FI date (previously 33)
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
13.36 times annual spending (previously 13.55)
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.
53.44% to minimum FIRE (previously 54.19%)
The minimum number to achieve FIRE is 25 times our annual spending. This number shows how close we are to the absolute minimum.
10.60 times annual spending at goal number (previously 10.80)
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
70.36% Month to Month Change In How Much Saved (previously 2.76%)
This number shows the change in what we saved in our investment accounts this month compared to the prior month.
52.26% Month to Month Change in How Much Saved With Employer Contributions (previously 4.27%)
Same as the prior number, but with employer contributions counted.
-9.78% Month to Month Change in 12 Month Savings Average (previously -1.78%)
This number shows the change in our 12 month rolling average. This helps to smooth out months over time.
-9.49% of 12 Month Average Net Income Invested With Employer Contributions (previously -1.58%)
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.