August has been the busiest month of the year so far for us. I had so many work events, I had 3 at the same casino an hour & a half away from me all within a week of each other. We went to a waterpark (hour & 1/2 away) for 2 nights with my family for my mom & I’s Birthdays (I turned 23). We drove two hours away to go see Green Day, Weezer, & Fall Out Boy in concert. Brandon went 2 hours north with friends to disc golf for an entire day. We paid off Brandon’s car. We celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary. Brandon bought a bike and I got my electrical issue in my car fixed finally. I also got a bike, but for free, it was my little sister’s that she never uses. It has been a whirl wind of a month. Almost every day had some sort of event or appointment.
Oh, and we sold Brandon’s car! We got $15,800 for it! This alone made us reach our next two financial goals! We actually paid it off on August 2nd, then sold it on August 28th.
*When I am writing this post, we haven’t gotten the check just yet & it won’t clear in our account until early September, so that money will be reflected on next month’s financial update!
Our Net Worth has been going up by $10,000/month for the last 4-5 months straight, this makes it easier to project where we’ll be at financially in the future. For example, that means we should hit $200,000 Net Worth by the end of April, 2022. Of course, there are things that can pop up & derail this, or unexpected money that could make us reach this goal faster, nobody knows.
We are getting to the point in our financial journey where things are really speeding up. We’re reaching our goals faster than we thought and are following through on a huge check list I made a year and a half ago about how to cut back on our expenses. Once you start getting serious about your finances, it all snowballs. It gets easier & easier, faster & faster. The beginning portion is an up hill struggle, but once you reach the summit (this point is different for everyone, but I think for us it was hitting $100,000 Net Worth) it all of a sudden becomes way easier & gravity starts helping you out. I think we are on the other side of the mountain now & the snowball is rolling itself down, but we’re still pushing it hard.
Our monthly expenses before we paid off the car & sold it, were $3,000/month. We no longer have to pay for a car payment ($340), more gas, car insurance, & car maintenance, such as car washes, oil changes, tires, wipers, etc. ($200/mo. average) We’ve also tried to reduce our expenses a bit in other areas. Our expenses are now only $2,400 a month! An extra $600 a month in the budget which we will now put towards the mortgage! That means half of our monthly expenses now is the mortgage, which is $1,200. -We have a 15 year loan that we refinanced to in 2020. That is why our mortgage payment is kind of high for the size of our house & loan.
*Random cat update: They are getting along great & we’ve decided to stick with the name Shadow! Our friends who had him before named him that because he just copies & follows whatever cat(s) he lives with & we’ve discovered for ourselves it’s true! So Shadow perfectly describes him and we’re keeping the name. 🙂
Here is a refresher on our plan:
- Pay off B’s Car (August 2021) –Check!
- Hit $18,000+ In Savings (I have to save more with my new role because I will be self employed & need to pay a lot more in taxes. I want to replenish it to 18k after I pay taxes.) (≈ Oct 2021) –Check! (Once the check clears Sept. 1st or 2nd)
- Max out Roth IRA contributions for 2021 (≈ Dec 2021) (Max out every year’s contributions until we “retire”) –Check! (Once the check clears Sept. 1st or 2nd.)
- Put all extra $$$$ on the mortgage (until paid off).
- Leave full time employment! (If we or one of us wants to)
All that is left is putting extra $$$$ on our mortgage every month until it is paid off & then do the maximum contributions for our Roth IRAs annually! -By my calculations, we should have our mortgage paid off by the end of 2024. I’m thinking we can do it sooner, but if we decide to go down to part time work instead or have one of us leave our job, then that may slow it down, which is fine. Our ultimate goal is to not have to work full time.
Our Current Numbers as of September 1st, 2021:
- $40,858.41 Invested (Our Roth IRAs)
- $12,303.16 In Savings
- -$125,707.27 In Debt (Mortgage only!)
- We are both still working full time.
Our Partial Financial Independence Goal Numbers:
- $100,000+ invested, for retirement.
- $25,000+ In Savings for Emergencies.
- An HSA we are Maxing out every year while working for Medical Expenses. (No specific Goal Number)
- $0 Personal Debt- No Mortgage Payment brings down our expenses a ton ($1,200/month).
- With husband & I working part time (or one of us not at all).
Total amount needed to reach partial F.I. Goals: $197,545.70
Total Financial Independence Goal Numbers:
- $900,000 Invested
- $36,000 In Savings
- $0 Debt
- Both of us have the choice to leave any & all employment
Total amount needed to reach total F.I.R.E. Goals: $1,008,545.70
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Ease Your Financial Payne 
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