Hello everyone! January was a good month, wasn’t it? The stock market did pretty well. Inflation seems to be taming. The labor market remains strong. Things are improving. Our net worth increased along with the stock market and is recovering very well. If all goes well, we could be back to our all-time high this year. What can I say? I am optimistic
This week I return to the United States after 10 weeks in Chiang Mai. It was quite nice because the weather was perfect. But now, it’s getting hotter and the air quality is horrible. The burning season begins in February and continues through April. The air is full of fine particles (PM 2.5). It’s a good time to get out of the city. Also, my mom is stable, so I feel better for spending so much time here. When I arrived, she was in very bad shape. You can read more about my long drive home here: Traveling isn’t as much fun when you’re older.
Alright, I’ll share how I’m doing with my 2023 New Year’s goals. Then I’ll go over our monthly cash flow and net worth. Come on.
Goals 2023
Here is my 2023 goal spreadsheet. It works great. Give it a try if you can’t keep up with your New Years goals. The key is to review the spreadsheet at least once a month to keep track of your progress. That way, you can see which goals need extra attention and work on them.
Last year, I didn’t manage to reach half of my goals. It was a tough year. However, I am optimistic this year. Come on!
financial goals
- Invest in Real Estate Crowdfunding. I plan to invest in at least one RE crowdfunding project this year. One of the older projects had a capital call and I sent them $3,000. That’s a start. I’ll invest more when we accumulate some money. My projects at CrowdStreet have been going pretty well, so I plan to invest more in the coming years. It is a great way to generate passive income.
- IF ratio > 120%. This is my main goal for 2023. The IF system is passive income divided by expense. This shows us that we can maintain our lifestyle with our passive income. We are doing well so far at 164%. Of course, it will go down next month. We have a couple of big expenses coming up.
- Net worth returns to its all-time high. This depends entirely on our investment. I don’t have much control over that, but I want to track this. Things are looking good so far in 2023. Our net worth has already recovered 46%, almost half. Our lowest point was in October 2022.
health goals
- 7,500 steps per day. Wow, this goal will be hard to achieve. In January, I averaged 8,098 steps per day. However, I did a lot of walking in Chiang Mai. When I get back to Portland, I seriously doubt I’ll be able to take that many steps. I’ll try.
- 1 vegetarian or pescatarian meal per week. I want to cook a healthier meal at least once a week. While I’m traveling, I occasionally go out to eat at healthier places. That’s easy enough in Chiang Mai. I had 2 sushi meals and 4 vegetarian meals.
Personal goals
- Disneyland, zip line or hot air balloon ride. Work in progress
- Happiness > 8. January was pretty good. My mom is still in the hospital, but she is now stable. I am happy to spend the last 10 weeks with my parents. I give it a 7.5 because the circumstance could be better.
- Get rid of Awebber. WIP. This is one of my biggest business expenses and it doesn’t seem all that useful. I will try another alternative.
Net Worth (+5.8%)
Oh wow, January was a good month for the stock market. It seems that inflation is calming down and the labor market remains strong. We may not even have a recession this year. The Fed raised interest by just a quarter point. That’s good news! They may be done very soon. We’ll have to wait and see how it goes.
I’ve been tracking our net worth since 2006. It’s usually very encouraging to see the progress. The power of compounding is incredible. However, 2022 was demoralizing. I’m glad it’s over. So far, 2023 is looking much better than last year.
***Important*** My best advice is to stay the course. Don’t stop investing. You need to keep investing when the stock market is down. Eventually, the stock market will recover and do very well as long as you keep investing during the downturn.
Here’s a chart of our Personal Capital net worth. Sign up for a free account with Personal Capital to help you manage your net worth and investment accounts. I go online almost every day to check our accounts. It is a great site for DIY investors.
Passive income 2023: $4,526 to date
Here is a brief summary of our passive income. You can see the details in me passive income page.
Passive income is great so far.
*FI Ratio = passive income/expenses
Cash flow 2023
I removed Mrs. RB40’s income from this cash flow diagram. This will make it easier to see how we’ll do after she retires. January was a pretty good month. We don’t spend a lot of money. Most of the things on the trip were already paid for.
Here is the Sankey diagram of our cash flow. You can get a quick overview of the diagram and see the details below.
Income from FIRE: $4,264
Our FIRE income is fairly low, but passive income can be spotty. Last year our passive income was over $82,000! Hopefully we will reach at least $60,000 this year.
- real estate crowdfunding: $1,650. Our real estate crowdfunding income is doing quite well. You can read more on RE’s Crowdfunding Passive Income page.
- dividend income: $851. January was a good month for dividends.
- rental income: $840. This year I increased the rent a little. The additional income should be enough to cover some maintenance issues.
- Blogging income: $923. My blog income is declining. I need to find a new side gig soon.
Expense: $2,757
In 2023, I plan to spend around $50,000. It is the same budget as in 2022. However, we will not be traveling as much, so our annual spending should be less than last year. If inflation continues to fall, then we should reach this target.
Here are the details. Actually, I will only focus on a few categories to keep it simple.
- Accommodation: $1,209. This category includes mortgages, home insurance, HOA dues, property taxes, utilities, home improvements, repairs, and furnishings. We live in a duplex so our cost of housing is lower than many homes.
- Travel: $292. This is pretty low because I already paid for my tickets and room last year.
- Groceries: $350. We usually spend a lot more than this, but I’m not home so the grocery bill was lower than usual.
- Child: $529. This is for RB40Jr’s Wushu class.
- Taxes and Savings: $1,507
Summary January 2023
Very good, January was a very good month on all fronts. Things are looking up after a long pandemic. Hopefully the rest of the year will be just as good. FYI, I’ll probably skip the post on Thursday because I’ll be jet lagged.
Alright, that’s all for today. Did you have a good January? Are you optimistic for the rest of 2023?
Passive income is the key to early retirement. These days, I am investing in commercial properties with CrowdStreet. They have many projects in the United States. Go check them out!
Disclosure: We may receive a referral fee if you sign up for a service through links on this page.
Passive income is the key to early retirement. This year, Joe is investing in commercial real estate with CrowdStreet. They have a lot of projects in the US so check them out!
Joe also highly recommends Personal Capital for DIY investors. They have many useful tools that will help you achieve financial independence.
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