Hello everyone! Oh wow, it’s almost summer and school will be out soon. May went by pretty quickly. Did you have a good month? It was a pretty normal month for us. RB40Jr went to school and attended his activities. Mrs. RB40 worked from home. I delivered lunches and got better. By avoiding bad orders, I drove less and made more money. However, he was emotionally wrecked. My mom passed away about a month ago and it took me a while to come to terms with it. Although now I’m better. We visited the Thai temple to pray for her and that helped me through the grieving process.
Financially, we had a great month. Our income streams were strong. We don’t spend too much either. It was a good cash flow positive month. Our net worth also increased quite a bit. The market did quite well due to the AI craze and resilient economy.
Alright, I’ll share how I’m doing with my 2023 New Year’s goals. Then I’ll go over our net worth and cash flow. 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 once a month to keep track of your progress. That way, you can see which goals need extra attention and work on them.
Things are looking good…
financial goals
- Invest in Real Estate Crowdfunding. I plan to invest in at least one RE crowdfunding project this year. In January, there was a capital call and I sent in $3,000. That’s a start. I will invest more as we accumulate more cash. My projects at CrowdStreet are doing quite 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. This year is not going well. Our FI index is at 83% after 5 months. We spent a lot of money earlier this year. However, the rest of the year should be relatively cheap. I’m pretty sure our passive income will catch up soon.
- net worth back to its highest point. This depends entirely on our investment. I don’t have much control over that, but let’s go back to ATH! Things are looking good so far in 2023. Our net worth has already recovered 79%. Our lowest point was in October 2022.
health goals
- 7,500 steps per day. Wow, this goal is hard to achieve. My steps per day dropped like a rock after I got back from Thailand. It was cold in Portland and I had a hard time leaving the house. My average is 6,062 steps per day. Unfortunately, I don’t think it gets much better than this.
- Cook 1 vegetarian/fish per week. I want to cook a healthier meal at least once a week. So far I have cooked 29 healthy meals. That is great progress.
Personal goals
- Disneyland, zip line or hot air balloon ride. We visited Disneyland in March. It was great. We enjoyed the trip very much. RB40Jr wasn’t impressed with the classic rides, but he loved the newer and more exciting rides. I’m glad I went. Made!
- Happiness > 8. May was a bit hard for me. My mother passed away in April and I was overwhelmed for the entire month. It’s hard when you see the end of the game. I’m getting better though. I give 7 points to May. Summer is almost here, so things are looking up.
- Get rid of Awebber. WIP. This is one of my biggest business expenses and it doesn’t seem all that useful. I will be moving to a cheaper alternative this year. It’s hard to get going on this front.
Net Worth (+10.1%)
The stock market did very well in May. AI stocks were on the rise and drove the index higher. I sold some NVDA and META to get a little money off the table. It was a great month to be an investor.
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. Our net worth fell along with the stock market. Hopefully, we can get back to our all-time high this year. The important thing is to keep investing even when the market goes down.
***Important*** My best advice is to stay the course. Don’t stop investing. You have 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 Empower net worth. (Personal Capital is now Empower.) Sign up for a free Empower account to help you manage your net worth and investment accounts. I go online to check our net worth and use their free tools. It is a great site for DIY investors.
May 2023 FIRE Cash Flow
This FIRE cash flow chart includes my online income, side jobs, and taxable passive income. Mrs. RB40’s income is not here because I verify that we will be okay after she retires. May was a good month. Cash flow was positive and we saved over $2,000.
May 2023 FIRE revenue: $6,019
Our FIRE income was excellent in May. Real estate crowdfunding came with a couple of nice payouts. The additional income from food delivery also came in handy.
- real estate crowdfunding: $1,850. Our real estate crowdfunding income is doing quite well. You can read more on RE’s Crowdfunding Passive Income page.
- dividend income: $1,216. Good dividends.
- rental income: $592. I pressure washed the decks in the duplex and stained them. I also bought some plants for gardening.
- Blogging income: $1,290. Blog revenue is slowing down.
- Occasional jobs: I made $1,050 for being a delivery driver. But I also spent more than usual on gas. I’ll keep driving for a while to see if I can improve my efficiency.
- Interest: $20
Expense: $3,795
In 2023, I plan to spend around $50,000. That is the same budget as last year. May was pretty good. We spent more than usual eating out and clothing, but the rest was fine.
Here are some details. Actually, I will only focus on a few categories to keep things simple.
- Accommodation: $1,297. This includes mortgage, utilities, furniture, repair and maintenance. Our housing expense is quite low because we live in a duplex. We share many expenses with our tenant.
- Clothes: $404. Mrs. RB40 said that she had stopped being stingy. She got some clothes and accessories. I think this is fine. She should spend some money on herself.
- Entertainment: $385. We ordered more than usual last month. Mrs. RB40 was stressed at work so we needed an outlet.
- Groceries: $641. My goal for grocery spending was $500 per month. That’s probably not realistic right now because of inflation. I will increase our grocery budget to $600/month.
- Child: $263. RB40Jr Activities – Wushu class.
- Father: $250. My siblings and I send $250 a month to our parents to help with expenses. They live in Thailand so their cost of living is much lower.
- Transport: $279. This was much higher than usual. Normally, I spend about $50 on gas. This category will cost around $300/month as long as you remain a delivery driver.
Saving: $2,226
Finally, we have a good month with savings. This should help us catch up on previous months of negative cash flow.
Completion May 2023
May was a good month for me. Life passed at a normal pace in the RB40 household. I was a little emotional, but I’m almost back to normal. It just takes time.
The stock market performed very well and we benefited. Investing is the best way to grow your passive income. I am optimistic for the rest of 2023. The economy could have a soft landing and avoid a recession after all.
Alright, I’m ready for summer. Let the heat come!
That’s all today. Did you have a good month? School is almost over and we are looking forward to a great summer. I hope life is good for you too.
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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