April 2018 Plan Update

It’s MAY, glorious MAY, wonderful MAY!

School gets out in two weeks and we jetset shortly thereafter (woo hoo!). The kids recently finished their historic timeline on our hallway walls, so we’re officially ready (minus all the actual stuff we need to do to get ready!).

I should also tell you that I did a thing! Erik from The Mastermind Within was kind enough to have me on his podcast, so if you want to hear my voice and hear more of the details about what we’re up to (instead of hanging out here as often as we once did), have a listen.

Other than that, we’re just hammering away at shirts so we can try to keep sales going while we’re on our big trip. BIG GOALS, remember?

Also, June’s plan update will probably be delayed. You know, out of the country and all…

The Numbers:

Want to know how easy it is for us to write these every month? I literally just log into my Personal Capital and revel in all the numbers being in one place. Do you like checking numbers? Do you like graphics? Do you like playing with calculators like retirement calculators and how much your fees are costing you? Then, you should obviously use my affiliate link to Sign up here to help yours truly speed toward financial independence! (Also feel free to read my more in-depth review of Personal Capital.)

Our mortgage is now at $24,300. Paying no extra still. But chipping away. Q4 of t-shirt sales will determine whether we’re able to kill it before the end of the year as hoped!

Investments are now at $198,080. Almost back up to $200,000. I’m expected to hit it next month since I was in the UK when we hit $100,000. It’s only right that we hit the second $100,000 while back in the UK with the family!

2018 Financial Goals Update:

• KILL THE MORTGAGE – $24,200 to go! Once we get this trip out of the way, we’ll be able to start chipping at this again.
• 27-Day Europe Trip –  $467.22 – Earned: $12,495.88, Spent: $12,028.66 (with “earned” meaning the money we’ve made from selling shirts on Amazon and “spent” meaning all of the costs for the trip as well as any extra payments toward our mortgage) – Details on most of these numbers can be found in our Great Merch Challenge Q1 update – We’re in the black again, though I anticipate that to go back to negative next month as our spending will outpace our earnings next month most likely.
• Max out Mr. T’s 401k – Automatic – however, limits rose to $18,500/year which makes it messy if you get 24 paychecks a year. We’ll probably make a contribution toward the end of the year to top it off.
• Stretch Goal: Put $5500 into My Roth IRA – Not yet.
• Market-Based Goal: $250,000 in investments by the end of 2018 – Not yet.

Notable Expenses This Month: The Story Our Money Tells:

These are expenses that tell an interesting story. A peek into our lives through our pocketbook:

• $10 – To get a notary to fill out my I9 for my company changeover.
• $22 – A yearbook for my daughter’s school
• $601.20 – Flight for a big road trip in the fall to see Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore and everything in between (because one big vacation this year just isn’t enough!).
• $174.62 – Enough grains for oatmeal for the rest of the year.
• $19.19 – The charge to pay my taxes with a credit card – but it helped me earn 80,000 Ultimate Reward points, so it was worth it.
• $1,026 – Taxes. Blech.

Financial Phrases:

These are things said by actual people that were either talking to me or near me enough that I could hear them:

• “My company’s ____ (couldn’t hear) process is so complicated. I spent all last week just trying to get in to do the things they want me to do. I spent hours on the phone with I.T. – now multiply that by the entire company and think how much this inefficiency is costing!”
• I was told Discovery Channel will pay you $30,000 per episode for your idea for a reality TV show.