June 2019 Plan Update

It’s officially still July, so I’m still winning on this whole blogging thing, right?! Right. That’s what I thought. June was a fantastic month filled with more ferries! We flew to Juneau and took a ferry to Haines, saw the oldest lighthouse in Alaska, saw some more whales and otters and sea lions, took a ferry to another little island village and enjoyed slow, village life for a few days (we even attended a graduation party of some random stranger – the town is THAT small). Then we flew down to see family in Oregon and Washington. Summer is for travel. And we’ve been doing plenty of it.

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.)

Mortgage is still at $ZERO!

Okay, so with all the travel, etc. I actually forgot to check my investments at the end of June! By the time I got around to checking, it was July 12th and we had $267,000. Not bad. I really, really like forgetting about money, living my life, traveling, and still see this go up! It’s my favorite.

2019 Financial Goals (REWORKED):

• Max Out My 2018 Roth IRA ($5,500/$5,500) – Thanks to the totaling of the car, WE DID IT!
• Max Out My 2019 Roth IRA (0/$6,000) – Not yet.
• Max Out Mr.T’s 2019 Roth IRA (0/$6,000) – Not yet.
• Replenish Emergency Fund ($1,200/$1,200) – Because our emergency fund is in a Capitol360 account so we can use it for free ATMs while traveling (but the account only earns 1%), we lowered our emergency account goal from $5000 to $1200. Then we changed this goal:
• Extra Investments ($300/$45,000) – Nothing new here. Barring any $20k sales months toward the end of the year (not looking likely at all), we’re not going to even get close. Oh well. This is why we make goals, right? Or should we be sticking to “the unaimed arrow never misses” mentality? 😉

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 (prepare to be judg-y this month!):

• $55.39– Our annual Trader Joe’s imports.
• $102 – Alaskan Christmas presents for all the nieces and nephews purchased in Juneau.
• $10 – The Haines Hammer museum. I’ve never seen so many hammers in my entire life!
• $20 – The Sheldon Museum in Haines. Cute little museum and very well done.
• $43.50– Breakfast aboard the LeConte Alaska ferry. Impressive food.
• $89.10 – Wheat and oats for oatmeal and grinding our whole wheat flour.
• $10 – Day pass to hike around Mendenhall Glacier area before the glacier totally melts. (Watch the crazy time-lapse of it melting.)

Financial Phrases:

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

• “All I need is a million dollars to retire. Only $990,000 to go!”
• “They didn’t care whether we succeeded or failed. It was a franchise model so they made money whether or not we did.”
• “I tried to go to school, but then decided: ‘I’m already doing what I want to be doing!'” – the guy running the Hammer Museum in Haines.