March 2016 Goals and Financial Update - Retire by 40 (2024)

Wow, Q1 2016 is already over. The year is flying by and it’s a good thing because the weather is finally better here in Portland. We had a whole week of beautiful sunny days and we’ve refilled our vitamin D reserve. I taught RB40 about how we get vitamin D from the sun and now he smugly tells everyone that he is getting the most vitamin D. He tans easily and is already nicely bronzed with just one week of running around in the sun. Anyway, we had a good month in March. Most of my goals are tracking very well this year. Let’s see how I’m doing with them and then check our cash flow for March.

2016 Goals

Non Financial Goals

Improve Fitness – (March result = 105%)

I got a Garmin Vivofit 2 for Christmas and I’m using it to track my activity level. I did pretty well in March and finally exceeded Garmin’s step goal for the first time. Yes! The weather has been improving and we have been going out and about more. I had 179,445 steps in March. That’s averages it out to 5,789 steps per day. That’s actually lower than my personal goal of 6,000 steps per month. Garmin’s step goal is dynamic and it adjusts up and down, depending on some algorithm. Anyway, I’m happy to exceed the goal for the first time. I’ll try to exceed 6,000 steps per month in April.

Control my triglyceride level (WIP)

I’m trying to eat better to control my hypertriglyceridemia. I’m cooking more fish and vegetables, but I don’t think it will make a big difference unless we change our diet completely. I will get a blood test in about 6 months and check the triglyceride level. I’d probably have to increase the dosage of my medication.

Try 6 new great restaurants (33%)

We went out twice in March. We tried 2 sushi restaurants and they were both okay. Wild Wasabe is in NW Portland. There was a Groupon so I decided to try it out. The sushi was pretty good and they have an all you can eat deal on Saturday. I’ll have to bring RB40Jr back when Mrs. RB40 is out of town. She’s not big on all you can eat. Kids under 8 eat free with an all you can eat deal so RB40Jr would be a great companion. The other place we tried was Yumi Sushi near our condo. It was good, but nothing special. The outdoor seating next to the river was really great though. It was a nice sunny day and everyone was out and about. These two restaurants didn’t make the “great” restaurant list. The search continues.

Take an extended trip to Thailand ($1,777)

I’m planning a 3 week trip to Thailand in November. I want my family to experience the Loy Kratong festival in Chiang Mai. It was a big deal when I was a kid and I had fun with the various activities around the holiday. Saving for this trip is made very easy by using Digit. Digit deducts a small amount from my account every few days and I don’t notice the “stealth” saving at all. Check out my Digit review if you don’t know about them. The current balance is at $1,776.50. This is a great way to save for a trip. You can sign up for Digit through this link if you’d like.

Attend a conference – (WIP)

I got a ticket to FinCon 2016 in San Diego! I still need to reserve the hotel room and book a flight.

Visit a national park – WIP

I booked a campsite near Crater Lake. I can’t wait for summer.

Start a non-finance website – (WIP)

I will start this after kindergarten begins in the fall.

Financial Goals

Invest $50,000 in our tax advantaged accounts (27%) $13,402

In March, we saved $5,997 in our tax advantaged accounts. That brings up our total to $13,402 so far in 2016. We are right on track for 2016.

Increase Dividends to $11,500 (24%)

We received $1,316 in dividends in February. That’s $2,815 so far in 2016. We’re on track with this one also.

Surpass $50,000 in RB40 Junior’s 529 account (not looking good)

The stock market is going to be volatile this year so I don’t know if we’ll meet this goal. We will continue to contribute $400 per month. The account is now worth $45,628.

Increase Net worth by 3x risk free rate (currently +3.8%)

The 10-year US government bond yields about 2%. So my target net worth increase for 2016 is 6%. Wow, the stock market did very well in March. I was hoping it would drop a bit so I can finish contributing to my i401k, but it kept going up. The S&P 500 increased 7% last month. That’s really amazing. Our net worth also increased and we’re now +3.8% for the year. That’s much better than a month ago when we were in the negative territory.

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Cash Flow

Take Home Income (target > $5,000)

Our take home income was great in March, at $7,733. Mrs. RB40 got 3 paychecks so that helped tremendously. Our online and dividend income were also pretty good.

Mrs. RB40’s Paychecks: $8,271. I love these rare 3 paycheck months.

Rental income: $196. We did some landscaping at the duplex so our income this month is a little lower than normal. The maple was trimmed and had some dead arborvitaes removed. We also picked up some big pots and plants.

Online income: $3,772. March was great on this front. We finally had a good month and this increased our monthly average to around $2,500. I will break down the online income and expenses in our monthly newsletter so if you’re curious,sign up with our email list.

Dividend: $1,316. The 3^rd month of the quarter is always great for us. Our dividend income is on track to exceed $11,500 this year. You can see my dividend portfolio if you’re curious.

Interest:$11. The interest rate is quite low so this will be miniscule for the foreseeable future.

P2P lending:$50. I signed up with NSR Invest and they are managing my P2P lending account at Prosper. My screening was too restrictive and I was not reinvesting fast enough. NSR has been great so far. I don’t have idle cash sitting around anymore and my ROI is slowly ticking up, 8.23%.

Misc income:$188. I cashed my I bonds. I wanted to have a little more cash in the bank in case we see a buying opportunity with the stock market.

Expense (target < $4,500)

Our expense was higher than usual in March. We had a few extra expenses this month and they pushed our spending ($4,531) over my target. We should be back to normal in April.

Housing: $2,256. Mortgage, HOA, and property tax.

Cash Allowance: $200.

Groceries: $556. Hmm… Our grocery bill is still pretty high in March. We’ll try to bring it down a little in April. We eat pretty well so I can’t complain.

Child/Dependent: $779. Our childcare cost was a little higher in March. School is out during spring break so I had to pay for childcare. We also purchased some toys from Amazon.

Healthcare/Medical: $120

Bills:$250. Electricity and insurance.

Entertainment: $109. Gym membership fee and Portland art museum.

Misc: $185. Shorts for RB40Jr, gummy vitamins, eye drops, seasonal allergy pills, Toastmasters membership, dry cleaning, birthday gift for Jr’s friend, and new batteries.

Transportation: $51.

Saving

Extra Saving ($5,847 so far in 2016)

Our extra saving was $3,202 in March. Mrs. RB40’s extra paycheck came in really handy. It’s nice to have theextra padding to help bring up our average.

Did you have a good March?