I promise that this won’t turn into a COVID blog, but I just have a little more to say…
FIRE is more relevant than ever right now. The economy is shut down, but significant savings allow you to ride out the storm. Mindy and I don’t have to worry about losing our home or going hungry. Our biggest challenge is home-schooling a combative and resistant 10-year-old. Hardly anything to complain about.
Our net worth is way down and there will be further pain. Real estate is the majority of our portfolio and most of these holdings will return nothing for the rest of 2020 and perhaps longer:
But even this setback won’t change our plans. It will be painful, but my routine (COVID changes aside) will stay the same and I won’t have to go back to work.
I know some people who have been sick, but all mild cases. I don’t know anyone who has lost their job. We’re all doing OK. But, I also know that I live in a bubble.
Some of you are struggling; physically, emotionally, financially. All of the above?
If you’re in a good position, try to help out those who aren’t. I’ve bought groceries for a sick family and gift cards from local businesses. I’ve also made it a point to check in with at least a couple of people every day. Just a simple “How are you?” can go a long way. It feels good to be able to help.
So, how are you?
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we’re doing alright. this is my second week back at work after a couple of paid weeks off. i was happy to be back but don’t feel very “essential.” it just feels odd. we’re supposed to go the north carolina but i’m not sure we’ll be very welcome with your ny state typhoid license plates.
freddy smidlap recently posted…I am Running a Social Distance 5K for a Great Cause
Typhoid license plate! Ha!
I was supposed to go see my parents for their 50th wedding anniversary in a couple of weeks. I was also supposed to attend Camp Mustache. Both are off now. Sigh…
My family is doing fine. I can honestly say that the FIRE mentality has helped me greatly during this. I work in Real Estate, and after the last recession, I knew I had to focus on my savings. My son was born in 2009, and he was very sick for the first few years of his life. We are from California, and ended up having to move to Chicago for 5 months when he was two for a rare surgery, which went very well. That’s when I decided that I needed a massive cash cushion, if I ever needed to leave work again for my family. Over the past decade, we’ve been hyper-focused on saving. Our mortgage is very low, and we have enough cash to last us years. It is really nice to be able to focus on family and health, and not have to worry about money right now.
Crazy enough, we are pretty sure we all had Covid19 a few weeks ago, and now we’re just waiting to get antibody tests. What a weird time.
And I should point out that doing daily yoga has helped tremendously. I’ve always enjoyed yoga, but it’s been a game changer. My son and I just completed a 30 day program, and I feel great.
Wow, way to learn from that last recession. It sounds like you’ve set yourself up awesome.
While what’s currently going on sure sucks, it sucks a whole lot less when you don’t have to worry about finances.
Gotta love the headlines. From CNBC and other sources: “Almost one third of tenants did not pay April rent.” Turns out this information is from a survey of members from the National Multi-family Housing Council and it only covers the first five days of the month. Typically around 20 or 21 percent don’t pay in the first five days of the month. So the delta is more like 12 or 13 percent. Not too bad, considering. In addition, the 4th and 5th were Saturday and Sunday. I’ll bet if they included Monday the 6th, the delta would have been much smaller. All of my tenants paid on time, including the one that got the extra day of grace and paid on the 6th.
Next month will be more of a test.
Stupid media.
The latest report from NMHC is that 84 percent of tenants made a full or partial payment at the end of the second week of April vs 90 percent in April 2019. The delta is 6 percentage points. Not exactly the disaster painted in the media…
https://www.nmhc.org/news/press-release/2020/nmhc-rent-payment-tracker-finds-rent-payment-rate-at-93-percent-of-prior-month/
With the stimulus money hitting this week and next, I’m betting May will only be slightly worse. Meanwhile, we are filling a vacancy this week, A lot depends on the individual market and the class of the property. I would not want to be a highly leveraged landlord in a marginal market right now…
We’re doing well. I’m entering the 5th week of working from home. Like you guys, our main challenge has been dealing with the 6 & 4 yrs old at home 24/7.
The positive is that we’ve been doing a lot more baking. 🙂
Tawcan recently posted…How the COVID-19 pandemic changed our financial independence retire early (FIRE) plan
We are doing well. I work for the federales and have been involved in some COVID response for my job, so I am pretty essential I guess. Like other have said, the only downside has been the 24/7 with a 7 and 5 year old who go from being best friends to almost murdering each other multiples times a day.
I have been making sure to text people who I am worried about to make sure they are doing ok and they always seems to appreciate someone checking on them and chatting with them. I am pretty much ready for this to be over. I miss going to my gym (which only ever had like 4 people in it max anyways when I went) and getting back into lifting really heavy things again
“…the only downside has been the 24/7 with a 7 and 5-year old who go from being best friends to almost murdering each other multiples times a day.” Haha, the struggle is real! In my world, the balance is towards murder.
Man, I miss the gym too. I’m gonna get my basement to a point where I can start working out there again because I don’t see gyms opening any time soon.
I’m doing fine, all things considered. I feel very lucky. But I just found out that a buddy/coworker is being laid off at the end of the month. That’s got me feeling pretty down today. Terrible timing for him. I offered to put in a good word for him at other companies where I have a connection, but other than that, I’m not sure if I can do anything to help. If anyone can think of ways to help the unemployed, I’m all ears! I’ll keep counting my blessings.
Mr. Bo Dangles recently posted…Transitioning From Individual Stocks To Index Funds
Sorry to hear about your friend, but happy to hear that you’re still doing well.
If he is interested , there will soon be a whole bunch of jobs as Contact Tracers. Im not sure that the pay is similar to what your friend was making before, but seems to be stable work for the next year or so
would you consider a blog post to explain to absolute beginners what “syndication” investments are? I’m pretty good with a lot of this retirement/FI/investment stuff, but I have no schema at all for syndications.
Hi Kate! Yeah, I’ll write about them at some point, but in the meantime, it’s when a group of investors pool their money together for a deal. In most of mine, the deal is an apartment building. Over 5-10 years, the syndicator clears out the bad tenants, fixes up the units, raises rents, and sells. They usually pay quarterly and then the profits are shared at the end. Here is a detailed explanation: https://idealrei.com/blog/real-estate-syndication
I’ve soured on them a bit. If I had my money in the VTSAX, I would have done better.
I agree that FIRE is a bubble and most of our communities might not have pressing financial concerns. The health and economic devastation caused globally is painful to watch; since I still have family and friends in my poorer country.
What do you mean wrt real estate not returning anything for 2020? Is it the rent forbearance you are talking about or something else? I know your market is so different from my SF bubble.
Real estate: All of our syndication deals have already announced that they’re suspending payments until further notice. Out of the 7, 2 were already performing poorly and not paying at the end of 2019. The trailer park will struggle. I don’t expect Fundrise to pay anything the rest of this year. Maybe they won’t even survive. One of my private loans was already in trouble. It will be a tough year, but in better news, some of my stocks are doing really well. Tesla and Amazon are killing it.
I can`t help but notice that you have stopped publishing your monthly net worth numbers since the start of this bear market….any reason for this in particular?
I am enjoying your blog, keep up the entertaining writing!!
Yep, true. Two reasons:
1) It felt kinda weird (insensitive?) to write about money with everything else going on.
2) Those posts take the longest to write and it’s hard to find time now with kids around 24/7.
However, I have one brewing for Monday.
Glad to see you can still maintain your leisurely non-working life while making the Mrs go out and work. The Mister’s work had the same idea- and sent him home without pay. He’s watching a very cantankerous 3 year old and a 7 month old. IDK when the terrible twos are supposed to end, but the 3 (almost 4) year old has not gotten the memo. So the good news of being laid off is that he’s got time to watch the kids and do stuff around the house. The bad news is that he’s kinda sad about not working, and the kids are driving him crazy. Hope you are all doing well (also got to see the “guest bedroom” on the latest podcast with one of your dinosaurs).
I’m sorry to hear about your husband’s job. Let’s hope that the world gets back to normal soon.
We hope it gets normal soon, too. But honestly, its been nice having him home. HIs work schedule was weird and he only had thursdays and fridays off before, so while I was still working. He’s getting so much done around the house, considering we’ve got the two little ones that aren’t on the same nap schedule. This is also cutting out his 3-4 hour roundtrip commute during the work week. Thank you for your thoughts.
Well apparently I don’t sleep anymore so that’s a fun development.
My work has increased a lot which helps nothing since we’ve got an active five year old home all day. Thankfully PiC has had a bit less work and has been managing more of the childcare burden, and I’ve got my fingers crossed that his work stays slow for the duration of the stay at home orders or my head just might explode.
Financially we’re grateful to be ok and in a position to help folks a bit. So far the list includes loved ones with car trouble and sick family who can’t get out to get food, creators in Patreon, local restaurants, independent bookstores, the animal shelter, food banks/food pantries. I’m pacing our purchases and donations as we’re in this for the long haul and don’t want to put a foot wrong overspending everwhere but I still have more places on my list.
Glad y’all remain well and hopefully whole after the fighting settles ?
Sleep deprivation is the worst. It’s only recently that I’ve figured out just how detrimental it is to mental and physical health. I’m a different person when I don’t sleep well.
Glad to hear that the money situation is alright and you even have some left over to help!
NY teacher here, lucky to have a salary through August, after that who knows. Lucky to have worked towards financial independence for the last 5 years so helping others is possible for us. Spouse lost his job but we’ve always operated on one income so it’s tight but manageable. It is fascinating to see how the future is being shaped before our eyes,the way technology is keeping us connected. I’m learning a ton about long distance teaching, it’s kind of like building an airplane while I’m flying it! Exhausting and stressful, yes. Incredibly sad yes. But we didn’t get here suddenly and we won’t get through it suddenly either. This FI community is IMO another resource for positive change in US and around the world.
Glad to hear you have income through August. It seems like most virus-related numbers are trending in the right direction, so maybe life will return to semi-normalcy by the time the 2020-2021 school year starts?
“It is fascinating to see how the future is being shaped before our eyes, the way technology is keeping us connected.”
Yeah, I also hope this is a reset for humans. I hope we all learn from this and appreciate everything (jobs, friends, local businesses, just how good we have it) a little bit more.
Stay safe and sane!
Hey Carl – Greetings from MI – glad you are posting when you can i really enjoy your writings and the youtube renovations. We are getting hit pretty hard in MI and amazing to see how people are rallying with the nurses and medical staffs and ALL the support teams out there keeping things somewhat afloat. My wife works at a hotel and is still having to go into work ea day (But grateful she has a job) they are housing many of the “Essential work staffs” is why they are still open but on a skeleton crew. One of my son’s is on temporary layoff (He is an electrical apprentice) so hopefully in May he can resume and the other is back home from College and finishing the semester on-line and working M/W/F at an internship job. It would be hard to imagine if the internet/modern technology wasn’t around. FIRE has WELL prepared us in many ways (thanks in part to yours and MMM blogs) – We had stocked the freezer and fridge and have been making every meal in house and prepping food ahead for “meals for the week” also – we have updated part of the garage to the work out zone and have been busy past 3 weeks doing some P90x again – amazing what a work out you can do with little to no equipment as well as running. In the evening we have been having checkers tournaments and puzzles to past the time and I stream alot of old sports/music stuff via youtube. as well as have even started on line guitar lessons (I stink but who cares – I can go out on the porch at night and play which ensures people stay inside..
The financial side is one of those things my wife and I decided NOT to look at to often. We are in it for the duration and built up some cash reserves if necc and the house is paid off. We feel extremely blessed here and know that we are ALL gonna appreciate much of what was taken for granted.
“I can go out on the porch at night and play which ensures people stay inside.”
Hilarious! Everyone must do their part, right?
Good to hear that you’re doing well. Stay safe and sane!
My wife and I are in an embarrassingly good position. We’ve got no kids, stable WFH jobs, restaurants and grocery stores within walking distance, and plenty of things to keep us busy. Between all the Zoom happy hours we’ve seen family and friends’ faces more often than usual. Everyone’s outside taking advantage of the nice weather, so we regularly get to check in with neighbors while walking our dog or painting our porch. I think we’ve spent sixteen bucks on gasoline in the last month and a half — we’re instead purposely hemorrhaging money into carryout (and tipping heavily) three or four times a week instead of the once we targeted back in the BeforeTimes. Our stimulus money will immediately go right back into either donations or local businesses.
We both terribly miss performing; I’m in a quintet and a few bands and orchestras, she’s in a wind band with me and rocks guitar/lead vocals with half a dozen friends in a folk bluegrass group. But we’ve got it better than most. The trick, I guess, is figuring out how best to leverage that societally into a bigger table rather than a taller fence.
Nice work supporting local businesses!
Gas! Our total since the beginning of March is around $22 and both cars are still over half of a tank.
Performing! Y’all should put on a huge concert once this is over!
Stay safe and sane!
Never thought I’d use these two words in the same sentence but LUCKILY I have a TEENAGER so I get somewhat of a break from schooling. I figure she needs to try a little bit harder before I intervene because college isn’t that far away and it’s going to require a bit more flexibility and effort than high school. So far, after a brief panic attack, she figures it on her own!
I think the hardest part for me is helping my daughter understand that while she, and our entire household, are healthy and we don’t have a whole lot of concern of getting super ill even if we contracted the virus, it’s about the unintentional harm we can do to others in simple ways like touching things we don’t intend to buy at the store or standing too close to other people who may be vulnerable when her and I are having a conversation. It’s tough for me to grasp, let alone a 15 year old!
I’m still working, but happy to say that if I was laid off, I wouldn’t fret and that’s a great feeling. It’s also giving me a lot more to consider about how much I thought I needed to pull the plug considering all the ways we’ve spent time together these last 6 weeks without spending money.
I don’t want to downplay the sadness and tragedy of those out of work, getting sick, and losing lives, but I see so many positives coming from this experience. In addition to the heavily marketed time spent together and pollution clearing up (all yays!), I see so many businesses and individuals getting creative about how to make money, market and grow their business even while they are shut down, help other people, RESPECT everyone around you (without being a douche), and just upping the kindness. It’s like the imagination and common manners are making a ginormous come back and I really hope it sticks around long after we are back to “normal” (is it too hopeful to say we create a new normal?!)
Wow, that last paragraph is a good one! I too hope this whole thing is a reset for us humans.
My wife and I agree that our life hasn’t changed. We are used to staying home and not having to go to restaurants or do random shopping. We took the liberty of getting rid of our debt 9 years ago and have had an emergency fund in place. Although I am not FIREd, FIRE is the only way to go as many blogs have mentioned over the past month.
SWFL Financial Coaching recently posted…Things to do When Staying at Home for a Month
Glad to hear that you’re doing well!
How am I feeling…I’ve actually analyzed it a lot lately
Fortunate Lucky Guilty Sad Frustrated Worried
Fortunate. While I am not FI I am financially secure
Lucky My wife and I both have secure jobs and my oldest is also WFH for a secure job
Guilty Being so Fortunate and Lucky makes me feel guilty for continuing to make money while
others are struggling from no fault of their own
Sad Every time I go into a grocery store and see pure fear on people faces, it makes me sad
Frustrated I think everyone is Frustrated and wants back to “normal”
Worried Worried for the well being of others, Family Friends and strangers.
Wishing the best to you and your family, and all your readers.
Same over here. It’s great to be positioned to weather the storm well, but it’s heartbreaking to see those aren’t. Mindy and I walked past a local business yesterday that was now permanently closed. It’s the first one I saw, but there will be many more.
Public health nurse here, busy busy busy with COVID 19 response but feeling so very fortunate to have work, good health, no debt, the ability to help others, and a little green space out my front door. Also to live in a state that is doing well at flattening the curve.
Stay safe and sane! And keep up the good fight!
life is unchanged. My wife and I got up and ran in the early freezing cold as usual. We’ll take the boat to a local lake to fish Friday. I’ll do consulting work most of the day tomorrow. Blue Apron shows up on the doorstep today, we always cook most of our meals. We do not know anyone, even distantly, who has covid19. Most of my friends who have jobs still go into their normal workplaces. The others are mostly retired like me. The industries here are all critical so few people are working from home at those, they are still going into the offices and the plants. Oil, chemicals and defense never shut down for mere pandemics. My consulting might go away due to this but I was thinking of doing something else anyway, it will probably push me in a better direction if it does. Our grown kids are all safely employed in recession proof enterprises and only the two docs, son and his wife, are on the front lines. It’s like watching some overseas disaster footage on TV, nobody is sick here.