1500 Days to Freedom

Think different and escape the rat race.

Performance Update (Day 2019): Spending Is Overrated!

by

My main goal* was to build an investment and cash portfolio of $1,120,000* in 1500 days**, starting from 1/1/2013 and ending in February of 2017. I made my goal in 2016, my 1500 Days are over, and I’ve left my job. In the interest of openness, I’ll continue to share my numbers.

Has anyone ever said this to you?:

Just treat yourself!

Or this:

You deserve it!

How about this:

You’ve got it, so spend it!

I have. Many, many times. I’ve seen the other side and it’s not so great.

Spending Is Overrated

December was a suboptimal month for efficient and thoughtful deployment of money. And don’t let the prefix sub fool you. What I really meant to say is that Mrs. 1500 and I went bonkers in spending. We blew a total of $7668.14. Subtracting our mortgage, we spent $6,241.02 or $201.32/per day. Oof.

We have no excuses. We didn’t pay for a new roof and didn’t buy a car. No major expenses. Just a lot of big spending.

I feel dirty. I feel naughty. Isn’t this blog supposed to be about financial responsibility? Let’s see how we got to this point.

Money, Money, Money

Travel ($1,526.96): We spent $700 on a rental car and it felt like we spent a similar amount on toll roads in the great state of Florida. Around Orlando, there is a toll approximately every .8 miles. I love you Florida, but you and Mickey Mouse sure know how to separate people from their wallets!

We also bought our registrations for RAGBRAI 2019 ($600) and went to an animal sanctuary ($130). More on that in a moment.

Dining out ($592.31): We mostly stayed with friends and family while on vacation. As a gesture of appreciation, we took each of them out to eat on one night. The best (and priciest meal) was at Frontera Cocina in Orlando.

This mole chicken was fantastic, but $28? Come on Disney Springs. The Mouse knows how to gouge.

Waterpark ($600): We took our girls to a fancy indoor waterpark:

All of the fancy waterslides that Younger Daughter would not go on.

Upon arrival, Younger Daughter declared that she no longer liked waterslides. #FML.

Gifts ($547.43): We bought some small gifts for friends and family. Some of it felt good, some of it felt forced. I think they all appreciated it, so maybe I should just focus on that?

Thoughts On Blowing $8,000 In A Month

$8,000 is a lot of money to spend in a month. We knew December would be the most expensive month of the year, but we didn’t expect this. But more importantly, it didn’t feel like we spent $8,000. If I hadn’t been keeping track of my spending, I’m sure that I would have estimated much less.

We’ll do much better the rest of the year. In January, we’ll spend under $3,500, mortgage included.

Two more random thoughts on our spending:

  • It’s nice to know that if we had to dial it back, it would be easy. Just spending $3,000 this month feels pretty luxurious.
  • It was fun to be in Florida and being by the beach was definitely nice, but I wasn’t really that much happier in December ($8,000) than I am here in January ($3,500). You don’t have to burn money to be happy.

Sadly, I know plenty of folks who spend more than $8,000 per month on average and I’m pretty sure that I’m living a more satisfying life.

The main lesson I learned from all of this is that spending is overrated. On our trip, we went to luxurious restaurants and had some nice experiences which were all fine. As much as I like travel and good food, there are ways to have these same experiences for cheaper. Mole is complicated, but there are a billion recipes for it on the web. It isn’t hard to cook chicken. I’m out of luck with finding a beach, but we have mountains here in Colorado which are fun too.

Most Bizarre Purchase

While in Florida, we visited an exotic animal sanctuary called Amazing Animals. Our younger daughter is obsessed with sloths and this non-profit lets you get up close to them. It made her year and I was OK giving $130 to a good cause. Sloths gotta eat after all:

Our girls loved the sloths.

December Performance Update

December went out on a sour note. Our net worth started the month at $2,127,108 and ended at $2,064,440 for a loss of $62,668. I feel like Santa kicked me in the groin with one of his big black boots.

Personal Capital, my favorite tool for tracking investments!***

2018 (as of 12/31/2018)

  • Days elapsed: 365
  • Investment portfolio gains: $21,739 (including 401(k) contributions**** of $37,860.97)
  • Net worth gains: $71,739 (investment portfolio gain of $21,739 + home appreciation of $50,000)

Since the start (1/1/2013)

  • Days elapsed: 2191
  • Investment portfolio and cash: $1,549,540
  • Gains since 1/1/2013: $963,391
  • Needed to quit work ($1,120,000 in investments): Mission accomplished!

Astute readers will note that while we ended the year with more money than with which we started, it’s only because our 401(k) contributions exceeded our losses.

Portfolio Breakdown

We have a diverse portfolio (full listing here) that includes real estate:

  • mobile home park (elevated home living to the easily offended and politically ultra-correct)
  • private loan (only one outstanding)
  • syndication deals

And stock market holdings:

  • individual stocks (old thinking)
  • index funds (most money goes here now)

Both sides of our portfolio saw increases, but they were minor. Most of our gain this month was related to blog money that I transferred from a business account to a personal one.

  • Stock market: $764,191
    • Monthly gain: –$61,585
    • 2018 gain: –$25,597
  • Real estate: $755,349
    • Monthly gain: –$982
    • 2018 gain: $37,434
  • Cash reserve: $30,000

2019

We’ve already made some big moves in the new year. We sold off some stock to purchase a small business right here in Longmont.

More on that soon…

*My goal wasn’t to have $1,120,000 at the end of 1500 days, but at any time before the day count was up. Why? It all goes back to the 4% Rule. Remember that our little friend, Mr. 4%, is nothing more than the most conservative safe withdrawal rate. Since my investment portfolio now sits at $1,550,000, I can spend about $62,000 in my first year of retirement.

**My original goal was $1,000,000 and no debt, I later raised the goal by $120,000 to $1,120,000 because I will have debt in the form of a mortgage and I firmly believe in not paying it off. My compromise was to have enough money put away to cover the mortgage at the time of retirement.

***This is an affiliate link. If you sign up, the blog (me) makes some cold, hard, beautiful, cash. Personal Capital is a totally free and awesome way to keep watch over your investments. It’s worth it for the fee analyzer alone. I would never recommend anything that I don’t personally use and completely believe in, so give it a try. If you’ve already signed up through the link, please know that you are a fine person of above-average intelligence.

****My 401(k) contributions include my own, Mrs. 15oo’s, and the contributions from my corporation. Self-employment with a solo 401(k) is a very powerful savings tool. I should have done this years ago.

Join the 10s who have signed up already!

Subscribing will improve your life in incredible ways*.

*Only if your life is pretty bad to begin with.

Powered by ConvertKit

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sorry that December was a spendy month for the 1500’s, but it looked like you had all had a great time! It was also a pricey month for us too, but for less fun reasons (Personal Pan Pizza’s medical costs coming due, which was planned out).

    Congrats on the partnership with the MMM HQ! Looking forward to reading how that all came about. I love the fact that all of your family’s real estate holdings are unique in both the residential and commercial spaces 🙂

    • Our real estate holdings are crazy. A trailer park and coworking space? I don’t know which one is more out there. I didn’t see either of them coming, that’s for sure!

      I like them both though! The trailer park consumes 2 minutes per month of our time (reading a report) and the coworking spot is a fun challenge with like-minded friends.

  2. $600 for water park? Whoa, why so much? You guys must have stayed at their fancy hotel.
    I’m looking forward to learning more about the co-working space. It sounds like an interesting business. Can you make money with this? Please share some numbers. Also, what kind of staff do you have to hire? Cleaning, an office person, what else? Best of luck with this new business.

    • Yep, we stayed over two nights. We won’t do it again soon, but the girls loved it (even if the younger one didn’t go on the slides).

      Coworking! Oh yeah, it will (does already) make money. No staff really needed aside from the owners. Entry to the space is automated, so our job is to give tours, sign on new members and clean once a week.

  3. Our girls love Great Wolf Lodge waterpark. We were able to travel hack with the Capital One Venture to get free rooms. They did get us however for $109 on the Magi Quest scavenger hunt game. Didn’t see that one coming…

    • I set my expectations low for the Great Wolf, but it actually turned out to be a great weekend. The rides weren’t long. The facilities were nice. There was a microbrewery next door…

      • I thought our Great Wolf days were great, but one night was plenty. We arrived as early as we were allowed the first day, and well before kick-out time the second day, we were all ready to leave. I can’t really imagine enjoying staying even longer.

  4. Yeah, December/Vacations can be like that. You kinda have to throw frugality out the window.

    Our December was certainly more expensive — like $700 more than usual. It was mostly spent on gifts and new tires for my car (oof).

    Congrats on your investment in a small business!

  5. You ever used Autoslash for the car rentals? I’m not sure if it would’ve helped on that $700, but I keep having a lot of success with them and saving a bunch on rentals. Since I used miles for hotels and flights, the rental car ends up being the one spot where I actually use money, but that website is pretty great at applying all sorts of discounts and getting the cost per day about as low as possible. (Sorry to sound like an ad, but figured it was worth the suggestion)
    Andy recently posted…Frugalizing a SplurgeMy Profile

  6. Holy crap! $8000! Yar! Travelling can be pretty damn expensive, especially with kids- you’ve got to occupy them. And for some reason they don’t like all the free stuff. It’s all paid things for them-“no…I don’t want to just ride the monorail at disney…I actually want to go INSIDE!”…or “Noooooo, the waterslide at the hotel isn’t nice, I want to go into the paid waterpark…and then decide I dont like waterslides!” (as you have already seen). I feel like excellent meals out with friends is a fine expense, but I absolutely hated disneyworld when I went as a kid. Long lines. heat (it was july), creepy crawleys, and expensive stuff. No thank you. Never again.
    Once in a while excess spending is ok. But it seems every month we have a “this time is special!” event. That’s what we need to figure out how to cut down on.
    Cathleen Cooks Stuff recently posted…Tempura- my gma’s recipeMy Profile

    • But it seems every month we have a “this time is special!” event.

      I get it. But, one thought I’ve also had is that the thing kids enjoy most are really free. When they were younger, mine loved the swings. Now, they love the beach or a day at the pool. (That last one isn’t free, but super cheap compared to a lot of other stuff.)

  7. i think we had a $1200 christmas budget. i send most of that over to my spicy pepperpot and she gets all the forced gifts for her side of the family. they seem to enjoy doing it and we both worked for it so what the hell. otherwise the little giant ladder gift was just a xmas excuse to get something we needed for the house with a bow on it. 700 for a rental does seem pricey. that water park tab is the ultimate birth control.
    freddy smidlap recently posted…The Financial Commandments for a Young Employee – Part 4My Profile

    • “that water park tab is the ultimate birth control.”

      Haha. Try going there if that doesn’t do it! Someone pooped in the water and we all had to get out ASAP. Ahhh, the memories!

      Really though, it was fun. Except for the poop. Poop is never fun. Ever.

  8. My goal wasn’t to have $1,120,000 at the end of 1500 days, but at any time before the day count was up. Why? It all goes back to the 4% Rule. Remember that our little friend, Mr. 4%, is nothing more than the most conservative safe withdrawal rate. So, if I were to quit my job now, I could spend about $60,000 in my first year of retirement.

    That math seems off 😉

    Cheers from Switzerland 🇨🇭

    • Hello Switzerland! I can’t wait to visit your fine country someday!

      “That math seems off.”

      Oooh, I’m not clear here. My original goal was $1,120,000, but at the time I wrote that statement, my investments were about $1,500,000, hence the $60,000.

      I have updated that line to reflect the current state of my finances. Thanks for pointing it out!

  9. “We sold off some stock to purchase a small business right here in Longmont.”

    I look forward to hearing more about this small business!

  10. Carl, Central Florida is the worst for tolls. You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a toll road. And you won’t get anywhere (quickly) without them. Hoping my mom moves north from there soon…

    Congrats on the co-working space. We just bought an island. Or at least piece of one. I love the 401k solo trust 😁.

  11. Appreciate the honesty in this post. There comes times, especially around the holidays, when spending grows more than it should. Just started documenting my spending and it really is eye-opening.

    Thanks for sharing your truth!

  12. Multiple experiences of a lifetime and/or highlights of a year, I’m not really seeing a problem here? Mathing it out, sure, you can’t do this every month. But even if you alternate between 8k and 3.5k every other month, you can afford it, and that’s what money is for!

    • I don’t think it’s an issue, but it did surprise me how much we spent. If I hadn’t been keeping track, I would have guessed at a much lower number.

  13. Can’t force myself to track my money moving be month. I have a girlfriend and my expenses are X3 of that time when I was alone. It becomes hard to invest money and get relationships and I can not find what to do to save both parts of it.

    • Hmmm, now may be the best time to track. If the increased spending is an issue, showing her how much money is being spent may cause a behavioral change. It did with me.