August 2023 Early Retirement Update – Back to School Edition

Hello and welcome back to another monthly update from Root of Good! It’s been a month since we arrived home from our two month trip to Argentina and Brazil. The first couple of weeks back home were a haze of getting set up in Raleigh, back to school events, and catching up on things I put on pause before departing home in June. Then, once all the kids were back in school and life slowed down, we had time to relax. 

In the last month, we spent a lot of time researching and buying several major purchases that have been in the works for a while. You’ll have to read on to find out what we got! 

On to our financial progress. August was a mixed month for our finances. Our net worth dropped by $75,000 to end August at $2,784,000. Our income totaled $3,571, while our spending was a relatively moderate $2,615 for the month of August. 

Let’s jump into the details from last month.

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July 2023 Early Retirement Update – Back in America Edition

Hello and welcome back to another update from Root of Good! We just arrived back in the USA after our two month vacation in Argentina and Brazil, so I’m a bit behind in getting this update published. Vacation was a blast but it’s great to be home too. 

We spent the first two weeks of July in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Then we headed further south in Argentina to Puerto Madryn, a coastal city in the Patagonia region, for the last two weeks of July. At the end of July, we headed north to Brazil for a couple of weeks before heading home to Raleigh. I have some pics from our time in Argentina in this post. I’ll save the Brazil pics for my August update which should be published in under a month. 

On to our financial progress. July was another great month for our finances. Our net worth spiked by $92,000 to end July at $2,859,000. Our income totaled $2,728, while our spending was a relatively moderate $2,064 for the month of July. 

Let’s jump into the details from last month.

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June 2023 Early Retirement Update – From Buenos Aires, Argentina

Hello and welcome back to Root of Good! I’m writing to you from our apartment in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. We are almost done with our one month stay here in the city. Next up, we depart for Puerto Madryn, a small coastal city in the Patagonia region of Argentina in a few short days. 

Since we are in the southern hemisphere it’s actually wintertime here with daytime highs around 60F most days. As long as we wear a hat and a light jacket on the cooler days, the weather has been pleasant for exploring the city extensively during this past month.

On to our financial progress. June was a great month for our finances. Our net worth skyrocketed by $84,000 to end June at $2,767,000. Our income totaled a whopping $10,558, while our spending was a very low $1,536 for the month of June. 

Let’s jump into the details from last month.

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May 2023 Early Retirement Update – School’s Out Edition

Hello and welcome back to Root of Good! The month of May just wrapped up which means it is time for another update. The biggest news is our middle child finished high school a year early! She wrapped up her one AP exam and the last days of class during May, and the graduation ceremony is in a few days. 

In other exciting news, we are merely days away from hopping on a plane for our two month summer vacation in Argentina and Brazil. Essentially all of the flight and lodging bookings are done at this point. Right now, we are looking closer at what sightseeing we will do while in South America. 

May was a bit of a rough month for our finances. Our net worth dropped by $78,000 to end May at $2,683,000. Our income totaled $1,576, while our spending was $2,976 for the month of May. 

Let’s jump into the details from last month.

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April 2023 Early Retirement Update – Party Edition

Welcome back to another monthly update from Root of Good. We had another busy month in April here at home in Raleigh. Between hosting Easter and a birthday party at our house, and a few appliances breaking, we were glad to be early retired. No time for work! 

As this post goes live, we have less than a month until we take off for our two month summer vacation in Argentina and Brazil. All the big details are booked but we still have to research things to do in the areas we are visiting. On top of all the vacation excitement, our middle child graduates high school the day before we hop on the plane to South America! My guess is that this coming month will also be rather busy for us.

April was a good month for our finances. Our net worth climbed slightly by $48,000 to end April at $2,761,000. Our income totaled $2,062, while our spending was lower at $1,566 for the entire month of April. 

Let’s jump into the details from last month.

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March 2023 Early Retirement Update – Springtime Edition

Welcome back to another monthly update from Root of Good. We spent the whole month of March at home in Raleigh. Along with relaxing in some nice springtime weather throughout the month, we also celebrated the 18th birthday of our daughter. We officially have an adult kid now! 

Looking ahead, we are putting the final touches on our summer 2023 South America trip and we are starting to think ahead for our summer 2024 trip. So far our summer plans for next year have been narrowed down to the northern hemisphere but even that is not set in stone! 

March was a good month overall for our finances. Our net worth climbed slightly by $3,000 to end March at $2,713,000. Our income totaled $8,892, while our spending was significantly lower at $1,679 for the entire month of March. 

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February 2023 Early Retirement Update

Welcome back to another update from Root of Good. We are slowly easing into spring. Or so we thought, until we got a brief snow blizzard over the weekend. It was above freezing the whole time, but it’s still neat to see snow in March in North Carolina. 

We spent the entire month of February at home without travel of any kind. In the last twelve months, September was the only other month where we were at home the whole month. It’s nice to have the time to relax and regroup after a busy year of post-pandemic “revenge travel”. 

February was a mixed month for our finances. Our net worth dropped by $68,000 to end February at $2,710,000. Our income totaled $1,756, while our spending was just a tiny bit lower at $1,675 for the entire month of February. 

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January 2023 Early Retirement Update

Welcome back to the life and times of the Root of Good household. We had another busy month during January. Mrs. Root of Good and I went on a ten night cruise out of Charleston, South Carolina. During the cruise we visited five Caribbean islands and enjoyed a brief respite from the “harsh” North Carolina winter. 

Now that we are back home, we have been busy planning our summer trip to South America. We have a slow springtime planned. So far, we have zero trips to anywhere between February and the commencement of our summer trip in mid-June! 

January was a bonanza month for our finances. Our net worth skyrocketed by $162,000 to end January at $2,788,000. Our income totaled $1,839, while our spending was a bit higher at $3,423 for the entire month of January. 

Let’s jump into the details from last month.

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Portugal Trip Recap Plus December 2022 Early Retirement Update

Hey folks, it’s 2023! I hope everyone had a great time with friends and family over the holidays, and rang in the New Year in style! 

We had a very busy December. We were vacationing in Portugal during the first week of December, and then sailed from Lisbon to the United States aboard the Norwegian Epic to get back in plenty of time to celebrate Christmas at home. 

Once back home in Raleigh, we went to a couple of family gatherings to celebrate Christmas. Our New Years Eve plans got canceled due to the hosts getting sick, so we watched the ball drop at home this year. 

Financially, December was a mixed month for us. Our net worth dropped by $92,000 to end the month at $2,626,000. Our income was excellent at $19,599 for last month, while our spending was incredibly low at only $1,271 for the whole month of December. 

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