Retired at 33. I'm here to share some financial wisdom with everyone.

December 2023 Early Retirement Update – Happy New Years Edition

Happy New Year and welcome back to another monthly update from Root of Good! We are back home from our Christmas cruise to South America and Central America. Right now we are cozied up and trying to make it through another month or so of winter weather. Fortunately it’s never that cold in North Carolina, so I can’t complain too much! 

Now that we are home, we are busily planning some trips for 2024. We have two cruises planned for the fall and we are about to book a bunch of accommodations for our nine week trip to Poland this summer. 

On to our financial progress. December was another phenomenal month for our finances. Our net worth skyrocketed by $149,000 to end the month at $2,966,000. Our income totaled an incredible $26,305, while our spending was in-line with our monthly budget at $3,428 for the month of December. 

Let’s jump into the details from last month.

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November 2023 Early Retirement Update – Fall Color Explosion

Welcome back to another monthly update from Root of Good! Here we are halfway between Thanksgiving and Christmas enjoying the last few weeks of the year. As this post goes live, we are days away from sailing on a cruise to South America and Central America where we will celebrate Christmas. We return home just before New Year’s so our 2023 is rapidly drawing to a close! 

Even though we didn’t really do any traveling this fall, we still kept busy with other daily routines around home. Looking ahead, 2024 is shaping up to be a busy year for travel, with a few domestic trips planned in the first few months of the new year. In the summer, we head to Europe where we will spend a couple of months road tripping around Poland. 

On to our financial progress. November was a great month for our finances. Our net worth skyrocketed by $134,000 to end November at $2,817,000. Our income totaled $1,992, while our spending was a bit more at $2,682 for the month of November. 

Let’s jump into the details from last month.

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October 2023 Early Retirement Update

Welcome back to another monthly update from Root of Good! Fall is in full swing here, with the leaves shifting from green to various hues of yellow, orange, and red. The mornings are cool and crisp and the afternoons pleasantly mild and sunny. It’s a great time to enjoy the outdoors since the summertime heat, humidity, and bugs are completely gone. 

Even though we don’t have any travel planned for this fall, I’ve been busy researching and planning future trips in my free time. Our next big trip in about a month will take us to South America onboard a cruise from Miami during Christmas break. And after that, we hope to do a couple of smaller trips in the spring before we spend the whole summer of 2024 in Poland. Busy times!

On to our financial progress. October was a mixed month for our finances. Our net worth dropped by $22,000 to end October at $2,683,000. Our income totaled $2,663, while our spending was a rather modest $1,513 for the month of October. 

Let’s jump into the details from last month.

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September 2023 Early Retirement Update

Hello and welcome back to another monthly update from Root of Good. We started last month with heavy bouts of consumerism, spending money like crazy on a new used car and half a dozen plumbing upgrades. By month’s end, we wrapped up the September projects and purchases and enjoyed more time relaxing in this beautiful fall weather we have right now.

In travel news, we officially have the bookends to our summer 2024 trip in place. We fly into Krakow, Poland in June for a nine week vacation that will take us from the mountains in the south of Poland to the Baltic Sea in the north. Our plans are wide open right now, and we may rebook the plane tickets depending on how our travel itinerary shapes up. 

On to our financial progress. September was mostly negative for our finances. Our net worth dropped by $79,000 to end September at $2,705,000. Our income totaled an impressive $8,498, while our spending was shockingly high at $12,714 for the month of September. 

Let’s jump into the details from last month.

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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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