Category: Financial Independence

Thanks July, you were great. Can you tell August to keep doing the same thing please? Our net worth continued to climb throughout July to an all time high of $1,633,000. Spending was very low at $1,190 while income was a bit higher for the month at $2,336.

We just returned home from our three and a half week road trip to Canada and it was a huge success! Some of those travel expenses are included in this post, however I hope to have a separate post outlining our trip and the travel budget later in August.

On a day to day basis, our net worth in June zipped around like a spooked jackrabbit chased by a wolf. That rabbit didn’t know the wolf’s name was Brexit. By the end of the month, nothing much changed, with our net worth increasing very slightly by $1,000 to $1,566,000. Income remained strong at $7,614 thanks to dividend payments at the end of the second quarter. Expenses continued to be low in spite of a hefty estimated tax bill coming due in June. Overall, our early retirement finances are looking great and our cash buffer account keeps growing.

The start of summer was remarkably mild here in North Carolina and we have enjoyed numerous days with temperatures in the 70’s. I expect we are escaping the heat just in time as we’re about to depart on a three and a half week road trip to Canada.

May proved to be another good month financially for us. Our net worth continued its upward march with a $13,000 addition, bringing total net worth to $1,565,000. Our income ballooned to $10,826 while our spending increased slightly to $2,979 to almost match our monthly spending target.

Summer sneaked up on us this year. The hot, humid air that just appeared in North Carolina is a reminder that spring is no longer with us. Fortunately, we’re escaping the heat by heading north to Canada for a couple of weeks. Our kids have four more days of school before they are out for the summer, which means us parents get to sleep in seven days per week.

I don’t know about you, but we had a wonderful March! The weather is beautiful and life is going very well at the Root of Good household. March represents the first full month of early retirement for Mrs. Root of Good. Last week the kids celebrated spring break and we had a very successful week of relaxing and enjoying the complete lack of a daily schedule.

In financial terms, March was very kind to us. Our net worth shot up $94,000 in spite of spending almost $11,000 (most of which was a used minivan purchase). Our income was higher than normal at $7,806 thanks to quarterly dividend payments from our investments.

Our latest big ticket purchase included a free membership in the Large Family Club. That’s right, we bought a minivan. “Purchase a minivan by 2008” I typed in my first FIRE spreadsheet back in 2006. Oops, eight years late but it still counts, right?

The main reason we were eight years late buying a minivan is because we didn’t need it prior to the last year or two. It was our planned five week multi-thousand mile road trip up the East Coast into Canada that convinced us that a larger vehicle would be more comfortable for long road trips. We are in the middle of planning our 2016 summer adventure (more details later!) and decided to upgrade to a larger car for this trip.

Read on to find out how we’ll pay $50 per month to periodically replace our new(er) car.

February was an awesome month overall! Mrs. Root of Good finally quit her job and joined me in early retirement. Our oldest daughter was accepted into one of the best middle schools in the county (our first choice school) which feeds into the best high school in the county.

Our $4,221 income during the month was more than double our $2,030 in expenses. In spite of spending half of what we made, our net worth still declined by $4,000 during the month due to a slight decline in the stock market.