Catching you up on my progress to Financial Independence
Monthly Review
Actually… We’ve got almost 2 years to catch up on
I normally list out the big events from a month and put a ton of effort into the details and pictures.
But I’m flawed….
I got behind a couple of months and that snowballed on me. It got to the point where it felt like this unsurmountable task to catch up on.
But I had promised myself I would document my full journey.
I also have all these other topics I want to write about but since I’m so far behind, I feel like I can’t write about anything else until I get my finance journey documentation posted.
This doesn’t make any logical sense, but I think it’s a common problem we all face. It’s why extremely rigid diets often don’t work if you’re not skilled at it. You eat one cupcake and you’re like Eff this, I’ve ruined the diet so who cares, point me towards your finest pint of Ben n’ Jerry’s.
So let’s make a compromise and get back in this thing
What I’ll attempt to do, is succinctly (I’m laughing writing that word…no way this is succinct, but let’s see) catch you all up on this massive gap I’ve left you with.
From April of 2022 to January 2024 -> What was I doing? What was I earning? How were my portfolios performing?
Stream of consciousness engage….
Some Highlights from last 22 months
April - 2022
Gave up Alchohol
Began 10 days in Saudi Arabia
Work trip to London
A night out to see DJ
Bass Fishing
Home Landscaping
Hosted my mom in Austin
Goat Yoga
House Party
Airforce Air Show
Morgan Wallen / Hardy Concert
May - 2022
Majority of Saudi Arabia Trip
Trip to Bahrain
My niece’s high school graduation
Zach Bryan / Cody Jinks / Luke Combs concert in Denver
Cool date night out at the Contemporary Austin
Day on the boat
June - 2022
UFC Austin
HWY 30 Music Festival in Idaho
Backpacking in Idaho Mountains with Whitney
Bass Fishing
Paddleboarding on Lady Bird
Patrick’s Bday included a whole hog roast
Trip to Pederales State Park
Anniversary Dinner
House Sitting for Brian (twice)f
Yoga event
Had friends over to cook Pizzas
Harvested desert plants from Mercury
Concert in Austin
July - 2022
4th of July on the lake
Rocky Mountain National Park trip in Colorado
Avett Brothers at Red Rocks
Leslie’s Birthday Bash w/ Party Barge
Koe Wetzel Concert
August - 2022
Windy City Smokeout (Concert & BBQ fest in Chicago)
Night in Waldorf Chicago
Architectural Boat Tour in Chicago
Yoga event Austin
Built an awesome bench for the house
Built Floating shelves for the dining room
Gave Leslie (very early) Christmas present (Electric Bike)
Built Slat wall / accent wall for back bedroom
September - 2022
Took George to Mississippi
Mississippi State Football game
Lake Day
FinCon Orlando
Universal Studios
Universal Horror Nights
Trip to Mississippi
Lake Day #2
Rufus Du Sol Concert in Austin
House sit for Brian
Lake Day #3
Work Trip to Charlotte
Field of Lights installation in Austin
Re-did Pergola
F45 Grand Opening
October - 2022
Zach Bryan Austin
Austin City Limits (both weekends)
DO512 party
Wild petting zoo of sorts in South Austin
Even a white buffalo
Wild Halloween party in Austin
November - 2022
Zach Bryan - Red Rocks (the snow show) with TJ
Meow Wolf Denver with Nathan
Veteran’s Day food Exreraveganza
Boys trip to Bass fish at Lake Fork with Ron/George
Hosted Friendsgiving
Hosted Leslie’s Family’s Thanksgiving
House sit for Brian
December - 2022
Trip to Cabo, Waldorf Astoria
Whale watching tour
Trip to Mississippi for Christmas
Black Fret Ball at ACL Live
AEW
Field of Light with Leslie’s Parents
FIFA World Cup watch party with Amal (Morocco!)
Got laser engraver
January - 2023
Traded in new F150 for Tesla Model 3
Week in Park City Utah Skiing, with Ron & Leslie
Flew to Kentucky to purchase a 2010 F150
Royal Rumble in San Antonio
Got Sheetrock fixed
Got 3d printer
Installed LED lights in the frunk of the Tesla
February - 2023
Big Bend trip with Leslie & Rhonda, stayed in the bubbles
Spent night at a University of Texas observatory
Trip with Jason, 2nd Ski trip to Park City Utah
House sat dog for Jordan/Nikki
Joe’s 40th birthday party
Camped in Tesla thanks to a power outage after freeze
Made faux concrete shelf for bedroom
George promotion to Major
Built floating shelves for bathrooms & garage
Coworkers leadership trip came into Austin
March - 2023
Finished install of 10” android radio in 2010 F150
plus cameras, mics, gps etc
DIP DIP DIP with Rhonda/Bob/Leslie
Work trip to Vegas
SXSW Events in Austin
Pecos and Rooftops VIP concert
Birthday weekend in Mercury…so many guns
night vision, metal targets, smooth bore grenade launcher, surprise trip from Albara
April - 2023
Week in Virgin Islands
Created Ripped Dip
Unicorn Party… So random, so epic
Two Step Inn Music Festival
Go Kart Racing at COTA
My first EDM show, Vintage Culture at Concourse
Hardy Concert in Dallas with T.J.
May - 2023
Hangout Fest in Alabama
Quick trip to hike with Nathan in Colorado
AEW Show
Turtle Racing
Tyson’s High School Graduation
June - 2023
Anniversary trip to Vegas, Waldorf Astoria
Hwy 30 Music Fest in Idaho with TJ/George/Todd
Roadtrip with George
Yellowstone
Grand Tetons
Great Sand Dunes
Palo Duro Canyon
Kascade DJ Set
Kygo Show
Koe Wetzel Concert Ft Worth
Started Selling Ripped Dip
Trip to Colorado to hike and visit Nathan’s condo
July - 2023
Week in Tulum Mexico, Celebrate Leslie’s Birthday
Private swim with river otters
Work trip to Boston including Red Sox Game
Visited Silos in Waco
Willie Nelson’s 4th of July Bash in Austin
First visit to Capital One lounge in Dallas
Day on Lake
August - 2023
House sat for Brian
Stargazing trip to Mercury
First Ripped Dip CPG meetup
Work trip to Vegas
Cody’s Wedding in New Hampshire with Leslie
Work trip to New York with Leslie
September - 2023
10 days out west with Leslie and my parents
Yellowstone / Tetons / Cody
Work trip to Detroit
Trip to visit Marsha
Made giant wood wall art for our bedroom
Took photos to list full home on Airbnb
October - 2023
Bought $5k property in Mississippi
FinCon New Orleans
Saints Game
Austin City Limits - Odeza killed it
Stained Deck
Several free events / small concerts
Won Halloween costume contest at Elks Lodge
November - 2023
Received notice of being Laid off
Sister’s wedding
Put a new roof on the $5k house
Thanksgiving with Leslie’s family south of Austin
Paul Cauthen Concert
Saw my first Cybertruck in person
Went to a rally for Brandon Presley for MS Governor
Veteran’s Day Food Extravaganza
Hosted Friendsgiving
Shelbi’s Parent’s Anniversary / Redoing Vows
Had house foundation adjusted under warranty
First round of NCAA Women’s Volleyball at UT (Won entire championship)
December - 2023
First month without a 9-5 (on leave until Jan 26th)
Hosted my niece for a week in Austin
Hung out with TJ and Kyle in Austin
Two Ripped Dip Events
Trail of Lights
Bottle-fed Kangaroos with Madison and Leslie
Christmas in Mississippi
Converted upstairs at Dad’s into an apartment for Leslie and I
Installed new windows in $5k house
January - 2024
Officially Retired on Jan 26th
Prepped floors for staining, removed old sheetrock, removed walls, etc on $5k house
Made our first Ninja Creami
Started a heavier weight-lifting schedule
Got in a highway collision in Tesla near Texarkana
Went to the coast to clean up Leslie’s family’s beach house and install fans
A high-level look at finances since April 2022
First, let’s just kick this off with some overall charts to get you up to speed and then I’ll briefly add in some context.
Monthly Expenses
Monthly Savings
Monthly Net Worth Total
Breaking down the expenses
This data, like most data, really needs context to understand. You’ll notice a nice decline in expenses from April 2022 to August 2023 but then it spikes.
I’m very happy with this data because I know that my fixed expenses are getting smaller and smaller and the spikes are from some very bucket list-type items that I’m pre-paying for.
I no longer have a car payment, no longer have an expensive gym membership, our electric bill is greatly reduced thanks to solar, we spend way less on gas thanks to the Tesla, and my property taxes in Texas have been permanently reduced, etc.
In reality, seeing months below $3k will be a common place I believe going forward. Especially as we roll into March/April when our house is really taking off on AirBnb and will drive our housing cost below zero at times.
Breaking down the savings
Savings are always extremely variable because my compensation was often variable. That’s thanks to having a quota and getting bonuses in spots throughout the year.
I certainly don’t imagine these numbers will be very impressive going into the future as my income streams are massively reduced after retiring.
But it’s cool to see so much cash stashed away even after readying the lengthy list of activities we got to enjoy over the last couple of years.
Breaking down the savings
It almost makes me angry that this chart looks so boring. It felt like a wild ride at times, and it felt like I was making zero progress for so long.
But this chart doesn’t even cover a 2-year horizon and already you can see a general upslope that’s not all that exciting.
That’s how investing should be viewed. How it looks in much longer timeframes, even 2 years is honestly too small of a view.
Keep your peace, stop listening to wild guesses from every expert on the internet, and just keep investing. All will shake out in the end I truly believe.
In Summary
I fully understand how anticlimactic this post is.
There are no fun pictures (I may find time to add some in the future), I just randomly threw in that I retired at 33, and I shoved 22 months of life into a fairly quick read.
The truth is that I’m excited to hop back in and create some helpful and engaging content but I felt like I had to stay true to my original goal.
Be extremely transparent with my data and lay out a clear path from start to finish that anyone could utilize as a guide for their own life or at least some inspiration to consider.
