2022 Update!!
(Updated) Background/Life Situation: Me (30), DH (42), and DS (3) all happy and enjoying life. Still no major changes to work/house situation. We still own a ~6 acre homestead that we rent out, which is 45 minutes south of the house we currently live in, which is about a half acre with lots of shade and little garden-able space. I have a ~10 min drive or ~30 min bike commute to work. The homestead continues to be expensive to maintain and obviously not an ideal rental property, but we are planning to move back next summer just before our kid goes to kindergarten.
The homestead house has some long-overdue repairs that need to be made this year. Multiple factors contributed to water damage to the front foundation, including poor grading, gutter issues, and heavy rains this year that culminated in some serious damage to this already-ancient-and-needy section of the building. It's going to be painful but we have to hire out to replace a section of the foundation and build a new porch, which will serve mainly to mitigate further water intrusion as well as be another covered space for us to enjoy. DH has collected estimates and it'll probably be a good $20k+ in repairs between the work that will be hired out and his DIY projects. All that said, I'm glad we are continuing to maintain the house and am looking forward to moving back.
Still have two autoimmune conditions, still very well managed by meds. Having chronic conditions that cost >$150k+/year to keep under control sucks for FIRE planning purposes since I don't know what the healthcare situation will be in 10+ years. Hoping for the best, planning for the worst. Grateful we have good insurance currently.
Gross Salary/Wages: Me $82k annually, partner $75k annually. Got a 7.5% raise this year. My bonuses not included since it's not guaranteed, but typically ~5% of my salary. DH in public education so no bonuses there.
Pre-tax deductions (annual): $63k including employer matching. Increased DH's 403b contribution and are maxing out the 401k/457 contributions.
Other Ordinary Income: Approximately $12k in interest, LTCG, and qualified dividends this year.
Rental Income, Actual Expenses, and Depreciation: $22.8k in rent, $11.6k in real expenses, and $6k in depreciation. Net $4800 in income. Major repairs coming up this year that will ensure we will NOT make a profit on rental income.
Adjusted Gross Income: $113k
Taxes: Federal $17.6k, state/local $5k
Current expenses (annualized): Largely unchanged.
* Mortgage: $18k for homestead property & covered by rent income. No mortgage on House #2.
* Home Insurance: $2.3k for House #2, homestead insurance covered by rent
* Preschool: $9.6k and well worth it. Glad COVID homeschooling days are over for us.
* Utilities: $2.5k - Increased this estimate based on higher propane costs.
* Mobile phones for DH and I: $960
* Auto Insurance: $1.2k - Got a better deal this year & my 2017 vehicle depreciated enough for us to see this drop in insuring costs.
* Vehicle Maintenance / Registration / Gas: $2k
* Pets & Animals (two cats and many chickens): $600- This includes chicken food, litter, and cat food costs.
* Groceries: $4k
* Healthcare/Medical: $3.6k - Includes health premiums and payments for all things medical, dental, and vision.
* Entertainment: $1k - Tickets to events, day trips, etc.
* Clothing / Shoes: $500 - Largely includes shoes & winter/summer apparel to stay comfortable. I should probably buy new socks & underwear this year but damn, undies are pricey and no one gets to see them.
* House Maintenance & Tools: $20k - See above. Estimating major repairs to homestead this year that will not be recouped in rent, as well as maintenance/landscaping at House 2. We had some preventative foundation work done this year to House 2 that cost $1.7k and the homestead is looking to be a doozy this year.
* 529 Contributions: $500
* General Merchandise: $1.3k - Basically my Amazon bucket. Anything that isn't included above, including a few bulk food items like nuts, gifts, bike parts, tools, etc.
* Hobbies: $1.5k - Mostly beekeeping. Added $500 to this category for whatever hobby DH happens to have each month.
* Postage & Shipping: $50
* Restaurants: $250 - I plan to eat out at least a few times this year now that COVID is less of a concern. Most of this will be spent on quality Indian food :)
Total annual expenses WITHOUT house repairs: ~$35k
Likely annual expenses this year AFTER house repairs: ~$55k
Expected ER expenses: Healthcare still a black box and makes planning... difficult. There's no way we're RE'ing in <5 years so going to not worry too much about what we would end up actually spending. Also, it is becoming clear that being in love with an old house is expensive and there will be plenty of repairs and maintenance that we need to budget for. Assuming we don't spend $10k+ on healthcare after we stop working for insurance, we could leanFIRE on ~$40k, fat FIRE on ~$80k. Likely actual spend will be somewhere in between.
Assets:
* 401k/457/403b/Rollover IRAs: $459k
* Roth IRAs: $102k
* HSA: $15.7k
* Brokerage: $118k
* Inflation protected fund (DH): $70k
* Stock Options: $5.3k
* Cash: $50k
* I bonds: $15k
* Home equity (house #1): $500k
* Home equity (house #2): $340k - If we sold, assuming would pay 6% in realtor fees and would net $320k. Hoping to explore FSBO though...
* Vehicles: $20k (2004 Prius and 2017 Prius Prime, not included in total assets)
Total Assets (including all home equity): $1.65m
Total Assets (excluding House #1, since we do not plan to sell): $1.15m
Notes/Thoughts:
Still chugging along here. We are doing well on paper, but want to plan for a more luxurious lifestyle in FIRE and have plenty of work left in us. With that said, progress toward full FIRE and the security it brings seems to have slowed down this last 6 months, with a return to preschool eating up a good chunk of my paycheck and with stocks wavering.
We have a goal to save $100k for our 3yo to receive when he's an adult in a combination of a 529, brokerage account, and Roth IRA (when he's old enough to work). I haven't included those numbers previously and they are also not included in our assets above, but we are doing well with this goal and have at least $20k set aside so far.
When I last posted I mentioned becoming licensed foster parents. This has been SO SLOW y'all. We began discussions with the county and got on a wait list for training, and decided to work with a private agency. But that's taken a long time too it seems. First we had to get all these background checks and forms to them, and our social worker left the organization so her supervisor has to get up to speed with our case before we can even begin the required classes. Ugh. Luckily I'm not in a major rush or anything, but I would like to get this going within a year to find out if it's for us. I didn't realize it would be a 6+ month process just to start classes. In an ideal world, we would eventually find a good fit and be called to adoption. If not, I might consider having a second child biologically. Or heck, maybe we'll be one and done. Regardless, I feel compelled to pursue fostering as a service and as a parent. Wish we could get some traction on this front.
DH continues to commute a long distance 2x/week during the school year for his job but likes the arrangement overall. He's not actually having to pull more than 20h/week now that he has classes set up the way he likes. I would love for him to consider RE in like, 5 years or so.
Work is pretty good. I'm WFH on average 1.5 days per week. I think I need to seriously consider other options in a year (right around the time we intend to move to the homestead), both to get a pay bump and to have a tolerable commute.