Doctor Octagon, paramedic Fetus of the East
Detailed breakdown as follows. I don't really track things anymore and do this intuitively - remember, wasting time having to budget is another time-loss expense. Do it by heart and invest more time in your 'love' job and 'love' hobbies:
TYPICAL MONTHLY EXPENSES $1,590
$635/month housing
-2 bedroom 550 sq ft apartment instead of big house for the past 10 years.
-I was awarded a lease at income-restricted housing in 2007. You can live there forever after 2 years of being below the income threshold. My rent is $635/month, $500/month lower than the going rates everywhere else in town
-Automatic transfer 1 week before rent due date from bank. Keeps landlords happy and my tenancy on the A list.
$350/month food
-I eat out a lot but it's usually fast food and I eat small portions
-Lots of oats, lentils, and rice with spices when not eating out, cheap.
-Prep meals for the week to save time, which lets me make more money
-This number may go higher as I buy brews or meals for buddies.
$200/month gas/utilities/maintenance on car
-Approximate split between gas bill and power bill
$70/month internet
$10/month renters' insurance
$25/month car insurance
$200/month entertainment budget
-Trips/travel, purchasing 'stuff' for fun. Surplus unused cash in this category builds up and is used for vacations.
Home office: $0 extra overhead for business
$0 car payment: My parents never had to spend on my college because of strong performance and scholarships, so they bought me a decent car which I have owned now for a long time.
$100/month health insurance
-Health insurance offered through employer with $100 out of pocket. See below for explanation
$?????? no kids and a minimalist girlfriend
-Significant other doesn't want kids for some time, rents a room in a house, owns virtually no stuff, and is a big saver herself. Not materialist. She gives me crap for working hard but knew me before the "FIREment" and is very happy I am doing what I love now.
TYPICAL MONTHLY INCOME $8,000-$13,000
$4,500/month - One of my customers offered me a full-time position with the perk of totally flexible scheduling around all of my other customers' work, so I collect 45/week in pay with some weeks requiring no work from the big customer/employer. I can then stack time with all of my other customers as long as job performance is solid at the big employer. They don't care and hired me with this being a mutual agreement.
$5,000/month - IT business. Lots of time arbitrage exists where I bill a minimum of one hour for a task, complete the task in 5 minutes, and can stack 3-4 billed tasks one after another. On a good day it's possible to make $1,500. I arbitrage billed travel time to customers. If I visit 3 businesses that are all next to each other, but the sites are 15 minutes away from my office, I still bill them all .5 hour in round trip travel time even though net travel time is a third of that. I have several customers who don't want to deal with hourly rates and pay me flat rate monthly, which can be free money if you are a competent administrator and there are no problems.
-IT Business income is boom and bust. I can go a month without a single job, and a month that has me pulling 15k. Average is 5k.
$900/month - dividends from taxable brokerage account and IRA. Assets are 35% Vanguard index funds; 30% berkshire hathaway; 10% hot tech; 20% dividend aristocrat blue chips, and 5% high risk speculative stuff. Entire taxable account is leveraged with a ratio of 1/6. 10% of holdings are 3x leveraged index funds. During market corrections I massively up the leverage ratio. I take on as much risk as I possibly can as long as it can be covered in the event of a margin call by my earnings.
$????? Capital appreciation from assets - we can leave out unrealized capital appreciation from my taxable and IRAs, but that adds an additional 50,000 in net worth gain August 2014.
END GAME - What am I planning on doing with this setup and my assets?
-Nothing, letting assets compound and reinvest dividends
-Help out friends and family with the money - if someone has a medical emergency I could make a difference.
-Buying a fancy sports car, $35k price target. I have enough cash flow from the dividend stream of the assets to live forever even with the purchase without significantly affecting long term net worth. Subaru WRX - the mustachian choice, as it has maintenance costs comparable to any consumer vehicle, and is reliable.
-Travel, eventually. No immediate plans.
Feel free to ask any other questions.
