Happy Halloween! Another month is in the books. October was much kinder to my psyche than September… But how did our finances fare?
As always, you can check the latest and greatest info on the Track Our Progress page.
First, the numbers:
Net Worth:
- End of October Balance: $382,660 Down $4,749 (-1.23%)
- Year to Date (YTD): Up $77,660 (25.46%)
Portfolio:
- End of October Balance: $271,677 Down $-14,490 (-5.06%)
- YTD: Up $31,677 (13.2%)
Monthly Contributions: $7,443.59 Up 42%
I feel like our monthly performance is best summarized by Tom Petty singing Free Fallin’
Like a plane trying to land on a windy day, our portfolio value plummeted violently and with little warning. As a result we lost about 3 months of gains. (Side note: since we haven’t sold anything we really haven’t lost anything… which is quite comforting in the face of sharp drops like this)
The good news is that we were able to stash a bunch more cash this month… with stocks being on a relative sale, we feel good that we were able to take advantage.
That said, the sale really isn’t that great, historically speaking. As it sits at the time of this post, the S&P 500 has a Shiller CAPE ratio (Cyclically Adjusted Price to Earning Ratio – based on average inflation-adjusted earnings over the last 10 years) of more than 30. A blow out sale would involve a CAPE ratio of around 15. (note: you can find a chart showing the Shiller CAPE ratio for the S&P 500 at multpl.com).
But nonetheless, our contributions this month should have better long term earnings than most of our contributions from earlier this year.
October Highlights
DISNEY WORLD!
We had an awesome trip to take our girls to Disney World. Since I’ve never been there, it was as much an eye-opener to me as it was to them! The sheer size and complexity of that place is mind blowing. On the flip side: The prices had me like:
Especially food. We had groceries delivered to our room which helped significantly cut down on food costs, but we still probably spent an entire month’s grocery budget or more during our week stay.
Of course on the way back from Disney I was listening to the Choose FI podcast and they were discussing how to travel hack your Disney World stay for free!
Oh well. there’s always next time… more on that later.
FI Win of the Month
A good friend of ours that lives nearby tipped us off that they were able to lower their internet bill with the same provider we had. After about a 5 minute phone call we were able to negotiate a lower monthly bill for our internet. We will save about 30% per month… and the kicker is that the internet speed is supposed to double!
Coming Up in November
Travel Hacking
As I mentioned earlier, I have been binging the Choose FI podcasts from the beginning and their focus on travel rewards really piqued my interest. As a result, my wife and I have been inspired to try our hands at travel hacking. I just opened up our first travel rewards card and I’m looking forward to racking up the points!
Bathroom Remodel Kickoff
We’ve been kicking around the idea of remodeling our daughters’ bathroom for the last year or two. It’s really outdated and in need of a freshening up. Besides, I can’t go too long without a big DIY project! Anyways, we will get this started around mid-November. As a side benefit, this should provide much of the spending needed to reach the minimum spend required for the 50,000 travel rewards point bonus on the new card! That’s at least $500 in free travel and perhaps much more!
Thanks for reading and check back in next week!
I think most people experienced a net worth dip this past month thanks to the stock market.
Nice job on getting a lower internet bill, though! That’s a solid financial win 🙂
Thanks Zach! The market giveth and taketh away, but over the long term it tends to give more than take. But dips like last month is a reminder it really is a ride (think roller coaster).