financial goals

March Financial Update

mrsonedollarallowanceLeave a comment

Well, tracking spending is just bugging me. We’re over where I want to be in monthly spending. I registered the kids for summer camps, so that was $580 more than usual spending. I also paid for a kid to take swim lessons ($85) and our gymnastics cost went up because she earned a spot in an advanced class that’s a half hour longer. If I take out the camp registration cost, then our spending is about $1700. My goal is $1350 per month. That’s not what we can actually afford (Mr. ODA’s number is higher), and I’m learning may not be realistic, but that’s my general goal each month. I’m halfway into March and can tell you that we’re going to be nowhere near that number this month, which is frustrating, but also reality.

RENTALS

We had two service calls this last month. One was a water heater being out and the other was unnecessary but cost us $100. This lady has actually been a problem in this realm. She claimed the mail key didn’t work for weeks and took forever to respond to messages. Mr. ODA finally went over there and it turned out she was trying the wrong box and not paying attention to what Mr. ODA was telling her. Then she said the microwave wasn’t working. The circuit was tripped, and Mr. ODA let her know that she can’t run an airfryer and microwave at the same time. Then she said the washing machine wasn’t working. We had an appliance guy go out and he said, “it’s working fine. There’s not supposed to be any more water than this in a high efficiency machine.” So much fun.

I’m expecting a tenant to move out at the end of this month. I still haven’t heard the final information on that, which isn’t surprising, but that’s on the horizon.

I increased the rent on two units over the last couple of weeks, which is in addition to a raise I put into effect on another one last month. I also have let three renew at the rate they were at the past year (or more) based on their cash flow numbers and the tenants in there.

PERSONAL

I’m still working part time. Although, these hours are 50% more than I had signed up for. I’m helping get another office organized and training a new hire. It’s been a lot. I feel productive, but I want more hours in my day. Mr. ODA started a part time job as well. We’re on the hunt for insurance help. We’re paying out of pocket for the whole policy that we were under for the last 5-6 years. While we’re not expecting a lot of coverage to be paid by the employer, there is a benefit to having the funds come out pretax.

NET WORTH

Well, my update isn’t really that accurate. I’ve updated the numbers I could, but I’m already days behind on my schedule, so I couldn’t wait for Mr. ODA’s numbers anymore. We are still carrying half of the window order on credit cards (and that install should be next week… hopefully… it’s been pushed back once already). Our investments are down even more than last month, but I don’t know the extent at this time. Our net worth decreased from last month, with 10 accounts not updated, so I’d say it’s a substantial hit.

January Financial Update

mrsonedollarallowanceLeave a comment

As an intro for newbies: I write a monthly finance post. These posts started out as a way to manage our dollars spent per category. It evolved to show insight into my monthly money management and thought process. It’s also meant as a way to remind people that they should be looking at their money regularly.

Every month, I’m looking back at my spending, looking at trends on the higher level (e.g., why is my credit card higher than I expected), and sharing the rental property expenses and activities that I’ve accomplished.

I typically post on Thursdays. Unfortunately, life got in the way. I had 98% of this written, but I hadn’t updated our accounts until 10 pm, so this is now posting off-schedule, on Friday morning. Sorry about that!

RENTALS

I suppose with 13 houses, it’s inevitable that I’ll have to keep track of one.. or a few.. to collect their rent. One tenant is set up to pay twice per month (they pay a premium for this). They paid both parts of December late, and the first part of January late. They pay a late fee with that. I had two other tenants pay late by a few days, but they communicated this up front, and I didn’t collect late fees.

I’ve been sharing that I have a tenant who has been behind on rent since October 1 and has communicated very poorly. By the end of December, she was caught up with rent due, but no late fees. We’re now 11 days into January without any payment. My frustration with her was that she didn’t communicate at all for the first two months, and didn’t keep her word on anything that she said she was going to do, but didn’t tell us that something would change. I always say that I’m willing to help and work with you, but you have to talk to me. If I have to beg you to tell me what the plan is, I can’t help.

I paid a carpet cleaner $250 and paid a painter $2000 for a house that we’re turning over. The carpet was new before the last tenant, but they were there for over 3 years, so it had to be done. They didn’t damage the walls, but my property manager said that all the walls looked like different colors, and I didn’t trust “touching up” 4 year old paint. The paint looks amazing, so I’m happy I went for the whole house.

I paid just over $1000 as a deposit on 3 new windows for a house, which are scheduled to be replaced on Monday (a couple of weeks for new windows far exceeded my expectations!). We had replaced the majority of windows when we bought the house. However, at the time, the kitchen and bathroom windows were considered an irregular size, and we were told they were going to be $2000 just themselves, when we were paying $2000 for all the other windows. I don’t know what pricing scheme changed in 5 years, but now all sizes are the same price, and the 3 of them are $2000 now.

We had a tenant ask to be released from his lease, which we concurred to. We had terms associated with that, which I’ll share in a separate post. We were able to get a couple into that house with no loss of rent, which has been appreciated.

We’re under contract with our handyman to do work on a house, so that’s over $5,000 of cost that is waiting to rear its head out there.

PERSONAL

This was a month of spending in activities. I signed up for a 5k in August with “early bird” pricing, our daughter’s acro class had semester tuition due, and the kids’ monthly school tuition was paid as usual. Mr. ODA bought a new battery for his car and installed that. On somewhat of a whim, we replaced our back door, which was over $1100 added to Mr. ODA’s credit card.

Just before Christmas, we took a trip. It was just to Cincinnati, which we regularly do as a day-trip. However, we wanted to accomplish a few things this time around. We went to Top Golf for 90 minutes and lunch, let the baby nap at the AirBnB, went to Zoo Lights, spent the night, and then went skiing the next morning (the kids’ first time!). We already purchased season passes (and equipment) for skiing for 4 of us, and had already purchased the zoo annual membership. Without the cost of those two things, our trip cost $330 for Top Golf, lodging, parking (we stayed in the city), a ski lesson for our 5 year old, and food. Our lodging for 1 night was nearly $200 and was significantly more than we’d typically spend on lodging. However, we’re still in a phase of life where the baby needs the be in a space by himself so he sleeps for a nap and through the night. That means we look for a place with at least 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, or 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom (bonus points for master-sized closets or an extra bathroom with no windows for me to black out). We then made 2 day trips since then, and the kids are doing awesome on skis.

NET WORTH

Our cash has decreased, but that was offset to taxable investments because of our Treasury Direct accounts. Even with our extra spending, our credit card balances are comparable to last month’s. The increase in net worth from last month is mostly due to increases in our investment accounts.

This year’s goal is to hit $4 million net worth. Mr. ODA said that to our financial advisor via Instagram, and he didn’t share that publicly because it wasn’t relatable. The point in sharing here is that, well it’s January and people set goals, and to note that even if this goal specifically isn’t attainable to you in the short term, know that we also once had an account balance well below where we’re currently at. Consistent investing in the market (maxing out the 401k, maxing out the Roth IRAs, and establishing regular investing and watching the market) is a large contributing factor to where we are 10 years later. If I take the investment properties out of the equation, we’re still over $2 million net worth. That doesn’t happen overnight, and it’s something you can start working towards today.