May 2021 Goals & Financial Update - Retire by 40 (2024)

Hey, everyone. Summer is here! The weather is beautiful and it really cheers me up. We got our second Covid vaccine shot in May. Now, we feel a lot more comfortable going out without a mask. On Saturday, we ate out for the first time in over a year. We’ve been meaning to try this neighborhood Indian restaurant for a long time. The food was perfect. It was really great to be able to go out again. I’m very optimistic for this summer. We have two road trips planned and probably will take many day trips too. It really feels like we’re coming out of this Covid pandemic.

On the personal finance side, we had another great month. Our net worth hit a new high again! The stock market keeps going up. I’m starting to get leery, though. How long can it keep this up? Now is a good time to take a little profit and diversify if you can. I sold some stocks to invest in commercial real estate with CrowdStreet. This will help generate passive income when Mrs. RB40 retires next year. Our cash flow was also good in May. Things are going quite well.

2021 Goals

This is my 2021 goal sheet. It works really well. Try it out if you can’t keep up with your New Year goals. The key is to go over the spreadsheet at least once a month to track your progress. That way, you can see which goals need extra attention.

All right! 2021 is turning out to be a great year for me. I already accomplished 6 of my goals and I’m making good progress on the rest. (I made modest goals because 2020 was such a crazy year.) Here are the details.

Financial Goals

• Real Estate Crowdfunding $150,000. In April, I invested in an apartment renovation project near Seattle. I have high hope for this one. The housing market in that area is hot. Recently, the projects on CrowdStreet got funded very quickly. I think investors are taking profit from the stock market and diversifying. That’s a great idea, but finding a solid alternative investment can be difficult. This is where CrowdStreet comes in. It’s a great way in invest in commercial real estate.
• FI Ratio > 110%.As usual, this is my main goal for 2021. TheFI ratio is passive income divide by expense. We are doing quite well so far this year. We are spending less money than usual because of the pandemic. I’m very happy with 120% FI ratio.
• 1-year cash for Mrs. RB40 mini ER. Mrs. RB40 plans to take a mini-retirement in 2022. I want to have a nice cash cushion before then. Usually, we spend less than $50,000 per year so that’s my target. Currently, we have about $23,000 in our saving account.
• Side hustle income > $3,000. Mission accomplished! This goal is just for fun. Side hustling is a good way for early retirees to keep busy and stay active. This year I plan to charge scooters, take surveys, and sign up for cash bonuses. In May, I made $2,520 from charging scooters. Wow! It was the best month ever. It seems like most people moved on to do something else. Delivering food is probably a better gig since you get tips. But I’m happy with charging scooters because I don’t have to interact with anyone. Heh. It’s also good exercise for me. Although, I probably should cut back a bit. I’m spending a bit too much time on this side gig, 10-20 hours/week.

RB40

• Refresh Retire by 40 – Done! Whew! I finally completed this goal. It has been on this list for over 2 years. This work required a big block of time and focus. I just couldn’t do it at home. I only finished because I was stuck in quarantine for 2 weeks and could focus on it. I hope you like the new design.
• 1,000 subscribers on my YouTube channel. Currently, we have 316 subscribers on our YouTube channel. We didn’t upload any video in May. I was too busy trying to finish up our taxes. Making video clips is hard!

Personal Goals

• Visit Thailand. Done! I got back from Thailand in February. I spent 6 weeks there to check on my mom and reconnect with families and friends. It was great. I would love to retire there 6 months/year.
• Weight < 135 lbs. Done! In Thailand, the serving size was much smaller than what I’m used to. I lost weight and it is now 133 pounds. Hopefully, I’ll be able to keep it under 135pounds for the rest of 2021.
• Estate planning. Done! We started the process with our lawyer last year. I thought it won’t be done until March, but we completed it right before I went to Thailand. That’s perfect timing.
• V for vasectomy. I saw my doctor for an annual physical before I flew to Thailand. She said she can refer me to someone when I get back. We don’t want any more kids. This one is WIP.
• Happiness level > 8. May was a 9. I had a relaxing time and didn’t stress out much. The weather was really nice as well. I also got my 2^nd vaccine shot and went out to a restaurant! It was a great month.

Net Worth (+9.3%YTD)

I’ve beentracking our net worth since 2006 and it is very motivating to see our progress. Our net worth is up by 9.3% since the beginning of 2021. That’s excellent. IMO. My annual net worth target is +10% per year. We are almost there! 2021 is a great year for businesses. People are ready to spend and investors will profit from that mentality. Let’s see if the market can keep on rising…

Here is a chart of our net worth from Personal Capital.

*Sign up for a free account at Personal Capital to help manage your net worth and investment accounts. I log in almost every day to check on our accounts. It’s a great site for DIY investors.

2021 Passive Income ($15,863 YTD)

Here is a quick summary of our passive income. You can see all the details on myPassive Income page.

April was a great month on the passive income side.

• Real estate crowdfunding: I received $343 from our investments. This should improve as more projects stabilize.
• Rental income: Our tenant is back from Europe! We made $533 from our rentals in May.
• Dividend: We received $779 from our dividend portfolio. That’s pretty good.

At the end of May, our FI ratio was 120%. That’s excellent, but it’s mostly due to low spending. Our passive income is still a little low.

*FI ratio = passive income/expense

May 2021 Cash Flow

Our cash flow was great in May. We didn’t spend much and saved 61% of our income.

Here is the Sankey diagram. You can get a quick overview and see the details below.

Gross Income: $15,197

Our gross income was solid last month. Any month with $15,000+ income is a very good month.

• Mrs. RB40’s job: $8,663.
• Blog income: $2,350. We had a good month at RB40.
• Real estate crowdfunding:$343. A good month for RE crowdfunding. You can read more at theRE Crowdfunding Passive Income page.
• Rental income:$533. Woohoo! Our tenant is back in town. Now, we’ll have positive cash flow this year. Read more at theRental Property Passive Income page.
• Dividend Income:$779. Slow month for dividend income. See more details on myDividend Passive Income page.
• Interest Income:$9.
• Side hustle & Misc:$2,520. I charged a ton of scooters in May. The weather was nice and people are out a lot more. I also made $10 from ProductTube for sunscreen shopping.

Monthly Spending: $2,769

This year, I plan to spend about $50,000. So ourmonthly spending budgetis $4,166/month. May was another low spend month. We just don’t have a lot of expenses right now.

• Housing: $1,261. This category includes mortgage, home insurance, HOA fees, property taxes, utilities, home improvement, repair, and furnishing.
• Parents: $500. My brothers and I each sent $500/month to my parent. They don’t have much retirement savings. Fortunately, they live in Thailand so $1,500 is enough. I also own the condo they live in so their housing expense is very small.
• Groceries: $404. Wow, that’s low. I don’t know exactly why it was so low last month. The previous month, we spent about $650. I guess it balanced out

Here are some of the dinners I made.

Green curry noodles – This dish was really good. I used Indian eggplants instead of Thai eggplants, but they worked well. Our son didn’t like it, though. He said it was spicy. I didn’t think it was spicy at all.

Okonomiyaki – Family’s favorite. This is super easy to make once you have all the ingredients.

Fajita – Mrs. RB40 made chicken fajitas. Mmmm… fajitas.

• Bills: $23. (This is just life insurance. Water, gas, and electric bills are included in the housing category.)
• Transportation: $204. This was for gasoline, insurance, public transportation, and maintenance. I also got a battery jump starter and an air pump for the tire.
• Entertainment: $111. We went out once and ordered takeout twice. .
• Kid: $0.
• Pet: $26.
• Travel: $0.
• Health: $96. Doctor appointment and prescriptions.
• Clothing: $35. Mrs. RB40 got a new pair of boots.
• Misc: $108.School’s fundraiser.

Others

I don’t count these as personal spending.

• Taxes and deductions: $3,230. I sent in the art tax and various other local taxes.

2021 Savings ($44,644 YTD)

Alright! 2021 is going very well for us.

• Joe’s 401k: $14,500.
• Mrs. RB40’s 401k: $7,500. She contributes $750 every paycheck.
• Roth IRAs: $5,000
• 529 College Savings: $2,000.
• Extra savings: $15,644

YTD 2021 saving rate = 63%

May 2021 wrap up

May was another great month for us. Our income streams were all strong and we didn’t spend much. Our net worth hit a new high again. Real life was great too. 2021 is turning out to be a very good year. Hopefully, we can keep this up for the rest of the year. We need a good year to prepare for Mrs. RB40’s early retirement next year.

How was May for you? I hope you had a great month as well.

*Sign up for a free account at Personal Capitalto help manage your net worth and investment accounts. I log in almost every day to check on our accounts. It’s a great site for DIY investors.

Disclosure: We may receive a referral fee if you purchase or signup for a service through the links on this page.