September Update: Electricity Reduction, Net Worth, Wiseguy, Euro

My work picked up in September, and life felt like it regained a some sense of normalcy. I was concerned with the ongoings at my job, and there were work politics and friendships to manage. Since I'm not traveling, I could devote myself to my hobbies and to fitness. My wife took new bold steps in her business and is attracting new better-paying customers.

With a moment's reflection, it becomes clear that things are not normal. For one example, we've done a good job lowering our electricity usage by reducing the temperature of our showers. Lukewarm is the best description. We've relegated using our clothes drier to being emergency use only. I've tuned our Synology to only turn on and back up our computers at night. I wake up and immediately unplug the chargers in my bedside table, since they're mini computers, drawing a small current at all times. Lights come on and are shut off quickly. The fridge and freezer are less cold. The kitchen water heater isn't as hot. I cook food in bulk and eat it throughout the week.

We also haven't used our radiators at all yet. It's starting to get chilly in Germany, but we are resisting using them until it's absolutely necessary. We've always kept hot water bottles, and so we've used those when the chill was too oppressive.

For our efforts, our electricity was reduced to 193.4 kWh in September, down from an average of 259.75 kWh per month in the first half of 2022. That's about a 26% reduction. As the weather cools and the sunshine becomes ever shorter, our usage will inevitably creep back up, but I continue to look for other ways to reduce our demand here.

Net Worth Changes

Image: our net worth in a stacked bar chart. The dark blue line is the net sum of assets and liabilities.

Our net worth fell 3.66% in USD and 1.89% in EUR to $117,080 and €119,469 respectively.

For this month, it was entirely due to declines in our stock and ETF portfolios. There was one area of - short term - good news, when Store Capital agreed to be bought out at a premium to what I paid, which brought in a sudden burst of profit. However, this could not counteract the declines elsewhere.

Cash

I continue to hold what are, for me, substantial cash positions. Additionally, my IRA remains in a money market fund as the trend following rule triggering a purchase has not been met. As interest rates rise, these sums bring in ever greater monthly income. However, that is not enough to counteract the S&P 500's regular down 1% days in any meaningful way.

Wiseguy Portfolio

Image: The Wiseguy Portfolio (green line) vs. S&P 500 (red line) in September

The Wiseguy Portfolio did what it should have in September, but it was cold comfort. It "only" fell by 8.51% vs. the S&P 500's 9.87%. I continue to add to it, however, and I add to that which has done most poorly. In October, I added exclusively to the international small cap value fund, since that had been the most battered. In September, unfortunately, we didn't have the income to make a purchase.

Euro

The euro continues to decline, which leaves me conflicted. On the one hand, I'm worried because I earn euros, and although a $500 addition per month to the Wiseguy Portfolio will likely be enough on its own to make us wealthy over time, if $500 per month becomes out of reach, my plan may come undone.

Image: Our net worth in euros over time. Notice the lower volatility.

On the other, I feel ganz schön clever for having all these dollar assets, because in euros, our net worth has been much more stable than the dollar equivalent. My US bank accounts have grown in euros over time by just sitting there.

As I said. Conflicted.

Life Goes On

Despite all the worries, we're trying to live our lives as happily as we can. I have lived without hot water entirely at one point in my life, and it had no effect on my happiness. Ultimately, relationships are wealth, and we've had some social occasions this last month that reinforced that truth. Additionally, we expect my sibling to visit in Christmas, which excites me to no end.

It's a frightening time, but human life is more than the numbers and more than the creature comforts.

Until next time, stay healthy and hug those who need hugging.

March 2022: Net Worth, Q1 End Portfolio, Stock-Picking?

This is late.

In March, our net worth rose by 2.83% and 3.38% to $124,495 and €111,555 respectively.

Long story short: the stock market rallied in March, and my positions were brought along for the ride. I also sold off some of the camera stuff that I mentioned in February, which brought in some cash.

Here's my portfolio at the end of March:

A few notes:

• Berkshire Hathaway has grown into the largest position in the portfolio, overtaking my tax advantaged IRAs. Berkshire has done very well this year, and it's helped bolster the portfolio against some of the volatility.
• My tax advantaged accounts are still in a money market fund since the Vanguard Total World Stock Index is still below its 10 week moving average.
• A lot of positions are in significant drawdowns from their previous highs.

Do I Want to Keep Picking Stocks?

With all that, I'm considering whether I want to keep picking stocks. I devote a lot of time to this practice, and the results I get are - thus far at least - fine. Not disastrous. Not brilliant. I've basically performed as well as VT has over the past few years, while also spending a lot more time on the project.

At the same time, I have other activities I'd much rather be doing. I have a side hustle I'd like to build up. I'd like to spend more time developing my "hopes and dreams" career. When I listen to podcasts, they're usually investing podcasts. When I do research, it's often stock research. What if I could get rid of those activities and just focus on the stuff that truly brings me joy?

But then I remember I'm an expat and I'd be signing up for tax and reporting hassles. Doesn't mean I won't change this up at some point, but a decision that I could just choose were I living in the US is much more complicated.

This is the dilemma faced by American expats in Europe. I kind of want to get off this train, but the alternative is misrepresenting my actual address to a US brokerage and putting a lot of my assets in it in order to have access to US ETFs. I'm not comfortable with that, but I'm getting tired of waking up and thinking about or worrying about stocks and stock prices and trying to determine where I should put my money every month. I could just buy a few ETFs and be done with it, but then I'd be creating my own tax data and all that crap.

This is stupid. This is all so stupid, and these governments can't be bothered to actually fix the problem for us.

April Outlook

Well, April is almost over, so I have a good idea what's up.

My stocks have performed badly, but basically in line with the overall market.

We've spent some money on travel. We likely won't save much because of it. There's a family medical emergency in the US my wife is attending to, and that kind of stuff supersedes stock investments.

I've made a little money on the side, but I've also spent a good amount, so it's kind of a wash. On the whole, this camera switch has been expensive.

I also went to France for a weekend on someone else's dime. But it felt dishonorable to rely on their money the whole time, so I paid for some of it myself.

Until next time. Stay healthy, save what you can, and remember that your relationships are wealth.

Relationships are Wealth

I'll keep this one short: it's important to develop your relationships with other people, even if it means spending your money. Relationships are wealth.

Getting a bunch of money feels like scoring a bunch of points in a video game. Like, good job. But if you do it by increasingly strangling your life and sacrificing your relationships, then what's the point? Good relationships can't be bought, and they can't be easily found either.

Anyway, I'm feeling lonely tonight. Saturday was net worth calculation day, and so while I was feeling lonely, I was staring at my newly increased net worth in the spreadsheet. And I felt like a fool.

My Baby Boomer Parent is Poor

I have a ticking time bomb in my family, and it’s ticking in the background of every financial and life decision I make.

Namely, I have a baby boomer parent who has absolutely nothing saved for retirement. In fact, they're loaded with debt. That includes student loans and who knows what else. I don't have a full picture of how bad the situation is, but I don't really need it. It's bad.

And I don't know what to do about it. I keep hoping for some miracle to arrive to salvage the situation, but that's looking increasingly unlikely. The last set of potential miracles have to do with inheritances from a very elderly relative, but even then it's a long shot, and whatever inheritance there is might not cover them for any more than a decade or so.

The trouble with relying on inheritances is that they can vanish quickly due to medical costs. A person may have assets, and then suddenly they don’t any more due to the high costs of end-of-life care. Additionally, my parent has proven that they aren't especially good with money, and I don't exactly see why that would change with an inheritance.

The most likely solution is that my sibling and I will have to subsidize this parent. We're both working and earning decent middle class incomes. But adding in another recurring expense isn't something I'm relishing exactly, and it will absolutely jeopardize other life goals that I/we have.

We're Probably Not Alone in This

I think there are a lot of us millennials who are facing similar realities. It's funny: there's a lot of worry about how it's hard for young people to afford housing in modern America, but it's also true for those entering retirement age without any real assets or income streams. If you got into a home in the 70's or 80's and held onto it, you're probably sitting pretty, but if you didn't or uprooted yourself as my family often did, you might be facing serious hardship to afford housing.

Add in the fact that we millennials are behind other generations in terms of wealth due to various factors, and a poor parent becomes another financial stressor.

Potential Strife in the Family

But it is more than financial. It’s a relationship stressor. It’s the kind of thing that leads to resentment.

For example, I don't think my parent could stay where they currently live because it's just too expensive. But then where to go? And who gets to decide? And what if they refuse? And the parent lives near my sibling now, but after a move they’d have to be substantially further away due to COL issues. I don’t want them to feel banished in any way, but how can we afford the current location? It's an overwhelming series of questions, frankly, and none of the answers are likely to make anyone happy.

Naturally, this is also a potential recipe for marital strife. If one spouse wants to subsidize their parent, but the other doesn't, then who wins in that scenario? Or does everyone lose? Luckily for us (ha ha) we each have one parent who will likely be in a similar situation.

Because we're abroad, we're spared in some sense from the immediacy of the challenge, but we're also limited in the help we can offer. I can't just run over and repair something or move something. I do a fair amount of tech support over chat or FaceTime, when I could more easily just fix those problems myself were I there in person.

This naturally puts a lot of pressure on my sibling back home, and I recognize how unfair it is. However, because of my strange career, I'd be less financially helpful if I dropped everything and moved back. When I followed my current career, I couldn’t see the future and plot just how little the parent's financial situation would improve. Had I, I might have done something different. I love this person. I do not want them to suffer.

Self Sacrifice Within Limits

With that I have to say: I still have my life to live, and I don't want the latter half of my life primarily dictated by subsidizing a parent.

To sum up, this is one of those known/unknowns in my life. How bad will this be, and when will the hammer fall? I could find out any day now.

Please forgive my vague pronouns. I'm trying to maintain anonymity for myself and everyone around me while discussing this stuff, so I try to be as precise as possible about the situation and as vague as possible about the identities.