Net Worth Update: November 2019

Our net worth increased 3.56% in USD and 4.03% in EUR to $57,087 and €51.756 respectively.

This was a surprisingly good result considering some large expenses. Once again, the stock market performed well. Our taxable brokerage account -- excluding deposited money -- climbed about 5% during the month. The IRAs climbed 3%.

On the expenses front, I finally got the bill for the dental work, and it was as quoted and expensive. Thankfully my health insurance chipped in their part quickly after I'd paid the bill in full, which cut down the cost by a third. I still have some other expected reimbursement sources that will hopefully chip in during the next month.

Our groceries budget was again really high. We had a Thanksgiving feast with some American friends, and we chipped in on some of the costs. But I doubt that was the whole story, and I hope this isn't a new normal.

December Outlook

On the income side, I'll receive my Christmas bonus from work, which adds up to 1/3 of a full month's pay. We also expect to receive the money from my wife's relative who helps subsidize my wife's music lessons. I realize how lucky we are for that.

As mentioned, I expect to receive additional reimbursement for the dental work. It won't cover the whole cost, but it will be enough that the total cost will have been significantly brought down.

We'll have to pay our estimated taxes in December, and that will be a large hit. My wife, due to a US trip, will have worked less in November, which will lower her December income.

We also need to buy my wife a new computer since hers finally died. I'll need to write a separate post about that since that previous computer gave us excellent value over its life.

Net Worth Update: October, 2019

Our numbers increased to $55,126 and €49,753, which is a month over month rise by 5.97% and 4.44% respectively.

This was almost entirely due to the performance of the stock market. If you follow the market at all, you know that the S&P 500 hit new all-time highs in October, and that momentum brought my collection of individual names along for the ride. I'm finally back in the black, and I'm curious if it will actually stick this time or not.

We saved just under €1500 of our income, which amounts to a 34% savings rate (of the money that comes into our tax account). We overspent in October though, so that's going to cut into the amount I can save in November.

We also bought a plane ticket for my wife to visit her family in the USA. Ticket prices were reasonable, and she wants to support a family member who's going through a tough time.

Improved Groceries Spending?

Although I'd hoped we could keep our grocery bill down, we ultimately spent much more than budgeted this month. I'm still a bit confused about the result.

Part of the challenge is that I've joined a gym and am working out a lot. I need to eat more because of this, and at first, I was trying to do it with cheap bulk options like lentils, onions, oatmeal, frozen peas, etc., but my digestive system just couldn't handle it. I've eaten plenty of high fibre foods in my life, and the amount of discomfort I experienced eating these less expensive options was confusing.

I'm still trying to eat mostly cheap foods, but there's no escaping that I'm eating more of everything, and that has a cost. On the other side of the ledger, my alcohol consumption has dropped significantly, which is a major savings.

First Credit Card Product Change

I followed through with a product change from the Citi ThankYou Premier after the annual fee hit my statement. I tried asking for a retention bonus, but the bank had nothing for me, so I product changed to the Rewards+ card and got the fee refunded. We'll get to keep the accumulated points, so I'll be on the lookout for a chance to use them at some point.

Before I switched the card, I did the math, and it didn't make any sense to have two cards with annual fees. I couldn't spend enough to accumulate enough points to justify the fees on two different cards. Part of the challenge is that so much stuff in Germany still can't be paid for with a credit card. Because bank transfers are so easy here, credit cards haven't found a toe hold in all sorts of markets that would otherwise be an option for us to spend on.

November Outlook

My wife should be getting some novel payments this month from some additional work she did. I got some extra money from some extra work that I did, so money inflow isn't a problem.

That said, trips to the USA always cost something, and the family member in distress might also need some help financially. That's an unexpected turn, but we'll try to help if we can.

Aaaaaand the shoe will eventually drop on some dental costs. I'm not sure why it's taking so long though.

Until next time.

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.

Net Worth Update: September, 2019

Our net worth fell by .58% in USD and rose 1.05% in EUR to $52,020 and €47,638, respectively, in September.

The Factors Were:

The stock market did relatively well enough to recover from the summer doldrums. Since updating our net worth, that's changed due to continued political and economic upheaval, but I won't focus on that today.

The euro continued to slide against the dollar. That led to the funny down-USD up-EUR change. I don't know what to think about it exactly. As the dollar gets stronger, buying dollars and buying dollar-based securities feels increasingly risky. Do we assume now that the dollar will remain strong forever? Even for ten years? If I were an American, I'd be trying to take advantage, but since I earn euros, the strong dollar feels really risky.

A big bill came due for dental work, which hit our normal cash savings account. Another bill will be coming later this month or early next month, so that will be an additional headwind, but it should be the last large bill like that for... a long time? I honestly don't know.

We sent off our quarterly estimated tax payment. That really takes a bite out of what we can reasonably save in a month.

After following through with some paperwork while in the US, I received some money that my last state of residence had been holding for about a decade. I have no idea why they had that money, but after checking my information on Missing Money.com, I found that they had several hundred dollars from a bank under my name. It required a notary's signature, which required my presence in the US, but the process was otherwise painless.

So how does October look? The stock market so far looks like junk. I'd be happy for the lower prices if I didn't manage to buy new shares directly before every single big plunge (we're talking sometimes minutes before). My timing is astounding.

I tried to follow through on some of the cost reductions I outlined in My Breakfast Costs 45€ a Month, but we still went over our budget a little in September. I think, however, that our October grocery spending should be lower.

Finally, my wife worked a lot in September, so we believe her earnings will be higher compared to August.

My Breakfast Costs 45€ a Month

And That's Too Expensive

This month's income feels tight, and I've been staring at our budget trying to figure out where cuts can happen. We budget about 300€ monthly for groceries. Often, we overstep that by a few tens of euros or so, but a goal of 300€ has for years seemed acceptable.

But where is that money going? I had a rough idea of what I was eating and how much it cost, and it just didn't seem to me that we should be spending so much. But when I started doing the math, it became clear that small choices do add up to large-ish monthly sums.

Let's say I wanted to reduce our groceries to 250€ per month. In a 30-day month, that's 8.33€ total for both of us daily. My wife eats much less than I do, so let's say that I'm 2/3s of that cost, which gives me 5.5€ daily to work with.

Here's my current average breakfast:

• A can of sardines in oil
• Two whole wheat crackers to put the sardines on.
• A slice of gouda cheese
• An apple
• A handful of peanuts
• Two cups of coffee

I picked up the sardines habit after listening to Dom D'Agostino on the Tim Ferriss podcast for anyone wondering why someone would begin their day with sardines.

My insight while investigating my personal food costs is to ignore the 100g or price per kilogram and focus instead on the cost of my personal consumption habits. It's useless information to know that sardines cost x price per 100g when I always eat 125g without fail. With cheese, I want to know what it costs per slice of cheese stuffed into my mouth. Per cup of coffee. Per handful of raisins or nuts. Etc.

With that in mind, the costs break down as follows:

• 1 handful of nuts 0.10€
• 1 apple 0.25€
• 1 can of sardines 0.75€
• 1 slice of cheese 0.20€
• 3 cups of coffee 0.16€
• 2 crackers 0.05€
• TOTAL 1.51€
• 30-day Month Cost 45.19€
• Calories 633

You can see the challenge. It's perfectly reasonable to think that a breakfast that's as calorie dense as mine costs 1.51€. Compared to a meal in a restaurant, it's laudably cheap (especially the coffee). When it's added up over the month though, it adds up.

A common lunch of mine breaks down like this:

• 2 Eggs 0.24€

• 1 slice of cheese 0.20€

• 1 Apple 0.25€

• 2 Crackers 0.05€

• 1 Banana 0.20€

• 10 ml Olive Oil 0.05€

• 100g Frozen Mixed Vegetables 0.16€

• TOTAL 0.98€

• 30-day Month Cost 29.28€

• Calories: 562

This is definitely cheaper. I've considered replacing the morning sardines with eggs for this reason, but eggs come with potential risks that I probably don't want to tempt by eating four or five of them daily in perpetuity.

According to my MyFitnessPal estimate, I have another 1345 calories to eat before the day is done due to my activity level, and I have 3€ left to consume. So let's look at dinner.

Last night I had:

• Homemade Kombu Dashi .43€ (1 leaf of kombu)
• Quality Ramen Noodles .25€ (100 g of dry noodles)
• Half a block of tofu .46€
• A teaspoon of miso .08€
• A head of bok choy .44€

That's 1.68€, which brings our total up to 4.17€. So to round things out, let's look at snacks throughout the day.

• A protein shake made up of .70€ powder plus .19€ of soy milk
• A handful of peanuts .10€
• A coconut milk popsicle .80€
• A handful of raisins .09€
• An apple .25€

That equals 2.12€ for a total of 6.29€ during the day, above my goal cost of 5.5€. Total calories equal 2629 (I also ate some seaweed salad, which won't become a regular thing), which is also slightly higher than I was aiming for, but I did reach 153g of protein.

Lowering Food Costs: Penny Pinching vs. Transformational

What could be done to lower this cost? First, there's the penny pinching way, which looks for small savings rather than big changes. If I eat the exact same dinner, but dilute the kombu dashi broth to make it work over two days instead of one, that gets the total down to 6.07€. If I eat one popsicle every other day, that gets me down to 5.67€ and a 30-day monthly total of 170€.

And if I want to change the very nature of my food costs, I could be like Jacob at Early Retirement Extreme and sub that entire dinner and even lunch for a red lentils and rice dish, which drastically changes the cost. My local Indian and Sri Lankan-style Asian market sells a 2 kg bag of red lentils for 2.29€! My local discount grocery store sells rice at 1.18€ per kilo. Combine the two for a complete protein, and eat much more cheaply.

If I had oatmeal for breakfast sans sardines, I'd drastically lower my breakfast costs. A bag of raw oatmeal is around .70€. If I get ten meals from it (.07€) plus a banana (.20€) and 50 ml of soy milk (.05€) plus my requisite 3 cups of coffee (.16€), I'd have a breakfast that costs .48€ daily and 14.4€ over the month.

As I said, transformational.

Net Worth Update: August, 2019

Our net worth increased to $52,326 and €47,141, representing a growth of 1.7% and 1.98% respectively month over month.

Investment Volatility

I hadn't expected a positive return this month because of the trade war and subsequent market sell offs. It hurt our numbers, but that's the life for anyone holding risk assets.

I'm getting pretty good and dealing with the volatility. The past year or so has really opened my eyes to what the markets can do as a whole and what can happen to individual stocks. Some of my positions have really gotten hurt the past month, but I don't see any reason to sell them, so I'll just sit tight and consider what they'll look like in ten or more years.

Larger Income

The big reason our number was up was because I got paid a bunch of extra money for some extra work I did, and my wife worked through the summer rather than travel to the US with me. When we take our trips abroad, we have to not only reckon with the costs of the trip itself but the opportunity costs associated with her missing work. Things slow down in the summer here, but they don't grind to a halt, so she can still earn decent money.

Vacation Costs

The difference in vacation costs this year vs. last year were enormous. The flights were paid for with Citi ThankYou points and some taxes and fees, and then I spent a few hundred bucks while there. Everything we did that was sort of fancy was paid for by family, and had they not wanted those things, I could have done without. The goal of these trips to connect with them rather than have a fancy vacation. I'd be just as happy sitting in their living rooms as on a boat or beach.

I didn't pay for housing, because they housed me. I never paid for a hotel and was welcomed into family homes for the duration. I try to be a good house guest, and they're happy to have me, but that could change if their circumstances change.

It will be hard to ever switch back to the vacation style where my wife and I travel together for several weeks to various corners of the US. We're already planning a targeted trip for her to see her family directly that will require probably no hotels or rental cars or long drives since I won't be there. And if she does that, and if some family visits me, then maybe we can avoid a trip to the US next summer.

Turning Stuff into Money

I sold a camera this month, and although I enjoyed the camera and will miss using it, the money hitting my hand in return for it felt good.

We have several things that I really need to get onto Facebook Marketplace and Ebay Kleinanzeigen. I was shocked how easy it was, and these services reminded me of Craigslist minus all the weird stuff.

I also sold an old iPad while in the US to Gazelle. I should have done it years ago as it only netted me ~ $26. But, hey, that was money I didn't have before, and now I don't have a device just collecting dust and mental space.

September Forecast

I bet we're going to lose money this next month. I have an enormous dentist bill to pay, and we didn't earn a ton of money last month. We also have a giant tax pre-payment to make, so there you go.

But the market could spike, and if we restrain our spending, then it could all be a miraculous wash.

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.