October 2020 Net Worth update: $128,736
October has been an interesting month for us. Our savings rate has been pretty great thus far. We haved saved around 70% of our income for the month of October. Our investments have dropped in the last week of October, but we bought some more while it was on sale. October 2020 Net Worth has not done much, but let’s talk about it.
It is better to keep up the practice of having a high savings rate. We have been working hard on being frugal, but it is not always the case. October was a good month for income and savings.
October Musings
Fall is here and so are the many things that can happen this month. We have been fortunate to celebrate a friend’s wedding, have many holidays, and were able to do some minor traveling. It was also great to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with a bunch of friends as well.
This month has been a fun month, but with some of the fun, we have spent some more money than we usually do. At least, we are still frugal.
Mr. and Mrs. FE at a friend's wedding.
The Market Swings
The stock market has been a bit volatile in October. Mrs. FE, and myself have sent some of our Taiwanese money back to the states to invest more into the market. Since the New Taiwan Dollar has a higher value than September we were able to save $200 USD sending money back.
In the last week of October we have lost most of our gains from September, but our Net Worth is still higher than it was in May when we started tracking it. Being in the positive is always good. We have made +$535 for this month. Not so bad, but we had hoped for more. This happens with market swings.
Winter is Coming
Winter is coming, and the U.S. election will be over. As our travel plans have been pretty much been put on hold, we are just saving and working towards other projects. Most of the time, Mrs. FE and myself would be planning some fun travels in January for our winter break at school. The situation in the world is a little too uncertain.
It is time to save, time to enjoy friends, and with Thanksgiving coming, it will be time to eat. We are looking forward to another month of great weather, great food, and great fun.
New Savings Account Opened Up called Yotta Savings
So I started a new savings account to try out called Yotta Savings. It is like a game like savings to help motivate people to save.
Honestly, it seems pretty fun. I keep looking to see if I have won some more money. At the end of one month, I have had 3.24% on $500. It is not bad at all. They guarantee at least 0.20%, but you have the chance of winning more.
Here is my review. If you want you can sign-up with my code STEVEN120, and this code will get you a 100 free tickets for one week.
Net Worth Breakdown
With the market falling last week, our net worth did not have much of an upward movement. We are still buying and holding. The market will continue to go up.
Here is the breakdown for October 2020 Net Worth:
Cash Savings: (-$5,206)
We earned about $4,840 for the month of October. Spendings ended up to be around $1,504. Then we moved about $9800 to the states to be moved into our savings account, and to help us to buy more investments.
Taxable Brokerage Account: (+$6,875)
Our investments went down a bit this month. The last week of October was not the best, but that is ok. There are more stocks on sale.
Our strategy is to buy index funds and hold them for the long term. As the funds go down in price they go on sale and therefore we can buy more for less.
Roth IRA: (-$71)
The Roth IRA is still slowly moving up and down. It went down $125 during September, but also gained some dividends as well. I like index funds so I keep my Roth in VTSAX.
My Wife's Super: (-$683)
Like I have mentioned before, the stock market has gone down a lot. The good thing is that my wife's Super is no longer losing money due to fees. That is a great thing. We are quite happy about switching the investments and cutting down on fees.
Liabilities (-380)
The liabilities are around $405 this month. I purchased a phone to replace my old failing phone. Our expenses went up this month on our credit card.
Our credit card bills have been quite lower since we have slowed down the traveling since Rona hit.
Being Realistic in our world.
Our Net Worth will not always move up. There will be up months and down months. We are still in the positive, but as long as we keep saving and investing we will continue to reach our goals.
It would be great to hit $140,000 USD by the end of the year. We shall see what November and December will bring, but as always we will continue to save and invest to reach our FIRE goals.
I’m Steve. I’m an English Teacher, traveler, and an avid outdoorsman. If you’d like to comment, ask a question, or simply say hi, leave me a message here, on Twitter (@thefrugalexpat1). Many of my posts have been written to help those in their journey to financial independence. I am on my journey, and as I learn more I hope to share more. And as always, thanks for reading The Frugal Expat.