Summer is over: August 2020 Net Worth

August 2020 Net Worth update: $94,903

August has come and gone. The summer is over, kids are back in school, and work has started once again. It is time to talk about an update to our August Net Worth. 

August has been a month full of rising prices in the stocks. Apple and Tesla split their stock giving way to having some major rise in the stock market. This made many people’s portfolios rise pretty high. 

August is also the month that Mrs. FE and myself got work bonuses for finishing our contracts. We even got some tax back as well. In Taiwan, they tax foreigners at 18% for the first 183 days. After 183 days, you will get back 13% depending on the school. So Mrs. FE, got some extra cash back from our taxes. 

This past month, we also did not work much. We took an unpaid three weeks worth of leave to take a vacation. Most of the time, we would travel to other countries. Since Covid has been around, we decided to take a vacation around Taiwan.

August Traveling:

Mrs FE and I, took a scooter ride for 24 days around the country of Taiwan. We camped for about 19 days of our trip to save money. We were able to travel to the high mountains of Hehuanshan, hike up Alishan for a sunrise hike, spend loads of time in the sun on Penghu island, and even avoided a typhoon near Kenting.

 It was a great trip that was frugal and fun. We try to enjoy our trips, but this one we were quite frugal so some days were a bit hard with camping. Having this experience was great. We grew as a couple, enjoyed Taiwan, and even kept our budget down. 

For one month of traveling in Taiwan, we spend a total of $1500. It included rental of a scooter, food, ferry rides to multiple islands, and even some Scuba Diving.

August Trips

It is good to save this money because we plan to travel to Taiwan in August. Summer camps will be over, and we will have some time, and unpaid time off to travel. With some of our savings we can take a cheap trip around Taiwan, and be back refreshed for a new year of school.

Savings for August

August has been a great month for savings and income. This month due to bonuses, tax back, and even our paycheck, our income for this month was $12,603 for August. With our vacation and other spendings, we spent around $2227 for the month of August.

Doing some calculations, we have a savings rate of 83% of the month of August. 

Not every month will be like the month of August, but it is good to get bonuses and tax back.

Net Worth Breakdown

With the increase in income and the increase in savings rate, our Net Worth has risen to $94,903. That is an increase of $14,180 for the month of August. It has been a great month for August. The stock market has gone up, our income has gone up, and we still had a savings rate above 80%.

Here is the breakdown of the month:

Cash Savings: ($9,072)

Like I have said before, Mrs. FE and I have gotten a full month salary as a bonus. We have received tax back from the first 7 months of pay. Plus we got paid for working in the month of July. We have received a bunch of cash. 

Speaking of cash. We have way too much sitting around doing nothing. I like to have my cash working for me and earning money. Since, we were on vacation for August, we have not had the opportunity to send money back to the states. 

For the next few months, we will need to be sending money back to the states to do some more investing to help us reach our goal of financial independence.

Taxable Brokerage Account: ($4,996)

Being on Vacation, I have not looked at the market much or invested much. August was a great month just to have investments. There have been multiple people posting about how their portfolios have skyrocketed in August. 

The market will go up. You just need to consistently keep investing. 

At this time, we are still in the wealth accumulation phase of our financial journey so we will continue to invest until we hit our Financial Independence number.

Roth IRA: ($232)

The Roth IRA is slowly, but surely doing great. There is not much there since I live abroad, but the account is slowly increasing. In the race of life, we are like the tortoise and not the hare. Slowly we will accumulate wealth.

Liabilities (-$120)

Our liabilities have increased a bit this month. Our credit card bill went from $388 to $508. We did pay for some things on our credit card this month while on our vacation. For the most part, we have had a pretty good month.

Financial Goals

Our biggest financial goal is hitting our FI (financial Independence) number, which is 25 times our annual spending. My wife and I do not spend that much annually, but we do like to travel. Our goal is $625,000 for our FI number. That is about $25,000 per year. 

We are approaching $100,000 pretty quickly. The quicker we get to $625,000 the better. We will then have enough money to not have to work, but there are many changes in life so we save and invest. 

How are your financial goals?