Progress to Financial Independence- October 2016

Although October has 31 days, it really flew by this year. Whitney and I got a little more settled into our new assignments, we took a weekend trip back home for a wedding, and I turned 28 years old but besides that, not much excitement this month. We are really enjoying the weather in North Carolina which has still been in the 80’s on most days even though it is now November. Our jobs are going very well and we are planning on trying to extend our contacts for another three months if we are able.

Financially, I did well with savings this month because we didn’t have any unexpected surprises but I still fell a little behind due to a rough month for the stock market in general. My portfolio dropped by about 2% in total this month but I won’t let that bother me because I’m in it for the long haul, unlike in the past. Based on my calculations this month, I’m still on track for FI in August, 2020 which is two months before my 33rd birthday.

Hopefully next month will provide better investment returns, but I’m not holding my breath. Market valuations remain very high which usually means lower returns over the short and intermediate term. I am now beginning to stockpile some cash so that I will be able to put a down payment on an investment property once I have two years of work history to qualify for a mortgage. I’m still about seven months away from having a two year work history but by the time I get there I should have a big cash reserve. In the meantime, I will continue to read and learn about real estate investing as much as possible so that I will, hopefully, have an easier time with it in the future.

We are trying to plan a couple of weekend trips to visit nearby attractions but overall November should be pretty quiet. Hopefully that means hitting my savings goal for the month but we will see how it plays out.