Progress to Financial Independence- April 2017

We’re now a little over three weeks into our new contracts in Berryville, VA. Currently we are living at a campground in Harpers Ferry, WV. The trip to get here from our last assignment in eastern North Carolina was less than pleasant. We stopped for a night in Roanoke, VA to see our families on the way, but not before having to go down a steep incline at a gas station and destroying on of the stabilizer jacks on the back of the fifth wheel. When we arrived at the campground, our living room slide out got partially stuck on one side which resulted in the slide not being able to fully extend or retract. Luckily we were able to get it most of the way out and enough that rain doesn’t get in. We plan to have it repaired once we leave this campground on the way to the next assignment.

The stock market has continued to stay near all time highs which means that my investments did well this month. Both of my personal loans continue to go according to plan. In addition, I surpassed my savings goal by a healthy margin again this month. Our new contracts are the highest paying that we have taken so far which is helpful, and I have also worked 25 hours overtime in the first three weeks of being here which helped my net worth. I plan to continue to work as much overtime as possible, and that, in conjunction with the higher pay, should lead to a significant increase in my savings rate over the next couple of months.

I am now a little less than 40% of the way to my total goal for financial independence, which is not bad for less than two years since graduation. June 2020 is still the estimated FI date, based on my current projections, but with a little luck I’ll be closing in on May 2020 within the next couple of months. At some point I’ll probably need to update my net worth goal based on my current spending rate, which is significantly less than my original estimates when I started tracking my progress last year. I’m torn between keeping the goal the same to be safe versus making the goal more realistic to hit my FI target sooner. Ultimately it doesn’t make a difference, but the quicker I can proclaim that I’m financially independent, the less stressed I’ll be. If all of this overtime continues and the market stays around current levels, May should be a very good month for me as well.