January was a busy month on the blog as you guys probably already know. I published 10 new articles on this site in January and the blog got the most views and new followers in one month since inception. I did several podcast interviews in December and January and most of them were published in January which led to some of that increase in page views as well. I’m continually amazed that anyone cares about what I write or what I have to say but I appreciate all you guys that follow along with Whitney and I. I’ve gotten some very helpful comments on blog posts recently, especially about my semi-retirement and our big trip later this year. I also have gotten a ton of great questions and comments through the “contact me” link at the top of the page.
Whitney and I didn’t have an overly exciting month overall. We started back at work after our time off at the end of 2017 and mostly took it easy on the weekends with no weekend trips, just a lot of researching and writing. The truck wouldn’t start again which turned out to be the starter which meant the second time that has been replaced in the past year. Luckily the part was still under warranty and the cost of labor wasn’t too bad. We’re generally happy with any repair on the truck that is less than $1,000 which is rare.
Financially the stock market had another good month overall besides a small dip at the end of the month. I hit my savings goal that I projected despite missing a paycheck at the beginning of the month from having the last week of December off of work. The blog continues to bring in small amounts of income and I keep working hard at earning extra money each month from sign up bonuses on credit cards and bank accounts. The sign up bonuses are getting tougher to find since I’ve already gotten so many but I’m still earning $400-$500/month or so on average between the two which isn’t bad with minimal work. My financial independence date has now moved up another month to April, 2019 based on current net worth a projections. One thing to remember with that date though is that it is based on my estimated future expenses, which I’ve talked about before, not current expenses. Based on current expenses, I’m already slightly past financial independence which is pretty crazy. I’m hoping to continue to quickly increase my net worth (stock market willing) over the next 5 months before we leave on our trip in July. We are still planning the trip and I’ll write an updated post soon but it looks like we will be adding more countries!
I hope you all are having a great month and be sure to follow this page for updates!
Fifth Wheel Physical Therapist 