October was an exciting month. We finished up our cross country roadtrip, settled back in at home in Virginia, started temporary PRN physical therapy jobs, and celebrated my birthday!
The roadtrip was awesome, and I already can’t wait to get back on the road to visit some more national parks. Although it was an amazing trip, we were ready to get back home and into a more normal routine for a while.
Since it had been almost a year and a half since I last worked as a PT, and the travel therapy job market still isn’t great, we decided to look for PRN jobs in our hometown to work for a little while, and so I could refresh my skills. I have no interest in working full time as a PT anymore but working a couple days per week as a PT is something I’m considering doing long term to give my weeks some structure and to get the satisfaction of helping people in pain. Luckily, both Whitney and I were able to find flexible PRN positions at an outpatient clinic really quickly. Treating patients again after so much time off was strange for the first couple of weeks, but it didn’t take long to get comfortable in the clinic again. So far I’m enjoying it, but we signed on with the agreement that this would only be for 3 months or so for now, and that we’d reassess at the beginning of the year. COVID pending, we’d love to go on another international trip near the beginning of 2021, but if that’s not possible then we may keep working 2-3 days per week at the PRN jobs or look for a travel job assignment for Whitney until we’re able to travel internationally for fun again.
I turned 32 years old in October and spent my birthday reflecting on the past several years and feeling thankful for all the progress I’ve made in various facets of life, as well as looking towards things I want to achieve in the future. The major focus this year is going to be my health and fitness. I’m determined to get in the best shape of my life this year and am already well on my way toward reaching that goal. It’s always more difficult to stay consistent with diet and exercise while traveling and moving often, but since we’ll likely be home for the next few months at least, I have no excuses anymore. In terms of finances, the only thing I’m really focusing on this year is being more charitable. I’m very fortunate to be in the financial position I am now (well past FI with income still coming in from “work” I enjoy), and I want to share more with others.
Income
Income from the websites (FifthWheelPT and Travel Therapy Mentor) for October was actually the highest it’s been since pre-Covid back in February. We received a pretty sizable quarterly affiliate payout as well as more than we expected from other sources. I also had some PT income coming in for the first time since early 2019 which was pretty nice. We were able to negotiate a pretty high PRN rate so the paychecks have been good despite only work 2-3 days per week most weeks.
Expenses
My expenses were pretty low in October once we got back from the roadtrip. Outside of work, I’ve mostly just been hiking and lifting, so no big expenditures. Whitney and I have been getting takeout more often than normal, but with all fixed expenses low, that doesn’t really move the needle very much. With lower expenses, strong revenue from the business, and some income from PRN work, I managed to hit a savings rate of almost 85% for the month! That’s my highest monthly savings rate in quite a while.
Investments
The S&P 500 was down about 2.8% in October, but my portfolio was actually up over 1% for the month. This is largely due to the small portion of my portfolio allocated to cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin was up almost 30% in October which was huge and more than offset the poor performance of equities. I’m still very bullish on cryptocurrencies for the future despite being up about 60% on my original investment from earlier this year. I plan to write a full article on why I decided to invest in crypto after years of having a negative sentiment toward it in the near future. We’ll see what happens, but I feel confident that we’re still near the beginning of a big bull run for bitcoin. I’ve made some bad decisions and been wrong in the past though so who knows!
Financial Independence Progress
My net worth increased by about 2.2% in October which puts me back at an all time high net worth. Hitting new highs is always exciting, but it doesn’t mean nearly as much to me anymore. I’ve had more than I need for a while now to live the type of lifestyle I want, even if I never earned another penny. I just look at the growing assets as additional security and more that I’ll be able to give in the future now.
Next Month
In November I’ll continue to work toward getting in the best possible physical shape that I can. My expenses and income should both be about the same for next month, so that should mean another high savings rate and a new high net worth barring any big drop in my investments. It’s starting to get cold in Virginia so I’m going to take advantage of the last remaining warm weather to hike as much as possible next month.
As always, stay safe and healthy! — And let me know in the comments how October was for you along your financial journey!
Fifth Wheel Physical Therapist 