January was an awesome month. We spent a full month at home for the first time in almost two years which gave us an opportunity to get into more of a routine and get a lot of work done. Diet and exercise were our primary focus for the month, and Whitney and I both lost about 10 lbs each which is long overdue with all of the eating out we’ve done while traveling internationally. We always struggle to maintain our weight while moving around so often, so we do our best to take advantage of time at home to be as healthy as possible.
I got a lot of new articles written which will be published over the coming weeks. We made some videos and did many mentorship calls with our course group members. Whitney interviewed some new travel therapy recruiters to send travelers to, and we got all caught up on accounting and made a lot of progress toward getting our taxes ready for 2022. We decided to hire an accountant for this year to help with our taxes since they’ve gotten progressively more difficult each year, and we had a lot of questions about deductions and business entity structures. Although it’s going to cost more than I anticipated, it will be nice to have some more certainty about what’s going on with our tax situation.
The business continues to do well and grow month over month and year over year. We’re gradually refining our processes and trying to improve conversion rates with better systems and information. This is going to be a big focus for us throughout 2023, in addition to increasing website views and social media followers, which directly leads to higher revenue.
Income
Income from our websites (FifthWheelPT and Travel Therapy Mentor) for January somehow set a record yet again. This was completely unexpected after a monster month in December. January income was about 5% higher than December and 80% higher than January of last year. Part of this was due to getting an advertising payment paid in full for the first 6 months of 2023 and also a big Q4 affiliate payout both received in January. But even so, it was much higher than expected. I continue to be baffled by the revenue increases. To put January in perspective, we earned more in this month than in the first 3.5 years of having the websites. If I add December and January income together, it nearly equals the first 5 years of combined income for the websites. That is wild to think about.
I don’t know if 2023 will be able to surpass our 2022 earnings because it seems like we should be approaching a ceiling in our niche, but we’re off to a really good start for this year. Then again, I’ve said that for a couple of years now, and revenue has continued to double or more year over year since inception. So far so good for 2023. If we match or surpass 2022 revenue, I’ll consider that a massive success.
Expenses
January expenses were very low. All I really spent money on was our year paid in full gym membership, normal household expenses, car inspections, and food. My time at home is incredibly affordable especially with splitting household expenses with Whitney. We planned most of our wedding and reception this month, but haven’t had to pay for them yet. Even so, we’re keeping those costs very reasonable and planning to spend less than $5k in total for everything.
Our business expenses remain very low in relation to our business income as well. I’ve always focused on keeping expenses to a bare minimum, even if that meant potentially sacrificing some growth, so that risk is essentially nonexistent. Over the years I’ve learned that I’m much more financially conservative both personally and in business than I used to believe. I’m happy to sacrifice growth for safety in both our business and in my personal investments, and so far this strategy has worked out very well for me both personally and with our business.
Investments
The S&P 500 was up by about 6.2% in January. The market continues to be very uncertain with continuing elevated inflation levels causing the Federal Reserve to continue raising rates. The old adage, “don’t fight the Fed” is usually correct, and it’s pretty clear that the Fed wants risk assets to decrease in value with hopes of the reverse wealth effect bringing down inflation. The housing market has definitely cooled due to the higher rates but the stock market remains at very high PE levels relative to historical averages. I remain bearish on equities and have continued to have a large portion of my assets in cash. It’s unlikely the low is in for the S&P in my opinion.
Bitcoin was up almost 40% in January which was one of the strongest months in over a year. Although I’m bearish on risk assets, I continue to buy more Bitcoin each month at these low prices. I look at Bitcoin much more as a store of value than a risk asset and think the market will come more to that realization as well over time. It’s certainly possible Bitcoin puts in a new low in 2023, but even if that happens, I think the long term prospects are very good and the risk/reward is awesome at these price levels.
Financial Independence Progress
My net assets increased by 11.4% in January which is the biggest monthly increase in over a year and puts me at both my highest net asset and net worth numbers of all time! With this increase, my net assets are now sitting at 62.4 times my average annual expenses. Having so much in net assets currently along with continually increasing business revenue has made me worry much less about spending more on trips and activities. My monthly expenses will undoubtedly be higher in the future than I had planned on when first starting this blog in 2016. Back when I started this site, I could have never imagined it would grow to where it is now and would be a really cool high earning job that I don’t have a desire to quit.
Next Month
In February, we’ll be back on the road for most of the month. We have a 2.5 week road trip planned from Virginia down to Key West and back. We’re hopefully going to finally make it to the Dry Tortugas which is National Park 61/63 for us. We were also invited to speak at Florida’s PT student conclave in Fort Meyers which will be our first in person big presentation in nearly three years. I’m a little nervous about it, but we have continued to do live videos at least every couple of weeks for many years now, so talking in front of a crowd isn’t nearly as intimidating as it used to be. Once we get back from the road trip, we leave almost immediately on a flight to San Diego for the APTA Combined Sessions Meeting where we’ll be answer questions at a travel company booth and hosting a big meetup.
How was January for you financially? Let me know in the comments!
Fifth Wheel Physical Therapist 