In May we spent a lot of time at home, finishing up wedding planning and started our honeymoon planning. Although our wedding and reception are both going to be small, there were more things to plan and prepare for than I expected. Trip planning, while exciting, is also stressful. We’re going to be spending 10 weeks in Europe, and trying to find award flights and line up accommodations has proven to be more difficult than on our prior long international trips. Nonetheless, the wedding planning is mostly wrapped up, and we got the first month of our trip all booked which was a big relief.
We continued to work on our health and fitness throughout the month. As of the end of May, I was down 35 pounds since January 1st and Whitney was down 25 pounds. We both also improved our cardiovascular fitness significantly and did a good job maintaining strength while losing the weight. Although I’m 5 pounds heavier now than when I finished my HealthyWage challenge back in 2018, I have a lot more muscle mass and am in much better shape overall now. We got some more long hikes in during the month which has been a big help with the weight loss.
As far as traveling goes, we took a five day trip to Colorado to meet up with some friends and fellow travel healthcare colleagues. Despite some issues with our return flight that left us with an unexpected night in Dallas, and getting sick on the way back home, it was an awesome trip. We’ve been to Colorado four times now, and we love it every time we go. Whitney turned 33 in May soon after we got back from Colorado, and although we were both sick on her birthday, we still made the best of it.
Income
Income from our websites (FifthWheelPT and Travel Therapy Mentor) for May was 30% lower than April and was actually our lowest earning month of the year so far. This was unexpected since May is usually a fairly high earning month over the past few years. Although this was a bit of a let down for us, our income through the first five months of the year is still 26% higher than it was in 2022 and more than 400% higher than it was in 2021, so we can’t be too disappointed. Realistically, the beginning of the year was just extremely good, and May was the first month where things started to revert to a more normal level. We’re still on track to surpass earnings for last year by all indications which was our main goal for the year.
Expenses
May didn’t have any tax related expenses like in April, so expenses were much lower overall. With that being said, booking the first month of our Europe trip was expensive, and we also had some wedding related costs during May. The trip to Colorado didn’t cost us much overall due to using airline miles for our flights and staying with friends there. Besides that, I had minimal costs during the month, so not a bad month in totality.
Investments
The S&P 500 was up by about 0.3% in May. My thoughts on the market haven’t changed much recently. I’m still expecting a drop in equity prices before the end of the year and have a significant amount of cash on hand if that happens. If it doesn’t happen, then I still have a decent amount of money in the market to benefit, so I’m not too concerned about being wrong. We’ll most likely be buying a bigger house later this year, so having the cash on hand could be great for negotiating a lower price with another cash purchase.
Bitcoin was down by about 7% in May which had the biggest impact on my net worth this month. Crypto markets are shaky right now, and that probably won’t change in the foreseeable future. I’ve continued buying Bitcoin throughout the bear market, and May was no exception to that. I remain very optimistic about the long term prospects of Bitcoin and will continue buying.
Financial Independence Progress
My net assets decreased by 0.7% in May, mostly due to the drop in the Bitcoin price. That isn’t bad at all though with all things considered. I’m only 1.4% away from my all time high in net assets, while equities and Bitcoin are down a lot more than that in the past year and a half. Having a lot of cash and a pretty good savings rate each month has really blunted the impact of the drawdown in my investment accounts. With any luck in June, I’ll hit a new all time high net worth while on our honeymoon in Europe. With this month’s drop, my net assets are equal to approximately 67.5 times my annual expenses.
Next Month
In June, we get married and leave for our 10 week trip to Europe! We’re really excited with all we’ve been able to accomplish while at home (mostly 😀) for the first five months of the year, but we are ready to get back to traveling. This trip is going to be very expensive but should be the best long international trip yet! June should be a better month for income too, which will help to offset some of the expenses, although quarterly taxes are due again in June which will be another big expense.
How was May for you financially? Let me know in the comments!
If you want to learn more about 0ur 10-week trip throughout Europe this summer, check out this overview. You can also follow along with our trip on Instagram and Facebook where Whitney regularly posts pictures, especially on our stories.
Fifth Wheel Physical Therapist 