November was a quiet month. Besides a day trip out of the state (to WV to meet up with some friends for the afternoon), we spent the entire month at home in Virginia. We did a lot of hiking and got a lot of work done for the business. Thanksgiving was a good time spent with friends and family. We had a lot to be thankful for this year. We also started compiling all of our business expenses and deductions for the year in preparation for tax season, which is always a pretty time consuming process.
Despite some ups and downs throughout the year with various metrics, our business overall keeps doing very well. As of the end of November, we broke last year’s records for both revenue and profit with December still to go. December is historically our best month for revenue as well. I really was skeptical that we’d be able to earn more than we did in 2022, so it has been great to see the continued growth.
Income
Income from our websites (FifthWheelPT and Travel Therapy Mentor) for November was less than I anticipated. Q4 is our highest earning quarter each year, so I thought that November would be another really high earning month, but it ended up being less than September and October. It still wasn’t bad by any means though, coming in at our 5th highest earning month of the year and our 9th highest earning month of all time. Besides business income, I made a couple thousand in November from credit card and bank account signup bonuses (mostly cashing out some Chase and Capital one points) which was a nice bit of extra income.
Expenses
My expenses were very low again this month. On months when we aren’t traveling, I find it really easy to keep expenses low without actively trying. Our fixed costs are low and we eat most of our meals at home when we’re in town which is inexpensive. Besides some spending on Christmas presents and car maintenance, other costs were minimal.
My savings rate for the month was over 90% again. A fairly high earning month and low expenses at home equals an extremely high savings rate.
Investments
The S&P 500 was up by about 8.9% in November. That was the biggest gain in a month in three years, which was a surprise for me. I still think that there’s a good likelihood of an increase in unemployment and a recession in Q1 of 2024, and it’s not uncommon for the market to rally into a recession, but even so, that sort of gain in a month is abnormal. My equity exposure isn’t very high right now, so I missed out on most of this monthly gain, but that’s fine with me. The market is still below the peak from two years ago, so these gains have just been regaining the losses in 2022 still.
Interestingly, Bitcoin was also up by about 8.9% in November. After such a big jump in October, I wouldn’t have been surprised if November was a down month, so it was nice to see another positive month. GBTC continues to outperform Bitcoin as well with a 13% gain on the month. The discount on the fund is at its lowest level in at least a couple of years now. Year to date, GBTC is up 286% which is starting to make me consider taking some profits. The price has moved really quickly over the last few months, and while I think next year will be a great year for both Bitcoin and GBTC, quick increases in price often have a sharp pullback especially going into the halving. Right now I’m holding strong, but another impulse up might be enough for me to take 10-20% of my holdings off of the table with the intent to buy back lower in the first couple months of 2024. It’s still more risky to be out of Bitcoin than to be in Bitcoin in my opinion though.
Financial Independence Progress
My net assets increased by about 5.8% in November. Another fairly high earning month combined with an increase in the Bitcoin price and an even bigger increase in the GBTC price and an increase in the S&P led to a very good month for my net assets and net worth. This increase put me at another new all time high in both net assets and net worth!
My cash and Bitcoin heavy asset portfolio continues to pay off, although very non traditional, and I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t wish I had a little more money in equities in November.
With this increase in my net asset value, my assets are now equal to approximately 83.1 times my annual expenses.
Next Month
In December, we’re taking our families on a cruise before Christmas and have a weekend trip planned with friends, but besides that, we’ll be at home for most of the month. We still have some Christmas shopping to do as well as a lot of preparing for our next big international trip to come at the end of the month. Stay tuned for details on that!
How was November for you financially? Let me know in the comments!
Fifth Wheel Physical Therapist 