October was a huge month for our family! Our daughter, Aria Casazza, was born at the end of the month! Despite a long and difficult labor, she’s here, she’s healthy, and she’s absolutely perfect. Whitney and I, although sleep deprived, have been enjoying every second with her. Her birth has made us realize how thankful we are to have dedicated ourselves to saving and investing to reach financial independence prior to having kids. Raising a newborn has been difficult as expected, but the thought of me having to go to work while also being up all hours of the night with her is terrifying.
I also turned 36 years old in October. Reflecting back on it, a lot happened in the past year. We visited our 7th continent and a few new countries (bringing the total to 54 countries). We went to a few conferences, went on two cruises, continued to grow our business, and made it through Whitney’s entire pregnancy. Overall it was a great year, and I hope that 36 will be even better now with the new addition to our family.
Income
Income from our business (FifthWheelPT and Travel Therapy Mentor) for October was up 50% compared to September. It was a full 310% higher than income for August, to illustrate how bad of a month and out of the ordinary August really was. October earnings this year were right in line with October of last year. That means that we remain on track to meet or surpass our yearly earnings from 2023 this year.
Expenses
My expenses for October were higher than usual. We took a very expensive weekend “Babymoon” trip at the beginning of the month before the baby arrived. While it was way more than I’d normally spend on a trip, Whitney wanted to go and it was nice to get away and relax for a weekend just the two of us. We did a lot of reflecting on the past and thinking about the future, which was great before the baby came. Besides the trip, we also bought a couple more moderately costly things for the baby before her arrival.
In total, my savings rate for the month was around 75% when all was said and done.
Investments
The S&P 500 was down by about 1.0% in October. The market continues to bounce around near all time highs. The Fed is lowering rates while continuing quantitative tightening, all while the yield curve is un-inverting and the labor market is softening. Inflation still remains above the Fed target, which is putting them in a tough spot. Cutting rates too aggressively and going back to quantitative easing to take strain off of the labor market risks inflation jumping back higher like in the 1970s. Not cutting rates and easing fast enough risks a quick slowdown in the economy and spike in unemployment. The market and the economy have certainly performed much better than I expected, but the un-inversion of the yield curve has historically meant a recession is imminent. We’ll see if this time is an outlier though, because nothing has been normal or usual about the economy since 2020.
The Bitcoin price increased by 11.0% during the month of October. I have the biggest Bitcoin position that I’ve ever had going into Q4, because historically Q4 of halving years is one of the most bullish times for the Bitcoin market. I felt that we moved too far too quickly with the price jumps in early 2024, but now with the 7 months of consolidation, things feel poised to make big, more healthy moves. I really increased my exposure on the dips in August and September, and although I thought one more dip was possible in October before breaking out, it looks like that isn’t going to happen.
I’m still watching Bitcoin dominance closely as it hit 60% in October. Eventually a rotation into alt coins and a drop in dominance is likely, but that normally follows a couple of months of Bitcoin really outperforming after breaking prior all time highs convincingly. I’m still thinking that December or January will be a good time to rotate some Bitcoin profits into a few alt coins to gamble on dominance dropping in 2025.
Financial Independence Progress
My net assets increased by 4.4% in October. I’ve become so accustomed to large swings in my net worth due to crypto volatility that 4.4% doesn’t seem like a big change anymore. It certainly is though, and that 4.4% represents an increase in assets of almost 5 years worth of expenses in just a single month. As crazy as that is, if I’m right about the Bitcoin market over the next 3-6 months, I expect some much bigger moves than that coming up. My assets are now equal to approximately 112.4 times my average annual expenses!
Next Month
In November we have almost nothing planned. We’re just focusing on making it through the first month with our daughter and enjoying our time at home as a family. We’ll still try to do a little work on the websites but probably not more than a few hours per week.
How was October for you financially? Let me know in the comments!
Fifth Wheel Physical Therapist 