January was quiet. It was a very cold month in Virginia with more snow than we’ve had in years. The snow combined with the way below average temperatures meant difficult travel for several days and ice that stuck around for weeks. The new house we moved to is at a higher elevation, so a few degrees colder and much windier than where we were living before. In the summer and fall that was really nice, but in the winter it has been less than ideal. The snow was beautiful though, and we enjoyed being snowed in and hanging out by the fire for a few days.
Aria started sleeping much better in January which was wonderful. She has been regularly sleeping for 11-12 hours in her bed at night with a 1-2 hour nap in the middle of the day. Hopefully this lasts for a while! She’s had lots of phases of sleeping well for short periods of time followed by many weeks of being restless and fussy. This is by far the best she’s ever done though and seems to be sleeping very soundly recently. If you’re also a parent, you’ll understand what a big difference your kid sleeping makes in your life.
Business started picking back up this month. Q4 is often our highest earning month but also our slowest month in terms of new leads, followers, and page/video views. This makes sense with people being busy over the holidays. The new year often comes with a lot more people interested in travel therapy, and this year was no different. Since we were home a lot in January, we also spent more time putting out more content on social media, which helped with engagement.
Income
Income from our business (FifthWheelPT and Travel Therapy Mentor) for January was slightly less than in December but still really good. For some reason January and December are usually our highest earning months and that will probably be the case this year as well. Besides business income, I’ve done more credit card and bank account sign up bonuses than usual lately. That meant an extra $1,200 for January. I’m pretty consistently earning $6,000/year or more in bonuses with minimal effort over the last 5 years or so.
Expenses
My expenses for January were pretty low. We didn’t have any unexpected expenses and didn’t do any traveling during the month. It was nice to have a low spending month after buying the new cars last month and spending a lot.
My savings rate for the month was about 80% when all was said and done.
Investments
The S&P 500 was up by about 1.4% in January. We hit a new all time high for the index and for many different equities during the month which was good to see. The market just keeps grinding higher and higher, although the pace of increase has really slowed down. Although we did put in a new high, the market is around the same level as it was back in October and the Nasdaq is actually lower than it was in October. Large cap tech stocks have been beginning to struggle and money has started to rotate into other areas like precious metals.
Bitcoin was down by about 10.1% in January. That’s the fourth consecutive negative month for Bitcoin which was definitely unexpected especially with equities still doing relatively well. Although this drop hasn’t been pleasant, I’ve been taking advantage of it as much as possible to buy at the lower prices. The price could always go lower this year, but I believe we’re much closer to a bottom and that this is a great time to be dollar cost averaging in. I’ve still been selling out of the money covered calls monthly as well which has softened the blow slightly during this drop and given me extra money to add to my positions with the premiums collected. Covered calls and cash secured puts have helped me to stay level headed and not get nearly as anxious as I was in prior Bitcoin bear markets. Even though it can be tough to buy when the price is down, fear is high, and the news is full of negative stories, I really think I’ll be glad I bought extra this month.
Financial Independence Progress
My net assets decreased by 0.5% in January. I’m actually back to almost exactly where I was back in December of 2024. Although that doesn’t feel good, It’s actually not that bad for how much Bitcoin has dropped and how large my allocation is to it.
My assets are now equal to approximately 33.6 times my average annual expenses!
In case you missed it, check out my August monthly post for an update on why I adjusted my spending assumptions.
Next Month
In February, we’ll be taking our first overnight trip without Aria. We’re going to Anaheim, CA for the APTA CSM and leaving her behind. Whitney and I are both nervous about this but we know she’ll be in good hands with our family and that trying to take her across the country would be difficult on all of us. She is constantly running around these days, so being confined on a plane for multiple hours along with a 3 hour car ride would lead to huge meltdowns.
How was January for you financially? Let me know in the comments!
Fifth Wheel Physical Therapist 