In July, we closed on our new house! Last year I wrote about how we decided to sell our townhouse and rent a house in a really nice neighborhood. The neighborhood was one of the top ones where we thought we might like to live long term, so it was a good opportunity to “try it before we buy it” by renting there first. While we did love the neighborhood, it was further away from things than we wanted to be and the house and area had some issues that we didn’t realize would be a big deal when we first moved in. Some of the big ones included: frequent power outages, high winds in the winter, a lot of landscaping upkeep, and only having two bedrooms on the main level (not ideal with a toddler and baby due later this year). We decided that we wanted to be closer to town and found a great house that fit almost all of our criteria. It’s honestly probably still not our “forever home” but will be a wonderful interim place for the next 3-5 years while our kids are young. We also have the option to stay here as longer if we decide we want to, because it has all the space we’d need as a family of four and is in the best school district in the area. We paid cash for this house just like with our townhouse back in 2020 so our monthly expenses will go back to being very low compared to the high amount we were paying each month for rent. While we really didn’t want to move again so soon, it was the right choice for our family before the new baby arrives, and the new house is also in a great neighborhood and a lot closer to the grocery store, gym, and work.
Speaking of work, I finished the training for my part time PT job and really settled into the new routine. Working two half days in outpatient has been perfect for me so far. It’s just enough to get me out of the house a couple days per week and feel like I’m helping patients again, but not enough that I feel at all overwhelmed with the caseload. I’m seeing a maximum of 6 patients per day and all of the sessions are 1:1 for 45 minutes. Ironically, having something that I have to do two days per week makes the days off so much better. I find that even though I thought I hated a routine, I really do thrive on one and that I need some time constraints during the week to feel some urgency to get things done. While I definitely don’t need to be working for the income, I find that I do enjoy being a PT when it’s very part time and optional.
Income
Income from our business (FifthWheelPT and Travel Therapy Mentor) for July was down about 50% from June. Coming off of three very high earning months, this was expected. We also were very busy finalizing the house purchase and getting things packed up all month, so business was more on the back-burner.
Expenses
My expenses for July were low on a recurring expense basis, but obviously very high overall due to the home purchase. As I mentioned above, that one time expense of buying the house will really decrease my monthly spending though. Between my half of the rent/utilities and other miscellaneous expenses at the rental house, I’m estimating that my recurring monthly expenses will drop by about $2,300/month at the new house and about the same amount for Whitney. Although that wasn’t a huge amount for us, it’s still going to be nice to be able to put that money toward saving for the next home upgrade in the future.
Investments
The S&P 500 was up by 0.1% in July. Basically flat and quiet during the month despite continued uncertainty about the war in Iran and the resulting inflation. Treasury yields are rising which is putting both the Federal Reserve and the Treasury in a tricky spot when it comes to handling the massive US debt situation. So far the equity market doesn’t seem to be concerned by any of it, which likely points to the fact that investors are desperate to hold assets to avoid the continued currency debasement. There’s a pretty good case to be made that most of the gains in the equity indices are actually due to currency debasement rather than true growth since 2020 especially if you denominate the indices in hard assets like gold or Bitcoin.
Bitcoin was up by about 7.3% in July! A very welcome change after such a brutal drop in June. Bitcoin actually put in a new low just below $58k on the first day of July before moving higher. I think there’s a pretty good chance that the drop in June was the capitulation and end of the bear market, but it will be a while before I’d be confident on that call. A lot of the indicators I use show that almost everyone that was planning to sell has already sold, so it’s hard to see major selling pressure going forward. $58k, a ~50% drop from the high, is also a very reasonable level for a bottom to form especially with the price spending so much time in that region back in 2024. We didn’t have a major euphoric top in 2025 so not as many people piled in at the top meaning it was always likely that the drawdown would also be muted. Less people buying the top means less people to panic when the price drops. I have continued to accumulating each month and will keep doing so at these low prices. Anything below $100k is what I would consider the cheap region for Bitcoin right now.
Financial Independence Progress
My net assets increased by 3.8% in July. I’m happy to see the increase after one of the biggest percentage drops of all time for my portfolio in June. This increase puts me back around where I was in February during the first big drop in the Bitcoin price. Hopefully if the Bitcoin bear market is over like I believe, we’ll see a lot more big green months coming up especially with all of the extra Bitcoin I was able to buy at low prices this summer.
My assets are now equal to approximately 31.0 times my average annual expenses!
In case you missed it, check out this post for an update on why I adjusted my spending assumptions.
Next Month
In August, we’ll be doing a lot more packing, cleaning, and moving. We’re getting the new house painted and cleaned before we move in, along with some other small improvements. The new house is also smaller than our current place so we’ll be getting rid of some unneeded furniture and trying to purge some items which will be nice.
How was July for you financially? Let me know in the comments!
Fifth Wheel Physical Therapist 