Welcome to our January 2024 financial update. As you can imagine there is a lot going on in the RVonFire household. It feels like everything is up in the air as life is continuously evolving.

On the home front not much has changed or progressed. We agreed on terms with a new builder and visited the property to discuss a few things. Now we are in that phase of trying to get permits and approvals so we can get started on the build. For me this is the worst part of the process as I hate waiting on people, especially government types. Although we can definitively say that South Dakota and Texas government folks are much more courteous, helpful and respectful than the human debris that occupies California government entities.

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Another development is that we decided to put the RVonFire mobile mansion on the market. This wasn’t an easy decision, but after some thought it became clear that the pros outweighed the cons.

On the plus side we would relieve ourselves of the expenses that come with having the RV. If it sells quickly or before the house is done this could save us quite a bit of money and also help fund some furnishings. It will also make the transition back to house living much easier logistically and financially.

On the negative side, well, we would be homeless and need to find a place to live until our house if finished and move in ready. We have discussed some options, but there are just too many variables at this point. It would really depend on the timing and where we are at in the build process.

There will be a few steps in the process where we will need to be present at the build site, or at least in town, to make decisions. We would also need to store our possessions somewhere until we can move in. That would actually be pretty easy as there is a storage facility in the community. As you can see there are a lot of moving parts.

Another thing we have to consider is what if the RV sells while we are still work-camping? We are not the type of people that skip out on a commitment. Sometimes that is to our own detriment as we proved last year working at the den of hell, AKA Mesa Regal RV Resort. However, we have to think of our situation and what is best for us financially and logistically. So that will be a situation that we will have to address if and when the time comes.

We will see how this all begins to unfold over the next weeks and months.

Our Portfolio Performance January 2024:

Portfolio = $1,432,947

Our Portfolio Increased By $4,593 or 0.32% From The End Of December 

Year-To-Date Our Portfolio Has Increased By $4,593 or 0.32%

Net Worth = $1,582,765

Our Net Worth Increased By $2,209 or 0.14% From The End Of December 

Year-To-Date Our Net Worth Has Increased By $2,209 or 0.14%

January was an interesting month. Everything seemed to be riding high until the last day of the month when the markets pulled back. Because of that pull back we gave up most of our gains and ended the month essentially flat. A little gain is better than a little loss so we are happy to see green and move on.

As if life isn’t complicated enough at the moment, we have a lot of moving parts with our finances too. Some of this is due to the home build and some is due to our planned withdrawal schedule.

Most of our saving was done back when 401k’s were all the craze. As such, we always planned to use IRS rule 72(t) to tap some of those funds when the time was right. The plan was to move funds to an account that is accessible while minimizing our tax liability. Unfortunately covid hit and the world shut down. Because of this we delayed our plan for a couple of years and lived off what we had in cash in semi-liquid investments.

Going into 2024 we planned to finally start drawing on these funds, but now we have the house build to deal with. Considering this development we weren’t sure if the time was right so we considered delaying withdrawals once again. However, after going back and forth and having some professional discussions we decided to move forward with our planned withdrawal schedule.

The timing of the home build and taking on a small mortgage might actually help us offset any taxes incurred. Outside of work-camping for minimum wage and our taxable investments we don’t have any income. So our tax liability should be minimal when it comes to these withdrawals as long as we don’t go crazy and put ourselves into a higher tax bracket. And since we are not going to be using this money at the moment we can slowly build up some accessible funds for the future. It’s really all about accessibility and flexibility so hopefully this set us up for both in the long run.

Of course the other side of the equation is spending, so let’s dig into that.

Our Spending for January 2024:

Monthly Budget = $5,000

Total spend for January 2024 = $3938

Over/Under Monthly Budget = $1,062

Over/Under Budget YTD = $1,062

First, we just want to point out that we have removed the prepaid site fees and net budget starting this year. Reason being that we do not plan to prepay for any sites with the home being built. If the RV doesn’t sell and we end up going somewhere we will just pay as we go.

With no real ability to forecast our expenses in 2024 we are sticking with our $5k monthly budget. This is our original FIRE number and while we know it’s probably not realistic this year we want to keep as close to it as possible. Once our home is complete we will have to reassess and recreate an entirely new budget to live off of.

In January we really held the line despite incurring nearly $1k in unbudgeted expenses. It started with our trip to California, which is always expensive, and ended with a sizable fee to list our RV. Despite these items we still came in under budget by over $1k. So we are off to a good start!

Now here is where it gets dicey. It’s that time of year where we need to pay for our annual RV maintenance. We also have the added expense of needing to get new tires as our are now 6 years old and entering the danger zone for RV’s. Tires will cost somewhere between $2,500 – $5,000 so we are looking at upwards of $7k for RV maintenance in February and/or March.

Now that the RV is up for sale there is the option to factor this into the sale price if we get some interest. That would save us the cashflow and allow the buyer to choose the tires they want. That might seem to be a negative to a non-RVer, but RV folks can be picky about their tires.

We have Michelins now and they are crazy expensive to replace. Some people swear by Toyo for quality and price and that’s what we are leaning towards. Others are hardline and only want what the manufacturer had on the RV to begin with. So a credit at the time of sale can be good for both sides. The new owners can get what they want and we keep our cash. But, we will see how things shake out because we will make the purchase before we drive on the highways again if necessary. Safety first!

We expect our home building expenses to start picking up sometime in February. We will have to pay out of pocket for some of the process to get going. Then once the build starts we will have to pay for the construction loan obligations.

On top of all of this we created a separate budget for essential furnishings. While it’s probably premature since we haven’t even broken ground yet we felt it would be prudent to start pricing things out. We eventually need to come up with a plan so we are not sleeping on the floor in an empty house. Plus, if something goes on sale we can scoop it up and save money on our budget.

While we have a lot going on it’s pretty exciting. In a way we feel like a young couple again that’s just starting out. It reminds us of our first home purchase and build in 1999. The only difference is that we need to be much more involved this time since this is a custom home and not a cookie cutter build. Hopefully we can break ground soon as the suspense is killing us!

That about covers it for our January 2024 financial update! Thank you as always for reading and following our blog. We look forward to sharing this experience with everyone as we progress.

See you on the road!

Joe

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