Oh, where to begin! Another month in the books and it’s time for our February 2024 financial update.
However, before we get to the numbers let us bring you up to speed on the adventure that is our life. We knew that building a custom home would be a new challenge that would take a lot of patience. In our update last month we were in the process of trying to get permits and approvals for our plans. The good news is that we have cleared all of those hurdles. The not so good news is that there are a whole new set of hurdles to jump over.
It’s not a real big deal and we are making progress, but our timeline keeps getting pushed back. It would have been helpful to know about these things months ago as we could have probably taken care of them. The problem we have is that this is all new to us. We don’t know what we don’t know. Then something comes up in conversation and we have to figure it out. It’s all part of the experience I guess!
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On the bright side, the builder took some initiative while we wait on things and started clearing the home area and moving dirt. So at least we will be ahead of the game and ready to start working on the foundation once we clear these last hurdles. Everyone keeps saying that once the build gets going it will go fast. We don’t really care about things going fast as much as it is just being able to see some progress.
In other news, we have had some interest in our RV after putting it on the market. A few people have come to look at it and we have had some very positive feedback. Unfortunately, none of that interest has progressed into an offer to purchase which is kind of a bummer. We didn’t expect that it would sell quickly, but we keep getting our hopes up when people come by only to be disappointed.
With our working-camping gigs ending at the end of March we will need to make some decisions. We have a lot on our plate with the home build, RV sale and our son will be graduating from college in a couple of months. We will need to be in Pennsylvania for his graduation and then again to help him move out of his apartment. At the same time we need to be available in Texas to deal with home stuff as it comes up. Kind of a tough task!
To make things a little easier we are considering ending our RV journey at the end of March. It’s not something we want to do and it’s kind of heartbreaking to think of it. However, the reality is that selling our RV will become next to impossible if we are still traveling around the country in it. Additionally, driving the RV back and forth across the country puts more miles on it and increases the risk of a negative event happening.
We have also decided that it’s probably in our best interest to get some help selling the RV if we don’t sell it in March. Financially it would be a little bit of a hit, but we need to keep it stationary. Having it in one place and available for people to view will make it easier to sell. It also takes the possibility of a mechanical problem, or worse, occurring on the road out of the equation. Most importantly, it will free us up to make quick trips between Pennsylvania, Texas and Utah over the next several months.
Wait did we say Utah? Yes, yes we did. If we leave our RV behind we are officially homeless. Once we drop the RV off we have to go somewhere until our house is completed. Staying in a hotel for months on end it’s really smart financially. So our best option is to go and “visit” family for awhile. We always wanted to do a little mooch docking! After being on the road for three years this will give us some time to spend with our family and catch up. It’s also a beautiful part of the country and a place we can get out for the day and enjoy a hike.
That about sums up where we are at this point. Now, let’s get to the financial stuff!
Our Portfolio Performance February 2024:
Portfolio = $1,491,247
Our Portfolio Increased By $58,301 or 4.07% From The End Of January
Year-To-Date Our Portfolio Has Increased By $62,894 or 4.40%
Net Worth = $1,636,590
Our Net Worth Increased By $53,826 or 3.40% From The End Of January
Year-To-Date Our Net Worth Has Increased By $56,034 or 3.55%
February turned out to be a heck of a month for the financial markets. With the increase in our portfolio we have nearly returned to our original FI number of $1.5m. And that is after taking out a large draw in December to purchase our property! With everything we have going on financially this is a welcome site.
Looking forward we would love to see this rally continue so we can watch our portfolio grow. However, it’s just not feasible and we are probably due for a pullback. We don’t want to see our portfolio go down, especially right now, but a healthy markets has corrections and this market is hot hot hot.
And then there is our spending!
Monthly Budget = $5,000
February Spending = $6,123
February Over Monthly Budget = -$1,123
YTD Over Budget = -$61
February was an expensive month as expected. It’s that time of the year for annual maintenance and vehicle registration renewals. After getting our Jeep checked it turns out that it was in desperate need of new tires. This was by far our largest expense for the month and what put us over budget. We were hoping to go another year before needing new tires, but the wear from driving and towing it behind the RV took a toll.
Additionally, some of these hurdles we are trying to clear to start building our home are starting to add up. In February it cost us a few hundred dollars to get things taken care of. March is going to be even worse as we have already incurred a large expense to get the water metering installed on the property.
On the bright side, since we have decided to seek help in selling our RV we will not be putting money into it for the annual maintenance. We had budgeted about $7k for this year in RV maintenance so we will not be out of pocket for this. However, it might still be something we have to deal with in negotiating a sale. We will cross that bridge when we get to it.
We are trying to hold the line on our spending because we know what’s ahead of us. Our home building expenses are already picking up and they will only grow over the course of the build. We will also have a lot of travel expenses ahead as we move around between Utah, Texas and Pennsylvania this summer.
If we can sell the RV and stay with family throughout the transition period that will certainly help us keep costs down. This will be important as the closer we get to completing the build. Eventually our attention will need to turn to getting some home furnishings. That is where things can get expensive out of pocket.
Thankfully, Mrs. RVF is a professional bargain hunter. And since we are pretty much always on the same page as far as style it makes everything easier. What we will do is keep our eyes open for deals on things we will have to get anyway. If we can get what we need and save money in the long run it might be worth it to front the cost while the build is still going on.
While transitioning back to a home is going to be quite the task we are excited to start the next chapter of our lives. Living the last three years on the road has been an amazing experience. Aside from the adventure and freedom of our journey we have also learned some valuable lessons and skills that will help us in this new phase.
Living on the road forced us to learn new skills not just to keep our expenses down, but often out of necessity. We have spent countless hours making repairs to things that broke while traveling. A lot of RV life is learning how to take things apart and rebuild them. Sometimes it’s a permanent fix. Sometimes it’s just to get you to somewhere where a professional can help.
We have learned how to repair broken appliances, fix plumbing issues, locate and fix water leaks and how prepare for long periods in below freezing temperatures. Heck we even did some remodeling and some of our own upgrades. In the past we would have never done any of this stuff. We would have paid someone to do it for us.
Most importantly we confirmed our belief that less is more. We don’t need to have a house full of things in order to be happy. We just need each other, our family and our friends. They might not be in the same state as us, or even on the same side of the country, but they have supported us while on this journey. Maybe some didn’t agree with our decision, but they all understood and wished us well. For that we are extremely grateful!
That’s a wrap for our February 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, or maybe just around town.
Joe
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