Welcome to our very belated May 2024 financial update. It seems that all of the cross country travel and probably some stress finally took its toll. Traveling was nice when we were doing it in a big luxury RV. We always had food and snacks in the refrigerator readily available. And when we were tired we would just hit up a rest area and sleep in our own bed. Traveling in a car with three people that is packed full with stuff is a completely different story however.

With our son completing college and getting ready to start his new career we had to empty his college apartment. For a minimalist person he had a lot of stuff! The car was completely packed and every nook and cranny was filled. And with his entire life in the car we didn’t want to leave the vehicle unattended. So with the exception of our three day stay in Texas to check on the our home build we ended up sleeping in the car, sitting upright when we stopped for the night. Not very much fun at all!

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After making the 2,500 mile drive back to Utah we rested a little to try and get over the long drive and work out the back pain. But, Mrs. RVF and our son are not ones to sits around for long. We woke up one morning and it was a beautiful day so we decided to go for a short hike up in the mountains. First we drove up to Cedar Breaks which is over the 10,000 ft. level. While there we had a nice little picnic and enjoyed the fresh air before doing a little hike.

I jokingly posted about it being a great hike to get the heart rate up because of the elevation on social media. The only problem was that by the time we got back home, which is still at like 6,000 ft., I was still having problems catching my breath. I was also completely wiped out and had zero energy. I’m not a high energy type of guy to begin with, but this was not good.

Thankfully it doesn’t appear to be anything more than a horrible chest cold. I was down and out for a few days and I still have a yucky cough. Other than that I’m fine and on the mend. But this blog was the last thing on my mind at the time.

The odd part of all of this is that I never get sick. Mrs. RVF always teases that I have an iron clad immune system. I’ve probably faked being sick more times to get out of school as a kid than the actual number times I’ve been sick in my entire life. I guess I’m just getting old.

Before we get to the numbers for our May 2024 financial update here is a quick update on our home build.

When we left Texas they were preparing to put up drywall and then start the texture coating process. All of the cabinetry materials had been ordered and would be in place soon after. Thankfully we had already done most of the work needed on our end. This allowed us to just sit back and enjoy the changes.

It was great to see the interior walls coming together after the insulation was done. We could finally get a real feel for the size of the rooms and the main living space. While the site is a mess right now we love being there to enjoy the property. In fact, we loved driving over after the workers left most nights. We would pull up some logs and sit on the back porch and enjoy the breeze and wildlife. That will certainly be something we do regularly when all is said and done. Minus the logs of course. We are rural, but not that rural.

We are still on track to have everything completed in late August or early September. The weather in Texas is hot hot hot, but the work continues. We will probably need to make another return trip later this month or early July. That will be a fun trip as some of our actual design choices will be put into place. It’s also a little scary as up until now everything is just visualized. Once our design choices start going together we will see if everything works or if our assumptions were off. As you can imagine we are very excited to finally get to this stage.

Ok, let’s get to our May 2024 financial update numbers.

Our Portfolio Performance May 2024:

Portfolio = $1,516,354

Our Portfolio Increased By $37,723 or 2.55% From The End Of April 

Year-To-Date Our Portfolio Has Increased By $88,000 or 6.16%

Net Worth = $1,444,007

Our Net Worth Decreased By $44,457 or 2.86% From The End Of April

Year-To-Date Our Net Worth Has Decreased By $136,549 or 8.64%

With our home build in full swing our portfolio continues to perform very well. As we explained in last months blog our net worth is being drastically skewed by the ever growing construction loan draws. So our portfolio is more indicative of our financial situation until all of the construction is completed and we can recognize the value of our completed home.

While the markets took a much needed breather in April it was short lived. In May everything turned right back around and continued to run up. So far June seems to be running on the same track with no end in sight.

With everything we have going we will certainly take the win. As we draw closer to completing our build we will have some huge financial decisions to make. The nice part is that we have many options on the table. If the markets continue to rally that could help us out when decision time comes.

We had a very busy month in the cash outlay department as you will see in our spending. Between our son graduatiing, traveling and home expenses we really blew up the budget. But, it is really not as bad as the headline number makes it out to be. Let’s check it out.

Spending numbers for May 2024:

Monthly Budget = $5,000

May Spending = $14,201

May Over Monthly Budget = -$9,200

YTD Over Budget  =  -$17,123

At first view these numbers are absolutely horrible. However, once we take into account things like graduation gift and some house expenses we only spent about $3,500 in the month. And that includes the expense of three people traveling across the country with a three day hotel stay in Texas. Not too bad really!

Right now we have a lot of things going on financially that are mostly out of our control. While we are not trying to justify blowing up our budget we can at least acknowledge that our core discretionary spending is relatively under control. Being able to mitigate discretionary spending until our house is completed is essential at this point. Every month our home expenses increase as more money is drawn from the build pool. So money saved on the discretionary end helps offset this process.

The worst part of this is really that we are still dealing with that pesky RV! We have had several extreme low ball offers, but nothing we would even consider excepting yet. As such, we haven’t been able to get it off of our books. That makes this dance a little harder to deal with for the time being. Hopefully we can get it sold and out of the picture soon.

Well, that’s about it for our May 2024 financial update. We knew that we were in for a couple of really expensive months when we completed our work-camping jobs in April. The amount of travel required and all of the moving parts related to our home build made it a certainty once we were done in San Antonio.

With all of that out of the way we look forward to seeing how June shakes out. Our schedule is now clear and any travel will be at the request of our builder. If we can finally get our RV out of the way that would be a great help, but we are not holding our breath on that one.

At the very least it’s nice that we are now in a position to solely focus the house. Big decisions lay ahead and we need to be in the best position possible when that time comes.

Thanks for taking time to read our blog!

See you on the road, or maybe just around town.

Joe

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