Retire – Page 5 – RV-on-FIRE

November 2023 Financial Update

Published on December 8, 2023April 11, 2026 by 3 Comments

Welcome to our November 2023 financial update blog! There have been so many ups and downs this month it’s hard to know where to start. So let’s just jump on in and let it rip.

If you have been keeping up with our adventure you know that we thought that we found our forever home here in Texas. Read about it here if you need a refresher. You also know that after some negotiations it became clear that we were not going to be able to make a deal. So we walked away. That really sucked, but it was definitely for the better.

After losing out on the bidding we had resigned ourselves to just enjoying what we have. Maybe taking a break from the grind of looking and researching was what we needed to do. The whole thing was just stressing us out anyway. That’s not what we live this lifestyle to do so we stepped back. Well, that lasted about a week.

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November 2023 Dividend Portfolio Update

Published on December 2, 2023April 11, 2026 by Leave a comment

It’s time for our November 2023 dividend portfolio update and it was a pretty exciting month. After three consecutive months of losses the markets reversed course in a big way. This run up, along with our decision to purchase a share of SCHD at each pay period of our work-camping jobs, helped propel our little portfolio to new highs.

Of course we couldn’t have a good month without a little bit of frustration to go along with it. During the month our dividend portfolio account transitioned from TD Ameritrade to Schwab. Due to the timing of the transition some of our divided payments could not be automatically reinvested. It also appears that Schwab doesn’t reinvest dividend immediately. With TD dividends were reinvested on the same day they are received. Due to this one day lag dividends received on the last day of the month look like they will be reinvested on the first trading day of the following month.

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Forever Home Found……..and Lost

Published on November 22, 2023April 11, 2026 by 3 Comments

As ours reader are probably aware of by now, we have been looking a location to find or build our forever home. Over the last few months our search has taken us from Montana down to Texas and everything in between. While our forever home search started out very wide, and across several states, it has since narrowed. As much as we love Montana and our temporary home state of South Dakota the winters are too large of a negative to overcome. After considering states like Utah and Nevada we have narrowed our search to parts of Texas. This however still feels like half the country anyway.

Over the last few weeks a lot has transpired and eventually reached a crescendo late last week. Honestly we were hoping this would be the blog where we expressed our excitement about entering a new phase of our lives. But despite giving it our best effort and even going out on a limb financially it wasn’t meant to be.

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October 2023 Dividend Portfolio Update

Published on November 1, 2023April 11, 2026 by Leave a comment

It’s time for our October 2023 dividend portfolio update and unfortunately there aren’t many positives to report. The markets continued to sell off for the third straight month and our dividend portfolio continued to take hits on all fronts. If there is a silver lining for investors it’s that there are buying opportunities everywhere as we have entered correction territory.

We arrived at our new location and started our winter work-camping gigs. This has made it hard to keep up with the markets and any news. Additionally, our investable income has really slowed which has limited our ability to add to positions. The timing couldn’t be worse in that respect because now is the time to take advantage of opportunities.

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September 2023 Financial Update

Published on October 7, 2023April 11, 2026 by 1 Comment

We are back with our September 2023 financial update! The months are flying by and before you know it we will be heading to the great state of Texas for the winter. We have enjoyed our time on the lake in Oklahoma, but like all great things it will soon come to an end.

As much as we love lake life we are getting to the point where we are ready to move on. The downside to being in this area is that there just isn’t much to do. Aside from walking around the campground or sitting outside looking at the water not much is going on. As such, we have been pretty stagnant for that last month. After a rough couple of months camping in a remote area was a relaxing change. Now we are itching to get somewhere we can be more active and do some sight seeing.

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Campground Review – Sunrise Ridge Campground

Published on September 24, 2023April 11, 2026 by Leave a comment

In this edition of our campground review series we will be reviewing Sunrise Ridge Campground located in Hot Springs, SD.

Sunrise Ridge Campground is located off of highway 385 just outside of the historic town of Hot Springs. We booked a one month stay in the month of July 2023 and chose this location because we needed to be within driving distance of Rapid City. We prefer a quiet small town over being in a city. And quite honestly there’s not much to choose from that are decent and have a reasonable price in South Dakota.

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August 2023 Dividend Portfolio Update

Published on September 2, 2023April 11, 2026 by Leave a comment

Another month in the books and that means it’s time for another dividend portfolio update! After two solid months of gains our dividend portfolio took a small step back in August.

For most of the month it looked like the pullback would be sizable. However, after the fed summit in Wyoming and chairman nimrod’s speech the markets brushed off the worry and moved backup. While we didn’t recover all of the downside it was good to see the markets holding strong once again.

There were a couple of events that impacted our dividend portfolio in August. The biggest by far was J&J completing the spin off of Kenvue. The deal was very enticing with the opportunity to receive 8 shares of Kenvue in exchange for each share of J&J. That would have created a nice position for us in the new company. But in the end we decided to stick with our J&J shares as the company is just a machine. It is also our third largest holding and more importantly they are not adjusting the dividend after the transaction. We will probably look to add Kenvue into or portfolio down the line.

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