By: Revanche

Money & Life Report: November 2021

December 7, 2021

On Money

Income

Our primary income comes from our full time jobs. We have minimal income from investing in index funds and dividend stocks (all reinvested). We earn money on the side to supplement our main incomes. We get a bit of income from Swagbucks and cash back sites (Rakuten, Mr.Rebates). Some posts have affiliate links that pay a micro-commission to keep the blog running and there are ways to support the blog and our charitable giving in the sidebar to the right.

Our long term goal is to replace our day job income with passive income before my health prevents me from working. I know from my Mom’s experience that qualifying for or relying on disability is incredibly tough or near impossible here in CA. Aside from that, I aim to do my best to make the most of what we can do while we can.

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Dividend income. This was a very unusual month. We received $894.81 in dividends from the stocks portfolio. Our YTD monthly average is $400.

Spending

Yikes this month and next month are spendy. The big ticket items are things we’ve been needing for months and I’ve been pushing off. We are going to need to replace the hot water heater soon, too. EEP.

Giving

On giving: we have worked really hard and been very fortunate that our hard work paid off in significant ways that I couldn’t have dreamt of when I first started this blog. Though we have not reached our FI number where I can feel like all income is gravy, we’ve always felt it was important to lend a helping hand. Many people say they’ll give back later, when they’re financially set. I say that if we don’t practice and prioritize giving now, we won’t give later either.

All year round I run the Lakota Giving Project, donate to a number of organizations that do meaningful work to help others in need and do direct aid.

I had intended to wrap up the Lakota Giving this year by the first week of November. Joke’s on me, I’m still not done! Thanks to a huge influx of generosity from the PF community, we were able to help quite a few more families than I had anticipated! The round up will appear in next month’s update because I’m running out of time to do EVERYTHING.

I’m also so relieved that our direct aid efforts have made a real difference in people’s lives. At least one friend is going to be able to move to safe housing because of the community’s support.

Saving and investing

Same same! Still saving anything we can, and investing everything we can save that we don’t need in cash.

Oh! I did buy some ibonds for our emergency fund so that it’ll make more than a piddly half percent interest.

Net worth

Since our net worth just moves up or down incrementally each month, it’s not newsworthy. I thought it might be more interesting to see the change over time from the historical data.

It’s broken in bits where I was missing data. Spreadsheets have been eaten by the mists of time.
PiC and I eventually merged finances at some point along the way.
Our good habits plus careful career management plus good fortune started paying off eventually.

On Life

Family time. We spent time with family we haven’t seen quite a while this month and it was exhausting. There was some overlap that will not be allowed again because it’s just too much juggling. I find myself not at all looking forward to the Christmas holiday visiting with this in our rearview, I’m preparing for that as if preparing for battle and that pretty much reflects my feelings on the plans. They’re not bad plans, they’re just too much and my body doesn’t like too much.

Reading (affiliate links)

Snuff, Terry Pratchett (Amazon, Bookshop)

Once more upon a time, Roshani Choksi (Amazon, Bookshop)

The Gilded Wolves, Roshani Choksi (Amazon, Bookshop)

The Silvered Serpents, Roshani Choksi (Amazon, Bookshop)

Aru Shah and the End of Time, Roshani Choksi (Amazon, Bookshop)

Eric, Terry Pratchett (Amazon, Bookshop)

Innate Magic, Shannon Fay (Amazon, Bookshop)