Virus update: things are slowly starting to return to a more normal state over here. Japan’s State of Emergency was lifted last week and I’m seeing masks on store shelves again. Many people continue to work from home and mask usage is near-universal. There’s still a handful of cases detected each day (yesterday there were 35 for the whole country), but the effectiveness of contact tracing and quarantining the infected continues to reduce numbers.
Despite continuing virus cases in the US (as well as probably premature statewide “re-openings” and now widespread civil unrest), the stock market continued to tick up. The market seems to be untethered from economic reality at this time, but maybe the market has determined that the effect of the endless government stimulus money outweighs 40+ million people out of work and heavy restrictions on economic activity. In any case, I rebalanced my portfolio at the end of May, but in the end there were only relatively minor tweaks required. I had been reluctant to do it due to the very high volatility we have seen recently, but I remembered the importance of periodically rebalancing your portfolio regardless of market conditions so that it matches your risk tolerance and investment plan. In hindsight had I rebalanced sooner I would have captured more gains during the recovery, but I had no way of knowing that in advance.
Here’s my May expenses:
| Category | 05/20 | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Rent | $928.48 | |
| Internet | $17.31 | |
| Cell Phone | $30.75 | |
| Natural Gas | $23.60 | |
| Electricity | $42.05 | Using air conditioning now that summer is approaching |
| Water | $0.00 | |
| Groceries | $334.74 | |
| Transport | $24.67 | |
| Health | $155.87 | Health insurance |
| Other | $52.69 | Document copies and processing fees |
| Necessary | $1,610.16 | |
| Restaurants | $120.02 | Ordered pizza, few cafe trips, get-together with friends |
| Entertainment | $0.00 | |
| Shopping | $103.94 | RAM upgrade, computer chair |
| Travel/Parking | $99.00 | CC fees |
| Gifts/Donations | $2.13 | |
| Software/Games | $155.02 | Plex pass, download subscriptions |
| Business | $0.00 | |
| Other | $0.00 | |
| Discretionary | $480.10 | |
| Total Expenses | $2,090.27 | About average for the month |
| Gross Income | $4,172.57 | Salary + commuting allowance |
| Taxes | $397.52 | About average for the month |
| Net Income | $3,775.05 | About average for the month |
| Savings | $1,684.79 | About average for the month |
| Savings Rate | 44.63% | About average for the month |
| Net Worth | $319,736.15 | Up due to market recovery |
Projected time to FI (assuming 6% growth and 4% withdrawal rate): 7 years, 3 months.