Since last month, the yen strengthened a bit, but it’s still quite weak (over 155 / USD). Investments jumped up quite a bit, so that helped the bottom line.
The biggest expense this month was I booked flights to Europe for later this year for our honeymoon trip. The final itinerary is still TBD, but I’m hoping that it will be enjoyable for us. Hopefully I’ll be able to use miles for intra-Europe flights and hotel stays.
In other news, there is some kind of tax relief program that the Japanese government is starting this year, which might save me about $200 on taxes. It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing.
On the topic of taxes, I got a nasty-looking envelope from the IRS this week because appparently it’s not allowed to submit a paper return with a non-wet signature. I thought I was clever by printing and sending my return remotely from within the US via my virtual mailbox, but it backfired because now I need to physically sign my return and ship it back anyway. Lesson learned for next year, I suppose.
Here’s a summary of my financial position this month:
| Description | 5/24 |
|---|---|
| Total Expenses | $6,075.62 |
| Gross Income | $4,754.04 |
| Taxes | $866.20 |
| Net Income | $3,887.84 |
| Savings | -$2,187.78 |
| Savings Rate | -56.3% |
| Net Worth | $482,573.71 |
Projected time to FI (assuming 6% growth and 4% withdrawal rate): 10 years, 1 month.