Another quarter in the books! Every three months, I take a look at my personal finances, recent news from The Best Interest, and more dog pictures.
Here are my previous quarterly updates:
Why share this info? To brag about money?!
No way.
I want to be transparent. I practice what I preach and want to show you the results—both good and bad. Many of you have said that seeing my progress helps you gain confidence in your financial life.
I keep a detailed budget, spend money on what makes me happy, and invest the rest in a diverse portfolio of low-cost investment funds.
Below are the recent results of those practices.
(Plus, there are dog pics 🙂)
But First…
I got married! It was a beautiful day full of love, relationships, and dancing!
Here are a few sneak previews from our photographer.
Personal Finances
Inflation continues to dominate the news, as do the Federal Reserve’s attempts to combat it via hiking interest rates. But is inflation affecting my monthly spending?
Spending and Income
In July, August, and September, I spent $4103, $4534, and $2518 respectively. That’s an average of $3718 per month, or about $300 more per month than last quarter.
What changed?
For starters, I had a surprise $1600 car fix in August. Aren’t they the best?! That alone, when amortized over 3 months, contributes $533/month.
Outside of that, my spending was reasonable. My goal is to keep my spending less than my net income. I want to be cashflow positive. My net income outpaced my spending by $2427 total for the quarter, or $809 per month.
That’s $809 monthly that I can save or invest for the future.
Mission accomplished.
The Best Interest
The Best Interest had a solid quarter too, netting $200 after all expenses. This profit is mostly thanks to Money Mastermind, the book I wrote with 30 other financial expert friends.
The book recently passed $35,000 in gross sales. Most of that money has gone to profit-sharing for all 30 authors.
But a slice of that $35,000 went to The Best Interest. And having a business that creates revenue is pretty cool!
FYI, you can get an e-book copy here. Use code JESSE for 30% off.
…or get a hardcopy from Amazon here.
Net Worth
We covered that I’m cashflow positive. But my net worth is down for the quarter by $2,300.
This, of course, is due to my investments losing value. September specifically ended with such a wimper.
The table below shows all my numbers. You can see that:
- My cashflow is positive.
- My mortgage payments are mostly going to home equity.
- And I’ve kept on investing.
- But the investments I’ve purchased over the past decade were down $10437 on the quarter. And that’s a natural part of the investing process.
| Cashflow | +$2427 |
| Home Equity | +$2410 |
| New Investment Principal | +$3300 |
| Investment Growth | (-$10,437) |
| Total | (-$2,300) |
Ouch.
I didn’t lose the money, per se, because I haven’t sold the down investments. I haven’t locked in my losses.
But this past quarter once again shows the true cost of investing. It’s a psychological cost! It’s mentally uncomfortable to think that my investments decreased in market value by more than my net income.
The true test: do I regret being invested?
No!
This type of drop is what I’ve been reading about, learning about, and preparing for…for years! It’s never fun to see the numbers go down. But I continued investing nonetheless during this quarter, plowing more money (Roth IRA, 401k) into the market, even as it dropped.
Once again, the important message is that investments can (and will) go down. All investors should pound that into their heads. Over, and over, and over.
If that makes you nervous, that’s understandable. Your portfolio risk level should reflect how you feel, and can be adjusted if you feel too risky.
But that does not mean you should avoid investing altogether.
Check out this article. I wrote it ~2 years ago. It feels more appropriate that ever, providing great perspective.
Projects
What’s new on The Best Interest?
Podcast Stuff
I’m back behind the podcast mic! Check out The Best Interest Podcast here.
And I’m a co-host of a new podcast called The Trusted Partner Podcast, where we interview experts in financial planning, investing, and personal finance.
Teaching Financial Literacy
I’ve continued to give speaking presentations to large groups. Students, employees, retirees…anyone! If you have a group that wants to learn about personal finance and investing, I’m your guy! Send me an email!
Later this month, I’m speaking with local high school students who are participating in a national “stock market challenge.” What a great way to learn the fundamentals of investing!
Popular Articles
The top three articles on the blog this quarter were:
Monkey Update
I’m running another “monkeys throwing darts to pick stocks” competition.
Here’s this year’s competition description.
And here’s the current status.
Social Media
If you’re more of a social media person than a blog person, check out The Best Interest on Twitter and Instagram.
Dogs
Because Kelly and I were in the throes of wedding planning, we opted to not take any foster dogs this quarter. We’ll start back up soon!
But we did give a shoutout to our former fosters at our wedding! Below is our seating chart. Each table was named in honor of one of our dogs!
Sadie—our very first foster, whom we adopted—is doing great.
These dogs are a wonderful addition to our life. If you want to add a dog to your life, adopt a foster!
Until December!
I’ll write the next update in December. Here’s to a great autumn!
Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this article, join 8000+ subscribers who read my 2-minute weekly email, where I send you links to the smartest financial content I find online every week.
-Jesse
Want to learn more about The Best Interest’s back story? Read here.
Looking for a great personal finance book, podcast, or other recommendation? Check out my favorites.
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