2021 Q1 Update

“We don’t remember days, we remember moments.” – I don’t know who said it

Shout out to all my readers! I hope you are all staying healthy, safe, and sane. It’s been a while since my last post and since we’re coming to the end of Q1 I’m way overdue for an update and post. I know all my finance nerds like the title of this one lol. I’ve been keeping busy as usual. The holidays and downtime at the end of 2020 gave me some time to reflect on many things including the direction of my blog. I’m enjoying life in HI but still on the journey to FI. I started to think about adding some kind of coaching services and ways to monetize the site. After much contemplating, I decided it’s still too early for me to do that. I didn’t want to sell out to SEO and/or focus on ad placement. I enjoy connecting with my readers and also this blog gives me a creative outlet and a reason and place to reflect.

So what the heck have I been up to? First and at the forefront of my mind is my rental property. My tenants moved out (unrelated to the pandemic) and I’ve been focused on remodeling the place. For the first week, I actually didn’t do a whole lot to the place but go there every day after work and gazed at the view. Sometimes I sat on the lanai (aka term for balcony used out here in Hawaii) and read a book. It has been a reminder of how long I’ve come in my journey and I wanted to enjoy it for a few moments. Anyway, double dosage of coming back to reality and off the romanticized version of my rental. Lately, I’ve been managing contractors in and out of my rental. Coordinating with property manager. Also, I’ve even contemplated selling the place. Just like any other investment, you’ve got to learn to leave your feelings out of it. When you start changing things, sometimes things don’t go as planned. So that’s one thing I’ve been working on.

Also, somewhat related on the real estate front. I’ve been working on refinancing the current place I’m in to take advantage of the really low interest rates. I was previously locked in at 4% and haven’t been into the loan too long where it would’ve made sense to go for a 15-year vs a 30-year. Do you own a home? Did you buy one or are looking for one to take advantage of the low interest rates? Hopefully, you’ve done enough homework and know that’s not a good enough of a reason to buy a home.

Next, I finished and completed a certification that I’ve been working on for months. I had to cram for it and that took out a big chunk of time in the last three months. It was a tech related certification and to keep some of the mystery here I won’t be too specific. Maybe, I’ll come out of anonymity in one year. Mark it, seal it, send it. I’ve got one more to put on the board. What’s one other thing that successful finance bloggers note? A target date. S.M.A.R.T goal. Don’t know what that is? Look it up. Google it. So I’m setting that goal publicly now – 3 years (only 36 months) to wrap up the tech chapter of my career.

I remember when my friend Carl from 1500days.com said “What if you don’t have life?” I’ve been more focused on my health and fitness goals this year. I worked with a running coach in the early part of the year to get some of my mileage up. It’s easy to get caught up in the hustle of every day life so I hope everyone is taking time to enjoy it as well. I’ve made some friends out here that are into running so that’s been very helpful. Going to do a virtual 5k, 10k, and half Marathon the month of April. As humans, we’re able to adapt so I figured it’s time to get out there and do some kind of event.

The numbers

If you don’t remember, I’ve also been working on reducing the amount I spend on food each month. Only 2 months to report on so far this year since we’re still in March. In January I spent $1010.91 on food, February I spent $755.13. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, the average amount a person spends in Honolulu in $915.41/month. So on average I’m doing pretty good. That also included a weekend of take out while I was cramming for my exam.

Savings rate, January was 13.7% – which included paying some credit card bills for all the Christmas gifts. Also, my tenants moved out so that put a dent in my savings rate. February, however, I did great. At 52.4%. That was the big news for me in February. What superbowl?

Koo koo for cocoa puffs

One last thing, I wanted to make a note of? What do you guys think of all the reddit stocks news? Crazy right. Some of these businesses were bleeding money before all of this started. Gamestop wasn’t just selling games anymore – they started to look like Fry’s electronics in a way. Weird and misc overpriced knick knacks that I wouldn’t buy if I was a nerdy collector. Also, questionable candy and snacks. Sheesh. IMHO, I’m surprised they didn’t shut down before Covid started. After covid started, AMC sheesh. No one was going to movie theaters and all the big movie studios pivoted to online streaming. I guess we’ll see how this all pans out.

Welp, that’s it for me folks. Thanks for reading. I’ll be back with another update soon. Until then, hang loose. \000/