July Update

Life has been up and down in the last two to three months. We decided to move into a rental. It is amazing what value you can get outside of Sydney. We are very happy with where we are, and though our plans have been thrown a curve ball, we continue down the path.

In our last post, we had borrowed some dollars from the in-laws as we were looking to purchase a property with our new found cash position. That didn’t eventuate in the time frame required, and we’ve since sent that money back. For now, we are content with rent-vesting, and I am happy to report we are finally on the investment ladder, having purchased our first bundle of VAS. We’ve also made some investments into our health and lifestyle, purchasing a substantial amount of home gym equipment. I am extremely excited to get this gear and set it up. The pandemic looks set to continue to impact gyms, so I think it is a sound investment that will save us money over time.

I can’t tell you enough how lucky we are that we had completely eliminated our debt just as the pandemic hit. We are down to one wage, and coping absolutely fine. My position is extremely safe during these times, with guaranteed wage increases each February for the next three years.

As we are now debt free, I will report our net worth excluding HECS, and current share holdings.

Net Worth

Our current net worth is $136,464.72, with the following composition:

This is the highest it has been, if you exclude our previous cash position that included a loan from the bank of mum and dad. Below is a nice visual of where we were, and where we are now:

It is quite interesting that the slope of the line over the last two years remained quite consistent. It definitely didn’t feel like that along the way. There were times we were disheartened, times when we were elated, and times where we were just plain bored. It is a great visual reminder to stay the course, and demonstrates what great feats can be achieved. It reminds me of a favourite quote of mine:

People over estimate what can be done in one year, and under estimate what can be done in ten.

At present we have a decent cash buffer, which we will be maintaining given the current circumstances. We have an opportunity to really rein in our spending, formulate, and stick to a proper budget. This is something we really haven’t been good at in the past. The luxury of two wages definitely led to some frivolous spending in the past, which we simply cannot afford to do any more.
It has been great to post again, and to finally dip our toes into the stock market.