One year of FIRE in NUMBERS!

Today is my one year FIRE anniversary. WOW, one year! The first of many, hopefully!

A few days ago I wrote about my experience and  some of my observations during this first year.

Today I want to follow up with some good ole quantitative measurements. Yeah for numbers.

Fire ONE year in:

National Parks / National Monuments visited: 26

When we started full time RVing, visiting as many NP’s as possible was one of our goals. We travel at a slow pace, so luckily we aren’t done yet. The $80 we spent on our yearly pass are one of the best investments we made. The ROI in terms of  fun and experiences has been far more valuable than most other things we bought, therefore we are planning to buy another one and another one, until we are done. In case you are over 62 you can get an even better deal at $10 for a lifetime pass through the 28 of THIS month. Make sure you pick up your $10 pass before 8/28/17, as the fee will go up to $80 for the senior pass.

States visited since starting the FIRE RV trip: 9

Many more while still working, but that does not count. At the beginning of our trip, we still spent a lot of time in AZ for practical reasons. I was joking that we travel around the greater Phoenix area in ever increasing circles. We still had to take care of administrative issues in Phoenix, so we never strayed further than one state away until a several months in. I did not feel like we were really travelling until we were two states away.

We travel slowly and often spend a week or more in any given place. This way we discover many things off the beaten path, that we would otherwise have missed. So far we found Idaho the most underrated state of all the states we visited together. Such a great place, much more to see than I would have ever thought.

Trips taken out of the country: 3

It is great to be able to pick up and go if someone needs your help, even if that someone is halfway across the planet in another country. This is truly on of the best parts of being FIREd, as I mentioned in my previous post.

Distance traveled in the RV: 6143 miles

This is not a race and at 7 MPG, it better not be. We do our best to save money on gas, however the best way is to truly take it slow and enjoy the journey!

Times we have gotten stuck: 1

Yes, I do mean LITERALLY stuck, as in having to dig our RV out, shovels and all. Great story for a future post, certainly. Metaphorically though, I have never felt so UNSTUCK in my entire life. Also great story for a future post, maybe.

Money spent on “rent and utilities ”: $357/month average

This came in way under budget, as we enjoy camping out on NF and BLM land for free. We did spend some time in pay campgrounds and we definitely prefer those in State and National Parks. Unless we have no other option, we try to avoid city RV parks. Some months we spend close to $0 for camping and sometimes we have to stay in city campgrounds for around $500-600/month. It all averages out. Utilities are mostly propane and internet, most of our electricity comes from our solar panels. Gas is extra.

Car / RV maintenance and other: $299/month average

This includes oil changes, tune-ups, some repairs, various replacement parts, insurance as well as a couple of one off investments, such as our solar panels, tires for the car etc. Gas not included.

Networth increase: 8%

Despite a WR of about 3%. Those 8% are mainly due to market gains in the portfolio. I hope the next correction can hold off for a bit, so I can minimize sequence of return risks during those first years of FIRE.

Withdrawal Rate: 3 %,

Trying to stay as close as 3% as possible and not higher than 3.5% (3.5% SWR over long horizons based on this article) in those first few years. In years I am way short of 3%, I will up my donations to get to 3%. Also looking for more ways to make money to donate. If you’d like to help me donate more beyond other things, please check here if there’s something that may be useful for you.

Champagne Breakfasts on a Monday morning: 1

It included a bottle of the good stuff and friends to share it with. What more could you want.

Times we purposefully met with other FIRE folks: 6

This also included two meetups in Phoenix, while we still were in the area, the others were in other states. I’d like to arrange more meetings with other FIREes. It seems we have plenty of opportunity for socializing, but when we meet other full time RVers we often tiptoe around the subject of work for a bit and I don’t volunteer the whole FIRE info, unless I get know someone better. I have created groups for nomadic FIREes to help all of us connect whilst on the road. Feel free to join us if you are interested.

Books read: 11

That’s lame! I expected to read a lot more. My list of books to read is still getting longer and longer instead of shorter.

First up, I reread the entire James Clavell Asia Saga, as the term FU money had originated in one of the books (Noble House). I had read all of these books back when I was in college, but could not really remember the FU money part, so I made it a point to reread the series once I FIREd. After that I read a couple of random novels I already had laying around in the RV for a while, none of them awesome enough to recommend. Maybe, with the exception of Lord of All Things, which had some relevance to the FIRE theme.  It is about a guy who wants to take away the need to work for money (so people are free to do whatever they like), by building a machine, that can replicate itself and then produce whatever anybody wants. This ideally would have also solved the gap between rich and poor and a couple of other issues.
It has an interesting plot at a crossroads of Social Justice, Nanotechnology, Sience/SciFi and a love story thrown in for good measure. It also is set in several different countries, which I always enjoy.
I found it interesting that it has appeal for so many different subjects, that I never thought could be united in one plot, but the author did pretty well.

I also reread The Simple Path to Wealth several times for reassurance when things get a bit rough.

Times reread The Simple Path to Wealth: 3

Weight lost: 2.5 lbs

Ummmm….yea…quite a bit below target on this one……need to work on it a bit… right after I finish my ice cream.

Times I had to set an alarm clock: 11

Waking up without an alarm whenever I am ready is definitely one of the things I enjoy most. This year I could limit the times I needed the alarm clocks to the flights I had to take and a few medical appointments I took my dad to.

Number of blog posts: 6

Sigh! Actually seven, including this one. Plus several on my other, non FIRE related blog. That’s a bit less than I had anticipated. Honestly, it’s a LOT less, but I have such a hard time hitting the publish button and such a great time doing other things.

Number of posts in the draft folder: 34 and counting

Time spent reading other blogs: I can’t even keep track. Most of my online time is spent reading other blogs, which explains why I never get around to blogging myself in the first place. A few months ago, I discovered the Rockstar Finance community. With so many creative and talented bloggers it is really easy to get carried away reading some of the great content people share with the community and never getting anything done yourself. Or maybe that’s just me being lazy.

Number of managers I now report to: 2

And they are both soft and cuddly and purr up a storm. I have always said, my cats rule my world. It is so nice to not have any other management nonsense to take into consideration beyond making my two furry buddies happy. They give back way more than they take, which is not something I could say of most of my managers during my working years.

Favorite random number fact: 95

I FIREd on fellow humanist, Gene Roddenberry’s birthday. He would have been 95 on my FIRE date or 96 today respectively. I did not realize this until today. But geeky little me, thinks this is kind of cool. Judge me all you want. I don’t care.

Times I got tired of living in an RV: 0

Times I felt deprived by our frugal lifestyle: 0

Times I wanted to go back to work: 0

Frequency at which TDA and I look at each other saying what an awesome life we live: at least 1x a day

I truly enjoy this lifestyle and don’t miss the larger space of a house one bit. Our ever changing back, front and side yards make a great extension of our living space. We eat well, meet interesting people, visit cool places and do fun stuff. I feel we live a luxurious life and get to do pretty much what we want to do.

This is my FIRE in random numbers. Sorry, no detailed expense reports (yet). Maybe one of these days, once I get through that draft folder….

How do your FIRE numbers look like?