Readers, please forgive my tardiness in posting an update. My full-time job takes up more than its fair share of my time (including a particularly brutal 36 hour stretch last weekend) and I am not quite settled in my new home, living out of a suitcase and indulging in too much eating out.
I made a big life decision recently that essentially amounted to a kick in the shin to my financial avatar. A hard kick. I moved from my wonderfully inexpensive big city (Chicago) to a city that insists on regaling me with a daily dose of sticker shock (Sydney). My rent alone doubles my expenses and I know updating my chart won’t be quite as fun for a while.
That being said, I have always wanted to live abroad and while money is important, I try to see it as an ally and a tool and not the only aspect of life that matters. I consider money when I make all my decisions, but I still have to live and exist and, since I believe I’m in a decent place financially, I decided to take the plunge and accept the secondment. I will be here for about 18 months and I hope that when I return to Chicago after that, I will officially “retire.” I’ve started a countdown clock that I look at when I’m feeling low and sleep deprived here.
On to my charts! Here is where I stood at the end of 2013.
I plan to transfer money each month from my U.S. bank account into my Australian bank account to pay for things like rent and spending money. Even though I may have some amount in my Australian bank account, I am going to consider the money “spent” after it leaves my U.S. account for the sake of simplicity. I may change my mind after I feel more settled and confident with my spending decisions here.
Here is my chart at the end of January.
Hmm. Kind of ugly. This is perhaps another subconscious reason for the delay in this post. This chart does not make me happy when I look at it. January was a rough month for the market and my net worth increased a paltry $5500. I like to include my income line to make myself feel better, but it doesn’t help much. Here is the chart with all three lines.
I’m still spending less than I earn, but the margin isn’t anything to brag about.
