Full transcript
0:00Hey, Job here. On this channel, I invest
0:01100% of my income to create cash flow
0:03that will eventually replace my salary
0:05and pay for all my expenses. I do all
0:07that while living out of my Robin Hood
0:09brokerage account and paying all my
0:10bills with margin. I don't pay bills and
0:12invest like most people do and what I
0:14used to do really. I truly invest 100%
0:16of my income. I've been doing this for
0:18over a year now since the end of May
0:202025. And since then, I've grown my
0:22gross portfolio balance from 205K to
0:25458K this September. Today we'll be
0:29going over the month 16 portfolio update
0:31since I started a strategy. I'm hoping
0:33that it brings me to an earlier
0:34retirement and be work optional from the
0:36games industry at 40 years old in just
0:38four years from now. I'll go into all
0:40the details of my performance in
0:41September 2026 breaking down how I
0:43outperformed the S&P 500 by this is a
0:46crazy number 15 times with my 5.69%
0:50total return gain. I'll check in how I
0:52did against the S&P 500 and QQQ both on
0:54the 1x and 2x leverage basis given that
0:57my portfolio is pretty close to 2x lever
0:59just because of all the money I've been
1:01taking out to pay bills, all the
1:02dividends received. I'll go over the
1:04topline numbers progress since I started
1:05this whole thing in May 2025. I'll
1:08update my rough projections and goals of
1:10where I am at against that projection
1:12sheet that we see every month. And uh
1:15we'll also go over all my expenses and
1:17cash flow for this past month and finish
1:19out with how I'll be adjusting things
1:20going forward for the next month. So all
1:23that said, you'll get full transparency.
1:25You'll see all my real numbers and
1:27nothing hidden. If you want to follow
1:29along, check out the free Snowball
1:30portfolio link in the description below.
1:32And if you appreciate all that
1:33transparency, give a like and subscribe.
1:35Just a quick disclaimer, this video is
1:36for entertainment and education purposes
1:38only. I'm not a financial adviser and
1:40nothing here should be taken as
1:42financial investment or tax advice. I'm
1:44simply sharing my personal investing
1:45journey and documenting my own results.
1:46So, make sure you have a good read of
1:47this. As far as the weekly flow that I
1:49use to live out the brokerage, you can
1:51kind of see it here. If you're new to
1:52the channel, definitely check out this
1:53video at the top right where I do a deep
1:55dive uh of this whole thing and breaking
1:57the whole thing down. Um, and let's just
1:59get started. So, normally I go on my
2:02Robin Hood here. You can see my live
2:03portfolio, but today we're actually
2:05October 3rd. So, going over the one
2:07month here doesn't quite work because
2:09one month starts September 1st, of
2:10course. So what I did earlier in the
2:13week is actually take a snapshot of
2:14where everything was at here. So we can
2:16kind of take a look here. So ended the
2:19month here at 231K
2:22essentially was up 5.69% or 12.4K as you
2:25see here. And I took a snapshot of where
2:28the 1x S&P 500 and QQQ were that day
2:31too. So you can see here that the S&P
2:33was up only 37% that month. So that's
2:37where my 15x outperformance comes here
2:39against the S&P, which is pretty cool.
2:41QQQ, not so much. I just slightly beat
2:44it. QQQ was up 5.51% in that same time
2:47period over here. And if we compare it
2:49as well to the 2x S&P 500 and Q, it's
2:53like not a perfect comparison because
2:55I'm not like perfectly like 2x QQ and VU
2:58in my portfolio or whatnot. Like I have
2:59the equivalent of 2x leverage when we
3:01look at this, right? my leverage
3:02multiple just through high yield
3:04positions that are generating income and
3:06then also just any money I would
3:08withdraw to pay bills or whatnot. So,
3:10but it's just good to see to compare to
3:12like if I was for example if I just went
3:15a pure leverage S&P 500 QQQ route how I
3:19compare to that. So, I would still beat
3:21out the S&P that would still only be up
3:2394%. So, not quite double from its
3:26thing. Like the stacking of the gains
3:27definitely adds up as you can kind of
3:29see there for the S&P 2X leverage. For
3:31the QQQ 2x leverage, that's about double
3:34or just under double. But I did not beat
3:35that out had I been purely in QQQ 2X
3:38leverage. So definitely good to compare.
3:40And also one thing that I forgot to
3:42mention in the intro, but as I mentioned
3:44in a previous video last month, I wanted
3:46to start breaking down my CD and MV
3:48every month. So you can basically
3:50generate that from your your Robin Hood
3:52account there. So, if you go to your
3:54account and open up your reports and
3:56statements, I actually yeah, go over
3:58here, right? So, your account reports
4:00and statements, you can just generate it
4:02for a specific time period. In this
4:03case, I did September 1st to September
4:0530th. And that'll give you this sheet
4:07and I just ran it through chat GP to
4:09kind of break it all down. Uh, just
4:10being a little lazy there, letting it do
4:12its thing there. And even then, it made
4:13a mistake and had to correct it. But
4:15just useful. I wanted to start kind of
4:17going over this every month. So we can
4:19see here that as far as C div so this is
4:22just normal dividends. So these will
4:24actually get C or any long-term capital
4:27gains from 1256 contracts or whatnot. So
4:29that was roughly 59% of my dividends in
4:32September on the MD side. So these are
4:33substitute payments, right? So these are
4:35payment or payment in you could call
4:37them as well. So these actually get
4:39their their tax advantages stripped
4:41because of share rehypothecation. And
4:44that's one thing to keep in mind, right?
4:46Because when you use margin, you
4:47basically sign an agreement saying that
4:49they can rehypotheate your shares to
4:51lend them out and whatnot. And this is
4:52different from stock lending. So fully
4:54different than what you opt into here in
4:57Robin Hood specifically and what you
4:58might have to do in other brokerages. It
5:00will happen regardless if you say yes or
5:02no to stock lending. So this just
5:03happens automatically when you use
5:05margin. So 41% of that is manufactured
5:08dividends or substitute payments or
5:10payment in leu. So overall a good spread
5:12here. 60% of my dividends will still get
5:14their their good tax treatment here of
5:16my 5.6k in dividends. We can kind of see
5:19here if we go down the list, Chippy had
5:22quite a bit of substitute payments here.
5:24Xay less so a lot a lot CD which is
5:27good. Ulti about 6040 looks like. TDAC a
5:31lot more m this month. Uh BTCI
5:34surprisingly all good cache divs here.
5:36Blocks as well mostly. GIX mostly cache
5:39divs as well. MLPI full cash divs as
5:42well. KGLD a lot more manufactured
5:46dividends here as we can kind of see.
5:47OVL a lot more cash divs which is good.
5:49T-spy fully manufactured dividends here.
5:52A little bit disappointing to see. AVLV
5:54as well. Uh YAX here don't hold it
5:56anymore but this was about half and
5:58half. BCAT fully manufactured as well.
6:01Uh SPMO about half and half here. Goop
6:05mostly cash divs. VU cash divs fully QQM
6:09as well. VGT as well. So interesting to
6:11see the split and percentage of that.
6:13But we'll be sharing this every month
6:15and it's important to keep in mind would
6:16encourage any others that are willing to
6:18kind of generate that report. Definitely
6:20good to share and get the word out there
6:22as far as like uh share rehypothecation
6:25is very real. Definitely definitely
6:26something to keep in mind for your
6:27taxes. For me, as I've mentioned, it
6:30didn't end up affecting me too much.
6:32Like if we go over my old tax stuff from
6:34uh last year, right? I ended up getting
6:35a 4.2K 2k refund even with the 52k in
6:39dividend income that I had because of a
6:41lot of the tax deductions that I have.
6:42So, uh, mortgage interest deductions,
6:44property tax deduction, helocks
6:46interest, margin interest, carryover
6:48losses, C or whatnot, side gig
6:50entertainment deductions. So, all that
6:53adds up to to kind of offset a lot of
6:54that income. Um but definitely important
6:58to keep in mind if you're if you are
6:59using margin and using some of these
7:01high yield products or dividend products
7:02that will be a tax bill that you'll
7:04because this when when something becomes
7:06a substitute payment or a payment in you
7:08that's basically all ordinary income. So
7:10same as your your normal job. So it'll
7:12just be affected by your normal tax
7:13bracket. Whereas these cash divs these
7:15can get aros long-term capital gains and
7:17all that stuff. So very important to
7:19keep in mind. So good to see uh how this
7:21all measures up every month. Uh I'll
7:23I'll always be showing this every month.
7:25Now, this will be part of the routine,
7:26but great to see as far as the overall
7:29growth against the S&P. If we pop over
7:31to Snowball here, again, just taking
7:33this with a little bit of a grain of
7:34salt. Like I I I trust more like the
7:36Robin Hood numbers there. Uh but you can
7:39kind of see the general gist of like how
7:40things like went as far as the trend,
7:42right? Was outperforming for a bit,
7:43underperformed here. You can see that
7:45the amplification of margin, right? Kind
7:46of hits harder. I got hit harder here,
7:48but then we had enough subsequent green
7:50days that I I bounced back up and then
7:52ended the month green against the S&P.
7:55But year to date, we can see that. So,
7:57he's still beating the S&P overall in
7:58total returns, which is great. Even if
8:00we added the S&P's um dividends, it' be
8:03like what, a little less than 15% or
8:05maybe 15% here since we're not through
8:07the full year yet because it has a 1%
8:08yield roughly right now. If we check the
8:11heat map for the month, we can see it's
8:12a little bit of a mixed bag. Definitely
8:14mostly green. A lot of it led by Chippy
8:16here up 8% across capital gains and
8:19dividends received. SPMO up a lot as
8:21well 3.2%. QQM as well 3.3%.
8:26We can see here that Xpay actually
8:27trailed VU a a little harder. Same for
8:30OVL which is expected given the credit
8:32credit put spreads. Those tend to get
8:34hit harder on downturns but has that
8:36uncapped upside. So pros and cons to
8:38each. And VGT up a lot 4.4%.
8:42TDAC here actually trailed QQQM a little
8:45bit more what you'd expect given the
8:46covered call nature of TDAC even though
8:47it's zero DTE Tespy here actually fell
8:50less than VU which is cool to see the
8:52usual typically like cover calls will
8:54fall as much as their their counterparts
8:56so whatever they did there kind of
8:57helped them out cashy stayed flat here
8:59again that's kind of why I don't I'm not
9:01too bothered holding cashy in my hedge
9:04there even though it's kind of close to
9:05my margin interest rate just because it
9:07stays flat so I could I could fully just
9:10use that and paid it down if I need to,
9:11but just kind of kind of keeping it
9:13there as an experiment. Um, MLP, I KJLD
9:16got hit hard and I've been buying the
9:18dip on these as they've been dipping.
9:20You can kind of if we open them up, you
9:22can kind of see that I've been buying up
9:23those dips, right, as they it's been
9:25kind of dipping down, just buying it
9:27along the way and definitely
9:29underperforming the S&P in that sense.
9:31Or not MLPI is now, but it wasn't for a
9:33good chunk of the year. So, we'll see. I
9:35think these will I'm sure we'll recover.
9:37I don't think the war is fully done and
9:38MLPI will recover again with the price
9:40of oil and KGLD as the the be the
9:42basement trade keeps happening with the
9:44inflation of money. I think this will
9:45this will bounce back up. So happy to
9:47buy it at cheap. GIX up a lot this month
9:502.2%. BTI up a lot as well 5.8% blocks
9:54as well 3.4. BCAD down a lot from its RO
9:57announcement. So kind of getting back
9:59closer down to NAV. I've been buying a
10:01little bit of that dip as well. DLSC up
10:041.6%. Alti actually beat out the S&P.
10:07Interesting to see DRM up a lot this
10:09month. 6.1% as well. So get a get a good
10:12view of there. Always kind of check good
10:13to check the correlation. IL up a lot as
10:15well. So ILT has been interesting
10:17because it's like even with the interest
10:19rate hike, it seems like it's still been
10:21climbing despite that, which has been
10:23interesting to see. Uh so this has been
10:26an interesting fund to get to get into.
10:27I've been definitely liking that and CLC
10:29and the hedges and now combined with
10:31Cashy. It's an an interesting mix
10:32between those three that I can kind of
10:34rebalance between as needed. Ideally,
10:36I'd love to keep IL and CLC because I
10:39actually been impressed with them as
10:40funds as far as their lower volatility
10:41and you can kind of really see how
10:43they're um outperforming the S&P, right?
10:46IL just doesn't get any of those dips.
10:48Like this is the Iran dip. Didn't see it
10:49happen at all. Uh and CLSC just has a
10:53similar performance to the market, but
10:54just a lot less volatile. So you can see
10:56I've been kind of selling at the top
10:58here and trimming and putting it into to
11:00Cashy there. So kind of see what I've
11:02been doing with with Cashy there. Just
11:03buying a little bit there. So that's the
11:05heat map for the month. As far as the
11:08dividends received for all of September,
11:10you can see that I made $5,673
11:13across the whole month. So on most
11:15weeks, I'm at least making 1K, which is
11:18awesome. So you can kind of see the
11:19dividends across every week. Not going
11:21to go through every week, but you can
11:23kind of see there. So I have my weeklies
11:25from like Chippy, Ulti, previously YAX
11:27sold out of that since and blocks and
11:29GIX and then everything else is
11:31monthlies or quarterlys. So Tespy, TDAC,
11:35BTI, MLPI, goop, things like that. Uh
11:37had a lot of our quarterly dividends
11:39come in from QQQM, SPMO, VGTO, those all
11:43get reinvested into the growth side of
11:44the portfolio. Those don't get
11:46deposited. That's worth noting there.
11:48But that's the dividends for the month.
11:50as far as where we are on the topline
11:54end. So if we scroll to over here in the
11:56portfolio. So as I mentioned, you can
11:59see that I started at 205k gross value
12:01and 117k net value back in at the end of
12:03May last year. Um and at 55% equity
12:07here. And we can kind of see where we
12:09ended up uh at the end of this month
12:11here. So ended up at 458.1K
12:14gross portfolio value, 228.3K in net,
12:18just under 50%. equity value here. So
12:2149.85% some big chunks that came out
12:23last week and this week for my mortgage
12:25and also big credit card bills. So that
12:26that dipped me under there. My avail
12:29cashable ford withdrawal sitting at
12:3029.1K on the 30th. Um my margin buying
12:34power sitting at 58.3K.
12:36So my margin buffer was 24.85%.
12:40On the gross value 49.85% on the net. As
12:43far as the margin buffer 113.8K
12:46and margin balance has gone up quite a
12:48bit. So from like 12K basically from
12:51last month to this month. So as I
12:53mentioned had a lot of bills come out
12:55this month. That was a heavy month. 15K.
12:58Yes. A lot of offshoot costs from the
13:00wedding still kind of coming on. So I'm
13:02hoping that uh September and October
13:04will be the last of basically all the
13:06expenses from this summer that have kind
13:07of added up over time. Uh just that been
13:10an expensive summer with the wedding and
13:12um all the related expenses. So, we'll
13:16be actually going over some of those
13:17costs there in Monarch in a bit here.
13:19But luckily, the portfolio is buffered
13:20enough that I can handle that and and
13:22weather that storm. So, definitely
13:23taking a hit on the margin buffer and on
13:25the equity there. But once I kind of re
13:27recovered from that, I think I should be
13:28should be good to kind of get back on to
13:31growing the the available ford
13:32withdrawal, the margin buying power and
13:33all that hopefully. Um, so you can kind
13:34of see that it really topped out at like
13:3743K here in cash for withdrawal back in
13:39May and margin buying power as well, but
13:41it's kind of been kind of going down
13:43since. um because of all those heavy
13:45expenses that we've had through the
13:47summer and whatnot and also just
13:48reinvesting the dividends that that
13:50actually adds up too to the margin
13:51balance. So that's not paying down the
13:53balance anymore. Again, I suspended that
13:55this past month. As far as the charts,
13:57you can kind of see that, right? So like
13:58you can kind of see the the constant
14:00growth of the the gross portfolio value
14:02from 205k to 458K. Now you can see the
14:06Ron dip here and how we recovered uh net
14:08value as well. can see that it kind of
14:10stayed almost kind of even, just a
14:12little bit of a gain there compared to
14:13last month. Gross value definitely
14:15growed from last month and definitely an
14:16all-time high, right, in gross value,
14:17which is great to see. Margin balance,
14:19you can see that's kind of grown a lot
14:21in the last two months. Some outlier
14:22months here, definitely steady growth
14:25until uh my dividends exceed my
14:26expenses, then that can kind of start
14:27being paid down a little bit. Margin
14:29buffer net going down as well. Same for
14:32margin equity, as you kind of see there.
14:34This is really just the results of like
14:35those heavy bill months. Those are going
14:37down. Argent buffer going down as well
14:39along with it. Margin buying power
14:41available for withdrawal. So all all a
14:43byproduct of that and really yeah you
14:45can kind of see here the the monthly
14:46withdrawals have just been a lot the
14:48last three months from the usual 9,000
14:49that we have. So yeah 15k 12k last month
14:5310k the month before. So slightly above
14:55the the normal 9 9k average that I
14:57normally have. And the dividends here
15:00that we've been receiving monthly ended
15:02up getting 5.6k last month as I
15:04mentioned. kind of see that plotted out
15:06across since I started. You can kind of
15:08see that since October really since I
15:10did that big rebalance, it's been kind
15:11of steadily growing. And what's nice is
15:13that there's a lot less volatility from
15:15month-to-month as far as like the
15:16difference in monthly payments. You can
15:17see that the lots more peaks and valleys
15:19last year because I was kind of so
15:20overexposed in the ultra yielders,
15:22right? And that varied so much and would
15:24go down a lot with the market. So really
15:26refocusing on all those core anchors
15:28here has really helped this year and
15:29especially since I rebalanced everything
15:31in February after the layoff. So you can
15:33kind of see that there. But that's how
15:35the topline numbers are. So really
15:36always really cool to see this laid out
15:38that way and just kind of seeing the
15:39progress of where I started right from
15:41the 2005k all the way to the all-time
15:43high that we're at this month and just
15:45kind of seeing how things have ebbed and
15:46flowed how the margin buffer has changed
15:48like when I switched from Fidelity to
15:49Robin Hood and whatnot. So very cool to
15:51see as far as the how we're tracking
15:54with projection. So I got this updated
15:56here for the 1 of October. So we kind of
15:58see that. So those same numbers that we
15:59were talking about plus the average
16:01monthly dividend there. So I kind of
16:03pull that from my average here that gets
16:05pulled. So as a reminder for that, how I
16:07calculate that is I don't so I don't do
16:09this like snowball where they do they
16:11basically kind of take the the last
16:12payout and then project that out. I
16:14think it either overshoots it or
16:15undersshoots it too much. So what I do
16:17is that I average out the last three
16:19months of payouts for monthly dividends.
16:20So things like Xpay, BCAT, TDAC, Tespy,
16:23OVL, Goop, etc. I take the last three
16:25months and average that out and put the
16:26dividend here for and annualized just to
16:29get a rough current yield and yield on
16:31cost. And then for the weeklies, I do
16:32the last four weeks. And for example,
16:35Chippy had like a really big outlier
16:36dividend one week. I actually ignored
16:38that one and just kind of kept to like
16:39the ones that are a little bit more
16:40similar to not kind of blow up its its
16:42current yield as much. So that's how I
16:45kind of do these. So that gave me an
16:47average of $5,588
16:50monthly. So that's what I put into the
16:52tracking sheet there and what we're
16:53projecting from. So this sheet assumes
16:56like a blended high yield ratio of
16:5915.25% 25% an a conservative annual
17:02growth rate of 4% given that I have a
17:04mix of growth and high yield income
17:06ETFs. So a monthly growth rate of.33%.
17:09My monthly paycheck contribution this
17:12should actually be let's actually change
17:14this to 10.339.
17:17So that's we could be more conservative
17:19but that's like what I what I am right
17:21now. [snorts] Um and then uh extra
17:24monthly dividend reinvestment. I I
17:25suspended that for last month, but going
17:27forward, I'm I'm hoping to restart this
17:29soon, but that's the extra dividends
17:31that you get from uh reinvesting the
17:32weekly. So, GIX, Blocks, Chippy, Alti,
17:35and uh average monthly dividend that I'm
17:38getting added from the paycheck, right?
17:40Since that uh 90% of my paycheck is
17:42being invested into to high yield ETFs.
17:44So, basically the 90% of the paycheck
17:46times the 15% blended yield. And then,
17:49of course, my margin interest rate here.
17:51And these are the different goals that
17:52we'd have to hit, right? So extra net
17:54paycheck covered, monthly expenses
17:55covered, net monthly salary covered,
17:58gross monthly salary, and 2x gross
18:00monthly salary here. Or maybe what one
18:02thing that would be more appropriate
18:03would be actually 3x my monthly
18:05expenses. So maybe the the 9K kind of
18:08gets close to that. Might have to update
18:09that. So 9.180
18:12* 3 it's kind of close but uh 2x my
18:15gross monthly salary just so it's
18:17buffered in case like the market takes a
18:18dip or whatnot that I'm not fully so so
18:21tight on the line for just my gross
18:22covered also account for taxes and
18:24things like that. So let's just get all
18:26these updated as we kind of come down
18:27the list. Extra net month paycheck
18:29covered. This is fully covered now. It's
18:31been for a bit now. So this is great.
18:33We'll we'll just leave that. As far as
18:35my monthly expenses covered, that could
18:37potentially happen a month earlier. So
18:39going from September 2028 to August 2028
18:43can move that up. Net monthly salary
18:45covered. That actually moves up
18:47potentially one month as well. So goes
18:49from May 2029 to April 2029. Gross
18:54monthly paycheck covered. That's looking
18:56like might actually be a little bit
18:59earlier here. So from August 2031 to May
19:0320 2031. So, this is a little past the
19:07the 40-y old mark here, or at least the
19:09year after. So, we'll see if we can kind
19:12of adjust things to to make that better.
19:14And then margin paid off. Again, that's
19:16probably not going to happen at this
19:17point. Like, once I get to like a a
19:19margin ratio of maybe like 70% or maybe
19:23even like 75 80%, I might just kind of
19:24keep it on and just let it grow. So, at
19:28least right now, let's if we take a look
19:30here, if we project that out, so by 40,
19:32I might potentially be at 1.2 2 million
19:35on the gross portfolio value, 737.2K on
19:38the net portfolio value. My margin depth
19:41would have crept up to 469K overall. So
19:44it' be at 61% equity roughly and would
19:47be roughly at $12,955
19:50in average monthly dividend. So just shy
19:51from like the gross monthly paycheck
19:53there. So not quite at the at the goal
19:56there. Would have to kind of keep
19:57working at it for for a couple years to
19:59to really hit my goals there. So, we'll
20:02see if I if I'll need to make some
20:04adjustments there to be maybe a bit more
20:06aggressive or maybe sell some of my my
20:08growth potentially up that income to
20:10kind of help fasttrack that, right? Like
20:11if we did the thought experiment of like
20:14I don't know. So, let's keep this hedge
20:16here intact. If we sold 151.5K
20:20essentially and kind of piped it in here
20:22just just as an experiment. So 151 500K
20:26times let's say just5% yield if we threw
20:29in like a combo like T-spy and TDAC for
20:31example. So this would do 22.7K of high
20:34yield income for the year. Divide that
20:36by 12. So 1893.75
20:40plus 5
20:4488.65.
20:47So this would be 7482.
20:50So, like if we did that for example,
20:52like this month for example, if we did
20:54that, let's see how this would kind of
20:56change things. Yeah, this would bring me
20:57just above my my gross average salary
20:59there. So, not quite enough to fully
21:01feel comfortable living off of just
21:03because like like I as I mentioned, I'd
21:05rather be at close to 2x my gross
21:07monthly salary. So, definitely feeling
21:09off from my my my 40-year-old target,
21:11but interestingly enough, definitely
21:12higher would be higher net value. I
21:14would have less margin by that point
21:15because it covers my my paycheck a lot
21:17earlier and starts paying that down a
21:19lot earlier. So, that's interesting to
21:21see, but not going to quite pull the
21:23trigger on that yet. Going to get get
21:24through the rest of the year and see how
21:26I end up in taxes next year. I'm still
21:29keeping, as I've mentioned in past
21:30videos, too, I'm still keeping in the
21:31back pocket that like if ever there is a
21:34year where like the tax burden just the
21:37tax drag just ends up being too much. I
21:39could see myself pivoting from this this
21:41uh strategy potentially, right? Like I
21:43said, like I I've always keep kept an
21:44eye on like recycle your monies strategy
21:46of just kind of the simple pure growth
21:48and margin approach of like just fully
21:51investing in that getting your spread
21:52that way through the growth of that and
21:54borrowing against margin to pay your
21:56bills there. And but most of your
21:57paychecks actually go to pay down the
21:59margin week to week rather than
22:00investing and you'd only invest whenever
22:03the the S&P 500 drops 10% from all-time
22:06highs. So keeping that in my back pocket
22:08just in case cuz yeah, the math of that
22:10just definitely works out. I think like
22:12my expenses are a lot higher than he is
22:14where he is in Minnesota, but could
22:16potentially work if you mapped it out.
22:18So, keeping that in my back pocket to
22:19pivot to just in case. But so far so
22:22good. We'll see where we end up in taxes
22:24this year. I think the big thing that
22:26will change for me this year in taxes is
22:27actually being married. So, we're going
22:29to be actually filing married filing
22:30separately just because my wife's
22:33student loan payments is all based on
22:35your household's AGI, right? Your
22:37adjusted gross income. So, if we combine
22:40both our incomes, her student loan
22:41payment would get crazy. So, we're
22:44wanting to do married filing uh
22:46separately, which actually messes me up
22:48a little bit for the deductions I can
22:51make on on investment minus 3,000 a
22:52year. It's -500. And then also, Canino
22:55has been talking about NITT, which is
22:57interesting. I need to to look into this
22:59more, but uh I was even looking into it
23:01for my end. So, married finance
23:02separately, this threshold is actually
23:04lower. So, 125K. Uh so we'll see if that
23:07affects me this year given that I'm
23:09married filing separately. So we'll see.
23:11Uh we'll have to consult with my tax
23:12person for that. I have a tax person
23:14that I go over with all that stuff. So
23:16definitely appreciate some people
23:17bringing that up in in the Discord. But
23:20that's where all my projections are
23:22tracking right now. Definitely good to
23:23know where I'm going. Like having this
23:25to to just get a rough idea and to kind
23:27of tweak things as needed to to really
23:28try to hit this 40 40-y old goal. So
23:31we'll keep at it and we'll keep updating
23:33this every month as we go on. So, as far
23:36as my expenses, we can go over that now.
23:38So, if we pop over to Monarch and hop
23:40over to September here. So, we can see
23:42that brought in 20.1K of income this
23:45month. So, quite a bit. I had an
23:47expensive month again. So, 12.1K in
23:49expenses, but total net, that's $8,000
23:53of kind of quote unquote savings. So,
23:55roughly net what gets added to the
23:56portfolio. So, 39.8% savings rate. It
24:00almost lines up with what's in here. So,
24:02if we check my thing, so 19.6K, there's
24:05a little bit of extra here that goes in
24:07that's uh not accounted for, I guess,
24:09from cashback income and uh interest.
24:12And um yeah, there's um also our joint
24:15account that's getting a little bit of
24:16interest as well, too. So, I'm not
24:17counting it in in this one. This is
24:19purely my for my brokerage accounts. So,
24:21expensive month, like I said, 15K, but
24:23net add to the portfolio is definitely
24:25still 4.6K after the fact. So definitely
24:28still positive across the full year when
24:31I look at it, right? Which is good. So
24:33definitely bring in a lot more income
24:34than I'm taking out from the portfolio,
24:36which is good. And uh next month again
24:39is trending towards being a very big
24:40month. Uh we're going to actually just
24:42look into like all the stuff here that
24:43that went through this month. So my
24:45paychecks came in. I had like 12K of
24:46paychecks come in this month. Uh was a
24:49nice 5we month. So I had extra
24:50paychecks. My taxable dividends here
24:525.6K. Had rent income come in. So, there
24:55was like 2 months worth of here from uh
24:57rent income from my wife. Just pays like
24:59a small $500 per month essentially where
25:02the house we live in is one that I
25:03bought before we were ever together.
25:05Business income, this is just all the
25:07YouTube income that came in. So, $786.
25:10This was a big one this month. Uh
25:11retirement income, this is from my Roth
25:13and Rollover IRA income. Uh mostly from
25:16blocks on my Roth IRA side. Cash back.
25:19This is my Robin Hood cash back as well.
25:20So, quite a bit last month. uh gift
25:23income, a little trickle from uh wedding
25:25reception income that came in from some
25:26friends, and just a little interest here
25:28from RH Banking. So, $4 worth. As you
25:30can see, I don't use my banking accounts
25:31more. It's all going through the
25:32brokerage. So, 20K of income allin from
25:35from the income side of things. And then
25:37for the expenses, we can kind of dive in
25:39here. So, big month, 12.1K. Uh less than
25:42last month, thankfully. Uh last month
25:44was a big one. 18.8K 1K as I mentioned.
25:46All the wedding stuff that was coming
25:47out. Uh and I'm paying the bills for
25:50that this month. But um those all get
25:52offset by 30 days given that I'm putting
25:54it all on credit cards. So 12.1K in
25:57expenses here. So financial and legal
25:59services. This was the biggest expense
26:01this month. So 2.7K. So uh my wife and I
26:03were actually going through postnup
26:05process. We were too late to do a prenup
26:07before we got married, but you can
26:08eventually do a postnup which acts the
26:10same. So we're going through that
26:11process now. It's definitely pricey.
26:13Just paid for this last chunk of work.
26:14So 2.7K. We're almost at the end of the
26:16process there. So hopefully the next bit
26:18will be less expensive. the last bit I
26:20have to pay, but uh help us be both
26:22protected in case the worst happens. Um
26:25yeah, that's been a nice process to go
26:27through together and play like zero
26:28awkwardness around it, which is great.
26:30Like love my wife for that. We're we're
26:32very on the same page finance-wise with
26:33how we want to handle things if worst
26:35comes to worst. Uh mortgage 2.5K in my
26:39mortgage there. Um this is lower than
26:41typical. Normally it's like closer to
26:423K. I took off my my escro payments as I
26:45mentioned a couple months ago. So those
26:46just get paid out uh individually as the
26:48bills come due. Restaurants and bars
26:51again love going out to eat. We went out
26:53quite a bit this month. So 1.1k worth of
26:55that. Groceries had a lot. We we eat out
26:58a lot but we also kind of cook in a lot.
26:59So $700 worth of groceries. Uh my mom
27:03again she's kind of dealing with the the
27:05fallout from like the stroke and things
27:06like that. So she actually needed a CPAT
27:09machine which wasn't covered
27:10unfortunately by uh the provincial
27:12insurance. um in Canada and in the
27:14province that she's in. So, I covered
27:16the cost for that and paid for it. So,
27:17that was $695 buying a CPAT machine for
27:20her. Enter enter entertainment
27:22recreation. Bunch of movies that we saw
27:24this month. Ended up pre-ordering a few
27:25games that are that have come out or are
27:27coming out. So, pre-ordered GTA in
27:29November. Pre-ordered Control Resident
27:31that came out this week. Got Wolverine
27:33that came out the other week. So, that
27:35all adds up. $486.
27:37My water bill came in. So, this comes in
27:39every other month. So, that's $412.
27:42definitely a little bit higher because
27:43of all the the watering to keep the ga
27:45grass green during the summer. Travel
27:47activities here. This was like the
27:48Disney trip that I was talking about
27:50last week. So, this was just kind of
27:52like paying for all the fastpasses,
27:54things like that. So, $277 of that.
27:57Luckily, we have some friends that work
27:58at Disney. So, the pass for the park was
28:00actually free. So, that's why we were
28:01fined paying for the multi passes and
28:03things like that. Gifts, just random
28:05gifts to friends, to my wife. So, $260
28:09medical. Yeah, this is just like therapy
28:11costs, uh, doctor's appointments, things
28:13like that because I'm on a high
28:14deductible plan with HSA, household
28:16items, random Amazon buys, internet
28:18security. I had my yearly um security
28:21bill for Ring come out and then also
28:23just like a small bill for the internet.
28:25Um, that was $24. Travel hotel as well
28:29for where we stayed at the Disney hotel.
28:31So, got a nice discount on that from our
28:33friends as well. So, $243.
28:35Subscriptions. I had a bunch of yearly
28:37subscriptions come in. So, this was $234
28:39this month. Travel gifts. We bought a
28:41bunch of gifts for friends that were
28:43visiting next month from Disney there.
28:44So, $177.
28:46Travel food, all the food we spent
28:48during that weekend. Travel transport,
28:51Uber rides that we had to take to and
28:53from the airport and parking and things
28:54like that. Gas, $119 this month. I don't
28:58use my car too much, luckily, or
29:00actually $150, but yeah, still $150 in
29:03gas for the month. Gas and electric. So,
29:06mostly electric bill actually. $119.
29:08That's monthly. I get a haircut every
29:10two months. That was $112. Go to kind of
29:13pricey Viber down in Seattle. Insurance
29:16for the the cat and the dog, $105 a
29:18month. Home improvement, I I had a bunch
29:21of fixes I had to do in the yard, so
29:22that was $100 there. Uh pet food and
29:25supplies, just $91. Coffee shops, that
29:28was a big cost that I cut out this
29:29month. Uh last month there was it was
29:31pretty big. I got $270 because I was
29:32going to um a coffee shop practically
29:35every day walking. So, I cut that out
29:37and I'm actually just making my own cold
29:39brew now. So, this is just kind of like
29:41random coffee shops during the weekends
29:42and things like that when I go with my
29:43wife. So, $84. My wife and I did a
29:46massage one day when she was like
29:48hurting pretty bad. So, this was like
29:49$82.
29:50Electronics. I forget what I even bought
29:53electronics wise, but $71 there.
29:55Furniture and housewares. Bought a
29:57little print when we were out in the
29:59islands one of the weekends. That was
30:00like $45. Uh my phone bill from $43 for
30:05an Xfinity. $39 for my fitness for uh my
30:08monthly DEXA scans that I'm doing to
30:09track my weight loss and making sure I
30:11don't lose any muscle. Parking and tolls
30:13from just price admission from going
30:15into the city so much. Auto maintenance.
30:17Had a quick fix to do there. Uh a light
30:19that headlight that get needed to get
30:21replaced after I just replaced the other
30:23one the other month. Uh pharmacy. Yeah,
30:26my usual pills I need to buy. I have
30:28like uh blood pressure pills I need to
30:30take. Then I had to had to pay for that
30:31among other things. And that's hopefully
30:34one thing that I'm hoping to to cut out
30:35once I lose enough weight from all the
30:37fitness stuff that I've been doing. And
30:39yeah, $12 for public transit a little
30:41bit. So yeah, if we if we group that all
30:43up to kind of see how that all ends up.
30:45So yeah, a lot of guilt-free spending
30:47this month. So 5.9K worth of that fixed
30:50cost, high fixed cost from being in a
30:52high cost of living area, right? So
30:53that's the house and everything else. So
30:544K there, 33% of my cost roughly.
30:57Guilt-free travel. So this is all the
30:59travel costs that we were going over. So
31:01that co that Disney trip last last
31:03weekend cost about $1,023. So not too
31:06bad all things considered. That's like
31:08Disney, the hotel, the flights, parking
31:10and things like that. Shared cost, so
31:13bills and utilities that came out that
31:14month, $777.
31:17Fixed cost for pets, $196.
31:20Just like tracking that as a separate
31:21thing. and fixed cost for house rentals
31:23there. For the backyard stuff, $100. So,
31:26y month, but kind of all makes sense for
31:28all that. Definitely went a little bit
31:29ham on like the travel and the
31:31guilt-free spending there, but fixed
31:33costs definitely add up, right? So,
31:354,000 a month and costs that can't
31:37change really. Those are those are fixed
31:39stuff from the house and and things like
31:40that. Um, but most everything else I
31:43have more control over. So, that's for
31:46the the full cash flow and expenses from
31:47the month. So yeah, hopefully appreciate
31:49kind of seeing the the whole ins and out
31:51of that. Definitely a lot high cost of
31:53living area again. And honestly, I love
31:56that this I'm able to kind of do this
31:57and there are months that are going to
31:58be more expensive and the that the this
32:00whole strategy is able to kind of kind
32:02of tank that a little bit and kind of
32:04even things out in that sense. And that
32:06I don't have to kind of like just I I
32:08could kind of scrimp and save and like
32:10eat ramen and keep my expenses super low
32:12and I could be retired like tomorrow if
32:14I want to, but that's not kind of what I
32:16want to do. What I want to do is, yeah,
32:17really build up my portfolio to match up
32:19to like the lifestyle that I want to
32:21have once I'm in early retirement. So, I
32:23want to maintain my lifestyle pretty
32:24close to what we have now. So, I'm happy
32:27to build that up and take the time that
32:29I need to to get there. So, that's where
32:31it's that's all sitting. As far as
32:33things I'm going to change for the
32:35month, so given that like it's going to
32:37be another pretty big month as far as
32:39bills, so 16.9K that's going to have to
32:41come out from the portfolio. I have a
32:42particularly big credit bill. So again,
32:45like all the some of those big expenses,
32:48the lawyer fees, those those are kind of
32:49coming out this in this month's credit
32:51card bill. So all like a 30-day delay,
32:53like so my my bill here is a lot bigger
32:56than normal. And I think there's some
32:58wedding stuff, too, that are still kind
32:59of lagging on there on top of all the
33:01trips. So big month and I think for this
33:04month, I'm not going to quite invest in
33:06cashy in that sense because of it. I I
33:09know I was talking about potentially
33:10doing that, but I think I'm just going
33:11to let the dividends deposit and kind of
33:13help offset things just so like it's not
33:16as not as big of a hit as it would be if
33:19I was still kind of reinvesting the
33:20dividends and still adding to that
33:21margin balance, right? So, you can kind
33:23of see here how even with not
33:25reinvesting the dividends, still ended
33:27up adding to 12K to the margin balance
33:29because of uh the high withdrawals from
33:31the brokerage. So, definitely important
33:33to keep in mind. So, want to want to
33:34control the valve there. So, that's the
33:36main thing. Uh if that changes, we'll
33:38definitely let you know in any of the
33:39weekly videos, but that's the current
33:41thinking there. So, that's the big uh
33:44recap for the month. It was great kind
33:45of going over that and really seeing the
33:47journey from when we started to where we
33:48are now. And yeah, can't wait to update
33:51you on month 17, the end of October, and
33:54see where we're at uh around Halloween
33:56time. So, we'll we'll see you then. And
33:59if you want to support the channel,
34:00definitely check out my free and paid
34:01links in the video description below. A
34:04peace.