July 2025 FIRE Update

Hey Everyone! I am back from my California road trip. We had a blast visiting friends and family. We also explored the Central Coast and the Sequoia National Park. Mrs. RB40 and I went to school in Santa Barbara and love the area. Houses in Santa Barbara are crazy expensive, though. That’s why we wanted to check out other beach towns along the Central Coast. Morro Bay was a great spot. I wouldn’t mind retiring there someday. The bay would be great for paddling and other recreational activities. We enjoyed Sequoia NP too. My parents took us there when we were kids, and I have fond memories of the park. RB40Jr wasn’t impressed, but I think he’ll appreciate it when he’s older. Teenagers…

The picture here is from the Oregon Caves National Monument & Preserve. We stopped for a night in Grants Pass and spent the morning at the Oregon Caves. It was great. The tour was interesting, and the hike wasn’t too strenuous. I highly recommend visiting the Oregon Caves if you’re driving from CA to OR on the I-5. It’s a good stop.

On the personal finance side, things were good. Our net worth hit a new high again. That’s crazy, but I’m not complaining. I’ll enjoy feeling rich while the stock market is doing well. Cash flow was okay, too. We stayed with friends and family most of the trip and saved a ton of money. A road trip is way cheaper than an international vacation.

Alright, I’ll share how I’m doing with my New Year goals. Then, I’ll go over our net worth and cash flow. Let’s go!

2025 Goals

Here is my 2025 goal spreadsheet. It’s great. Try it out if you can’t keep up with your New Year goals. The key is to review the spreadsheet monthly to track your progress. That way, you can see which goals need extra attention and work on them.

It looks like I’m on track for most of my goals.

Financial Goals

Sell Rental Condo

This was my main goal for 2025. The previous tenant moved out of our rental condo in January. I fixed it up and listed it for sale. Unfortunately, the condo market was terrible in Portland. We only had one viewing in 4 months! I think buyers are afraid right now. The economy is too uncertain and the interest rate is high. That’s why I decided to rent out the condo for now. We’ll put it on the market again in a few years.

Anyway, I want to travel more and I’m tired of being a landlord. I’d rather invest in real estate crowdfunding. That’s much easier.

Prep duplex for sale

Along the same line, I want to sell our duplex* after RB40Jr finishes high school in 2029. We want to move to Southern California to be closer to families. Mrs. RB40’s parents are getting older, and they need help.

*We live in one unit and rent out the other.

This year, I wanted to repaint the exterior. However, the plan changed to kitchen remodeling. We are getting the cabinet resurfaced and a new countertop. This will give our kitchen a much-needed facelift. I’m looking to put new flooring in the kitchen as well. I’ll probably do the flooring myself. Remodeling is no fun.

Max out my Roth IRA

The Roth IRA is the best investment account you can have. You don’t have to pay tax on the gains when you withdraw. This is huge. If you start young and max out your Roth IRA every year, it’ll be a great resource in retirement.

I’ve maxed out my Roth IRA contribution for over 20 years. But that streak probably will end this year. My earned income is decreasing quickly. After 6 months, I only made $4,003. At this pace, I’ll be lucky to make $6,000 this year. That’s less money than I made when I was a teenager. I should find a new side hustle.

Track net worth and hope for +10%

I’ve been tracking our net worth since 2006. It’s great to see the progress. This year, I hoped for 10% gains. At this point, it’s all dependent on the stock market and there isn’t much I can do to influence this goal. I’ll track it and keep my fingers crossed. This is a stretch goal.

Our net worth has increased 4.9% since the beginning of the year! That’s way better than I expected.

Health Goals

Exercise more than last year

Last year, I set a goal to exercise 3 times per week. However, I developed elbow pains and I had to scale back a bit. The result – I exercised 120 times in 2023. That wasn’t bad, but I’d like to do more this year.

I took June and July off from going to the gym. I went to yoga, biking, and hiking instead. We hiked a bunch of times on our CA road trip. My joints feel better, but I should talk to the doctor about this.  

Win claim denial

Last year, RB40Jr got a Cochlear Implant to improve his hearing. He has 50%-80% hearing in his left ear. He tried a hearing aid for a few years, but it didn’t help much. He can hear some sound with his left ear, but he can’t understand speech on that side. 

Recently, the FDA approved Cochlear Implant for children. At first, I thought we could wait until RB40Jr is an adult. Then he can decide for himself. However, our audiologist said the earlier you get the implant the better. If you wait too long, the brain might not be able to adapt.

Anyway, he got the implant last year. However, the insurance denied the claim. They said Cochlear Implant is experimental and doesn’t improve overall health. This is ridiculous. The device has been used since the 80s to improve lives. We are fighting this denial. I think health insurance companies are denying as many claims as possible to improve profits. A lot of people get too sick to fight the denials. No wonder everyone hates health insurance companies.

Latest update – The insurance denied the appeal. We filed another appeal and we’re waiting to hear back. This is ridiculous because RB40Jr’s hearing has improved quite a bit since the surgery. 

Fun goals

Sell my ceramic projects

I took some ceramic classes at the community center and had a blast. My projects aren’t professional level yet, but I’ll try selling a few items this year at the community center’s art sales.

I sold about $190 in the Spring Art Sale! That was incredible. I didn’t expect to sell that many pieces. The community center took a 35% commission. That’s perfectly fine. I’m glad to support them.

More dates with the Missus

This year, I want to go out with Mrs. RB40 more often. If you’re a parent, you know how difficult this can be. Fortunately, our son is a teenager now. We can go out whenever we want. However, I need to overcome my reluctance to leave the house in the evening. We park in the street and finding a spot can be frustrating at night. Ugh! I’d rather hunker down at home than go out to a restaurant.

I‘ll go on date lunches with Mrs. RB40 instead. That’s way easier. Who wants to leave home after dark?

In July, we were on vacation and didn’t go on any lunch date. We’ll go out more in August.

Happiness level > 8

I’m a naturally happy guy so this should be easy. Life has been good over the last few years.

July was a great month. We had an awesome vacation. It was so much fun to see old friends and families. My brother in North Carolina joined us, and we had a mini family reunion. RB40Jr is getting older and we only have a few more years left for this kind of gathering. It’ll be much more difficult to get all the kids (6 of them) together after he goes off to college. I enjoyed hanging out with my nieces and nephews.

Net Worth (+4.9%)

I’ve been tracking our net worth since 2006. It is very motivating to see our progress. The power of compounding is incredible. Our investment gains far outpace our earned income last year.

2025 has been pretty crazy. The stock market is doing way better than I expected. I’ll enjoy feeling rich and stop complaining.  

***Important*** If you’re young, my best advice is to stay the course. Do not stop investing. You should keep investing whether the stock market is up or down. You might think stocks are too expensive, but it’ll look cheap in 10 years. Keep investing and you’ll achieve financial independence someday. Don’t try to time the market. If you’re retired, then you need to be more conservative and diversify.

This is a chart of our net worth from Empower. Sign up for a free account at Empower to help manage your net worth and investment accounts. They have great free tools for DIY investors.

July 2025 FIRE Cash Flow

This FIRE cash flow chart includes my online income, side gigs, and taxable passive income.

July 2025 FIRE Income: $2,130

I was on vacation most of July and didn’t work much.

• Real estate crowdfunding: $1,144. Good month on the RE crowdfunding side. You can read more on the RE Crowdfunding Passive Income page.
• Dividend Income: $242. Slow month for dividend income.
• Rental Income: $335.      
• Online income: $251. Blogging income is approaching zero quickly. Maybe it’s time to move on to something else.
• Odd jobs: $158. I didn’t work much in July. Catering delivery is an easy gig that pays okay. I’ll probably stop doing this side hustle in 2 year.       

Spending: $4,053

Our spending was relatively low last month.

• Housing: $1,780. This includes mortgage, utilities, furniture, repair, and maintenance. Our housing expense is low because we live in a duplex. We split many expenses with our tenant. Housing expense will be higher than usual for 2 years because we’re slowly paying off the kitchen remode. Home Depot had 0% interest for 24 months.
• Transportation: $124. Gas, parking, and insurance. Repair is getting more expensive. Hopefully, the car will be okay for the rest of the year. I didn’t count the gasoline used during our road trip here. That’s accounted for in the travel category.  
• Entertainment: $105. We went wine tasting and splurged on 2 bottles of nice wine.         
• Groceries: $195. We didn’t spend much on grocery in July because we were on vacation.
• Health: $62.       
• Kid: $214. Unfortunately, kid related expenses are increasing as RB40Jr gets older. We are making payments for his orthodontist, Jiu Jitsu, and various activities.    
• Personal: $20.  
• Travel: $1,501. This was quite cheap for an annual vacation. We stayed with friends and families most of the trip. I used reward points for hotels on this trip.  

Retirement Savings: –$1,923

July 2025 wrap-up

July was a great month for us. We had a lot of fun on our road trip. It was great to get out of town for a while. August should be pretty good too. RB40Jr still have a few weeks of summer break left. We’ll try to take a few more day trips before school start. Summer is almost over.  

That’s it for July. Did you have a good month? 

Passive income is the key to early retirement. These days, I’m investing in commercial properties with CrowdStreet. They have many projects across the United States. Go check them out!

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