April 2025 FIRE Update

Hey Everyone! Did you have a good month? April was a hectic month at the RB40 household. RB40Jr was busy with school, debate, Ultimate Frisbee, martial arts, and socializing with friends. I had my ceramic class, open studio, catering delivery, and driving RB40Jr around. Mrs. RB40 retired and spent a lot of time baking and gardening. Whew! The month flew by for us. That’s the key to happiness. Stay busy with fun activities and you won’t have time to be miserable.

On the personal finance side, we had a mixed bag. Our net worth looked okay, but the cash flow was rough. My earned income is decreasing. It’s part of my transition to full retirement. I plan to stop working completely in a few years. That way, we can move our residency to California in preparation for college. There are so many more colleges in CA and moving will help with FAFSA. California is expensive, but I don’t think it’s comparable to where we live now. We’ll see how it works out.

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.

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

Financial Goals

Sell Rental Condo

This is my main goal for 2025. Our tenant moved out of our rental condo in January. I fixed it up and listed it for sale. Unfortunately, the condo market is terrible in Portland. It might take a while to sell. 

Anyway, I plan to travel more, and I don’t want to be a landlord anymore. 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 need to move to California to be closer to families. Mrs. RB40’s parents are getting older, and they need help.

This year, I want to meet with our realtor and figure out what we need to fix. The first thing on the list is exterior repair and repainting. I’d be happy if we could get at least that much done. I plan to hire this out. These days, I try to avoid the ladder as much as possible. I also want to remodel the kitchen and bathroom.

This is on the back burner until the rental condo is dealt with.  

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 will end sooner or later. The reason is simple. You can only contribute to the Roth IRA with earned income. My earned income is dropping like a rock and I might not make enough this year. In 2025, the contribution limit for a Roth IRA is $8,000 if you’re 50 or older. The challenge is to see if I can earn more than that while working very little.

So far, I have made $2,633. That’s not great, but I’m still on track for meeting this goal.

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’d like to see 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. +10% is a stretch goal.

Currently, I am very pessimistic about the economy. The Tariffs are wrecking global trading. Shipping volume is down significantly and we’ll see higher prices very soon. The stock market is high on hopium in April. It will come crashing down again. I’d be happy if we can stay above -10% this year. This is my realistic goal, negative 10%.

Our net worth is down 0.7% since the beginning of the year.

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 exercised 15 times in April. That was really good. The weather turned nicer and I spent more time outdoors. I’m catching up on this one.

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 a little 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 a Cochlear Implant is experimental and doesn’t improve overall health. This is ridiculous. The device has been used since the 80s to improve lives. I’m 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.

I worked with the hospital to file an appeal. Now, we are waiting to hear back.

Fun goals

Sell my ceramic projects

Last year, I took some ceramic classes at the community center and had a blast. My projects aren’t that great, but I’ll try selling a few items this year. The community center will have several art sales this year. I’ll get my name on the list and hope for the best. My ceramic projects might not sell, though. My aesthetic is a bit eccentric. Most of my stuff is wabi sabi style and imperfect.

I sold several pieces at the Spring Arts Sale over the weekend. Woohoo! That’s way above expectations. Now, I just need to sell 100 more to break even.

More dates

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 difficult at night. Also, I’d rather hunker down at home than go out to spend a bunch of money at a restaurant.

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

In April, we had 2 lunch dates. That’s pretty good. It was a crazy busy month.

Happiness level > 8

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

I had a pretty good month. Mrs. RB40 retired and she was home a lot more. She baked a lot of yummy stuff, spent time in the garden, and puttered around the house. I need to adjust to having her around so much. Anyway, we have been keeping busy so life was good.

Net Worth (-0.7%)

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 is not looking good. Our net worth is down 0.7% since the beginning of the year. The stock market was very volatile in April. The market took a dive, but it recovered. Nobody knows where it will go next because there is so much uncertainty. I adjusted our asset allocation and I’m ready for more craziness next month.

***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. I log in often to check our net worth and use their free tools. It’s a great site for DIY investors.

April 2025 FIRE Cash Flow

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

Our cash flow will look terrible until the rental condo is sold.

April 2025 FIRE Income: $1,657

Ouch, our cash flow didn’t look good last month. The spending was okay, but my FIRE income turned anemic. The rental condo is still weighing us down. We’ll withdraw from retirement savings as needed. We planned for this and we should be fine.

Real estate crowdfunding: $195. You can read more on the RE Crowdfunding Passive Income page. Dividend Income: $895. Slow month with dividends. Rental Income: -$899. We’ll have negative rental income until the condo is sold.    Online income: $131. This one is disappearing quickly. Last month, I paid taxes and it crushed the income.    Odd jobs: $425. I delivered a few catering orders per week. It’s an easy gig that pays pretty well, for now. I’ll probably stop doing this side hustle in 2 year.       

Spending: $5,299

Our spending was fine. Kid and health spending were higher than normal, but it should come back down next month. I think our spending is still very reasonable. Many families spend much more than we do.

Housing: $1,388. 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. Transportation: $360. Gas and insurance. We renewed our AAA membership and refilled our public transportation cards.    Entertainment: $205. This was mostly eating out.        Groceries: $711. Whoa, our grocery bill was high. I think the previous month was lower than usual so it evened out. Health: $918. Mrs. RB40 had a minor surgery earlier this year.       Kid: $1,110. Unfortunately, kid-related expenses are also increasing as RB40Jr gets older. We are making payments for his orthodontist, an international school trip, and various activities.     Personal: $555. We went clothes shopping in anticipation of the upcoming price hike. We should be good for about a year. Travel: $0.

Retirement Savings: –$4,541

April 2025 wrap-up

April was a good month for us. We kept busy and enjoyed life. Our cash flow was negative, but I beefed up our cash cushion earlier this year in anticipation of Mrs. RB40’s retirement. We should be fine for the next 2 years. Also, I have already prepared for a recession and now we just have to hold steady. At our current asset allocation, I think I can tolerate a 50% drop in the stock market. It’ll be a rough ride. Good luck, everyone.  

That’s it for April. 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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