March 2023 Updates: Dream of a Sabbatical
March has been a pretty rewarding month for me. As I mentioned last month, I received a raise, the first paycheck of which was reflected this month. On top of that, I received my bonus and March also happened to be a 3-paycheck month!
I allocated the majority of my bonus paycheck to my 401k so for the rest of the year I only have to contribute the minimum to get my employer’s match.
Of course, with every high comes a low. My manager informed the team that one of my coworkers has put in her two weeks notice and it may take a bit of time to replace her position which means extra work for me for the upcoming weeks or month as I’m the one most familiar with her work.
I really wish I was going on my vacation in April and not May.
This added pressure certainly doesn’t help with the intrusive thoughts I have of taking a one year sabbatical. It has gotten harder and harder for me to find meaning in my work and waking up in the morning with a feeling of dread has become the norm.
I am constantly trying to cope by either planning for my next vacation or wishing it would come sooner. Perhaps I just need to get a year’s worth of travel out of the way to get it out of my system.
Living in a HCOL city, I actually think slow travel where I can book flights during off-peak and stay in a LCOL city for a month at a time makes a lot of sense and may even be more cost-efficient than my current living situation.
Net Worth
It’s the end of the first quarter of 2023 which is when I would usually do my net worth update. I will hold off on my 1st quarter net worth update because I am actually closing in on a $300k net worth!
The upswing in the market this past week certainly helped along with my extra pay this month. Fingers cross that I’ll be able to hit that number and provide an update soon!
March Budget
Fixed Spending
No changes.
Variable Spending
Utilities – Only gas and electricity bill for this month.
Gas – Didn’t drive anywhere far this month and only filled up gas once.
Entertainment/dining out – On budget!
Groceries – A bit over budget but that’s good as that means I didn’t eat out as much this month.
Shopping – I actually got some money back from returns on purchases I did last month.
Travel
I noticed that one of the cruise excursions I booked last month went down in price so I canceled and rebooked. Guess that’s one of the perks of being so excited for my next vacation that I was constantly checking! The refund took a couple more days so did not get back to me until this month.
Miscellaneous
Home Insurance – The miscellaneous expenses never end. This month it’s my annual home insurance premium. At least I won’t have to worry about it any more until next year.
Investments/Savings
In addition to almost maxing out my 401k with my bonus, I also maxed out my Roth IRA! Last month, I thought I would have to wait until the end of the year to see if I would still be eligible to contribute to a Roth IRA.
After doing some research, I found out about backdoor Roth IRA as a (legal) loophole that would allow me to still contribute to a Roth IRA regardless of income level.
I didn’t want to miss out on a year’s worth of growth if the market is going through a recovery so I decided to do a backdoor Roth IRA this month (also shoutout to Raymond for the extra nudge in this direction!).
I successfully completed the backdoor Roth IRA which was actually not as bad as I thought it would be by following this exact guide. I ended up contributing the full amount in one sitting to simplify my tax return next year.
Student Debt
Student debt paid this month: $880.77
Student debt remaining: $24,135.92
Here are all my previous student debt statements.
No updates on loan forgiveness yet so I’m still leaving my federal loans alone. I’m just continuing to make the minimum payment to my private loan.
Goals for Next Month
Last month I wrote that I’m working towards my mid-2024 dream of a sabbatical. I still think I want to continue towards that goal. At the very least I’d like to keep working until March 2024 to cash in on my bonus as it has proven to be a nice chunk.
I am also reading up on real estate investing. Ideally I’d love to be able to purchase another home before my sabbatical (I’m already talking as if this is a sure thing 😅) while I still have a W2 job as that would be the easiest way to obtain a loan.
At the end of the day though, it’s back to the age old debate of real estate vs index fund investing. Index fund is definitely the “lazier” way to go. And I like lazy. But having a cash flow through rental property is how I can truly imagine retiring early without having to build up my nest egg to such a high number.
I will binge read/listen to books and podcasts on real estate investment this month.
7 thoughts on “March 2023 Updates: Dream of a Sabbatical”
Oh that’s awesome you’re almost done maxing your 401k already in addition to your Roth IRA! Also thanks for an earlier post where you mentioned the Capital One Venture card. Just got the Venture X and the sign on bonus/benefits are amazing for the cost! Shame work is meh for you but hope the May vacation is good. Do you know where you’re going? And wow almost 300k! You’re a pro at saving Avery! Intrigued to see if you do something new after studying about real estate. I was lazy and bought a public REIT loool.
Hey Raymond!
Glad you ended up getting the Venture X card! I already used the Global Entry benefit and received the sign on bonus so it’s ready to use and will be enough to cover my next round trip international flight (maybe October 😜 but that’s another story).
For May, I’m doing a Mediterranean cruise which will be the first time I’m on a cruise and the first time I’ll be in the Mediterranean so I’m doubly excited.
The market continues to drop/remain stagnant so I may have to bite my tongue on “almost” getting to 300k. Deja vu to how I spent half of last year “almost” getting to 250k. 🥺
I’ll provide updates as I read up on real estate. I really need to take a page out of your book on diversifying my investments and probably look into REITs as well!
Ahhh what was the process like getting global entry? That’s awesome the sign up bonus covered your flights 😄 What made you decide to go on a Mediterranean cruise Avery? But even if the market doesn’t go up, I’m seriously impressed your net worth has gone up nearly 500!k in about 6 years as a pharmacist. Maybe real estate funds would be good to get into now since they’ve been going down for awhile (I totally didn’t buy near the peak) ahaha
The process for Global Entry was really easy! Just online application then an “interview”, mostly just someone asking two questions and taking your picture and fingerprints 🤣.
My friend went on a cruise before and loved it! She’s never been to Europe and I’ve never been on a cruise so that’s how we made our decision lol!
You know what, I honestly haven’t even thought about the $500k gain (I think I internally tried to erase my six-figure student debt existence 😅).
Thanks for the reminder! It definitely excites me that there are more data points to analyze and I’m hopeful that perhaps the next $500k can come in half the time? 🤪 Can’t say I’m not a dreamer…
Ahh thanks for the explanation of Global entry Avery! Gotta get that done sometime lols. And ohhh killing 2 birds with 1 stone with the cruise =) Also imagine it’ll be more interesting than a Carribbean cruise.
Yeah for sure @ the reminder. Your savings rate % must be sooo high. But yeah if the markets are very nice, maybe it’s possible??
“This added pressure certainly doesn’t help with the intrusive thoughts I have of taking a one year sabbatical. It has gotten harder and harder for me to find meaning in my work and waking up in the morning with a feeling of dread has become the norm.” Right. So when I read the comment you made about this in the post last month, I thought hmm. While I haven’t made a ton of money, my best friend makes a TON of money, and she has been talking about feeling this way for some time. With every job change she got about a 20% increase and now makes more than most family medicine physicians despite the fact that she is in a non-tech field that only requires a bachelor’s degree. She has tons of properties and tons of money at this point and she is tired and wants to take a break. But she won’t. She talks about it dreams about it and says money isn’t enough but…she won’t take a break. When I read your post last month, it reminded me of her. I think there could also be some cultural issues around what “time off” would look like for her…and I don’t know if that is a consideration for you…but I suspect it might be?
Wow I’m curious as to why your best friend isn’t taking the break?! She definitely seems like she’s in a financially better position than me and can truly FIRE at this moment?
For me, I don’t know if I would count it as “cultural” per se but it does feel a bit wrong if I were to take a break from work when my parents are still working their way into traditional retirement age.
I guess it does worry me what “time off” would look like if I’m the only one free while my friends are still working.
The biggest barrier though comes down to FOMO. While I complain about work, my current job is the best I’ve had in my career. It offers the most flexibility (WFH), money, and the most supportive manager that I’ve ever had in my career.
If I walked away from this position, it would be backfilled. It would be hard for me to get the opportunity back. So that means after I come back from time off, I may be faced with a less desirable job.