I’m still making my way through the 2023 monthly results so here are June 2023 results. I know we’re already in August 2023 but I had a few months without posting on this blog. If you want to know why, click here. We’re almost up to date!
Before I share our June 2023 results with you, as promised in July 2021, I’ll share with you what we’ve been up to the past month. After that, we can talk about the numbers.
What have we been up to this month?
As part of our June 2023 results, as usual, I’ll share personal life positives and negatives. I can’t always recall negative things which goes to show how happy I am with my life.
Personal life positives
Trying to recall what happened a few months ago is an interesting activity because it’s been so long. I used Google Maps’ timeline, Google Photos, old WhatsApp messages, and our expenses to remember what happened in June 2023. I feel like Lazy FI Detective.
A downside of this system, however, is that I have less visibility of stuff Lazy FI Mum did with the kids.
My son’s first Manchester United kit
In June 2023, I ordered and received my son’s first Manchester United kit. He is now officially ready for a lifetime of disappointment.
He looks adorable wearing it. As I don’t post my kids’ faces here, you will have to do with a side view of my son wearing his kit while my daughter helps him put on his sandals (because of course, no football kit is complete without sandals).
Family visits 1- Lazy FI Mum’s mother
we started the month with my mother-in-law coming over for a week. My kids had lots of fun having Savta (grandma in Hebrew) around, we did too. For me, the highlight was that she finally made it to Epping Forest!
I tried to take my mother-in-law to Epping Forest a few times but it was always too muddy for a pram (for my kids, not my mother-in-law) so we always had to go back home. However, June was amazing from a weather perspective and we finally made it through my favourite route! (she loved it and took hundreds of photos)
When my daughter was younger, I found a very nice route that’s actually pram-friendly. It’s at least 2 hours long but this time it took around 3 hours because we stopped a lot (to rest, eat, and have fun).
The route: You start at Chingford station and go (through the forest) towards Highams Park station. The entrance to the forest on this route starts with a little pond with ducks, you can see my son modelling the spot below:
Then, you walk in the forest until you get to Highams Park Lake. Between these 2 points is a beautiful route, very quiet and full of green views. There’s even a stream along the way, it really is a very beautiful walk.
Oh, and if 3 hours is too much for you, just do what Lazy FI Mum did and piggyback on your husband while he’s pushing 2 kids in their pram:
Family visits 2- Lazy FI Mum’s brother
2 days after his mum left, Lazy FI Mum’s brother came to stay with us haha.
Again, my kids loved having their uncle around and he loved being around them.
Lazy FI Mum and her brother even went out one night and had a great time.
Don’t worry, I spent quality time with my brother-in-law as well by taking him on 2 mystery dines.
Family visits 3- My Mum
My mum and her best friend went to see Bruce Springsteen perform in Birmingham. On their way back to Israel, they stayed with my uncle for a day. We used that opportunity to meet up. As Lazy FI Mum’s brother was still here, we split up for the day- They took my son and I took my daughter.
We had a great time at a local park and the weather was amazing. They even had a miniature train that goes around the park, which we went on twice.
Self-defence classes
I’ve been wanting to learn a martial art for a long time. I even started for a bit just before COVID but that obviously stopped. My excuse was always that there was nothing local… until now!
A friend of mine decided to open self-defence classes in my neighbourhood. Funny enough, he lives nowhere near where we live. He is amazing- he has a black belt in two different martial arts and is on his way to a third.
In June, he decided to start his own course in my neighbourhood in the evenings. That was too good to be true- not only is it local, I can go after I bathe the kids and put my son to sleep! Lazy FI Mum puts my daughter to sleep when I go train. He started with one evening a week.
The good news- he quickly moved to two evenings a week.
The bad news- it’s not so local anymore, it’s no longer within walking distance. However, it’s a very short bus drive and I’m already hooked.
So far (writing this in early August), I’ve gone to almost all the sessions (twice a week) and am absolutely loving it. We started with how to stand (the basic fighting position) and basic punches. Now, we’re (lightly) sparring!
I look forward to those training sessions. It’s a great workout (I sweat so much) and I’m learning a new skill at the same time. For a long while, I felt that while I was doing great on the money front, the health front wasn’t being prioritised. I’m really happy I get to do this (with Lazy FI Mum’s support).
Mystery dine
I got to participate in a very cool mystery dine in June 2023. I was emailed back in March 2023 (3 months in advance!) to ask if I wanted to participate and bring along a guest.
This visit was special for 2 reasons:
- Visits are usually booked on the website. That means a visit gets uploaded and if it’s good, it usually gets taken within minutes. This visit was never on the website, which was very cool for me. I didn’t know these “secret” visits existed. I guess I was asked as I have literally done hundreds of visits for this company.
- There was no budget limit, they told me which food and drink places to visit and said they will reimburse me for anything “reasonable”. It took money out of the picture and I loved it.
In addition, I invited my neighbour from upstairs (the one that bakes my daughter’s Winnie-the-Pooh cake and the father of my kids’ best friends) to be my guest. We had a great time spending the day together and enjoying a very special experience.
Personal life negatives
Smashed laptop
Towards the end of June 2023, I accidentally smashed my main laptop. I have a docking station so I switch between my work laptop and my private laptop quite often. During one of those switches, I dropped my main laptop and I couldn’t open it anymore. That’s a big issue as I use that laptop to teach Excel.
I called Dell and asked if they could fix it, they sent someone within a day or two. Luckily, I didn’t teach during those days and I still had my old laptop just in case.
It was quite expensive (just under £200) but had to be done as I needed it to teach. I’m very fortunate that things like that (anything that can be solved with money) don’t stress me out anymore.
Also, once I saw what the technician did- I know for a fact that there’s no way I could’ve done it myself, I’m very happy I just picked up the phone and asked them to send someone.
As I paid for the fix from our business account, this did not affect our June 2023 results.
June 2023 results- savings rate
Our savings rate for June 2023 was 65.08%.
As a reminder, my long-term target is 50%, hoping to hit that target for 3 years in a row.
Our (weighted) average savings rate for the past 6 months is 52.37%.
Our 12-month-weighted average savings rate is 47.85%.
Finally, our YTD (since January) weighted average savings rate is 52.37%.
June results- What was different this month?
Every month something unusual happens. Sometimes it’s a one-off expense and sometimes it’s a one-off income. The fact that this happens every month amuses me but also makes it harder to analyse the savings rate and draw conclusions. That’s why I also use the 6-month, 12-month, and YTD average figures to “smooth” the data.
Anyway, what was different this month?
In short- childcare (as usual), Health, and Excel
Childcare costs
As you may remember, we usually contribute to our children’s tax-free childcare account once every quarter (every 3 months). Both children’s contributions are in the same month. This causes a huge fluctuation in our monthly savings rates. June was a “no childcare cost” month.
Any “no childcare cost” month looks better than it really is so you should have that in the back of your mind while going through our June 2023 results.
Health
Lazy FI Mum and I use Urban quite often. It’s a service where you can book massages, physiotherapy sessions, or osteopathy sessions at home. I’m sure there are other services they provide but that’s what we use.
It is usually cheaper than going to a clinic and you don’t have to commute. We really like Urban, I highly recommend trying them if you like/need any of these treatments.
Clarification: This is my own opinion, the link above is not an affiliate link (I get nothing if you click on it). However, if you do want a referral code that will get you £10 off your first session- email me at LazyFIDad@gmail.com, I also get £15 off my next treatment.
Anyway, two things you need to know:
- Every now and then, Urban comes up on the American Express offers. This time it was 20% off one purchase. While one purchase can be a treatment, it can also be a (more expensive) gift card 🙂 You already see where this is going. I bought the maximum they allowed for a gift card and got 20% back from American Express.
- These expenses will mostly be reimbursed by our insurance company once we actually have those treatments. The insurance company reimburses us up to a certain amount per year so this is a way to stretch that limit a bit further.
I account for these expenses when they get paid so it all goes as an expense in June 2023. When the insurance company reimburses us, it will just be a “negative expense” in the health category.
Excel
In June, I had 2 Israeli clients pay me for courses I did for them in the past. This Excel income definitely improved our June 2023 results. I still can’t believe I get paid to do something I love so much.
I also took on a private student that pays after each session. It’s such a nice change, compared to companies that pay a month or two later.
June 2023 results- Net worth
In June 2023, our net worth increased by 3.58%. The 3.58% is made of two parts:
- Our actual savings increased our net worth by 1.71%
- Our investments increased in value, which increased our net worth by 1.87%**.
Achieving FI– how far are we on our journey?
Reminder: I set our FI number (how much we need to retire) in July 2020 and update it every month for inflation (I use CPIH* index).
At the end of June 2023, our net worth is 32.54% (May 2023: 31.61%) of that number.
We are still above the 30% mark and set a new record for the fifth(!) month straight, beating our previous all-time-high 31.61% (May 2023). Woohoo!
Obviously, the market can crash at any moment (which would be a great buying opportunity) and we would have no control over that. Until that happens, it’s cool to see our real net worth go up.
Real change
The 0.93% increase in our FI journey (as a percentage of our FI number) from 32.54% to 31.61% means a real (inflation-adjusted) increase of 2.94% (32.54 / 31.61 – 1)**, which can be broken down into these two parts:
- Our nominal net worth increased by 3.58% as mentioned above.
- The CPIH index increased by 0.62%, which decreased our real (inflation-adjusted) net worth**.
As you can see, 2 factors are out of our control:
- The market performance (are our investments worth more or less this month?)
- Inflation (are things more expensive than last month?)
As these factors are out of our control- I tend to focus on our savings rate.
A 65.08% is great but the figure that I’m most proud of is the YTD 52.37% savings rate. A 52.37% in 6 months while Lazy FI Mum only getting a salary for 3 of these months is amazing. When you add the fact that we prepaid for Urban treatments and our October flights to Israel- that’s just unbelievable! With H1 (Half 1) 2023 gone, we’ve set ourselves for an amazing H2!
This savings rate makes me very optimistic about maybe even reaching 55% this year.
When can we achieve FI (and possibly retire)?
As I told you in the October 2021 results, calculating an FI date is not relevant for us anymore. We will move back to Israel sometime between December 2025 and August 2026. As my models are split into tax years, that means April 2026 is our relevant date.
Once we move back to Israel, I will either move to “just” teaching (no accounting) or try and keep my current job but part-time.
If anyone’s wondering if moving to Israel will help or hurt our FI journey, I present to you this article:
Tel Aviv named as world’s most expensive city to live in – BBC News.
No need to click the link, the title gives it away. Good luck to us.
In any case, we will not reach our full FI number by the time we move to Israel. Therefore, the only relevant question is…
How far into our journey to FI will we be by June 2026?
Based on my “regular” (which is more like a worst-case) scenario, we expect to be 45.87% FI by April 2026. We are still close enough to the 50% mark to make it happen. I think it’s going to be very close to that benchmark in the end.
As a reminder, this number is based on our UK level of expenses. I don’t know how expensive Israel will be for us. We’ll need to track our expenses for a few months there to get a better understanding. Also, I will have to learn all the little local tricks (like I learned in the UK) on how to save money, get free stuff, and reduce my tax bill.
The April 2026 model assumptions
My model assumes that only our ISAs, LISAs and pensions (essentially, our stock/equity investments) will generate an annual real return of 4%. Meanwhile, I assume our real estate and cash will retain their real value but not increase.
In addition, I assume no future income from teaching as I can’t reliably forecast how much I’ll earn from this side hustle. That means any future income from teaching will be treated as a pleasant surprise.
Another future income I ignore is my job’s annual bonus. Just like teaching, any future bonus is not guaranteed. That means that if my employer has a bad year, the bonus can potentially be 0%. My model assumes every year is such a year. Again, any bonus that does come through will be treated as a pleasant surprise.
I know these assumptions are very prudent but I prefer being prudent and positively surprised to “realistic” and having to deal with unforeseen issues.
Well, that’s our June 2023 results, have a great week everyone!
Notes
*CPIH- “Consumer Price Inflation including owner-occupiers’ Housing costs”. As we are consumers and we own our home- I think this is the best inflation metric for us. You can see the changes in the index here.
** You might get a slightly different number (by 0.01% or so). That’s due to rounding. The numbers I share are the accurate ones, the equations are so that you understand the way I calculate the numbers.
