April 2021 numbers update

April was a fantastic month overall. We spent loads of time with family. We also had a great getaway with extended family, going to some hot pools, swimming and sliding around on tubes. Imagine, going on cold water slides at the end of Autumn (Fall)! It was warm and loads of fun. It was also both of our little doggo’s birthdays. They both make us laugh a lot with their antics. It was great to give them some cool new toys and beds for all the fun snuggles they’ve given us. Let’s get going with the April 2021 numbers update.

Financially April was another great month financially too, so let’s see how that all panned out.

Financial update

April was a fantastic growth month on the net worth side as well as investment income. This month the net worth grew by $52k (+4.6% in a month!) to a new total of $1.17m in liquid net worth. I don’t include the home in the net worth since it’s already benefiting us through lower expenses. All the growth came from our international stock market growth plus an improved currency.

Investment income for the month was significant at $4.8k from a range of dividends, preference shares and fixed income. Still working on the side hustles to generate any other income, but I’ll take all this passive income gladly.

Expenses continued at $2.7k for the month. $300 of that hasn’t actually been spent yet, and allocated for future expenses that we’re saving for. We spent a bit more than usual on the food side, round $800, since we invited a few folks over for nice steak meals and had visitors stay with us for some time.

Otherwise expenses for this month were in line with normal spending. Breakdown of the expenses in April were:

• 31% to food and groceries including pet food and dining out.
• 24% to household expenses like utilities, levies, taxes, cleaning staff, maintenance and any new furnishings/plants.
• 19% to medical and other insurance.
• 25% to everything else (hobbies, leisure, gifts etc).

We have no debt or house/car payments to make. As noted I don’t count the house (or the cars) in our net worth. I paid the large expense for both of those items when we bought them.

Projects

The business. The fire suppression investment deal is dead. I spent quite a bit of time negotiating and talking between the bank and the sellers. The bank wasn’t able to give significant gearing and required too much equity. I brought in another investor and between us we determined that it wouldn’t be worth it to conclude the deal. Primarily because I would need to draw a salary from the business as they would just be a silent partner. Under that scenario it was a smaller equity cheque, but all the value would’ve gone to pay me to run it for my time. It’s a real balance between risk and reward on small medium sized businesses and the level of gearing available didn’t let this one work. If it’s an asset light business, it’ll need to be a smaller equity cheque, more long-term contracts for this to work for the bank.

In the interim I’m going to start screening some more ideas, and am looking at a few in the online space. Nothing draws my fancy yet, but there is different enough to sort through. I’m looking to dip my toe in, rather than a big cheque, in order to fully understand the market. It isn’t as simple as a digital store front for physical assets, and is far more a marketing heavy play than traditional physical businesses. Will see how that pans out.

On the website side, visits were a lot lower than March. Thankfully this website isn’t my day job, lol:

• 295 views ( 1934 for year to date)
• 111 visitors ( 513 ytd)
• 3 posts published (23 posts this year)

A continued thanks to those readers that continue to read and comment on the side and welcome to everyone new!

April was a fantastic month in terms of financial performance, but also just doing whatever was fun to do. Spent a lot of time outdoors and with the family including a wonderful getaway.