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My Groovy Ranch update for this week is pretty thin gruel. So to thicken things up, I decided to add an opus update and another retirement spending update. Here we go.
Groovy Virtual Book Tour
My opus, The Groovy Guide To Financial Independence. has been on sale for a month now and it’s closing in on 150 units sold. Watch out J.K. Rowling!
In one sense, 150 units are squat. But in another more important sense, I’m totally jacked that nearly 150 people decided to relinquish their hard-earned money and willingly subject themselves to my wacko scribblings. I am truly humbled and thankful.
But you don’t get my sales numbers without a good deal of promotion. To date, I have been interviewed by five podcasters. Here are the three interviews that have aired so far.
Stacking Benjamins – October 1
Countdown to FI – October 2
Everyday Money Show – October 8
The two interviews that have yet to air are the ones conducted by Kate Nesi and the Fire Drill ladies. I’ll keep you posted when they go live. In the meantime, here are my quick impressions of my virtual book tour to date.
- The FI podcasters are by far the most gracious podcasters in the podosphere. What other podcasters would allow a virtual unknown to promote his book with their audiences?
- A few months back, Mrs. Groovy found a mention of me on Reddit. Someone described me as a “nutter” who sounded like Ray Romano. None of my interviews, I’m afraid, will dissuade anyone from disagreeing with this Reddit poster.
- Getting invited down to “the basement” was truly the highlight of my blogging career. Joe (Stacking Benjamins) is one righteous dude. And he really knows his sh%t when it comes to hockey.
- Mr. CTF (Countdown To FI) is very cerebral and very brave. That means a conversation with him can quickly get dark and uncomfortable. The good news is that he has a keen sense of when to walk things back from the abyss. Yes, it’s a scary world out there, and we can’t shy away from addressing that scariness. But dwelling on it isn’t the answer. I admire Mr. CTF for adroitly going where we sometimes have to go and then exiting the topic with aplomb.
- Jason (Everyday Money Show) is one smart cookie. He really asks poignant questions. In fact, his questions were so poignant, I had a number of epiphanies. Just wait until I roll out opus two! Oh, and his dog Randy is quite adept at sniffing out great articles for discussion.
- Kate (Lifelong Learning) has the perfect voice for podcasting. It just exudes calmness and friendliness. I can listen to it for hours. Hey, Kate, have you ever considered doing voice-overs for a side-hustle?
- I can’t say enough about Gwen and J (Fire Drill Podcast). They have really found their calling. We talked for over forty-five minutes but it felt like five. The Fire Drill ladies were that professional—and that engaging.
- Finally, I still get nervous every time I do a podcast. The fear of public speaking is going to haunt me until my death. The only thing that saved me was that most of these podcast interviews took place in the afternoon or early evening. That means I was able to imbibe on some liquid courage before and during the interviews. Whew!
Groovy Follow-Up on Two Year Retirement Spending
In last week’s Groovy Ranch Update 35, I took a 30,000-foot look at our spending and income during our first two years of retirement. One commenter, The Crusher, wanted a more detailed look at our spending. Here’s what he had to say.
I was wondering if you would be willing to share some of your two year annual expenses at a high level by main categories (housing, transportation, food, restaurants, travel, etc). We are trying to get at our expenses and are struggling with how normal people get to $35K or less a year in expenses.
Since The Crusher granted that I was normal—I don’t get that very often—and since I was curious about my exact spending patterns, I decided to provide a high-level look into our spending. Here we go.
| Item | Total Two-Year Spending | Yearly Average | Monthly Average | Percentage of Spending |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vacation | $10,927 | $5,464 | $455 | 15.03% |
| Food | $10,107 | $5,054 | $421 | 13.90% |
| Housing (Taxes, HOA, & Insurance) | $7,196 | $3,598 | $300 | 9.90% |
| Health (Medical Insurance, Rx, Dental, Etc.) | $7,014 | $3,507 | $292 | 9.65% |
| Transportation (Gas, Insurance, Registration, Maintenance, Repairs, Etc.) | $5,256 | $2,528 | $219 | 7.23% |
| Utilities (Electricity, Gas, Phone, & Water) | $4,984 | $2,492 | $208 | 6.85% |
| Gifts | $4,372 | $2,186 | $182 | 6.01% |
| Dining Out | $3,648 | $1,824 | $152 | 5.02% |
| Income Taxes | $2,906 | $1,453 | $121 | 4.00% |
| Cell Phones | $1,793 | $897 | $75 | 2.47% |
| Internet | $1,326 | $663 | $55 | 1.82% |
| Clothing | $671 | $336 | $28 | 0.92% |
| Entertainment | $630 | $315 | $26 | 0.875 |
| Other | $11,888 | $5,944 | $495 | 16.33% |
| Totals | $72,718 | $36,359 | $3,030 | 100.00% |
By looking over our spending patterns for the first two years of our retirement, I found myself conjuring up the following axioms.
Win housing, clear a very spacious path to financial independence.
Win housing, transportation, and taxes, clear a super spacious path to financial independence.
Because Mrs. Groovy and I own our house and car outright—and because we live in low-tax North Carolina—housing, transportation, and taxes are roughly 25% of our annual income. And we’re not working! If we were still working and could bolster our household income with an extra $125K, housing, transportation, and taxes would be roughly 15% of our annual income.
See what I mean about the power of winning the housing game? See what I mean about the power of winning the housing, transportation, and taxes game? Given our income, Mrs. Groovy and I are leading shockingly groovy lives, and this is only possible because we are mortgage and rent free, drive a beater, and don’t live in a state with a ravenous tax bite.
Groovy Ranch
A lot is going on at Groovy Ranch. Unfortunately, because of Hurricane Michael, Mrs. Groovy and I weren’t able to visit there yesterday. We therefore only have one picture of Groovy Ranch from earlier in the week. Check out our ceiling fan in the great room.
Since the lighting fixtures in the great room were installed, the cement walkways have been poured and the hardwood floors have been stained. Next week, kitchen cabinets make their appearance in Groovy Ranch. As Mrs. Groovy is wont to say: “This sh%t is getting real.”
Final Thoughts
Okay, groovy freedomist, that’s all I got. Have a great weekend, and enjoy the latest kick-ass installment of Talking Trash. Peace.
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