Life Update (Where the Money Went)
In September, we went on a road trip through Croatia and Bosnia, and then completed a transatlantic relocation which involved finding a place to call home for 3 months, buying a scooter and finding Spencer a new daycare. You can read about our hard landing in Playa del Carmen to find out what stressed us out and contributed to expenditures in this September Nomad Income Report.
As disruptive as the relocation was, it allowed us to refocus on a few things.
September Nomad Income: Trading
$2,111 in realized gains for September. At 33.2% return for the year, we’re beating the S&P 500 by about 450%.
Settling into Playa Del Carmen and completing our landing plan meant that I was out of the market for a few trading days. Although it took a little time to adjust and get my head back into the game, we made enough gains to keep our monthly average on track. .
Trading continues to be our primary source of income. I have been thinking about becoming a full-time trader since August. After a few weekends of studying and back-testing fibonacci retracements and cypher patterns, I built up enough confidence to become a full-time trader. The good news is that I love what I’m doing, and it’s making us money. The bad news is that I’ve done less work on our Amazon retail businesses and online store. More discussion to come in October.
September Nomad Income: Miscellaneous Income
Blogging: $1 – Clicking the “Shop on Amazon” link at the bottom of any of our pages before you shop on Amazon will give us a small commission. *long, obvious wink*
BigStock: $1 – Those seven stock images are still going strong. Haha 🙂
Writing: $0 – Sarah wrote two stories for the 2016 NYC Midnight flash fiction contest. This is a contest that runs from September to January.
Nomad Income: $2,113
September Nomad Expenditures
Accommodations: $684 (This covers a week in the Zagreb apartment, an Airbnbs in Bosnia and Playa del Carmen during our apartment search, and two weeks in our longer term apartment.)
Transportation: $1844 (Includes airfare for three from Croatia to Mexico, and car rentals in Croatia and Mexico.)
Cigarettes: $57 (I’m still smoking..yup)
Child Care: $153 (We’re back to a location where childcare doesn’t cost as much as our housing, which is a huge relief.)
Charity: $10 (Lower than most months; this month was to the ACLU)
College Debt Repayment: $100 (Sarah has one small college loan left to repay in installments.)
Entertainment: $67 (Don’t read this as us saying we never get out. We do, but it’s generally to parks, beaches, or restaurants with something fun for Spencer. This includes a trip to Platvice Lakes National Park in Croatia.)
Groceries: $460 (We didn’t track local vs. corporate this month as settling in was a bit chaotic and tracking expenses got a little messy)
Health & Beauty: $80 (This covers a couple of massages in Mexico)
Restaurants: $459 (We continue to work at cafes, but are also eating out more in Mexico. The food is great and we’ve found that we’re not saving a whole lot cooking at home in our tiny kitchen.)
Supplies: $907 (This is kind of a catch-all category for things we need and carry with us to each destination. However, $780 of it was for a scooter that we purchased outright. We intend to sell it when we leave and recoup most of the cost.)
Utilities: $35 (We pay electricity and water at our apartment, also needed to purchase airtime and a new SIM card for our mobile phones.)
Vacation: $57 (We took a road trip through Croatia and Bosnia before leaving for Mexico. This is petrol for the rental, food, activities, and parking.)
Nomad Expenses: $4,913
Net Savings: -$2800*
* So, we’re still in the red for September with only our trading income. However, when we add our business income to net savings we’re much better.
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If our September Nomad Income report was your first layover with us, you may want to check out our other Income Reports.
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