My Financial Position 2020
This is going to be bad but it’s something I have to do, to monitor my progress throughout the year.
My goals this year are to move forward, earn lots more money and start saving for my retirement. I have a very limited amount of years to get there, assuming I live past today.
So here is where I’m starting.
Superannuation / Retirement Savings $71,391.50 after working 30 years so far.
Everyday Account $1787.85 DR(Overdraft facility of $2.000)
Rent Housing Account $200.00 CR
Savings Savings Account $100.76 CR
Bills Account $150.00 CR
Healthfund $0.48 CR
Commsec Shares $62.50 CR *
Paypal $160.00 CR
CASH AVAILABLE $1,274.11 DR
Mastercard $0.00 ($4,000 available)
Zipmoney Account $758.00 DR
CREDIT CARD / CONSUMER DEBT $758.00 (all teeth expenses)
ASSETS
Car $1,500 (If I sold it on a good day)
Sewing Machines $500.00 (maybe on ebay)
eBay Inventory $500.00 **
Furniture etc. $1,000 (if I sold it all on FB or ebay and that’s probably a stretch)
TOTAL ASSETS $3,500.00
NETT WORTH INCLUDING RETIREMENT: $69,923.61
WORKING NETT WORTH EXCLUDING RETIREMENT: $1,467.89 DR
LIVING EXPENSES:
Rent $365.00 per week
Food Budget $100.00 per week
Bills Budget $150.00 per week (includes phone, power, insurance)
Savings $150.00 per week
Spending allowance $100.00 per week ***
OTHER LIABILITIES
Loan from Son $20,000.00 ****
Teeth for Son $1,500.00
Business debt $5,076.00 (from business that went under some creditors are still chasing this)
Dentist for me $200.00 a month for about 6 months then a large cost of about $5,000 for a bridge and more dental work.
So it’s pretty bad. I have a job now which is covering my rent and living expenses but I just found out that I have to move house as the landlord is selling so there will be an unexpected expense of finding bond and moving costs. I will need about $3,000 to come up with bond, a month’s rent in advance and about $1,000 to move (I have a piano so yes I need to hire movers). That is what the Mastercard is for in case I don’t save up enough in time. I have to be moved by 4 March at this point. I’m hoping an investor buys the house and lets me still live here. Ideally I didn’t want to move for at least another year.
How am I going to get myself out of this mess?
Writing
I have actually committed myself to writing this blog everyday and my other websites. One website I can only write for as fast as I read a book so realistically that will be once a month, but I’m trying to not watch Netflix and read instead at night so hopefully I can get that down to a week a post. Another site is in the sewing space which is one of my hobbies, but I have a whole different take on it, and a really big idea for it. However for now it just requires a lot of content so I will be committing to that every day as well. I have a couple of other sites that I could use to create niche websites and also another personal blog type of website but I want to concentrate on the main three for the first 3 months of this year.
I have about 4 novels in various stages of being written. I am committing to finish each one, one at a time and publish them on Amazon.
Youtube
So Flat Broke at 50 is going to also be a Youtube channel where I talk about my struggles and my financial education, how I got here, how I’m getting myself out and generally talk about the struggles of being over 50 in 2020. I will also talk a bit about eBay and how I’m using that to get myself out of this situation. Re-selling is a whole community on Youtube so I’m hoping that I can fit in there somewhere.
I also have an idea for each of my other blogs for Youtube channels. I’m hoping the combined Adsense income from the blogs and Youtube channels will eventually come to something.
eBay
As listed above, I have a fair bit of inventory for eBay still to list. It has cost me about $500 to purchase but will re-sell for much more. I currently have over $18,000 listed for sale on eBay across over 1100 listings. I didn’t count this into my financial figures because it’s pretty much arbitrary. There is no guarantee that any of it will sell so I don’t count it until it’s money in the bank.
Working
My job is 4 days a week and if I continue to live really frugally I should be able to save some of my income each week which I will eventually invest into the stock market in a managed index fund or shares. I’m aiming for $500 a month but this will only be after I have paid back my son and sorted out my own teeth. Also my eyes are getting pretty bad so I will have to spend some money on getting new glasses. So it’s going to be a while before I have any money left over from my job to invest.
I also do some typing on the side which earns me an average of $100.00 a month which I try to just put into my health fund as if I were still paying my insurance premium but as you can see from the above balance of 0.48c, this has been needed to use for living expenses.
I’m going to translate these figures into a spreadsheet and do weekly updates. I will exclude my retirement savings from this sheet as I treat it as something I might get eventually but I’m not factoring into my calculations in terms of my retirement.
Rent
This may seem high or low to you depending on where you are so I’ll clarify this. I am currently renting a 2 bedroom house (really three bedrooms) about 5km from the main city of Brisbane. I needed this at the time as I still had my son living with me. I also still have my two dogs. Ideally I would like to get this down to well below $300 a week but with the dogs it makes it harder to just get a one or two bedroom flat close to the city. I could move out further but I’ve already done that and realistically, the rents are pretty much the same in the surrounding suburbs and it’s still possible to find something for a similar price in the area in which I’m living now. And yes it’s a bit of a dive but I’m comfortable in those environments because I grew up in a dive, have lived in lovely houses throughout my life, but can sleep on a blanket in the bush if needed.
Food
My food and grocery budget is so low because I’m a vegan. This has been a necessary dietary change for me (as well as a philosophical one) as I have developed intolerances to meat, dairy, eggs and other things so it was just easier to declare myself a vegan, however within this I still have some intolerances to certain lettuces, avocado and other things. I make all of my own food in big batch cooks and freeze them in portion controlled containers. For snacks, again I make these or have cheap biscuits, dips and crackers and occasionally will splurge on a packet of chips or lollies. I have to keep lollies on hand because my blood sugar can sometimes drop unexpectedly (this has gotten much better since going full vegan) and I need a quick hit of sugar to stop me from fainting. I take my lunch everyday to work along with morning tea and afternoon nibbles, but will occasionally buy a treat out of my spending money allowance. There is not much to choose from that is vegan anyway so it’s just easier this way. Each meal averages out to cost about $2.50. I take my own coffee to work with me and drink water during the day.
Transport
I catch the bus to and from work everyday for a total cost of $5.40 a day. I have a car which is in need of a service but still runs very well and has low mileage considering its age at 14 years (138,000km roughly). I use it to go shopping, do errands for the kids. A full tank of petrol currently costs about $75.00 but I rarely have a full tank. I top up about once a month at $40.00 a month and that usually lasts me the month. This comes from my discretionary spending or left over grocery budget.
Accountability
Each Friday I pay my eBay fees so that I know that what is left in my Paypal account is actually my money. So I’m going to extend this to updating my spreadsheets for my personal finances and my eBay earnings / losses and post each week about my progress, expenses and income. It will help me stay on track if I know I have to defend my actions to an audience that may or may not even be reading this.
There is no doubt I’m in big trouble. This year I turn 55 which was deemed to be my original allowable retirement age and I am nowhere even close. I have a plan (another one) which may or may not work but honestly, it’s all I have left.
I’m combining all the financial theories I have been reading and following. I’m living as frugally as I can and increasing my earnings as much as I can. So with these combined I should be able to save and earn myself into wealth.
If I don’t make it, then at least I hope I’ve given you something to talk about.
*This was a $500 purchase of some stock that has since taken a deep, deep dive and I cannot get the money out until it rebounds.
** eBay inventory is based on what it cost me to purchase it. If I were to list everything for sale price there is likely to be about $25K of listed stock BUT to me it is arbitrary because there is no guarantee it will sell at all so it’s counted when it’s sold.
*** spending allowance is $20.00 cash for whatever if I want a snack or a coffee or I need to give it to one of my kids (usually where it goes) and the rest is for cigarettes because yes I still smoke get over it and don’t even try to tell me how much I would save if I quit smoking because at this point it’s not an option – moving on.
**** When I began to lose everything my son helped with rent and food from an inheritance he received. He doesn’t want me to pay it back because he feels it wasn’t his money but I am determined to pay back to the whole amount.
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