Monthly Archives: October 2019

Monthly Update – 09-2019 (September)

September was a great month in Portugal! Lots going on as usual!

This month was Mrs.Firecrackers birthday and we had several celebrations. We had dinner in a nice place with friends, we hosted our family for some home-made pancakes (our nephews loved it!) and of course i took Mrs.Firecracker for a lovely candle like dinner in Lisbon. Or was she who took me? I don’t remember 🙂

Additionally, we went for a boat ride with some friends in the Tróia area (next to Setúbal). I’ve rented a speedboat (yes, i’m also allowed to be a captain from time to time) and we enjoyed so much!

Just have a look into this area. They have a somewhat sand island between Tróia and Arrábida which is just awesome. We managed to make a picnic with some wine, cheese, fruits…ahh..a day to remember.

Our friends were a bit scared when we went into high tide areas and we navigate against the wind but…its all part of the adventure! Definitely something i would enjoy doing more often.

I went for a 4 days trip to Munich for work and i could attend Oktoberfest for free since some business partners invited me. You don’t have to pay to get it but you do have to pay for food and drinks and they can be quite expensive! I’m always down for some free Oktoberfest invitations! For those of you who don’t know what Oktoberfest is check here.

Basically, its a huge beer festival done in the end of September where Bavarian folks (Germany state of Munich) dress in their traditional clothing, salute each other with 1 Liter beers, eat lots of pretzels, pork knee and schnaps (Bavarian Licour). It goes without saying this is the town event for the whole month since usually around 6 million visitors go there.

While at work i also managed to get some free lunches and another dinner in my boss place which is always nice. Overall Munich is a great city i don’t mind coming back once for a while.

Summing up, i still had some expenses which will only be reimbursed next month (~1.5k). This made our budget go quite higher this month. I’ve removed from our budget the hotel and plane which land in a different account and have only maintained the transportation & food while i was there.

Another highlight this month was that we had a wedding event on which we wanted to give a good gift (300€). Usually the values in Portugal are lower, around 150€ but this was a close friend so we didn’t mind.

Finally i managed to do a medical procedure that was pending to check for a bacteria which likely runs in my family. I’m waiting for the lab results but since i had to be knocked-out for the exam it was quite expensive (175€). Luckily my company insurance covered a big chunk (~130€).

Next month i will also be going to Munich and Mrs.Firecracker will join me since we will have 1 week vacations afterwords. It her first time and i hope she likes it!

Here goes our September monthly update ! We will be focusing on the operational part. Income vs Expenses vs Savings rate.

Income

Salaries: 3 521.02 €

Expenses

Housing

  • Mortgages: 1 101.26 €
  • Insurance, Condominium, etc: 49.74 €
  • Utilities (Water, Lights, Gas, Internet, Phones): 70.02 € (lower due to the mistake of the energy company last month)
  • Other Housing expenses: 46.20€
  • Total Housing: 1 267.22 €

Cars

  • Fuel: 269.60 €
  • Maintenance: 55.41€
  • Insurances: 129.55 €
  • Transportation (parking, tolls): 131.20 € (Work related Uber & Metro)
  • Total Cars: 585.76 €

Health & Personal items

  • Consultations & Exams: 176.26 € (Medical procedure)
  • Clothing: 151.64 € (i’ve bought several shirts for work and we had a wedding)
  • Total Health: 327.90 €

Food

  • Grosseries: 268.20 €
  • Eating-out: 450.84 € (Around 200€ above our budgeted values, here goes my food in work trip ~70€ and also birthday related food)
  • Total Food: 719.04

Misc

  • Wedding: 300 €
  • Rest: 309.8 € (Mrs.Firecracker birthday gift, Boat rental, etc. We also had the credit card yearly payment ~41€. We only have it because it collect miles we can use on trips)
  • Total Misc: 609.8 €

Total Spent: 3 509.00 €
Budget for the Month: 2 685.78 €

Savings Rate

SR = ((Income – Expenses) / Income ) x 100 = ((3 521.02 – 3 509.00) / 3521.02 ) x 100 = 0.34 % or 12 €

This was a different month with several 1 time expenses. Nonetheless, our networth kept on growing. We also had a wedding gift from my colleagues of around 90€ which was respectfully saved.

Expectation is even tough we will have 1 week vacations in October that we should resume our budgeted values.

Next Steps

To lower down our costs and right after signing the Rental property selling contract i’ve cancelled Gas and Electricity (got a ~35€ credit, yes…first they take and then make the adjustments…). Water cancellation is scheduled and i’m trying to negotiate with Vodafone since i still have 7 months of contract. They seem very adamant on making me pay the rest of the contract ~300€ and there i’m trying to increase our primary residency internet/TV package. Better than having it doing nothing in the rental property.

We should expect some building renovations to take part in next months as well. Our building roof as not been clean for a while and some of the leaks caused the facade of the building to deteriorate. This made an ongoing hole in one of our walls…meaning. Urgent fixing before the rain season starts!

Want to see how our Networth is going? Check here

Networth

Networth Update – 09/2019 (September)

In September we have some news! Remember i told your about an apartment we had for sale ?

Rental property (Short update)

Well, we accepted the 305k offer and signed the preliminary agreement. In Portugal they call this CPCV (Contrato promessa compra e venda) which is a contract between the buyer and the seller on which the buyer signalizes intention to close the deal in the next 60 days. In case the deal doesn’t come true the buyer loses the money and in case i wouldn’t like to sell anymore (or whatever reason) i would have to reimburse the buyer in double.

The apartment has been sitting empty for the past 5 months and it was just a money drain, so now we fell much better all will be solved! To be honest i didn’t expect it took so long to sell due to the prime location, maximum 3 months… But i guess the market is slowing down?

Summary:

Now, lets drill the numbers! The progress is not so great this month due to a trip i had to do for work (~1.5k). Usually i’m able to get the money from the company and i don’t have to advance our own money. In this case since the trip was booked with some time in advance, well…its just how it is. Values will be settled with next months pay. Our Networth value for September is 386 443.13€ (+1 037.56)

Hightights of September:

  • Advancement on the rental property – 40k – of which we used ~10k to pay half of the mediation fee. We will be paying the other 10k once we sign the contract. This anyhow means i’ve taken ~30k from the apartments value to not inflate our Networths value.
  • Finally i was able to move my pension fund to my current employers fund. For the past 5 years i’ve known nothing about this value. Zero transparency. I’m now able to see how this value is progressing.
  • Cash that was in another broker was finally brought together in Degiro and almost all invested today!
  • Not so usual expense. Had a 4 day trip for work to Germany which was booked last month. This means i will be reimbursed on next pays (~1.5k). Otherwise our Networth would be bigger this month!

Assets:

Investment accounts

  • ETFs Portfolio: 22 725.41 € (+354.27)
  • Retirement Accounts (aka PPR): 13 501.95 € (+700.66)
  • Certificates Deposit + Emergency Fund: 38 699.90 € (+29 870.70)
  • P2P Portfolio: 10 385.47 € (+104.52)
  • Total Investment accounts: 85 312.73 € (+31 030.15)

Real Estate (Based on Market Values)

  • Primary Residency: 300 000 €
  • Rental property: 254 378.75 € – removed the signal 30k here (– 30 621.25)
  • Farms: 70 000 €
  • Total Real Estate: 655 000€ (-30 621.25)

Cars

  • Mr.Firecracker Car: 20 000 €
  • Mrs.Firecracker Car: 18 000 €
  • Scooter: 1 500 €
  • Total Cars: 39 500€

Total Assets: 749 191.48 € (+408.90)

Liabilities:

  • Primary Residency: 194 296.35 € (-333.91)
  • Rental property + Farm: 168 452.00 € – Both are comprised on the same loan (-294.75)

Total Liabilities: 362 748.35 € (-628.66)

Our Networth drilldown looks like this:

Firecrackers Networth

You can follow our Networth status always here