Chasing the Fionist Dream

In early 2023 we shared our first quarterly update to let you know how our journey progressed from Rosh Hashana to the end of 2022. We meant to post another one last month about Q1, but you know… life. Since we’re only writing this now, we’re including April, cuz why not? Maybe we’ll switch to thirds instead of quarters.

Personal goals update:

• At the end of March we went on a day long date. We each took a vacation day, booked our local car sharing car and drove out into the country for a much needed couple’s spa day (which we found on Groo).
• We have digitally backed up close to half of our documents as part of one of our goals for the year.
• In April we visited family in the States and had a bunch of really nice family time.
• We’ve gotten lazier about brushing our dog’s teeth and tend to do it twice a week on average.

FI goals update:

• While the markets have gone up and down and sideways, we have stayed loyal to our goal and continue to invest the same amount every month according to plan. We are now at 22% of our FI number.
• Our savings rate went back to 30% of our net income after being down last quarter. Our real savings rate (calculated including employer and employee pension and keren hishtalmut deposits – we’ll delve into how to calculate this in a future post) currently stands at 47%. We are incredibly excited to pass the 50% mark (!!!) this fall when our son starts public nursery school. After that point, we (God willing) will be investing more money than we spend each month.
• Income from dividends and surveys in the first four months of 2023 totaled 1,880 shekels. (600 in surveys and 1,280 in dividends). We reinvest our dividends and use survey money to treat ourselves.

Other noteworthy highlights:

• Our kids are growing like weeds. Every time we turn around they can reach things and do things that were out of their limits before. Our daughter is starting swimming lessons this summer and we are in the midst of potty training our son. Wish us luck!
• Our 9 year old stupid TV (literally a screen that we HDMIed to our computer) finally died, and we used BuyMe to purchase a new Android smart TV. The two of us are totally culture shocked by this and are still figuring out how to use it. Obviously our first grader has it all figured out. We ask her for help when we need it.
• We also went on 2 BuyMe breakfast dates.
• We are in the midst of planning a family vacation to Europe for this fall. Goal is to make it happen for under 8,000 shekels. We’ll see how low we can go (while still pampering ourselves and having a great time) and keep you posted.
• We got featured in the Plutus Awards Showcase! See below for how to vote for us.

Thank you for following us on our Fionist journey. Your support means the world to us. Make sure to look out for our next update in the months to come!

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