In April our time was split between Knysna South Africa and Lisbon Portugal, and this budget includes a combo of the expenses from each location. However, the majority of this April international travel FIRE budget breakdown is from Lisbon, having spent 23 days of the month here. In an upcoming expat cost of living series post, I will extract the costs for Portugal to see what it would cost to live here long term.
Income
Total Income: $7,361.78
| Rental Income (Gross) | $3,500.00 |
| Investment Withdrawal | $3,803.13 |
| Interest Income | $58.65 |
Expenses
Total Expenses: $6,504.88 Withdrawal Rate: 3.1%
| Accommodation | $2,566.92 | 6 nights in South Africa, one night lost to travel, the rest Lisbon ($2,241.82) |
| Cigna Global Silver w/ US Cover | $558.42 | Sinking fund |
| Grocery Store / Food | $797.63 | $160.75 in South Africa, $636.88 in Lisbon |
| House Escrow (taxes $3,428.62, insurance $1,518, Rent Profit Tax $3,115) | $811.97 | Sinking fund |
| Discretionary | $200.00 | Actually we spent $1,069.99 total including food not at home and all “fun” spending. We paid for $869.99 of that with our special savings fund on the side for discretionary spending. The remaining $200 we absorbed in the budget, paid for with our income sources. |
| Transportation | $66.14 | Mostly gas to fill up the rental car in South Africa |
| Storage Unit (10′ x 20′) | $246.00 | |
| Clothes | $100.00 | Sinking fund |
| Life Insurance | $99.81 | |
| Vaccines | $91.58 | Sinking fund |
| Phone (Google FI) | $63.91 | |
| Gifts | $60.00 | Sinking fund |
| Sponsor Child & Giving | $138.28 | Includes donations to school band and money given to homeless |
| Auto escrow (non-owner insurance) | $41.50 | Sinking fund |
| Duolingo | $20.00 | Sinking fund |
| E-Sim (Airalo) | $20.00 | Sinking fund |
| Virtual Mailbox (PostScanMail) | $11.00 | |
| Amazon Prime | $11.59 | Sinking fund |
| Cloud Storage | $2.99 | |
| Prop Mgmt Monthly Fee | $350.00 | |
| Prop Mgmt Maintenance | $151.34 | HOA fees |
| Kid purchases | $17.80 | This is the kids money but it funnels through our account |
| Kids invest | $78.00 | This is the kids money but it funnels through our account |
Analysis
This budget month went mostly according to plan. We overran a couple categories a bit, such as groceries costing more than expected. We also chose to spend more on discretionary (i.e. fun) things, but only because we have the side discretionary savings fund available for that. Without that extra money on the side, we would dial back our tourist activities and still stay within budget.
We ultimately were able to hit our target withdrawal rate for this month of 3.1%, which is keeping us on track to be at a 4% withdrawal rate across the whole year.
Leave a Reply