For the month of November international travel FIRE budget, we were almost entirely in Guam. Only the final three days of the month were not in Guam. Those final three days were in Manila Philippines which is a sharp drop in spending compared to Guam. This budget shares similarities with the October budget in that a portion of the spending was covered by a special side fund that we saved up just for Guam. Because of that I’ll present both the actual full spending (disturbingly high), as well as our official budget which benefits from paying much of the Guam expense with the side fund.
This month was additionally complicated by us choosing to stay in Guam nine days longer than we originally intended. We just loved it there too much, and I wanted more time after dropping my mom back in Denver. I ran the math and realized we could stay those extra days, paid for out of our budget and stay at a 4% withdrawal rate.
Income
The one thing that will not change across the two angles being presented is income, and that is as follows:
| Rental | $3,500.00 |
| Investment Max Safe Withdrawal | $3,803.13 |
| Interest | $61.41 |
| Dividend | $24.30 |
| Total | $7,388.84 |
Actual Full Costs Budget Analysis
First up on the cost side is the full cost of November. This shows every dollar that was spent during the month regardless of where it came from (investments, special side fund, etc). If you are curious what a long term stay in Guam is for a family of four, this is a pretty good picture of that.
Budget Numbers
Total Expenses: $14,242.56 Withdrawal Rate: 11.21%
| Accommodation | $5,336.12 | This is the full cost of our Guam Airbnb, and four days of Manila Airbnb. |
| Cigna Global Silver w/ US | $612.18 | Sinking fund |
| Grocery Store / Food | $928.86 | Full grocery costs for 28 days of Guam and three days of Manila. This is actually a great number for groceries in Guam. |
| House Escrow (taxes 4091.68, insurance 1518, Rent Profit Tax 3115) | $867.22 | Sinking fund |
| Discretionary | $1,066.31 | All discretionary spending (i.e. fun/unnecessary spending). |
| Transportation | $1,426.63 | This is mostly rental car and gas in Guam |
| Storage Unit (10′ x 20′) | $246.00 | |
| Clothes | $100.00 | Sinking fund |
| Visas | $0.00 | |
| Life Insurance | $99.81 | |
| Vaccines | $91.58 | Sinking fund |
| Phone (Google FI) | $60.83 | |
| Gifts | $60.00 | Sinking fund |
| Sponsor Child & Giving | $43.00 | |
| Auto escrow (non-owner) | $41.50 | Sinking fund |
| Duolingo | $20.00 | Sinking fund |
| E-Sim | $20.00 | Sinking fund |
| Virtual Mailbox | $12.00 | |
| Amazon Prime | $11.59 | Sinking fund |
| Cloud Storage | $2.99 | |
| Property Management Monthly Fee | $350.00 | |
| Property Management HOA | $239.79 | |
| Flights | $2,090.55 | To Philippines and Vietnam |
| Monarch | $99.99 | Best cost tracking and budgeting tool I have ever used |
| Gift spending overrage | $152.99 | We overran our sinking fund by this amount |
| Roach killer | $14 | |
| Type M plug adapter | $7.92 | This is for South Africa |
| Kid Purchases | $75.41 | This is money they earn but it funnels through our account |
| Kids Invest | $126.00 | This is money they earn but it funnels through our account |
| water jug weights | $24 | These are for prison style workouts |
| Bug repellent spray | $15.28 |
Analysis
Grocery spending was a major victory. Our initial sticker shock at Guam had me thinking we would be spending upwards of $2K on groceries. Getting this down to the range of our CO spending was a big accomplishment. This was partly due to us refusing to eat certain foods that were crazy prices. For example we avoided high price produce items while loading up on things like apples and carrots which were cheaper.
The discretionary spending in Guam is mainly eating out, and many activities as well.
The full costs are really staggering, and the 11.21% withdrawal rate is unsustainable, alarming, and a consumption level I never want to be part of again. With the costs here representing 28 days of Guam, it is very representative of a full month in Guam.
Official Budget – Guam Costs Mitigated
Now for our official budget, where the spending in terms of a hit against investments is reduced by using the special Guam fund. The reduced categories are Accommodation, Groceries/Food, Discretionary, Transportation.
Budget Numbers
Total Expenses: $7,388.84 Withdrawal Rate: 4%
| Accommodation | $1,346.39 | This is the nine extended days of our Guam Airbnb, and four days of Manila Airbnb. |
| Cigna Global Silver w/ US | $612.18 | Sinking fund |
| Grocery Store / Food | $182.50 | Groceries from 11/1 to 11/19 were covered by special Guam savings fund. This amount reflects grocery store purchases from 11/20 to the end of the month. |
| House Escrow (taxes 4091.68, insurance 1518, Rent Profit Tax 3115) | $867.22 | Sinking fund |
| Discretionary | $92.23 | Actual discretionary spending was much higher than this, but here is mostly covered by special Guam fund. |
| Transportation | $283.08 | Credit card points paid for the bulk of the rental car in Guam, which drastically reduces this number. |
| Storage Unit (10′ x 20′) | $246.00 | |
| Clothes | $100.00 | Sinking fund |
| Visas | $0.00 | |
| Life Insurance | $99.81 | |
| Vaccines | $91.58 | Sinking fund |
| Phone (Google FI) | $60.83 | |
| Gifts | $60.00 | Sinking fund |
| Sponsor Child & Giving | $43.00 | |
| Auto escrow (non-owner) | $41.50 | Sinking fund |
| Duolingo | $20.00 | Sinking fund |
| E-Sim | $20.00 | Sinking fund |
| Virtual Mailbox | $12.00 | |
| Amazon Prime | $11.59 | Sinking fund |
| Cloud Storage | $2.99 | |
| Property Management Monthly Fee | $350.00 | |
| Property Management HOA | $239.79 | |
| Flights | $2,090.55 | To Philippines and Vietnam |
| Monarch | $99.99 | Best cost tracking and budgeting tool I have ever used |
| Gift spending overage | $152.99 | We overran our sinking fund by this amount |
| Roach killer | $14 | |
| Type M plug adapter | $7.92 | This is for South Africa |
| Kid Purchases | $75.41 | This is money they earn but it funnels through our account |
| Kids Invest | $126.00 | This is money they earn but it funnels through our account |
| water jug weights | $24 | These are for prison style workouts |
| Bug repellent spray | $15.28 |
Analysis
We were able to fit in nine additional days of Guam and not go over 4% by subsidizing our budget with the special Guam fund. Beyond that there’s not a lot to break down here. The more interesting data will be when I extract the Guam costs in isolation for the expat cost of living series.
Conclusions
This month and October are the least interesting budget months of the year in my opinion. Guam is an expensive location that makes no sense in an international slow travel geographic arbitrage plan. While I will fully break down this location like any other, it just isn’t practical financially for anyone looking at this through a lean-FIRE lens. The rest of the months of the year are far more interesting from that perspective.
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