Hi from Oklahoma City! I have a house under contract here and am scheduled to close in two weeks. Hell on an intro, eh?
I figure it can be a primary residence, and later on, an investment property. I’m finally getting started with real estate investing.
My rate is 3.125% and I’m getting a great deal on a nice-sized house – 4 bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms. My monthly payment for mortgage, property tax, and insurance will be ~$1,500 – which was my monthly nomad budget. The urban core area is on the up and up. It’s on a quiet dead-end street with only 9 houses.
Of course I’ll want to buy furniture and spruce the place up a bit, which will cost more money. But I figure it’ll all even out.
My new house in Oklahoma City
This means my nomadic adventure of living on the road is coming to an end soon. But for the best reasons possible – I’ll get to spend more time with my son, start buying investment properties, and make art again. I’ll also get to keep up with my health and exercise goals a lot more easily.
I’m nervous, excited, second-guessing everything, and ultimately deciding to take all of this on. It’ll be good. I feel it.
But, my net worth is gonna take a short-term plunge – right when I was getting to the halfway mark. What a journey!
November 2021 Freedom update
My other big news is I officially have $200K invested!
As you’ll see, my current net worth is $240K, so investments are basically all of my net worth.
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I hit $100K invested on July 22, 2020. So it took about a year and three months to add another $100K. As of today, I’m working toward my third $100K.
This includes my 401k, Roth and traditional IRAs, taxable brokerage account, and a small amount of crypto.
House house… house!
So… I’m buying a house. I’m putting 5% down and locking in a low interest rate. There were other places I wanted to go on my nomadic adventures, but I feel it’s time to make room for other things. There will always be places I’ll want to go. But I want to be here for a while.
And, there are a lot of other factors at play that aren’t my story to share. Suffice it to say that this decision transcends finances, but is about family and connection and having a stable place. I believe this’ll be a good long-term move that will set me up for the next phase of my life – which includes being closer to my bio-son.
Playing with him is everything
In a way, I’ll still feel free. There is a lot of good for me here. I want to be part of that goodness for a while.
Plus – financially – it’s time to diversify and add some equity and real estate to my portfolio. The plan is to keep this house around for a long, long time in one way or another.
Net worth gyrations
Because of the house purchase, the $30K I had in savings will go toward the down payment. So my net worth will fall later this month. But really – I’m just moving that money into another place. I don’t think I’ll ever lose it.
But, it’ll take some time for my net worth to bounce back after the sale is done. And all the furniture. And the repairs I want to make, including adding central heat and air. (The house is from 1938 and still has AC window units and a gas furnace. Yay modernity!)
Coffee in Memphis
I’m also potentially getting another – actual investment from Day One – property in New York state. It’s a place I found over the summer while I was in the Catskills. That place is under contract too, and I’m looking to close on it right after the Oklahoma place.
I’m also being gifted three acres of land in Arkansas. So in another month, I could potentially go from nomadic and houseless to having three pieces of property with a combined total worth of $500,000. Holy smokes.
But I get ahead of myself. My point is: net worth fluctuations are coming, but so is a lot of other stuff.
By the numbers
I had a stretch goal to get $15,000 into my taxable brokerage account my the end of the year. It’s looking more and more like that isn’t going to happen.
I also worked really hard to put $30,000 in savings. Between the move and property purchase(s), that’s probably going to sink closer to $0.
In 2022, my goals will be to bulk up my savings again and invest extra cash in my taxable brokerage account.
But for this year, I’m on track to max out my 401k, and have made some huge and significant financial progress. Here are the numbers:
| Current | Last month | Change | 2021 Goal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASSETS | |||||
| Overall investments | $200,190 | $184,870 | +$15,320 | As much as possible | |
| 401k (contributions only) | $15,833 | $14,167 | +$1,666 | $19,500 | |
| Traditional IRA | $118,923 | $110,917 | +$8,006 | xx (can't contribute) | |
| Roth IRA | $48,655 | $45,344 | +$3,311 | $6,000 | COMPLETE! |
| Taxable brokerage | $9,847 | $9,200 | +$647 | $15,000 | |
| Savings | $30,241 | $30,180 | +$61 | $30,000 | COMPLETE! |
| Net worth in Personal Capital | $240,017 | $226,460 | +$13,557 | $500,000 (overall goal) | Track your net worth with Personal Capital |
Overall, I’m pleased with my progress. I’m really glad to be borrowing bank money for a home loan. Other people’s money, baby. OPM.
This is a good place for me now
And there are other things in 2022 that will help me financially that I’ve been working on. I can’t say just yet, but… things are shaping up to be really, really good. I can’t wait to share everything!
November 2021 Freedom update bottom line
This past month found me:
- Hitting $200K in investment accounts
- Putting a house under contract in Oklahoma
- Putting an investment property under contract in New York state
- Continuing to invest 25% of my paycheck into my 401k
- Um that’s a LOT going on there
- Yes, that’s definitely enough for one month
I didn’t even get to tell y’all about driving from New York to Vermont to Delaware to Virginia to Tennessee to Oklahoma. It’s been… a ride (literally). Everything moved so quickly once it got going. I’m fairly breathless at the moment.
You can also follow me on Instagram for more pics and stories over the next few weeks. Thank you to everyone who reads these updates. It’s the world to me. 🌌
Stay safe and scrappy out there – more updates to come! ✨
-H.
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Wowsa! That’s some big news! Congrats on your move.
Thank you, Nancy! So excited. <3
We’re actually headed to Tulsa OK in April, maybe we’ll find time to fly to Oklahoma City too!
Congrats on the achievements!
Oh awesome! There’s a lot going on in both Tulsa and OKC! Curious and looking forward to hearing your thoughts about Oklahoma. So good to hear from y’all!
FYI – Putting a down payment on a house does NOT change your net worth. Your net worth is (simply put) sum of assets minus sum of debts. So to your investments and cash you can add the value of your house. But then you must subtract the outstanding mortgage loan amount. Assuming everything is correctly valued, there should be no noticeable change to your net worth.
What really is changing is that your LIQUID holdings will go down and your ILLIQUID holding will go up by the same amount.
Yes, this! The thing I’m wondering is whether or not to include the house in my calculations at all while it’s still a primary residence. I used the formula you mentioned when I had a place in Dallas, but always wondered whether or not to include it because of the illiquid factor. Thanks for bringing this up! I’m gonna give it a think – good food for thought.
Congratulations Harlan! Sounds like you’re in a much better place these days (no pun intended). I’m happy for you.
Thank you, Audrey! Yes, things are getting really good really fast. This is the happiest I’ve been in a long time. Thanks again and hope all is well where you are.
Awesome! Time to change your “About Harlan” section again 🙂
When I tell you this made me lolllll. Definitely will have to do that soon!
The place looks great and you sound very happy. It is hard to ask for anything else. =)
Absolutely! Thank you so much, Steve! <3
Congratulations! Looks like a really cute place! 😀
Thank you, Elliot! It really is such a sweet house. Such good energy. <3