I worked another late, stormy night with bad weather. There were tornado warnings & my mom texted to see where I was. I told her I was at work & she told me that I should stay there for a while. I told her that I had my co-worker there (I always work alone except for last night) and we were going to be there a few more hours. I ended up leaving after 2 a.m. and he was hoping to be gone within the hour. The rain was pretty heavy, but not nearly as bad as the storm a couple of weeks ago. 

My co-worker was doing a big batch run (almost 200 patients) on the PCR analyzer while I was doing smaller runs on the quicker, but smaller capacity analyzer. They want me to come in again this afternoon/evening. We are staying so busy because we contracted with a film company. We are testing the entire cast & crew multiple times a week for COVID-19. Great for my cash flow, but I'm a little tired. I also have a 12 hour shift at the hospital tomorrow.

We had a quiet, but nice lab week at the clinic. I was talking to my manager about how event planning isn't my forte. She felt the same, but we got it through it successfully. On the career front, I qualified for an interview for a potential promotion. I owe a lot of people my thanks in the entire messy, complicated process. Our biannual lab next inspection has been scheduled & I'm looking forward to getting past that successfully. 

My investments are at an all time high. I don't know where things will go from here with the changes being proposed, but I'm just chugging along & staying the course. I continue to vacillate between staying or selling my home. I am consistent about wanting to move forward on a few needed repairs, though they may wait until work is a little more settled.

Investments $1,143,270

I'm going to spend some time this week changing my candles for sale by delivery only to offer shipping. A potential buyer mentioned that you can ship 4 large candles for $22 flat rate shipping. I think it would help me move my inventory a lot quicker. I went to the post office & picked up a large priority shipping box. I packed 4 large candles to make sure that they would fit well with plenty of packing material to minimize breakage. They are insulated pretty well.

I have been paid 6 times already this month. Two paychecks to go. Income surplus is nearly $4,000 now. That will be a nice deposit to savings. $500 to my IRA on Thursday & $750 to my TSP yesterday. 

Investments $1,142,785

We had a good time celebrating my friend's birthday. The morning started out cool which was good, as it warms up quickly here. Even the drive there was enjoyable to me. I haven't been out of town since since March 2020. We met up at the parking garage then walked to the street fair downtown. It was 7 of us, as 2 weren't able to make it. Only one of us hadn't been vaccinated. We wore our masks. We had lunch at a restaurant under their covered patio. We shopped the street booths, took in some sights, then headed to an outdoor museum of an Acadian village. All in all it was a very enjoyable day & it was so good to be among friends again. I didn't find anything that I wanted to buy so it was the cost of lunch, museum entrance fee, & gas for the hour drive that was my total cost. It was worth every penny!

It's 10 o'clock in the morning & I'm just waking up. I didn't getting home until after 4 this morning, after getting caught in a horrible storm. So thankful to have made it home okay. I left & it was raining, but not horribly. By the time I got halfway home I had little to no visibility due to driving rain coming in waves, lights were going out as I drove putting everything in complete darkness, & the winds were terrifying: knocking traffic lights askew & debris across the road. I was shaking & praying the whole time. When I got out of my car I could barely see to unlock my door & I got drenched from head to toe in a matter of a few seconds.  Still thanking God that I made it home safely. I never want to experience something like that again.

I worked so late last night (or rather this morning) because my third job picked up a major client. Just when I thought things would be slowing down due to vaccinations, I learn that not only is the Covid testing picking up, but also we will be getting mass collections. I worked every weekday except Good Friday & this Thursday and still made over 55 hours. That's the most I've made since I got hired a year ago & had to put in training hours. Thankfully I didn't pick up many hours at my second job. The only thing keeping me at my second job at this point is that I genuinely like the people. 

I'll definitely have a nice chunk of change to send to my savings this month. I get 8 paychecks this month! My checking balance is at over $11k as I continue to have surpluses in my budget. My goal is to keep it at least $5k to avoid fees. As much as work I can't outwork my investments! They continue to grow. This week was a good week for the market, though Friday ended a little down. It's exciting to see people meeting big goals. I saw a few people become TSP millionaires this week. I know I'll get there, too. 

Today I'll stay mainly close to home, cleaning up around my home. I'll also stop by to visit with my parents. Tomorrow I'll meet up with several girlfriends to celebrate a friend's birthday. It's my first social gathering in over a year. The birthday girl is staying two hours away, so we're splitting the distance and meeting up at a street fair in a city an hour away. We wanted to stick to something outdoors for safety, though I think most if not all of us have now been vaccinated. I hope the weather cooperates! 

Net Worth: $1,248,369

I was just reading this article:

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/07/biden-tax-plan-may-spur-boost-in-roth-retirement-accounts.html?fbclid=IwAR3ktxa8YcXrwoDfM9XMdZ-z-bEmV97gHHwJvnFbSoR5dlbUel-ldHLqqZE

Some of these changes would negatively affect me. The change in tax deductions  on the retirement accounts as well as the estate tax.

I could easily see myself leaving having more than $3.5 million in my estate. Maybe that will just inspire me to spend it down in my old age! Hopefully they will meet somewhere in the middle of $3.5 and $11.7 million.

I also am in the 22% (probably more like 24% - I need to check my 2020 tax year H&R Block documents) marginal tax bracket so only getting a 20.5% credit would lower the tax advatange for contributing to my TSP. In a sense it violates Biden's promise not to raise taxes on those making less than $400k.

I definitely support making saving more advantageous for those in lower income tax brackets, but also know the reality of Americans' savings rates. Will that many more people contribute based on the change? So few contributed to Obama's MyRA program that they had to close it down due to costs.

I'll be keeping an eye out for other proposed changes.

I have pre-populated my budget worksheet for the month & I believe that I will be able to send an income surplus of $3,000 to my savings. At this rate I will exceed what I had planned to save in 2021. This has me thinking about what I can do with that money once I fully fund my emergency savings. I will have other expenses: purchasing my next car hopefully later rather than sooner, and other home projects.

I am really thinking about paying off my home early. I get so inspired listening to the Dave Ramsey show. Seeing so many people even younger than myself having paid off their homes is so inspiring. Especially when many own homes worth far more than mine. My condo would be paid off by the time I retire, but paying it off sooner is even better. It's definitely something to consider.

Just an update since the market has been hot:

Net Worth $1,240,980

Investments $1,115,243

I wish you & yours a wonderful Easter! Spending my day with my parents. We're having much of what we had for Thanksgiving & Christmas. I also ordered a strawberry pie from a local bakery. It's a light whipped dessert made with cream cheese & perfect for spring. The bakery was so busy yesterday! 🥧🍓

I attended an evening service at church yesterday. It was my first time in church in months, my first time since I've been fully vaccinated. It was a nice service & I hope to start attending more often. ⛪️ 

Well, my April Fool's was fun because I hit $1.1 million in investments! On to the next milestone.

Investments Quarter 1 2021 Review:

Balance December 31, 2020: $1,023,303

Balance March 31, 2021: $1,087,545

Growth/Loss: +$64,242

Contributions: $6,000

Gain/Loss: +$58,242

Savings:

December 31, 2020: $2,814.15

March 31, 2021: $6,319.03

Contributions: $3,5000

Interest: $4.88

Net Worth: $1,227,452