by Welcome to our monthly update on the Nuestra Casa Fund (NCF), our dedicated savings for our future home purchase. As we approach a significant milestone, we’re reminded of the importance of celebrating our achievements on the path to financial independence and early retirement (FIRE).
The Power of Celebrating Small Wins
In the FIRE community, we often focus on long-term goals, but it’s crucial to acknowledge the smaller victories along the way. Whether it’s becoming debt-free, maxing out your 401(k), or cutting unnecessary expenses, each step forward deserves recognition.
These accomplishments might seem ordinary to us, but they’re extraordinary in the broader context. How many of your friends and family can say they’re debt-free or contribute enough to their 401(k) to get the full employer match?
Celebrations don’t have to be extravagant. A simple toast or a special home-cooked meal can be a wonderful way to mark your progress.
Our NCF Milestone: Approaching the Halfway Mark
We’re thrilled to announce that we’re nearing the 50% mark in our home-saving goal. This is a powerful milestone that few people achieve, and it’s worth reflecting on the journey that brought us here.
Rather than rushing to buy a house with a 20% down payment years ago, we chose to prioritize investing and avoiding debt. This decision has allowed us to reach financial independence while steadily working towards our dream home.
September NCF Update
As of August, we’ve saved 49.1% of our target for our future home purchase. We’re ahead of our benchmark by 2-3 months, which is encouraging as we approach the end of the year.
Here’s a breakdown of our progress:
| Year-to-date NCF Update | |||
| Month | Percent of Goal Met | Benchmark (the goal we set) | Percent Increase towards 100% |
| January 2017 | 23.9% | 23.9% | This is when we started tracking this goal. |
| February | 25.1% | 26.5% | 1.2% |
| March | 28.5% | 29.2% | 3.4% |
| April | 28.8% | 31.8% | 0.3% |
| May | 30.2% | 34.5% | 1.4% |
| June | 39.1% | 37.1% | 8.9% |
| July | 46.1% | 39.8% | 7% |
| August | 49.1% | 42.4% | 3% |
Looking Ahead: Potential Changes to Our Strategy
As we continue our journey, we’re considering some adjustments to our NCF strategy:
- We’re exploring real estate options in the U.S., which may be more expensive than our initial plan of retiring in Punta Cana, DR.
- We might increase our net worth allocation to the NCF to accommodate buying property in the U.S.
The Importance of Balance: Freedom Fund vs. Nuestra Casa Fund
We’re maintaining a careful balance between our Freedom Fund (FF) for retirement expenses and the NCF. Our goal is to achieve an 85/15 ratio by retirement, with 15% of our assets allocated to our home purchase.
Why a Dominican flag?
Are you Dominican. I just got to this blog.
Hi and welcome to our blog!
I am Dominican and spent my childhood there.
We took that photo while walking through the scenic Benjamin Franklin Parkway, in Philadelphia, which is lined with flags of countries from around the world. It gave me a feeling of “home” or closeness to my roots.
I wrote a little about growing up in the Dominican Republic here: http://crucialwealth.com/blog/life-energy-use-wisely/
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