December 2013 update ($298,420 -$9,390 or - 3%)

The portfolio changes:

↑ Accumulated additional 3,500 USD as part of recreating my Emergency fund.

↑ Vanguard 500 Index up by 300 USD

↑Company shares up by 330 USD.

↑ EUR and GBP are up towards USD, overall gain is 4,970 USD (EUR) and 270 USD (GBP)

↑ Grand total additions:  9,370 USD

↓ Precious metals lost 910 USD

↓ GazProm shares are down 17,710 USD

↓ Rosneft shares are down by 140 USD

Grand total losses are 18,760 USD

November 2013 update ($307,800 +$12,300 or + 4%)

The portfolio changes:

↑ Accumulated additional 7,000 USD as part of recreating my Emergency fund, this is for October and November.

↑ Vanguard Energy ETF up by 1,800 USD

↑ Vanguard 500 Index up by 1,100 USD

↑Company shares dividend reinvestment programme added additional 4 shares and some growth. Overall 580 USD up.

↑ GazProm shares are up by 5,580 USD

↑ Vanguard SPX 500 ETF dividends - quarterly dividends – 66 USD after taxes.

↑ Grand total additions:  16,126 USD

↓ Precious metals lost 370 USD (chiefly due to fact that RUB is weaker towards USD).

↓ Rosneft shares are up by 1,330 USD

↓ EUR is lost towards USD, while GBP gained, some. Overall change is 2,100 loss on month to month basis.

Grand total losses are 3,800 USD

Family budget comparison 2008 – 2013

Non-inflation adjusted table:

Observations:

-         Education expenditure is up. Expect to raise further next year.

-         Car insurance cost dropped by 3.5%. No claim period and shopping around allowed us to select cheaper car insurance. Another reason - we happened to pay twice for our car insurance last year for 2011 & 2012.

-         We spent less on vacation this year.  Last year family trip cost us almost 2,200 more and there was a short break as well.

-         What is missing from the budget are annual savings towards durable goods.  At the moment this is 7,000 a year.

For the next year, I expect to:

-         Educational cost to raise further by $8,000.

-         Spend more on clothes. We have been intentionally curtailing our demands but there will naturally need to buy some.

September 2013 update ($295,500 +$35,480 or + 14%)

The portfolio changes:

↑ Accumulated additional 3,500 USD as part of recreating my Emergency fund.

↑ Vanguard Energy ETF up by 1,100 USD

↑ Vanguard 500 Index up by 200 USD

↑ GazProm shares are up by 19,800 USD

↑ Gazprom annual dividends  USD 6,070, after paying dividends at 10% rate. It is 3.5% dividends.

↑ Rosneft shares are up by 2,200 USD

↑ Rosneft annual dividends  USD 410, after paying dividends at 10% rate. It is 2.7% dividends.

↑ EUR is up towards USD. For my portfolio it means additional 2,300 USD

↑ GBP is up towards USD. Additional 100 USD.

↑ Grand total additions:  35,680 USD

↓ Precious metals lost 200 USD

Grand total losses are 200 USD

August 2013 update ($260,290 +$1,500 or + 0.6%)

 The portfolio changes:

↑ Accumulated additional 3,500 USD as part of recreating my Emergency fund.

↑ Precious metals grew by 70 USD

↑ GBP vs. USD exchange rate went up, brought additional 200 USD

Grand total additions:  3,770 USD

↓ Vanguard Energy ETF down by  810 USD

↓ Vanguard 500 Index down by 200 USD

↓ Company shares are down by 460 USD

↓ Rosneft shares are down by 800 USD

Grand total losses are 2,270 USD

Portfolio performance – 3.6% a year

For financial independence, growth of the portfolio (raise in value because of the stock /shares fluctuations) is of very little to no importance. Unless it goes through the roof, like it happened to Apple, IBM, Microsoft, etc.. shares from the beginning.

I tried to calculate what my $ 258 K portfolio generates for me in real terms:

July 2013 update ($258,550 +$11,500 or + 5%)

The portfolio changes:

↑ Accumulated additional 7,000 USD as part of recreating my Emergency fund.

↑ Vanguard VDE is up by 1,500USD

↑Vanguard VOO is up by 600 USD

↑Rosneft is up by 1064 USD

↑ Dividend Vanguard SPF 500 ETF 66.5 USD (10% tax subtracted).

↑ EUR part of the portfolio grew by 2,660 USD

Grand total additions:  12,890 USD

↓ Company shares are down by 104 USD

↓ Precious metals down by 841 USD

↓ RUB part of the portfolio lost 130

Grand total losses are 1075 USD