Sept 2019: Monthly Travel, Expenses, and Income Report - Prague, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas!

This has been a super exciting month, starting out in Prague, then spending almost a month in America visiting friends and family in San Francisco, LA, hosting the Invest Like a Boss Summit in Manhattan Beach with the after party in Las Vegas. This has been a really fun 30 days, and if you've been following me on instagram it looks like it's been an expensive one with me with flying on a private jet, driving Ferraris, eating at Michelin starred restaurants, staying at 5 star hotels, riding in limos, and bossing out in California and Las Vegas. Not to mention the fun we had in Prague with the castles, wineries and other dream experiences only Europe has to offer.

But even with all that happening and the added expenses of being back in the USA, I have a feeling that it was still a net positive month for me as there's nothing I love more than balling on a budget and keeping my expenses in check. So don't worry, even though all of that I mentioned above would normally cost someone $50,000 or more, I'm sure I spend much, much less than that. How much less, I honestly don't know as I writing this income, expenses and travel report on the fly. But i'm just as excited as you to recap the month and see what the damage was. So here it goes, my September 2019 monthly report on everything I earned, spent, did and achieved, including what my goals were for last month and what the are for October.

Where I Traveled

I started the month in Kutaisi, Georgia of all places bored out of my mind. I kept thinking that I would enjoy checking out smaller towns and getting away from big cities, but literally three days into it, I wish I was somewhere else and never wanted to go back. This is how I know I wouldn't be happy living in most suburban cities or towns in the USA or really anywhere in the world. Thankfully that trip was just a few day stop over, and I was off to Prague in the Czech Republic which is one of the most beautiful places on Earth and quite possibly the most beautiful city in the world. I had been there and had written about Prague in 2014 during my first trip there while it was still relatively less touristed and an amazing value.  In the past five years, as predicted, it's become way more busy and popular, and prices have gone up to reflect. It's still not as bad or as expensive as more popular places such as London, Paris, Barcelona, Rome, Venice, or Amsterdam but I predict it'll become the same very soon, so go now before it's too late.

Prague was just as beautiful as I remembered it, but things were definitely more expensive, and some of my favorite local breweries went out of business, so I had to go from drinking unpasteurized Pivovar Bon beer, which was my favorite in the world, to the super popular Pilsner Urquell. I was there to speak at the Dropship Lifestyle Retreat so it was technically work, but I still had an amazing time before flying back from there to San Francisco on a combination of Level and Iberia Airlines. It was my first time in years not flying business class, as one of my priorities this year was saving money and working less, and honestly it was completely fine. With the combination of using the priority pass and having access to the airport lounges, flying premium economy and having most of the flight be during the day, I was happy to had only paid $681 verses $3,500 or more for the same business class flight.

Cathedral at Prague Castle

Drinks with the Dropship Lifestyle Crew!

Gorgeous both Day and Night!

Flying on a Private Jet

The funny thing about deciding to not fly business class this year was getting "upgraded" to a private jet instead. After spending a week in San Francisco visiting my parents, sister, cousins and seeing friends and family, it was time to head down to Los Angeles to catch up with everyone else as well as prepare for the Invest Like a Boss Summit that we were having in LA. I messaged my long time mentor JP and said I was coming down and asked what he was doing for his birthday and turned out he was having his 50th birthday party the weekend before I was due to arrive. I had already booked my non-refundable flight with Alaska Air, and had plans to hang out in the bay area for the weekend, but I knew that even though I've been booking flights well in advance this year to save money and get the best prices on things like Airbnbs, Flights and Hotels, I also told myself to remain flexible and not stress about losing money on something if another worthwhile opportunity came up.

I told JP that I'd be there, and was getting ready to book a Flixbus/MegaBus down from SF to LA, which is a 9 hour, not so comfortable trip. That's when he offered me a ride on his private jet. Listen to Episode 233 of the Podcast for the full story of how I met JP and what it was like flying private. It was an amazing experience and super inspiring to be able to do so. And since I felt a bit bad flying private so I bought bought 1,000 lbs of carbon offset through Terrapass to cover my portion of being on the plane.

The actual party was fantastic as well with incredible food catered by a few Michelin starred restaurants including Providence LA, Sushi Zo, and of course In-N-Out, which doesn't officially have a star yet, but deserves one! What's really amazing is that Chef Keizo Seki flew all the way from Japan to LA just to make sure it was served correctly. I don't even really like sushi that much, but the Omakase he prepared was so buttery and tasty that I couldn't help but love it and go back multiple times for more. My only regret is not trying the buckwheat blinis with caviar that Providence brought earlier as I had almost skipped over it thinking I wouldn't like it. But it turns out they have two Michelin stars for a reason and Dom Perignon really does go well with black caviar. The theme was all of JP's favorite restaurants, and I feel super blessed to have been invited to this event and get to try everything as wow, it was all amazing.

JP's 1969 themed party

Incredible catering and food!

Feasting it on JP's private jet.

From Private Jet to Tesla Model S

Carbon Offsets to cover the flight

Living the Life

The funny thing about being from California, especially living in Los Angeles, is that people kind of expect you to be living a Hollywood life. Everyone you meet seems to be driving nice cars, wearing designer clothes, going to fancy parties, and living a real life instagram highlight. The funniest thing is whenever I'm in places like Ukraine and tell people I'm from California, they say "Ooh must be fancy" and when I assure them it's not, and that we just live normal lives like everyone else, they don't believe me. Having them follow my instagram or facebook and seeing the things I do whenever I'm back in the USA makes the stereotype worse.

But here's the thing, California Dreamin' and the LA Lifestyle really is something that happens. And sure there are a a few people who can genuinely afford to live like that. But at the same time, most of those people work a ton and aren't very carefree and happy in their daily lives, or they're faking it and are really either completely broke, in debt, or don't actually have any wealth themselves and are just getting to live the life off of others for free. I only know a small handful of people who can geninely afford to live a baller LA life, but I've also met hundreds of people who pretend to be able to, while they secretly struggle paying bills, still live at home with their parents, or worse, are in financial debt or just getting by and not saving or investing anything for their future.

Luckily for me, and for most of the people I hang out with, including the people who come to the Invest Like a Boss conference, we know that it's fun to ball out once in a while and spend a few hundred bucks on having an amazing time, but we still look for value when we can have it. Even though some of us stayed at the 5 Star Wynn and Encore hotel, we stayed on Sunday-Tuesday which is 1/3 of the price of weekends. Instead of spending a quarter million dollars owning a Ferrari, we simply went to the SpeedVegas racetrack and rented the cars we wanted to drive per lap which was as low as $70 for some cars and even the Lambo and Ferrari was only $120. So yes, we had an amazing time and did everything we could have dreamed of in Las Vegas. But the total damage on our networth was minimal, especially since it's something we only do once a year or so and don't try to keep up this lifestyle everyday to impress others. 

Racing a Ferrari 488 in Las Vegas!

Lamborghinis, Audi R8s, and Ferraris

What Happens in Vegas...

Total Expenses for the Month

I'm going to calculate my expenses now as I type this, and predict it'll be significantly higher than it normally is as I did way more. But at the same time, aside from the new iPhone 11 I bought this year, as an upgrade to my aging iPhone 7 Plus, I don't think it'll actually be that insane, or at least not as insane as it looks like in the photos. I also stayed with friends or family most of the month which kept the accommodation prices down, and the days I stayed in nice hotels were mostly a business expense from the conference or paid for by the other company.

I saved a ton of money by not having to pay for accomidation most days of the month as I was staying with family or friends, but I did end up treating them a lot to dinners as as thank you so my food and dining expenses were much higher than usual. That plus the fact that everything in the USA is more expensive anyways added up quickly. Aside from the iPhone, I also bought a ton of stuff from Amazon, most of which you can see on my Amazon List. Since I only go back to America once a year, I use that as a chance to buy all new travel clothes, underwear, podcast mics, and other things that tend to wear out over the course of a year on the road.


Flight Kutaisi to Prague: $103.17 (Wizz Air)
Prague Hotel: $60 (mostly paid)
Flight Prague to San Francisco: $681.90 (1 way, premium economy, Iberia)

Accommodation in SF: $0 (Stayed with Parents)

Bus to Sacramento: $10 (FlixBus)

Private Jet to Los Angeles: $0 (Friend)

Bus/Metro to DTLA: $5.50

Amtrak Train LA to OC: $13.95

Accomodation in LA/OC/SD: $0 (Friends/Family)

Food and Dining: $600 (treating friends)
Drinks and Parties: $200
iPhone 11: $804 (128gb)
Stuff on Amazon: $550 (clothes)
Flight to Cancun: $202.54
Corvette Z51 Rental: $69

Money to my parents: $1,000 (retirement)
Donations other: $30

Total Expenses for September: $3,319.94

*increase from last month's $1,220 (not including donations)

Spending on my Apple Card

How Much I Earned

A lot of work was put into the Invest Like a Boss Summit this year, including hundreds of hours or planning promoting and planning the conference. Our goal was to simply not lose money on the event, and hope to nurture it into a big financial conference one day. At the end of the day, after all expenses, were ended up with a net profit of $1,294.94 total, not including flights to LA. That means, we basically cover costs to get to LA. Luckily I still have my other businesses and passive income coming in to cover it all.

Overall, it was a good month and i'm really happy to be able to continue making money with my other online businesses while working on these passion projects that will hopefully one day become big money makers while still being something I enjoy doing and am passionate about. Along with my business partner Sam Marks who co-hosts the Invest Like a Boss podcast with me,  we finally got to record a podcast in person together in a studio with video. Check it out for overlays of everything we invest in and a sneak peek in the dash boards to see how they're all doing.

Total Profit for September: $6,238.21

*increase from $4.026.72 last month.

Sales from my dorpshipping store.

Overall Thoughts 

It was really fun month and financially it wasn't bad. I did a ton of really amazing things, made a bit of money, got to see friends, family and enjoy Prague, San Francisco, LA, San Diego, and Las Vegas, which are all some of my favorite places in the world. I drank a ton of good alcohol, and ate a ton of amazing good. However, I totally messed up both my diet and exercise routine during this month and fell completely off track. I ate way too much, exercised way too little, and you can see it in the video above. 

This month won't be much better as I'll be in Mexico to organize the upcoming Nomad Summit and will be just as busy. Plus Mexican food and beer is just so damn good that I don't want to say no to it, especially since it's been so long since I've had it. My goal for this month is just to enjoy myself, work out when I can so I don't lose everything completely, and try to have fun. We'll see what happens, but one thing's for sure, it's hard to say no when the world is a Vegas buffet and you love everything on the menu. Hope everyone is enjoying themselves out there, just maybe not too much! Here's a video below of what i'll be up to for the next few weeks if you wanna come and join!

Also below that is my monthly video version of my income and expenses report that goes into more detail. Check that out as well!

Hope everyone had a great September and will have an even better October wherever you are in the world!



With Love,

Johnny FD