April 2026 – Buying a second car

April 2026

Overall, April 2026 was a quiet month. We had a few events with friends and family, but not many. It was a good mix!

The main change this month is that we bought a second car. I am not really thrilled about that because I would prefer us having a single car. But with me back in the offices two days a week, my wife and son each having activities, and us living about 15 minutes walk from a bus stop, it was almost inevitable.

This car should be used significantly less than the main one, so we opted for a secondhand car. And since we are not planning to do any long trips with it, we opted for an electric car without a large battery (a Zoe Limited 2019). Since we are going to install solar panels soon, we thought it was good to go electric. I would have preferred to switch to electric when we change our main car (we are planning to go electric anyway), but it will give us a taste of electric cars.

Financially, it will set us back. We paid about 13,000 CHF with the fees for the plates and checkup of the car. I am accounting for only 9,000 CHF in our net worth (fees and depreciation are lost). Additionally, this will mean one new insurance policy, some charging costs, and some occasional maintenance.

Overall, since we still paid no taxes this month, we could still save about 53% of our income this month, which is an excellent result.

Expenses

Here are the details of our expenses in April 2026:

In total, we spent 7916 CHF in April 2026. Without taxes, this amounts to 7062 CHF. This is higher than our goals.

Overall, these expenses are not too bad, but not too great either.

We have paid for the car insurance for one year already. We chose smile.car as our insurance. The process was simple. I am pleased so far, and the price was very competitive. But this means an extra 856 CHF (for a year). I will do a review soon about them, which is likely overdue.

Another expense related to our cars is the purchase of two Wi-Fi dongles for the garage. That way, we can automatically open and close the garage doors from the car without a large remote.

On the house side, we paid for an electrician to put us in compliance with the OIBT inspection. This costs us 619 CHF. It is expensive, but it is good to be safe with electricity. We also paid for water.

On the taxes side, we only paid the fireman tax, the garbage tax, and the real estate tax.

Overall, I wish we spent a little less this month. However, once we remove the power maintenance bill and the car insurance, the level of spending is not too bad.

2026 Goals

Here is the status of our goals by the end of April 2026:

Overall, some goals are going really well while others are going poorly.

Our spending is definitely not going well this month. We spent more than our average. And our average was already bad, so instead of spending less, we are now spending more. Obviously some expenses will not repeat, but it is still not great. I do not see us succeeding in this goal.

Our income and savings rate goals are doing well, but we need to keep in mind that they are based on only 4 months, and this includes the best month of the year (March).

I managed to get rid of one small yearly bill this month. Over time, I have used multiple personal domains. And I have consolidated the services from an old domain into a new one. That way, I will not have to renew the old domain this year.

The scaffolding for the solar panels has been put up, and we expect delivery of the material soon. Normally, everything should be installed early in May. I am really looking forward to having this working.

My workouts did not go as well as I wanted this month. We had many things to do during the days, so I sometimes had to replace my workout with an appointment. Additionally, I was also sick with an ear infection after coughing (at least that is what I think I have) and could not do it for a few days.

Overall, even though they are not doing well, I am still relatively happy about these goals (except for the spending goal).

FI Ratio

Here is the progress of our FI ratio as of April 2026:

Our FI ratio is doing really well this month. The stock market has recovered nicely from the small drop and is reaching new highs. This fueled our growth significantly this month. I wish we had less cash, even though I know that having this in cash now makes sense for the coming expenses.

Once we have paid the remaining expenses (land register and solar panels), we will need to revisit our investments to make sure we are still in sync with our targets.

Overall, I am happy with our progress towards financial independence.

The blog – New calculator

The blog was not very active this month, with few comments and relatively low visits. In fact, it was the least active month in at least a year. I do not know what to do to increase the audience at this point.

After I received multiple questions about the individual taxation change, I decided to write a calculator for individual taxation. This calculator will let you see whether you will pay higher taxes or lower taxes after the change.

We have gotten a review of the e-book in German. We are working on the corrections and plan to release them next month if everything goes well. The covers are also ready.

Other than that and the standard maintenance operations, I was not very active on the blog either. I am still planning on trying out YouTube videos next, but with a sore throat from coughing, this was not a good month for that.

Next Month – May 2026

We do not have many things planned in May 2026. But we want to start inviting a few people to our house now that the better weather is back. And we are long overdue for that.

Financially, it will not be a good month. We will pay taxes again. And we will pay for the second part of the solar panels. As a result, we will not save any money.

What about you? How was April 2026?