Hi all! It randomly dawned on me last night, as I was lying in bed, that I didn’t do my monthly income/expense report OR my net worth report! I know, I’m so ashamed. I’ve decided to wrap them both up in one post, just because. Here’s the state of my finances – 01/2015.
Net Worth
- Taxable portfolios (includes cash in money market accounts): $63,594.26
- Tax-deferred portfolios (my IRA; includes cash in money market accounts): $40,962.05
- 401(k) (includes employer match): $15,800.28
- Hard assets/commodities: $2,968.00
- Listed at purchase price, not appraised value
- Cash and cash equivalents: $12,634.51
- Debt: - $0.00
Total Net Worth: $135,959.10
This is a 3.50% increase from the last time I calculated my net worth, which was $131,358.10 at the end of December 2014.
Income/Expenses
- Rent: $975.00
- Bills: $566.36
- Includes: cell phone, electric, gas, cable, and my FAST Graphs subscription
- This is higher than normal due to paying my accountant’s bill
- Car maintenance: $0.00
- Gas: $28.00
- Groceries: $181.97
- Medical expenses: $17.00
- Discretionary expenses: $558.93
- Restaurants/eating out: $13.00
- Plane tickets to girlfriend: $490.80
- Everything else: $55.13
I saved 45.56% of my income this month.
Thoughts:
All and all, not a bad month in either category. Tackling my income expenses first: there is not a lot to be ashamed of here. I had a ~$300 bill from my accountant, which was expected, but a bit higher than I wanted. I’m still not used to budgeting for one due to not having one before. Yeah, it could even be argued I could do my taxes myself with accounting software to save money, but whatever. My peace of mind is more important than that. I also bought plane tickets to see my girlfriend play at a golf tournament, which is something I’m really looking forward to seeing, since i had to leave early the last time I saw her play.
OOOOOO, almost forgot. So here’s my story about how I got two pizzas and an order of breadsticks for $6 (Normal cost: $40). So I had a craving for pizza, as is normal for someone who isn’t too far out of grad school. I happened to have one of those rewards cards in my possession where you buy 10 get one free kind of things. And it was full, so free pizza! And the day before I ordered it I got an email advertising another buy-one-get-one-free deal. So I order my food, and use that email coupon. So one’s free. Walk in to the store and present my other free-pizza card. You know the way people look at you when you know they don’t want to do something for you, but their hands are tied? I relished every second of it. I mean, there wasn’t anything about it in the fine print, you know? So I got two free pizzas that day. They tasted like victory.
Net worth, not much to say there either. I am surprised it went up as much as it did, but i’m not complaining 
Most of my free capital went to cash for the upcoming tax bill, with the exception of the awesome new emerald specimen I picked up recently.
Good month, no real complaints!
Disclosure: Long shiny things. My Income/Expenses and Net Worth archive pages have been updated accordingly. Image source is available here.
4 Comments
Takeaway’s from this month: Shiny things and pizza is victory. Well, nothing else to see here!
I kid, I kid. Seriously, you’re making great progress, and saving over 45% of your monthly income will move you along pretty quickly. Thanks for sharing, whether in one post or two!
writing2reality recently posted…Passive Income Made Perfect – January ’15 PIMP Update
Haha, that’s all you need to know! All joking aside, that’s the most exciting stuff for me, really. Yeah, my net worth may go up or down, but it’s still great for my age. Yeah, my spending may fluctuate, but I still have a great savings rate. It’s the tiny joys of life that really make things interesting, you know? I won’t remember what my net worth currently is 5 years from now, but I will remember my emeralds, or that time I got a huge amount of free food. Good memories like that really make it all worth living.
Looking good DD! Keep up those 3.5% increases every month and you’ll be free before you know it! I used to keep track of my net worth but realized it was kind of a feel good statistic. In the end, the only thing that matters will be if my dividends cover my expenses. I could add up all the clothes in my closet, the furniture in my house but if I go by what I paid for it I will be way off because that will not be what other people will want to pay for it. The only net worth I would track is bank accounts/investing accounts minus my mortgage/house price. The easiest and biggest expense verse pure capital I have if i liquidate all holdings. To each their own though, thanks for sharing all your other numbers!
Have a nice night,
ADD
American Dividend Dream recently posted…401K Update – February 2015
I actually agree with that. I mostly track it because I find it interesting to monitor. Granted, there are some stocks I may sell chunks of because their dividend is low, thereby making my own dividend. In cases like that, getting the total value of the position is pretty useful, so I know how much to sell. Mostly, my net worth is investment/bank accounts, with my illiquid investment-grade gems thrown in for fun. I don’t really calculate other things like my care or clothes or whatever, because I agree that it doesn’t add much to the discussion. Come to think of it, I don’t actually count the dollar amount of my dividend income. I’ve always calculated my end goal as a target net worth (annual expenses times my ideal portfolio yield). Prob would be a bit useful to track my annual income instead. Make it less complicated. Probably should start doing that …