Fabulous Financials

My July Net Worth is $160,418, a $9,328 or 6.17% increase from June 2008. This month was an expensive one, but the 6% net worth increase makes me forget about my bad behavior. LOL. The growth is primarily attributed to my pension value, which I calculate and adjust two times per year - during mid year and my anniversary.

As of 31 July 2008, I’m ~$39,600 away from my 2008 net worth goal. Hpmh! Call me crazy, but I still see the glass half full through rose colored lenses.

JULY INCOME & EXPENSES

My numbers are unusual this month because it was a three pay period month and I received a nice surprise that I’ll explain later this week.

Net Income: $9,716

Total Expenses: $6,325

• Saved: $1,005
• Bills: $2,042
• Necessities: $663
• Non-necessities: $819
• Business: $1,796

Net Cash Flow: $3,391

Sometimes I look at my income and think to myself “gosh, did I really earn that much this month?!?!” A combined total of nearly $10,000 touched my virtual hands (read: bank account(s)) in a single month. The numbers are certainly real, but it sure doesn’t feel like it.

Then I ask myself, how can I - a single person with one child - spend over $6,000 in a single month. That’s real too, but the numbers make it seem so excessive. As many of you know, I do not live a luxurious lifestyle nor am I a frivolous spender. Please believe, every penny of that $6,000 had a purpose that can be tracked and confirmed. It just seems, the faster I earn it, the faster it goes. In fact, I exceeded my planned monthly expenses by ~$1,000. I went over:

• $275 on planned shopping expenses.
• $273 on planned travel expenses.
• $190 on planned personal grooming expenses.
• $128 on planned auto expenses - new registration.
• $95 on planned auto gas expenses - cheaper than last month though.
• $35 on planned pet expenses - travel requires pet sitting.
• $33 on planned dining out expenses.

After all of that, I managed to end the month with over $3,000 in positive cash flow. As previously mentioned, I’ll explain the source of the extra cash in a later post.

July was a decent financial month.