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.

My June Net Worth is $151,089, a ($614) or -0.40% decrease from May 2008. This has been a bad financial month, but it could have been worse. The reason(s) for the loss are:

• Poor market performance. Although I contributed over $1,600 to my investment accounts, the end of month values were significantly lower than last month - nearly $2,000. It’s the nature of the beast. I’m well diversified, so I won’t make any irrational decisions.
• I adjust the value of my car quarterly. It’s a depreciating asset, so the reduction was expected. The timing wasn’t the best.
• A surge in new credit card charges since the last payment (always PIF).
• Several big ticket personal expenses.
• My rental property is now vacant, resulting in additional business expenses.

The year is half over, but I’m still ~$49,000 away from my 2008 net worth goal. At this point, it’s probably nearly impossible, but I won’t lower my expectations just yet.

JUNE INCOME & EXPENSES

Gathering the data for this summary was very interesting. As previously mentioned, I received two unexpected checks, so my income appears higher than usual. However, my expenses were equally higher. I guess the saying is true…the more you make, the more you spend. In my case, I would have spent anyway, so the timing of extra income was perfect. Otherwise, I would have been in the hole.

Net Income: $9,619

Total Expenses: $8,897

• Saved: $2,059
• Bills: $2,435
• Necessities: $838
• Non-necessities: $1,872
• Business: $1,693

Net Cash Flow: $722

I exceeded my monthly spend plan in a few categories:

• $409 on car insurance, paid the entire 6 month premium in full.
• $280 in medical expenses, final costs for BabyGirl’s retainers
• $218 for gas, crazy! Time to adjust this category.
• $218 on dining out, now that BabyGirl is gone, I rarely cook. I’ve been eating out at least once a day. Not sure if this will change much throughout the summer.
• $260 on shopping & entertainment, my kid is gone, what’s a girl to do! LOL
• $937 on vacation planning, fun, fun, fun!!

My cash flow for the month is positive, so I don’t feel bad about spending and enjoying myself. If this past weekend is any indication, July won’t be any better. Ha!

My net worth for May 2008 is $151,701. I passed the $150k hump - yay!! This is a $3,203 or 2.16% increase over April 2008. Most of it can be attributed to my 401k. There was a lapse in contributions to my other investment accounts due to payroll issues at the new job, but we’re back in business. I’m still a long way from my annual net worth goal of $200k, but I’ll keep hope alive. *pumping fist in the air* What? Miracles can happen! LOL

INCOME & EXPENSES

May was a decent month, but don’t let the numbers fool you:

Net Income: $6,423

Total Expenses: $5,334

• Saved: $759
• Bills: $2,261
• Necessities: $1,216
• Non-necessities: $1,098

Net Cash Flow: $1,089

Based on the cash flow, it appears as if I did an excellent job controlling expenses, but I shall not tell a lie. The $900 stimulus rebate provided a buffer, most of which was promptly donated ($500) and the rest ($400) was spent on…umm…I plead the 5th. LOL

But wait, I’ll be honest about something. I exceeded my monthly spend plan in several categories. For one, the friggin’ cell phone bill was $115 higher than usual! When I saw it, I was like what the what?!?!?! Unfortunately, I can’t even blame BabyGirl this time. Darn! Other overages include:

• $350 on medical expenses
• $250 on vet visit (future post comparing annual pet expenses)
• $260 on personal pampering (money well spent)
• $185 dining out (includes Crackbucks obsession)
• $90 in parking (need to add regular line item in spend plan)
• $245 on vacation planning

See. The details tell the truth. But you know what? It’s ok because I can track every dime, I didn’t incur any debt, and all of it was money well spent - especially the personal pampering. *daydreaming* Woo-wee! If I had to do it all over, I wouldn’t change a thing.

That, to me, is financial freedom!

My net worth is $148,500, an increase of $4,363 or +3.03% over March 2008.

As reported in March, I wasn’t paying very much attention to my finances. Well guess what? I really slacked off in April! Fortunately, I ended March with a $3.8k net worth increase, and again in April with a $4.3k increase. Wow, imagine what I could do if I really paid attention! LOL! Thank goodness for automatic contributions and market performance! With 8 months left in the year, I still need $51,500 to meet my 2008 net worth challenge. This will require an average monthly increase of $6,400 through December. Hmm…stranger things have happened. LOL

By now, I think all of the categories are self explanatory. If not, let me know and I’ll answer all questions in the comments.

INCOME & EXPENSES

April was a very difficult month for me. A few weeks ago, I publicly confessed to emotional spending, then forced myself to transfer an extra $500 to savings before I hit rock bottom.

Net Income: $5,565

Total Expenses: $5,247

• Saved: $1,289
• Bills: $2,407
• Necessities: $504
• Non-necessities: $1,047

Net Cash Flow: $318

I have no idea how I ended the month with positive cash flow because 80% of the ‘non-necessities’ were incurred within the last two weeks of the month. Had I realized there was more, I probably would have spent that too. LOL

I considered providing a more detailed explanation of my thoughts and feelings that led to the emotional spending spree, but I don’t know if it will serve any real purpose for you. Besides, May blossoms are all about new beginnings and I need to work on my $6,400 net worth increase!

My net worth is $144,137, an increase of $3,823.10 or +2.72% over February 2008.

I haven’t been paying much attention to my finances lately. So other than what’s on auto pilot, I can’t take credit for doing anything special. The market has rebounded (sorta), but it’s still playing tricks with people’s emotions. In Jan and Feb ‘08, my retirement increased by only ~$500. This month, the increase is more than $3k. I contribute the same every month so of course I’m happy about it, but I ignore the reports of doom and gloom anyway. One day, I’ll write about my opinion of the impending recession and how I plan to deal with it by doing…umm…nothing.

Under ‘property’, I reduced the value of my car (kbb.com), which is something I plan to review quarterly. And the ‘liabilities’ consist of my real time credit card balances as of March 31st. It’s not a true reflection of my credit card debt per se’ (my only real “debt” is a mortgage) because the “statement” balances are always paid in full - usually between the 20th and the 22nd. However, to keep my NW report honest, I will capture the existing CC balances anyway.

INCOME & EXPENSES

As mentioned last month, I’ve completely separated business income and expenses from personal income and expenses for banking and tax purposes. Currently, I’m only reporting the personal cash flow, so the numbers below may appear lower than usual.

Net Income: $4,642

Total Expenses: $4,120

• Saved: $668
• Bills: $2,188 (68 under est.)
• Necessities: $701 (91 over est.)
• Non-necessities: $563 (313 over est.)

Net Cash Flow: $522

The ‘necessities’ $91 over est. is due to my lovely daughter’s lack of planning. Gotta love it when your kid tells you on Thursday that something is due on Friday. This one is special and she “totally can’t miss or it’ll be popularity suicide.” Her words, of course. *blank stare* What is so important you might ask? The band’s spring field trip. *roll my eyes* But oh, she’s “really sorry” for not reminding me, but “please ma, can I go?” *sigh* I tell ya, she better be glad we’re not living paycheck to paycheck or this lack of planning would cause her to miss out on a lot of things.

The ‘non-necessities’ $313 over est. is umm…err…uh. Hmm…I have no idea.

Ok, I’ll admit. I hadn’t been shopping in a month of Sundays, so my little spring shopping spree was long overdue. It wasn’t in the budget, but I did plan for it in my thoughts. Yea, that’s it. I just forgot to write it down. Mmm, hmm…my story and I’m sticking to it.