I know that this post is LOOOOONG over do… Busy Season for us CPAs has kicked into high gear and it has been tough buckling down writing articles, when you are working 70 hours+, as well as traveling. Regardless – time does come and go and another month has passed, another month where I ask myself… Did I hit the 60% savings goal with my income and expense tracker? Did I hit the big mark that I set for myself back in August when I was discussing why I am aiming to save 60% of my income? Let’s dive into the income and expense analysis.
Last month I was able to save a fairly strong 56%, but not breaking the 60% barrier – though we did see the lighting after Thanksgiving and even caught an incredible concert. I wouldn’t trade not breaking the 60% barrier for the experiences, ever and they will always hold a special place in my heart when my sister did extremely well with school, got all dressed up and explored downtown with me, amazing. Christmas obviously happened this month aka – no way was I going to hit it this month… let’s find out
Lets dive into the fun month of December’s Income and Expense breakdown:
Income Summary
Salary – 87% (no change from last month)
Other – 13% (up from last month; credit card perks and some mileage reimbursement from work)
Expense and Outflow Summary
Household 20% (Mortgage + escrow, Utilities; no change)
Transportation 17% (Auto Loan, Insurance, Gas, all my car repairs on my brakes.. car troubles part deux
Food 3% (Groceries + Coffee; no change)
Gift 3% (Christmas presents)
Health 3% (health insurance, gym; up 1%)
Entertainment 1% (Netflix, WWE event, nights out with friends/relatives)
= SAVINGS ~52.5% = This includes automatic savings from my pay to my online account, extra savings transfers to my account from this months income to my online savings accounts + automatic 401K contributions
Income and Expense Conclusion/Results
Well here we go again… I didn’t break the 60% threshold.. again! I’m upset, but it’s okay, had an amazing time. Bert did a great job and I completely forgot that he includes his dividends received and reinvested as a way he “saves” his money, which is a form of income and saving for him – something I have never applied into my analysis. Bert did great with a 57% savings rate for the month when including the dividends/distributions he received and reinvested. With that talk – Starting with my January 2015 summary and going forward – I have my dividend income included in my income and expense each month. I am excited – as that will boost both my income and will increase my savings rate as I reinvest all of my dividends, as us Diplomats love DRIPing our stocks! Christmas with family and friends was another great memory and I even took in my little brother’s graduation ceremony as well as going to a WWE wrestling event with the siblings and close friend, see the picture below! Therefore – I was able to go through Christmas, time off and big events such as these and still managed to save over 50% of my income, which I think is incredible. If I included my dividend income over $900 in December, which was all saved – I would have crushed 60% for sure.
Conclusion
In the end – though given my income and expense amounts for December falling short of 60% – I still had incredible memories, similar to November. I was able to buy a few stocks in December with my savings – with BBL and CM earlier on in December. I will leave this short and sweet – as I am exhausted – 1:15 am here after working 78 hours this week! Also – it was long over due to discuss the income and expense that I incurred in December, as we are practically over with January already! Looks like I should pull an all nighter and start writing that one!
With that being said – what are your thoughts above on the month? Do you find your job/occupation totally consuming you that you cannot write as often as you want? Does that make you mad/happy/upset? I’m always curious. Thank you all again for stopping by, and allowing me to write about my life on here on this pursuit to financial freedom. Loving in and here is a cheers to the end of a great January close! Will the Diplomats break 60% to start the year? We will find out!
-Lanny