Lanny’s December Income and Expense Summary

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.

income and expense

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

24 thoughts on “Lanny’s December Income and Expense Summary

    • MDP,

      I know, I know only 78 hours last week, the heck was I thinking working only that much… haha

      Uh oh – bringing out beast mode? 5 days left for the month – feeling good so far about January, LETS KEEP IT GOING MDP.

      -Lanny

  1. I can certainly relate to the long hours of tax season having worked five of them. Thankfully those days are behind me, however I’ve backfilled those hours working on my MBA while working full-time. Year-round tax season essentially, but worth it in the end. My wife is still in public accounting, so she is going through the hours, but fortunately doesn’t have to travel or work quite as many hours as it seems your doing.

    As for balancing real life and blogging, it is tough. Better to slow your posting than to stop completely, which I’ve done twice. The advantage you guys have are one another, you can balance the writing responsibilities between two people, reducing the work load on one individual. Keep on grinding and you’ll get past these next few months!

    • W2R,

      Whoa — love that we have fellow accountants on the blogosphere here. The wife is still in public? How is that going? I know you’re probably used to it by now.

      Slowing postings is definitely what we are on track for. We felt awesome coming right out the gate with big blog posts in the very beginning but once that 2nd week of January hit – it’s just been tough.

      We will get past this and we will still bust our A** to get information out there! Thanks again W2R, talk soon.

      -Lanny

  2. Thanks for sharing your recent income and expenses with us. I have to say that your savings rate is pretty awesome. Anytime you crack the 50% mark you enter into an elite savings league. No worries about not crossing the 60% savings mark. You did well. Keep those expenses in check as you have been doing and keep watching those passive dividends roll in. Look forward to your next update.

    • DH,

      Thanks for coming by! 60% for some reason is such an illustrtious goal. What’s funny, though, is there should be a great improvement as I’ve never considers my reinvested dividend income as “income” or “savings” since it is both – so I should see an increase in this department.

      How cool would it be to save over 60% of your income each month though?! “Spend like you’re poor and earn like you’re rich” is a quote I came across the other day.. it’s interesting.

      -Lanny

    • ADD,

      I am looking forward to March 6th, as I think two of my large clients will be filing their 10K by then… definitely counting down those days.

      This month I am going to make sure I crack that 60%! The dividend income/savings should help when I begin to correlate that into the analysis. We shall see! Thanks again ADD, talk soon.

      -Lanny

    • Tawcan,

      Thank you very much! Just took a 1 minute break to slide this comment in. Still cracking it but it should get better going forward when I disclose dividend income in my income percentage and automatically that is savings for me as well as I reinvest all proceeds into investments.

      Hows January treating you??

      -Lanny

  3. Lanny,

    Great job! More than 50% is an excellent achievement and will surely help building that dividend income stream. Keep it up!

    Because I’ve been doing a lot of overtime myself lately, I know that it can be hard on you. Make sure you don’t drain yourself too much mentally and physically, and recharge those batteries once in a while.

    Best of luck for January,
    NMW

    • NMW,

      Thank you! It’s been harder and harder for some reason I feel, it’s weird.

      I appreciate the kind words for my own health-sake, I will do my best to balance this out. I’m excited to share my January income/expense when the month closes, that’s for sure!

      Thanks again NMW, great to hear from you!

      -Lanny

  4. Lanny,
    I include dividend income as part of my income just like salary. I earned it and it goes straight to investments. But you know what achieving more than 50% with some splurging is very impressive, good thing you have more time with family after a 78 hour work week, redbull or coffe? I prefer coffee as its cheaper and more natural than redbull. Keep up the high savings rate guys!
    Take care,
    FFF

  5. Lanny,

    78 hours? Yikes! I couldn’t do any kind of work for 78 hours in one week, even if I absolutely loved it. I hope things slow down for you a little, but tax season probably makes that unlikely.

    Great job with the savings rate. That’s a fantastic result, in my book. Keep it up!

    Best regards.

  6. DD,

    Wow awesome savings! I’m new to the fi theme, and I’m definitely trying to save as much as possible. I’ve been saving as much as I possibly can from my paychecks as well, because I’m trying to get myself out of debt and into financial freedom as early as possible. I’d appreciate it if you took a look at my blog! Can’t wait to keep reading what else you have to say.

    Thanks,
    D2R

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