Expense/Income Tracking

November Income- $630.09

by

Here is a breakdown of my income for November.

Online Income $369.03
Cash Back $22.40
Interest $12.77
Dividends $35.89
Medical Study $175.00
Surveys/Mystery shopping $15.00
Total $630.09

My income was down quite a bit from the previous month but that was mostly expected.  I did do some things to try to increase my income but any results will not be seen until this month. I count my income when I receive it, not when I make it.

I do have a new category this month for stock dividends.  I will be receiving dividends every month but the total will be lower this month since I won’t be receiving any quarterly or semi-annual dividends. Overall, my income will probably stay the same this month but I will try to increase it.

October Investment Income- $41.34

by

Last month was not a good month for my retirement savings. I lost about $1000 in my Roth IRA which was a significant amount considering I only had $5500 in there.  I managed to increase my monthly income but only because I added $3000 to my savings last month.  Increasing my monthly investment income from $32.01 to $41.34 was good though.  Unfortunately I won’t be able to add a large amount to my retirement savings until sometime next year.  I’m rethinking my investment strategy for retirement and I’ll share that strategy in a post later today.

Disclaimer:This is not my actual investment income. To get this figure I first add up my retirement accounts, emergency fund, and any other money I consider permanent savings.  What the total of my savings would earn at 6% interest for a month is my monthly investment income.

***
Get Cash Back from Top Stores with Big Crumbs!

October Income- $709.64

by

Here is a breakdown of my income for October.

Online Income $475.59
Bonuses $200
Interest $20.95
Surveys/Cashback $13.10
Total $709.64

My income was pretty good considering I didn’t work.  This is all alternative income. I’m going to have a tough time matching this in November.  I count my income when it is paid rather than when it is earned so I know that this month’s Adsense payment will be considerably less.  It is also unlikely that I’ll make anywhere near $200 in bonuses. I hope to make up some of that elsewhere but it will be difficult.  I’m going to have to come up with some new income ideas or put more work into the existing ideas.

October Expenses- $1157.51

by

Here is a breakdown of my expenses for October.

Household $418.29
Transportation $131.61
Food $73.85
Entertainment $152.87
Debt/

Education

 $115
Utilities $64.97
Health Insurance $200.92
Total $1157.51

My overall expense level was reasonable. I didn’t meet my goal of $1000 a month in expenses. That goal would have been met though if I didn’t have my quarterly health insurance payment of $200. I did spend way too much on food. I ate out almost every day which not only cost me money but caused me to gain weight and wasted a lot of time. I’ll have to do better on that this month. My entertainment expenses were a little high this month but I’m not concerned about that. My other expenses should remain about the same this month. One possible exception is if I do some Christmas shopping this month that will be reflected in my household expenses.

September Investment Income- $32.01

by

My September investment income dropped to $32.01 from $34.87 the month before due to decline in the stock market at the end of the month.  This is the first time my investment income has dropped since I began tracking it and I hope it is the last. That makes my potential early retirement a little farther away.

I’ll be almost maxing out my Roth IRA this month.  That combined with my mutual fund hopefully at least partially rebounding should bring my monthly investment income back up to where it used to be.  I’m not going to be able to fund my Roth IRA for the $5,000 allowable amount because I haven’t had $5,000 in employment income this year.  I’ve only had a little less than $3,000 in income.  I waiting to fund my Roth with the full amount of my employment income though because I’m thinking my former job might force me to cash out my 401k.

I suppose I could set up a Solo 401k or SEP IRA to put some of my business income in retirement savings.  I don’t plan on doing that because I don’t have much more money to put in retirement savings this year.  I’ll probably do a post sometime weighing the pros and cons of opening a Solo 401k or SEP IRA or neither sometime soon.