I wish we could have kept our expenses at the same level as last month, but it didn’t happen. We spent a good amount of money in May, but thankfully, we earned much more (click on spreadsheet below).
In addition to our regular saleries, my wife received an “extra” paycheck, a $943.92 commission check, and a $89.10 mileage reimbursement check.
Outside of our jobs, we earned a $50 Chase credit card cash back reward, $25 HSBC credit card reward, and our $1,200 economic stimulus check. Our E*TRADE savings account brought in $14.98 in interest income.
Next month should be a interesting. My wife will be leaving her current job and starting her new career. We’re still not sure of the paycheck timing at her new job so we may end up with a bit less money coming in in June. We also have to pay for our $1019.81 vacation that we took at the end of May.
My wife has enjoyed working at her current job, but has always wanted to have a career in a health related sales field. Since college, she has focused on learning about this competitive industry and what it takes to get into it. Long story short, over the past four weeks, she has been in a series of interviews with a company and yesterday, received an offer. . . and accepted!
This is such a blessing and something we have been praying for for quite awhile. I am very happy that my wife will be able to work in the industry she is passionate about. Her hard work and persistence paid off.
This new job will also greatly increase our household income. Check it out:
$52,500 base salary
$20,000+ annual bonus
$20,000 annually for entertaining clients
Company car and gas card
Computer
Matching 401(K) plan
Excellent health and dental insurance
3 weeks vacation
She starts next month and already really likes her future co-workers.
NOTE: This net worth update is a week early because my wife and I are going on vacation.
What worked: May was an awesome month for our net worth. It increased $4,247.51 from last month to $35,685.46. This puts us at 74.66% of our 2008 net worth goal of $47,800.What worked: Our retirement accounts lead the way. We invested a total of $1,771 in our retirement accounts and saw an overall increase of $2,296.99. We also were able to increase our savings by $1,358.10, primarily because of my wife’s “extra” check this month.
What did not work: Our taxable accounts total went down a whopping $14.45.
Next month: June may end up being a mild month for our net worth. It is likely that we will have to pull some cash out of savings to pay off the vacation we will be on next week.
In anticipation of receiving our Economic Stimulus Tax Rebate Check on the May 16, we made a $1,200 contribution to our Roth IRAs. We’ve contributed $3,400 total so far this year, leaving us with $6,600 more to go to reach the 2008 max of $10,000 ($5K each) .
During a BBQ with our neighbors over the weekend, we discussed what we were going to do with our stimulus checks. One of my neighbors said he has already spent his on various items, including $400 shoes. When I mentioned that we planned to deposit ours into our Roth IRAs, he asked why we bother to at such a young age. My response was, “Because I do not want to work after age 52”. He said he did not want to work past 50 either. More power to him.
My wife scored a $944 commission this check from her company this month!
Her commission checks are great because they are “extra” money that we can put towards savings and/or retirement investments since our regular saleries cover our month-to-month expenses. What a blessing.
May is turning into a very good net worth increase month for us. I can’t wait to update our numbers at the end of the month.
Great news! My wife has been working on a large business deal and last week obtained the signed contract. It’s great to see her hard work pay off. She will receive a $3,800+ commission from the sale when the invoice is paid in a couple of months.
In addition to the awesome initial commission, there is a good likelihood that this account will produce additional commissions for her down the road thru maintenance of the system she sold and other work this customer needs done.
We did a great job of staying within our budget this month (click on spreadsheet below). In fact, this is the least amount of money we have spent in quite awhile, which is great after last month.
One of the few areas we went over budget was $222.30 in our Entertainment category because we had a couple of nights out with friends celebrating their birthdays. Incomewise, I received a 2.07% raise. My wife earned $466.91 in commissions and $40.80 in reimbursements. We also received a $66.65 cash back reward from our Citi credit card and a $50 gift card to a restaurant from our American Express. We earned interest income of $12.10.
May should be a another great income month. My wife gets 3 paychecks next month (extra one going to savings) and hopefully a ~$700 commission check. We possibly should also receive our $1,200 tax rebate which will be apllied to our Roth IRAs. Our expenses will be a bit higher because we have a week long vacation up the coast planned.
April has been a great month. Our net worth increased $3,661.34 over last month, bring us to a total net worth of $31,437.95 (click on spreadsheet below). This puts us at 65.77% of our 2008 net worth goal of $47,800.
What worked: We increased my 401(k) contribution by 1% to a total contribution of 5%. We invested $638.95 in retirement accounts (401(k) and Roth IRAs) this month and, with the recent market upswing, saw a total increase in our retirement accounts of $2,416.09! We also increased our savings by $662.38, primarily due to my wife’s commission check.
What did not work: I can’t think of anything that went against us this month. Thank God.
Next month: May should be another solid month. We plan to do a large contribution to our Roth IRAs and bump up our savings a bit.
I’m not sure if it’s going to stick, but we hit our net worth milestone of $30,000 yesterday. Our last net worth milestone was in September, 2007.
After the great market upswing today, our currently net worth is $30,350.57, putting us at 63.49% of our $47,800 net worth goal for the year. Note: Our current net worth status bar will not be updated until the end of the month, as usual.
God willing, we should hit our $40,000 net worth milestone by October this year.
Our economic stimulus payments will issued according to the last two-digits of the main filer’s Social Security number. People who use direct deposit will be among the first to receive the payments starting May 2. Paper checks will be put in the mail starting May 16. Here’s a link with the date you can expect your economic stimulus payment:http://www.irs.gov/irs/article/0,,id=180250,00.html
Our path to financial independence and retiring early.
