I just returned from another business trip and earned 6,216 Delta SkyMiles. This brings me to a total of 49,939 SkyMiles. I also used my rewards credit card for all business expenses during the trip, earning us a $25 cash back reward.
I leave town again in a 1-1/2 weeks and may reach Gold Medallion status, resulting in double the SkyMiles every time I fly for the next 12 months.
Once again, my company increased everyone’s salary by 10% of the amount they were reduced back in February.
My salary was reduced 10%, so it will go back up 1%, or ~$700/year. This is the third increase since the reduction for a total of ~$2,100. My company is working hard to get everyone back up to their original salaries.
You can’t ask for much more in this tough economy.
We had a pretty average income and expense month in September (click on spreadsheet below).
Our largest expense for the month was our amazing 6 day vacation to
Here’s a breakdown of our vacation costs:
Flights: Free thanks to frequent flyer miles
Hotel: $773.70 (wife found a good deal)
Rental Car: $244.55 (wife found a good deal)
Food & Entertainment: $769.44
Other large expenses for September include an extra $1,900 payment to our auto loan and $116.75 at the shooting range.
Our income for the month consisted of our regular salaries and my wife’s $110 company reimbursement. My company bumped everyone’s salaries up again, resulting in another 1% increase to my salary (it was also increased 1% last month). We also earned $1.48 in interest income from our online savings account.
Next month, there are no large expenses planned, other than continuing to pay down our auto loan at an accelerated rate with a goal of having it paid off by the end of the year.
September increased $3,411.14 from last month (link), to a total of $53,536.19 (click on spreadsheet below).
What Worked
September was a great month. We were blessed with another 1% increase to my salary (it was also increased 1% last month). We paid and extra $1,900 to my auto loan. We contributed a total of $1,592.71 to our retirement accounts (401k & Roth IRAs) and saw our retirement accounts increase to a total of $3,220! We sold 86 shares of our 106 shares of Bank of America stock for a 20% gain. We applied the proceeds to our auto loan.
What Didn’t Work
We took a vacation to
Next Month
October should be a good month. I will be traveling for 2 weeks of the month, so our expenses will likely be lower than usual. We also plan to make another large extra payment to my auto loan.
We are on a mission to pay off our 6.5% interest auto loan ASAP. Last month, we paid an extra $6,250 to principle. This month, we’ve paid an extra $1,900 to principle on our auto loan. Most of the money for this payment came from the sale of 86 shares of our Bank of America stock. We are making good headway.
We sold 86 shares of our Bank of America stock today for $17.50/share. We purchased 106 shares of the stock for $14.00/share back in January, so after fees, we earned over a 20% gain. That’s a lot more than we would have earned keeping the money in our savings account for 9 months.
Selling the 86 shares basically cashes out the $1,500 that we originally invested. We’re going to let the remaining 20 shares ride. This is money (currently ~$350) can now grow without any risk to our original $1,500.
More good news! My company again is increasing everyone’s salary by 10% of the amount they were reduced back in February.
My salary was reduced 10%, so it will go back up 1%, or ~$700/year. My company did the same thing last month, meaning I’ve earned back ~$1,400 of my ~$7,000 salary reduction.
This is a great trend and a blessing in these tough times.
Our income statement spreadsheet (click on spreadsheet below) for August shows total expenses of $12,685!
While that number is startling, August was, in fact, a pretty reasonable spending month. If you subtract $6250 in extra auto loan payments and $850 for a boat tower, our expenses only totaled $5,585. That’s pretty close to our $4,919.55 budget.
In addition to our regular salaries, we earned $111.35 in credit card rewards and my wife received a $896 ($480.84 net) quarterly bonus and her $110 company reimbursements. We also earned $4.26 in interest income from our online savings account. My wife’s 15% 401(k) contribution (increased from 5%) kicked in her 2nd check in August.
Next month, there are no large expenses planned, but our net income will be less because we increased my wife’s 401(k) contribution from 5% to 15%.
I already spilled the beans in my August New Worth post, but we passed the net worth milestone of $50,000! There, now it’s official.
We hit our last net worth milestone of $40,000 in 12 months ago, in August 2008. With the depressed economy and short selling our condo, reaching a net worth of $50,000 has taken us a bit longer than expected. Nevertheless, that doesn’t take away from how great it feels to hit this goal.
Thank God for all of our blessings!
We’ve been blessed to string together 3 strong net worth increase months in a row. Our net worth in August increased $5,473.52 from last month, to a total of $50,125.05 (click on spreadsheet below). That means we’ve passed the $50,000 net worth milestone!
What Worked
August was full of nice surprises. We received my wife’s $896 ($480.84 net) quarterly bonus a month earlier than we expected, my pay was increased 1%, and we decided spontaneously to pay $6,250 extra to my auto loan. We contributed a total of $1,181.48 to our retirement accounts (401k & Roth IRAs) and saw our retirement accounts increase to a total of $3,814.65! We increased my wife’s 401(k) contribution from 5% to 15%, starting with her 2nd paycheck in August. That’s makes her new total 401(k) contribution $346.88 a check or $8,325.12 a year.
What Didn’t Work
August was a great month. Thank God.
Next Month
September looks like it will be good month. I want to take a moment to say that if you haven’t seen the movie “Pursuit of Happyness“, it’s a must see. I just caught it on TV for the 2nd time. It’s the true story of a single dad fighting for a stockbroker position at Dean Witter, while facing challenges such as a period of homelessness and trouble with the IRS.
