Income Statement

July 2009 Income Statement

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We did a great job of keeping our spending down and bringing money in this month (click on spreadsheet below), that’s $1,200 less than last month.



We only spent $5,214.45 this month. That includes $233.50 for 6 months prepaid life insurance for my wife and I, $120.09 on gifts, $149.34 for the 4th of July, and $47.88 on a new tire (pro-rated).


In addition to our regular salaries, I received a third “extra” check, my wife received her $110 company internet and cell phone reimbursements, our old insurance company gave us a $371 refund, and we earned $25.00 in credit card rewards. We also earned $6.50 in interest income from our online savings account.


Next month should be a pretty standard income month, but we may have a couple of large expenses.



Net Worth

July Net Worth Update (+$5,033.72)

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I know I’m getting lazy with posting, but at least I’m still posting our net worth data.

July was another strong month. Our net worth increased $5,033.72 from last month, to a total of $44,651.53 (click on spreadsheet below).

What Worked
July was a nice month. I receive a third “extra” paycheck, we deposited $1,000 into our savings account, and we plowed money into our retirement accounts (401k, Roth IRAs, & Traditional IRA). We contributed a total of $1,743.52 to our retirement accounts and saw them increase to a total of $3,835.21. We also increased my 401(k) contribution from 5% to 8%.

What Didn’t Work
Nothing to enter for July; we are very blessed.

Next Month
August should be a good month. There may be a couple of large expenses that limit what we can save, but we’ll see.

Income Statement

June 2009 Income Statement

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Last month I said we’d tighten our belts in June, and I’m happy to report that we did pretty good controlling our expenses this month (click on spreadsheet below).



We spent just over $6,444.45 this month. This was our first full month of living in our rental unit, which helped reduce our costs of living. One large unexpected bill, we do to switching insurance companies in June. We had to pay a total of $1,296.70 for 12 months of auto and renters insurance. We also had to have my wife’s wedding ring appraised for insurance purposes, costing us $135.94. If you subtract out the large insurance related costs, our expenses for the June drop to $5,011.81.



In addition to our regular salaries, my wife received her $110 company internet and cell phone reimbursements and we received a total of $131.02 in credit card rewards. We’ve both been charging a lot of business expenses to our rewards credit cards. Since we are both reimburse for these expenses, the credit card rewards are truly free money.


Next month should be another very reasonable month for expenses. Incomewise, I will receive a third “extra” paycheck next month but my take home per check will drop slightly because my 3% contribution increase to my 401(k) will kick in. We should also receive a small prorated refund from our old insurance company.



Net Worth

June Net Worth Update (+$6,366.15)

After a crazy May in which our net worth dropped $12,703.04. June turned out to be a great turnaround month. Our net worth increased $6,366.15 from last month, to a total of $39,617.81 (click on spreadsheet below).

What Worked
We piled $1,675.19 into our retirement accounts (401k, Roth IRAs, & Traditional IRA) and saw them increase to a total of $2,110.87. We also deposited $3,815.08 into our savings account, $1,795.08 of which is from our 1st mortgage that we are not clear if we do or don’t owe.

What Didn’t Work
I have nothing to enter here, thank God.

Next Month
July should be another strong month. I receive a third “extra” paycheck next month and my wife may be receiving her first quarterly bonus from her new company. My 3% contribution increase to my 401(k) will also kick in next month, bringing my total contribution to 8%.

Business Travel

Traveling Perks

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I just returned from a business trip and am happy to be home. Each trip, I try to earn as many “kickbacks” as possible.


Delta SkyMiles

Before my trip, I started with 29,233 SkyMiles (after using over 100,000 miles to get two free tickets to Hawaii in September. I now have 32,928 SkyMiles, but need them to still give me credit for part of my trip. My total should increase 1,500-2,000 SkyMiles once that is done. Since I am Silver Medaliion status, I was also upgraded to first class during one leg, each way.


Holiday Inn Priority Club Reward

I stayed at Holiday Inn’s each night which increased my points from 15,737 to 21,592. I now have enough for one free night. A couple of the Holiday Inn’s that I stayed at will be emailing me surveys to fill out that will give me an extra 1,000 points.


HSBC Credit Card Cash Back Rewards

I spent enough money on business expenses to earn a $25 HSBC Credit Card Cash Back Reward. My company reimburses me all of my expenses, so this is totally free money.


I will be traveling again next month and look forward to racking up the perks.

Income

Already Thinking About Next Years Taxes

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Since short selling our condo, my wife and I have taken a few steps to help reduce our tax bill for next year, since we won’t have the large mortgage interest write off.

  • When my wife started her new job a couple of months ago, she only claimed 1 dependent to have more taxes withheld (she usually claims 2).
  • We just increased my 401(k) contribution from 5% to 8% to reduce our AGI. This will go into effect beginning my July 1st paycheck.
  • When my wife’s company has their 401(k) open enrollment, she will increase her contribution from 5% to 8% to reduce our AGI.

We’ll still have some mortgage interest we can write off since we just sold the condo, but hopefully these extra steps will help minimize what we owe next April 15th.

Income Statement

May 2009 Income Statement

As I outlined in my May Net Worth post, it’s been a crazy month (click on spreadsheet below).


As far as income goes, it’s actually been a above average. In additional to our regular salaries, my wife received an unexpected $1,000 bonus ($536.65 net), $110 in reimbursements, and we received $125 is credit card rewards. Pretty good.


It terms of expenses, money absolutely flew out of our accounts in May. We spent ~$9,500 with our short sale and move. In addition, we spent $980.46 for a new bedroom set, $204.79 for my Wife’s medical bill, and $270 for our dog’s annual shots and teeth cleaning. Since we were blowing through money, it was easy to get a bunch of misc little things too that added up to a few hundred dollars.


Next month, we tighten our belts.

Net Worth

May Net Worth Update (-$12,703.04)

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May was the craziest month we’ve had in quite awhile. We ended up short selling our condo and moving into a rental unit. The rental unit is twice the size of our old place and will save us $1,000/month. Because of this, our net worth dropped $12,703.04 from last month to $33,251.66 (click on spreadsheet below).

Since the short sale is better for us in the long term, but not great in the short term, I’m skipping my standard “what worked” and “what didn’t work” in this net worth post. Here are the details for May, good or bad:

The costs involved with selling our condo and getting a new place totally decimated our savings account. Here’s a quick rundown:

  • $5,000 cash to our 2nd mortgage as part of the short sale deal
  • $2,050 for rental deposit
  • $2,015 prorated rent for new place
  • $260 for movers

On top of all of that, we spent:

  • $980.46 for new bedroom set
  • $204.79 Wife’s medical bill
  • $270 for dog’s annual shots & teeth cleaning

With all of the cash outlay, our cash and savings dropped to $4,122.93. We should be able to start building our cash back up with $1,000 we are saving every month renting. We contributed a total of $1,025.19 to our retirement accounts, and saw them increase $2,945.13. Our taxable accounts also increased $198.76.

I’m not sure what to expect for next month yet. We’ll still be dealing with some of the transition costs from owner a condo to renting. God willing, we should be able to start filling our savings account back up.

General

$1,000 bonus – spent!

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My wife and I already spent her unexpected $1,000 bonus she learned about on Thursday. Yeah, it didn’t take us long.

We purchased a new bedroom set yesterday for $920 including tax, delivery and set-up. The photo below is of the complete set, but we only purchased the bed, nightstand, and the dresser (without the mirror).

We had planned to pull money out of savings to get a bedroom set, so word of her extra bonus came at a perfect time.

-1MansMoney

Career, Income

$1,000 Unexpected Bonus

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My wife was informed by her company yesterday that she will be receiving a $1,000 bonus this weekend. This is in addition to regular bonus that she should receive in July.


Her company has exceeded their sales targets and, therefore, they are hooking up all of the sales reps. This is a huge blessing. We’re going to use the money to buy a bedroom set that we were planning to pull money out of savings for.

My wife has been doing such an awesome job with her new company. She’s working hand-in-hand with the VP to secure a huge account. They have a meeting with the account next week that will include both the VP and CEO of her company. Talk about great face time!

Our path to financial independence and retiring early.