31-Dec-2013
31-Mar-2014
30-Apr-2014
MoM
YTD
cash
$13,500
$8,800
$8,000
-$800
-$5,500
savings
$27,400
$22,100
$22,300
+$200
-$5,100
investments
$134,600
$145,600
$148,000
+$2,300
+1.6%
+$13,400
+10.0%
mortgage
$187,600
$177,000
$174,500
+$2,500
+1.4%
+$15,900
+7.0%
net worth
$345,900
$357,500
$361,800
+$4,200
+1.2%
+$15,900
+4.6%
assets – debts
(gap)
$12,100
$500
$3,800
+$4,200
+1050.0%
+$15,900
+131.4%
liquid assets – debts
$49,000
$39,900
$36,700
$3,200
+8.0%
$12,300
+25.1%
April was pretty much exactly the same increase as March in terms of savings, investments, and mortgage. My total monetary assets are now worth more than my mortgage! That’s pretty exciting. I’m now tracking the difference between my liquid assets and my mortgage, which should become a positive number sometime this summer.
I saved 59% of my net income in April! I’ve been a bit disappointed with that after the last half of 2013 where I was spending far over $2,000 extra to the mortgage each month. But, my net discretionary income is down a bit this year due to a variety of factors and unless I want to reduce some spending, that is the number that I’m going to have to live with for now.
Expenses: I spent $4,330 in April after the mortgage or $3,300 without it. So far, my total spending for 2014 is $17,020, which is $51,060 annualized. To hit my $38,500 spending goal for the year, I need to spend no more than an average of $2,685/month over the remaining 8 months this year.
Some of my controllable expenses broke down as follows:
$100 Athletic wear – a new pair of yoga crops and a new tank top
($232) Jeans – returned two from last month
$33 Skirts – a black maxi skirt
$131 Summer pants – four pairs via online shopping. I’ll pick two of the colors and return the other two.
$56 Bras
$37 Socks - turned out that almost all of mine had holes in them, so I threw out a ton and bought some more.
$201 Tops – 4 v-neck t-shirts, two long-sleeved v-necks, two white camisoles (mine needed replacing), two button-down shirts, and a grey cardigan (mine needed replacing). I’m still not fully decided on the button-downs, but I still have some time to return them.
$16 Underwear – stocking up some more.
(Yes, that was $342 on just clothing/shoes this month.)
$158 Entertainment/Social – And we’re back to a more normal month for this year. [average this year: $223, last year: $224] This was about half eating out with friends / half date nights.
$16 Eating out by myself [average this year: $12, last year: $25]
$48 Groceries – this was mostly chocolate, some of my online grocery purchases, and random items [average this year: $225, last year: $152] I’ll pay next month for two.
$179 Work lunches [average this year: $155, last year: $77] – That isn’t too bad of an increase from last year given that I’ve been eating out every day.
$60 Internet – Accidentally overpaid by $7.
$170 Electricity – this is for February/March
$0 Household goods [average this year: $14, last year: $29]
Property taxes – first half
$51 Medical bills
$40 Eyebrows
$33 Toiletries [average this year: $14, last year: $31]
$134 Recreation (one barre class and one month at a new yoga studio that I’m liking so far)
$57 Furnishings: upgrading the other thermostat
I foresee myself buying another sports bra ($60), a new pair of running shoes ($100), another skirt ($70), and two more workout tank tops ($40-100), for a total of $270-330 of further clothing spending this year. We’ll see how that actually plays out. As of November, none of my jeans, pants, or skirts fit anymore. I have some that are up to 8 years old and they don’t fit. I’m trying to only buy two items of my new size in each type, but it still does add up a bit. I’m counting the first two items as a need and anything further as a want. (A new pair of running shoes per year is also a need based on how much I use them – I probably walk about 2,000 miles per year.)
Savings: $22,300 (up $200)
These funds are spread across a Chase savings account, a general online savings account, a checking account that gets free ATM fees anywhere in the world, and my health savings account.
The change here comes from:
Paycheck contributions to my health savings account (March)
I’ve decided to keep the Chase savings account open even though I could now close it with no penalty as it has come in handy a few times, for example to get a deposit rather than a statement credit for credit card rewards and then immediately send them to the mortgage. Plus, it is only the opportunity cost on $300, which at the Ally online savings account rates loses me $2.55/year.
Investments: $148,000 (up $2,300 or +1.6%)
This includes my Roth and Traditional 401(k), my 401(k) employer matching (fully vested!), my Roth IRA, my taxable investments including stock index funds and Series I Savings Bonds.
The change here comes from:
~$600 in stock market gains and interest
March paycheck 401(k) contribution and employer matching
Mortgage: $174,500 (down $2,500 or -1.4%)
Some statistics here:
2.5%: the interest rate on my 5/1 ARM
February 2018: when the interest rate on my mortgage is set to reset, possibly to 7.5%
3: months of payments eliminated with this month’s pre-payments
$1,800.00: extra payments made on the mortgage this month
$3.75: interest this month’s extra payments will save me on the next regular payment
35.6%: portion of my regular payment went to interest (originally was 59%)
51.2%: amount of equity in my condo, assuming purchase price
39.0%: amount of the mortgage I’ve paid down
Just plugging along here this month.
TOTAL: $361,800 (up $4,200 or +1.2%)
I ended 2013 with a net worth of $345,900, so I’ve seen a change of +$15,900 or +4.6% so far this year. I’ve set the y-axis on this graph to $465,000 so we can see how my net worth grows towards that throughout the year.
And let’s take a look at how I did on April’s goals:
Only use the Chase Sapphire Preferred visa for spending until I’ve spent the remaining $868.33. (Once I’ve hit that amount, put my Amazon.com purchases back on auto-pay to the Amazon.com visa, use the Chase Freedom for the 5% restaurants, and use the Barclaycard for everything else. Move any auto-pays from the Chase Sapphire Preferred to the Barclaycard.) SUCCESS! All done with the churning. I think I’ve had enough of that for a bit!
Try biking to work on the nice days. This should cut my commute about in half. FAIL! I did this once and then started going to yoga after work and this didn’t happen again.
Send $1,800 to the mortgage on pay day. SUCCESS! I sent exactly $1,800 to the mortgage on pay day.
Be more realistic about my productivity possibilities at work if I have a lot of meetings on a particular day. SUCCESS! I definitely think I got better at this.
Work on Operation Penguin* with my boyfriend. (*code name has nothing to do with what it actually is) SUCCESS! I’m still not revealing what it is, but it is done.
Now for some new goals for May:
Find and buy a second skirt. (I’m currently eyeing eShakti.)
Use my debit card for the small transactions – under $6 restaurants, under $15 2% cashback, and under $30 1% cashback.
Decide what to do about the new yoga studio. Do I want to buy a yoga towel or a better yoga mat? A better bag to make carrying my yoga mat to work and then to yoga easier? What I have now (an $8 yoga mat, no towel) is definitely not going to work if I want to keep going to hot yoga.
Enjoy spring!
Trust my gut instincts more at work. I’m no longer a newbie and I do know more than I think I do.
Send $1,800 to the mortgage on pay day.
Add X% of the gross of my bonus to my donations budget and send the rest of it to the mortgage. I am super excited about how my finances will look at the end of May!
Clean the balcony.
Call my parents four times. (I’ve been lacking on this lately.)
