Financial Update – September 2017

Each month I will post an update on my finances to both give you, the reader, some insight into my situation and to give me markers of my progress on my financial journey. My updates consist of two parts:

• Financial Progress Table – Tracks net worth progress.
• Spending Table – Compares monthly spending to an average (for me) “bare bones” budget, keeping me accountable for additional expenses.

For now, monthly updates include only my personal net worth and spending. As my fiancé and I combine our finances, updates will shift to cover going values instead.

Financial Progress

Each net worth goal in the Financial Progress table is broken down into undisclosed units of money. My current goal is to reach “Financial Freedom.” By the time I reach this goal I will have:

• A retirement account that can support us when my fiancé hits 65
• Two college savings funds funded for four years of in-state public university tuition, room, and board
• An emergency fund for six or more months of living expenses
• Sufficient liquidity for my fiancé and/or I to make a career change with one to two years’ runway
• A mortgage less than two times my gross salary without bonuses

Once “Financial Freedom” is achieved, the focus will then working be towards “Financial Equilibrium”, where the income from investments covers all our ongoing expenses.

	Goal	Current	Last Month	Progress
Cash	1	1.18	1.15	0.03
After-tax investments	5	1.04	0.88	0.16
Retirement	5	3.41	3.36	0.05
Debt	8	8.36	8.37	0.01
Distance From Goal (units/months)	5.73	23	Total Progress (units)	0.25

Spending

I’ve created a “bare bones” budget which represents the average minimum amount I can expect to spend each month. This is the minimum amount I need to comfortably live in case of a job loss, emergency, etc. I expect to frequently go over my “bare bones” budget in a number of categories (here’s looking at you, “Groceries & Dining), but I want to remain accountable to myself when I do so.

For privacy reasons, there are two things I do not include in my spending updates: my monthly mortgage and charitable donations (pegged at 10% of my net income).

	Bare Bones	Actual	Difference	Notes
Home- Taxes, Insurance, and Repair	500.00	678.38	178.38	Home deep cleaning
Transportation	84.50	100.35	15.85	Monthly subway pass, one Lyft
Groceries & Dining	400.00	723.54	323.54	11 work lunches, 6 dinners, organic groceries (veggie CSA, pasture raised meats CSA, etc.)
Utilities and Phone	125.00	129.86	4.86	Gas, electric, internet, and phone (no split due to Fiancé unemployment)
Gym Membership	25.00	25.00	0.00	Minor injury suspended parkour membership
Household/Personal Care	50.00	58.79	8.79	Teak cutting board, ibuprofen refill, razors, hair ties
Other	200.00	457.81	257.81	Vermiculite, light jacket, athletic leggings, hosiery, freeze credit reports, three tv series, four movie rentals, theater ticket, Freedom app, theme park tickets
Total	1384.50	2173.73	789.23

Money Summary

Due to fit issues, I ended up returning my suit. The hunt continues. But I did buy quite a lot of other clothing including Lululemon tights that are so comfy during my workouts and nude hosiery.

Other big overages due to home cleaning, which for now we’re not making a recurring expense after all, theme park visit as an anniversary celebration with my Little Sis, and of course food, my eternal weakness. Between Fiancé and my visit to fancy restaurant for my birthday and lots of eating out, it all added up quickly. Someday I’ll figure out how to spend less on eating, maybe.

How were your finances in September?

 

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