Tuesday, October 05, 2010

3rd Quarter Recap

I've fallen behind on my monthly recaps-- the last one was for June, so today I'll just catch up by doing a summary for July-September.

Income:
I got some retroactive pay relating to my recent raise, so my income was high this quarter:
Salary $25,831
Interest Income $87
Other Income (employer 401k contributions) $775

Expenses:

Taxes
$6,908
Housing $2,290
Dining $2,003
Travel $1,038
Misc $931
Clothing $747
Business expense $694
Utilities $686
Medical $409
Gifts Given $286
Household $260
Subscriptions $194
Education $100
Outflows - Other $80
Charity $50
Entertainment $41
Bank Charge $36

Some notes:
Housing was lower than usual as I got a refund of over-escrowed property taxes
Dining and Travel are a bit out of whack because I took a 10-day vacation with Sweetie, and we still haven't worked out who owes whom what. But it was a relatively cheap vacation since I got the tickets with frequent flyer miles.
Miscellaneous includes a few hundred dollars spent on some prints during the trip, one of which was for Sweetie.
The business expense is for work and will be reimbursed.
I was surprised to see that Clothing was so high, but then I remembered that I'd bought some shirts and a dress that cost almost $150. It's funny, I never wear dresses but I saw that one and just had to have it! Now I need an occasion at which to wear it...
Outflows Other was the fee for renewing my driver's license, which I'd forgotten to categorize.

My net savings for the 3 months were $9,938, more than a third of my gross income.

As for net worth, as of the end of September, it was $448,062, an increase of $40,883, or about 10% from the end of June.
Cash, CDs, Bank Accounts: $69,355
Stocks/Mutual Funds (non-retirement): $22,236
Bonds: $5,091
Retirement Accounts (401k and Roth IRA): $272,805
Home Equity: $81,490
Credit Card (paid in full every month): $2,915

I'm starting to feel too cash-heavy again. I need to shift some more money into more aggressive investments, but I've been lazy about doing my research. Part of me wants to invest in some individual blue-chip stocks again if I can find some that seem undervalued, but the other part of me remembers that I've had mixed luck with that in the past, and thinks I should just go with some more Vanguard funds!
And as usual, home equity is a rough estimate. I decreased my valuation back in June, and occasionally see other stats that make me think I could raise it a wee bit again, but I'm not going to worry too much about it. I have wondered if I should re-finance my mortgage, though...

Anyway, the numbers are all pretty good-- the important thing is that I'm controlling what I can control and consistently adding to my savings, even though I've been sort of on financial auto-pilot for the last few months. But it's time to dig a little deeper into the investing side of things again, to make sure I'm using my savings well. Onwards and upwards!

8 comments:

simplesimon said...

I might have missed a past post about you feeling "cash heavy", but what determines how much cash you should have? X months of living expenses?

For investment purposes, I am all about the Vanguard funds. =)

Anonymous said...

I love your updates. I think it's funny that you comment on the $150 dress, but a couple shirts equal 600 dollars and there's no comment. :)

What kind of gifts do you give every month? Is this just a miscellaneous category or are you really giving gifts all the time.

Net worth is skyrocketing. You go!
-tasha

Madame X said...

Tasha, the other $600 was more than the couple of shirts, but I can't remember what I bought! I've been been trying to figure it out but there was over $200 at Banana Republic that is a mystery to me. I think I bought some socks for Sweetie, but I know there was more!
And gifts are random little things, like $20 towards someone's baby shower at work, family birthdays, etc.

SimpleSimon, I haven't posted recently about how much cash I feel I need to have on hand, but I probably don't need as much of an emergency fund as I have now. I will post more about that topic soon.

Anonymous said...

Last year, I refinanced with my current lender from 5.375% to 4.875%, saving almost $200 a month. It took roughly 15 months to recoup the fees, though I pay extra per month (I was used to paying x amount every month, so I keep paying that, and the extra goes toward principal.) Unfortunately, after I refinanced, I saw that the lender (Chase) offered a 1% cashback annually (their calculator said I would get back $143 a year, which doesn't sound like much, but still.)

Nick said...

wow! Impressive! If you really want to test your mind on investment matters start looking into infinite banking. I must say it' the smartest thing I've done with my money..ever. No more worrying about what stocks will rise and fall, and no more trying to play catch up after a major loss. let me know what you think.

clean credit rating said...

Really nice! you know not everyone can actually do your planning. I'm happy that you are able to list down your expenses and share it with us. I'm impress that even though you have expenses you never forget to save and invest. Good job.

hun said...

thanks for articles.

Courtney said...

Just a little disappointed that out of $25,000 only $50 was given to charity? I've been obsessed with saving money for years but find that when I take 10% off the top to give, I'm blessed by always having more than enough.