Friday, April 10, 2009

March 09 Recap

I love the month of March. It's bonus time, it's usually tax refund time, and this year, it was even a stock market rally time! My net worth is up by 10.5%, to as much as $312,721. (Again, I perhaps should express this as a range of maybe $300-312k due to the current real estate market, though I have my reasons for thinking the higher end of my range is still not too far fetched-- this is based on specific info in my area and my price range, not overall averages for Brooklyn or NYC. But it is definitely a fuzzy area right now, so I'll keep this open-ended until I have more info on which to base a change.) You can see the details at NetworthIQ.

As for income and expenses:
In addition to my salary, I got a bonus which came to a little over $5,000 after taxes and 401k deductions. A lot less than last year, but hey, it's something! I also got my Federal tax refund of $2,995, so the inflows were much higher than usual this month.

For expenses, this month I'll do the detailed dump from Quicken.

Business expense -$32.19 (reimbursement)
Clothing $67.37
Education $41.00
Books $55.23
Movies $5.41
Entertainment - Other -$20.00 (paid back for something)
Internet Access $29.95
Newspapers $42.40
Gifts Given $1.07
(a card)
Personal care $104.00
Misc - Other $514.84 (accountant fee & other misc)
Laundry $8.75
Household - Other $37.51
Dental -$219.44 (insurance reimbursement)
Flex spend $41.66
Health Insurance $74.20
Commute $76.00
Gas & Electric $104.44
Telephone $75.75



Dining:

Breakfast $21.78
Dinner $273.77
Groceries $178.80
Lunch $116.80
Liquor $0.00
(Wow!)



Taxes:

Federal $3,347.38
Medicare $284.33
NYC tax $593.67
SDI $2.60
Soc Sec $1,215.74
State $1,063.20



Housing $2,074.17



TOTAL $10,180.19

I should also note that I contributed $3,560.78 to my 401k this month from salary and bonus deductions.

Next month it will be back to the dreary reality of just getting my salary, plus a smaller state tax refund that just hit in April. But hopefully I will continue to keep my spending in line, and fingers crossed that the markets cooperate to push my net worth upward... and onward!

6 comments:

r&b said...

Wow, $0 on liquor, good job :)

Anonymous said...

Next month is a 3 paycheck month!

Karen said...

For getting your tax refund and a bonus I think you did a great job of not splurging in March. I don't know if I could exert such self control : )

Alison | Quest for Balance said...

Seeing your March results reminds me that I forgot to calculate my own returns this past month. Oops! ...which also reminds me that for times like this, I need to see if I can get access to my month-end totals for all of my accounts.

S.D. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
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