Income and Expenses: May to June

Let’s get down to the nitty gritty details. For some, dividend investing creates a source of supplemental income that can be used for a variety of needs. I, on the other hand wish to use the income from my dividend yielding investments to retire from the traditional workforce early. In order to do so, I must be willing to track my income and expenses regularly Meticulous bookkeeping will keep me on track and expose areas I need to improve on.
In my first blog post I mentioned how fortunate I have been in life. When it comes to my expenses this is equally true. When not at school, I live with my parents for free, including utilities and food. This is a huge advantage compared to staying in Phoenix and paying for rent. My parents currently cover my cell phone bill at all times, and utilities, plus food while I am home. Aside from my cell phone bill I cover everything else, from car insurance and maintenance, to entertainment and spending money.

If you have been keeping up with my blog and read my post on Tools Of The Trade you might’ve noticed that I left a tool out of that article. I did this on purpose, and will be posting a separate article on Personal Capital in the future.

This is the first income and expenses report so it isn’t particularly consistent l, but that should clear up from here on out. This article will cover cash flow from May forward.

Income




A majority of my income can be attributed to the deposits category. This is because any transaction that took place while I was at school was conducted in cash. This is a combination of profit and principle from these mini-investments. These relatively large amount of cash deposits will not be regular over the summer. The other income category is pretty simple to explain. The $300 came from receiving a sign-up bonus to create a Chase checking account. All I had to do was trigger two direct deposits and I received $300 to do with what I wanted. I took advantage of this offer because I was able to meet the, "keep this account free" requirements and could collect my "free money". Paychecks and salary have come in a bit light so far because when I am home for school I work through a local temp agency. So far this work has been inconsistent and rather disappointing in length of assignment. I look forward to this picking up around mid to late June as it did last year. Lastly, interest income is comprised of interest paid from my two online Barclays bank accounts. These accounts yield 1.00% and 1.05% monthly.





Expenses





This month I had a slightly larger than normal personal expense report. I normally have no postage and shipping charges. That transaction was another mini investment as I noted above. Excluding that outlier, my achilles heel has been restaurants, though even this is inflated. My last few days at school the dining halls were closed and I was forced to eat out. I try not to make a habit of it but, rewarding yourself with a great meal is often very worthwhile especially since I like to consider myself a budding foodie. The small amount of groceries was a one time expense where I picked up a few things from the store on the way home from work. Another expense that isn’t listed,include car insurance which is payed in cash to my parents. This expense totaled $70 which covers storage while I was at school and full coverage while home for the summer.



So far my saved income percentage is 88%. This number is inflated due to having very few real bills. I need to take advantage of this time to save as much as possible before I incur some actual expenses. For now though, I will just consider this a test run!


What about you?
Do you track your expenses?
Does saved income percentage hold as much weight with you?
Let me know down below!

I am a 21 year old kid who seeks to create a life of financial independence via passive income. The accumulation and growth of quality dividend yielding stocks will be the main source of income and this is my journey.

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