by Michael
As usual, it is time for another expense report. This time for September 2023.
Expenses
| Housing | 1352 |
| Utilities | 230 |
| Groceries | 365 |
| Discretionary | 71 |
| Other | 0 |
| Total | 2018 |
Housing
Housing was $1352. As per usual at this point.
Utilities
My utilities for the month were $230. I expect this to rise somewhat starting in October or November as it starts to cool off. I have finally turned the heat back on as it is supposed to start getting cold at night.
Groceries
My groceries were $369. This is a little higher than my goal of $300 a month, I’ll have to take a look at the more expensive meals I made this month.
Discretionary
My discretionary expenses were $71. Golfing was okay. I don’t think I’m much of a golfer though. I expect it to be high in October as some family is visiting for a week.
My goal fund currently has $145. I think I might be a little low on my goal of $400 by December when I have an expense coming up.
Other
My other expenses were $0. The value that I prefer it at.
Total
In total I spent $2,018. My expenses for the month came in under my goal of $2,100 so that’s going well. Other than that, I’m not expecting much to change.
Income
My income for the month was $6,594. The table below shows the sources of that income. Currently, I do not include investment income in that total. I did just bite the bullet and finally max out my Roth ira this month, all extra take-home pay will be going towards my taxable now rather than the old split.
| Source | Amount ($) |
| Take-home | 4234 |
| Retirement | 2360 |
| Total | 6594 |
Account balances
| Account Type | Amount |
| Cash | 16000 |
| Taxable | 72700 |
| Retirement | 58300 |
| Total | 147000 |
The graph below tracks my change in net worth since I started tracking it in January 2023.
A slight dip this month, but when I look at the change in the market over the past month it looks like a little bit less of a dip than the market took overall this month. I’m not too concerned overall, the market goes up and it goes down. Hopefully by next month it’s back to trending up and to the right. It’s just more data to point to for down markets. I think since I graduated, this is the first time my net worth has been down month to month including contributions. That’s kind of neat that my portfolio is can bounce enough month to month to outstrip my contributions.
Savings Rate
This month, my savings rate was: 68.7%. Above my goal of 66% a month, that’s pretty good.
My average savings rate Year to Date is: 62%. I don’t think I’ll quite be able to bump it up to 66% this year. But I’ll keep trying.
Much like the net worth graph, the graph below tracks my savings rate month to month. This is to help me track long-term trends regarding my savings.
Overall still rather up and down month to month. I’d like to calm down some of the volatility in this graph.
Goal Updates
| Goal | Term | Type | Progress |
| Expand Emergency Fund | Short | One time | 100 |
| Workout 5 days a week | Short | Continuous | On Track |
| Repair Forge | Medium | One time | 25 |
| Enroll in a Spanish Course | Medium | One time | 0 |
| Reduce Spending in a Category | Medium | Annual | 75 |
| Repair 3D Printers | Medium | One time | On hold |
| Expand Potted Garden | Medium | One time | 100 |
| Net worth 150,000 | Long | One Time | 98 |
| Learn Spanish Verb Conjugation | Long | One time | 30 |
| Set New Workout Goals | Long | Annual | On Track |
| Reach FI | Longer | Continuous | 9.8 |
| Expand Engineering Skills | Longer | Continuous | On Track |
| Obtain some Degree of Fluency in Spanish | Longer | Continuous | On Track |
| Maintain Retirement Contributions | Longer | Continuous | On Track |
| Increase Savings Rate | Longer | Continuous | N/A |
| Expand workout Regime | Longer | One Time | On Track |
I thought I’d hit my savings goal for the year this month but that wasn’t the case. Hopefully either next month or the month after. But I don’t have a lot of control over if the market trends up or down too much.
That’s it for this month. I’ll see you all next month.
