February '15 Wrap Up

Another month down and its time to review. Last month I tried to separating my monthly wrap up into three posts: budget, net worth, and goals and I think I will stick with that format for the time being.

Expenses:
My expenses are listed to the side. On each line I have the budgeted amount per month, the actual
amount spent for the month of February.

My total expenses were just over $2,620, which is a little over my planned expenses. So it was a much better month than last month. My groceries, dinner/drinks, clothes and car budgets were all over. My dinner/drinks budget was particularly worrisome, we had one rather expensive meal but also simply went out too much this month. I'll need to work harder in March to keep that budget down.

INCOME:
Paycheck: $7,433. It was a very good month for income, in addition to some overtime, this month we received our yearly bonus.

% Expenses = 35%  of income. Not bad at all. But this was really due to bonus income, otherwise my expense rate would have been pretty mediocre. This brings my expense rate for the year down to 62% which is much more manageable than the 104% expense rate I started the year out with.

Dividend Income:
 This month I earned $178 without lifting a finger, not bad. That brings my total dividends for the year to $328. The following companies paid me this month:

Date	Symbol	Shares	Dividend
2/2/2015	VZ	30	0.55	16.5
2/2/2015	T	103	0.47	48.41
2/17/2015	KMI	104	0.45	46.8
2/17/2015	OHI	65	0.53	34.45
2/24/2015	HCP	56	0.565	31.64

Overall a good month but definitely needs improvement if I really want to hit all of my goals.

How about you? How was your February?


-Nick

Photo Credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net