May Goals Update

It is full on summer here in the Pacific Northwest. Which is great when I am outside enjoying it but torturous at work.

GOALS

Financial

Expense rate under 45% of my net income.  C

My expense rate was 51% of my income, which isn't bad but I am way behind on this goal for the year at 61% so I need to start making up some ground with some 40% months.
 
Establish an emergency fund and automatically deposit some money into it each month. C

Still no progress in this department yet, if I want to open a Money Market account, as I was planning to do, I need at least $10k to open that account with my bank so I am still trying to decide how much cash to save up for this goal.

Invest $2,500 per month. C

I invested just $200 this month with my Loyal3 purchases of Disney (DIS), Kellogg's (K), Unilever (UL), a Pepsico (PEP) being my only activity. So, not a good month at all.

 

Open a Loyal3 account and start a small amount of automatic investing. B+

In one sense this goal is complete, I opened an account and starting automatic investing, however I don't want to mark this as complete yet, I would like to reevaluate in a couple of months and if all is going well, add to my automatic investing.

Pay for my vacations with overtime. D

With being on vacation for half of April I was only able to put in 6 hours of overtime in May. With a couple of poor months in a row I am behind schedule. I can reach my goal with 5 hours of overtime a week but to do that consistently would be very hard. 

Establish one new source of income. C

No update on this front yet.

Physical

Complete the Tough Mudder. C

I am already signed up for this one, so it will be happening.

Workout my legs 2x per week. A

I haven't been playing as much basketball so I have been able to find time to work out my legs.

Complete a sprint triathlon. B

Signed up for a race now I just have to start training for it.

Run at a faster Pace: complete a 15K in 1 hour and 24 minutes (9 minute/mile). D

No progress here either.

Reduce my percentage of body fat to 12%. D

I am actually not sure what my current percentage is but I don’t think it is good. 

Track my calorie intake every day and review weekly. B

I tracked consistently for most of the month but there was a couple of long weekends where it was just to difficult to track.

Personal

Read 6 Books from my Reading List. C

Finally started one of the books on my reading list.

Take an online class. D

Nothing here either.

Average one blog post per week. A

I posted 5 articles in May.

Travel somewhere new. COMPLETE

We did it and it was great! We loved our time in New Zealand and I wish we had gone for longer.

Try meditation. C

I need to figure out a game plan for accomplishing this goal.

Try out one new hobby. C

I think I am going to pursue mountain biking, but I need to figure how I can try it out instead of diving headfirst into it.

Date night with my girlfriend at least once per month. A

Dinner and movie.

Conclusion

I am definitely making progress. But my financial goals need some tightening up if I am going to reach my goals, my expense rate in particular.

Photo: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

May Networth and Portfolio Update

Time for another update on my portfolio and networth. 

Buys/Sells:
May was a very boring month with no activity in this department. I didn't have a whole lot of time this month to do any research and I have decided to save up some cash for my emergency fund and there it a slight possibility of us looking to buy a house so I want to save up a little in case we do decide to go down that path.

FRIP
Scottrade offers a Flexible Reinvestment Plan, where dividends from qualifying companies can be used to purchase shares in any other qualifying companies without any commission. So I take advantage of this every month and I usually use it to build up my positions in companies where my positions are lagging.
This month my dividends were used to purchase 7 shares of Aqua America (WTR). I finally had a chance to update this and chose to start investing in a water utility company

Interested in trying Scottrade? Contact me to receive a code for 3 free trades!

Loyal3
My Loyal3 account is going strong, automatically invest $50 of shares in 4 companies: The Walt Disney Company (DIS), Kellogg's (K), Pepsico (PEP), and Unilever (UL). As of May my Loyal3 account stands:

Symbol	Shares	Total
DIS	1.8999	$210
UL	4.6273	$206
PEP	2.0781	$202
K	3.1001	$194
	Total	$812

I think I will let my Loyal3 account continue the automatic investing for a couple of months before I reevaluate.

Net Worth
Net worth will always be a secondary goal for me with generating passive income being my primary goal. But net worth is something I have started tracking. Given how much of my net worth is in stocks, my net worth will have a tendency to fluctuate frequently with the market but hopefully my net worth continue an overall upward trend over time.
Assets:

   - 401k:                   $84,791

   - Investments:        $74,565
   - Cash:                   $5,333

Liabilities

   - Student Loan 2:  $6,525

   - Car Loan:           $7,934

NETWORTH:       $153,540 up  3.5% from last month and a new milestone: networth over $150k!

Current Portfolio:

Symbol	Shares	Symbol	Shares
VHGEX	173.82	JNJ	17
VWIGX	177.917	KIM	77
VTRIX	110.62	KMI	104
AFL	48	KO	36
BBY	1	MAT	59
BNS	36	MRK	43
CIM	13	NOV	79
CVX	15	OHI	65
DLR	74	SNE	10
GE	86	SPY	10
HCP	56	T	103
HP	34	TGT	31
INTC	94	VZ	30
IYY	20	WFC	48

Well nothing exciting happening to my portfolio this month. Now that the big trip is over hopefully I will have some more time and money to focus on some solid dividend investing.

How about you? Any good purchases in May?

Photo Credit: freedigitalphotos.net

May Income/Expense Update

I've been really slacking on posting for the last couple of weeks, I finally go my Liebster Award post out after over a month of slacking. Things have been really busy with a couple of long and busy weekends and piled on of my weekdays that have grown longer because my girlfriend and I are carpooling and it ends up adding several hours to my day. Anyways, I hope to get back on track with my postings, starting with my May updates.


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 May.

My total expenses were just over $2390, which is just under my planned expenses.

Most of my categories were pretty good but my Grocery bills were ridiculous this month. This is due in part to the start of a new diet, but hopefully our shelves are now stocked so this will go down next month.

INCOME:
Paycheck: $4,664. 

% Expenses = 51% of income. Not fantastic but not bad. It well definitely help me get back on track but I need some fantastic months in order to reach my goal for 2015.

Dividend Income:
This month I earned $174 without lifting a finger. Not a great month but hey its money that I didn't have before. The following companies paid me this month:

Symbol Shares Div Total 5/1/2015 SPY 10 .93081 $9.31 5/1/2015 VZ 30 .55 $16.5 5/1/2015 CIM 68 .096 $6.53 5/1/2015 T 103 .47 $48.41 5/15/2015 OHI 65 .18 $11.7 5/15/2015 KMI 104 .48 $49.92 5/26/2015 HCP 56 .565 $31.64 $174.01

My budget was right on track yet I am still behind schedule on my savings rate. I am going to need to crack down on both the expenses and the earnings if I want to reach my goal of a 47% expense rate.
How about you? How was your May?


-Nick

Photo Credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net