This morning, I reported my net worth statement including my account balances. This report, an income and expense report, accompanies the monthly data. I publish this every month to keep myself accountable for most of my spending decisions and to encourage myself to earn more when possible.
With a healthy side business income and no major expenses, I was able to keep (save and invest) a good portion of my income. This helped result in a positive net worth gain this month despite poor stock market performance.
Here are the details. Click on the thumbnail to view a larger, more legible version of the table.
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions.
- The report is made with Intuit Quicken and Microsoft Excel. Here’s an income and expense report Excel template.
Explanation and Details.
My pre-tax day job income is holding steady. I had my annual review discussion with my boss a few weeks ago, and the discussion was quite positive. I am hoping that translates into a nice increase. At the end of the month, I’ll know my bonus and raise amounts if any. The guidelines for my position state that I have an opportunity for a bonus from 0% to 7% of my salary. It’s difficult for my department to justify budgeting more money for salaries and bonuses since we are not part of any business that brings in money to the company. In general, the businesses rely on us for certain administrative functions and thus want us to cut our expenses as much as possible. If I want significant pay increases, I’d have to work for a different area of my company, one that generates business.
In terms of my own expenses, I spent less on food this month between dining out and groceries. I didn’t do any significant food shopping in January, making the most of what I had in my cabinets and ordering delivery several times.
I bought a new coat and some bedding, attributing for most of my “household” expenses. My “tax” expense was significantly higher because I paid the last of my 2007 quarterly estimated taxes. I’ll still have several thousand to pay the state and federal government in April, however. I’ll need to meet with a tax accountant, something I’ve been putting off for a while.
My power bill expense was high this month because the due date for November’s bill was in January rather than in December as normal.
This month, I expect a higher than average income. I will receive three pay checks from my day job this week. I have a vacation coming up later this month, though I haven’t decided what I will be doing. I expect there will be some expense associated, but I don’t know how much. I have some money saved earmarked for vacation which I can tap into if necessary.
Over the next few months, I will be reducing or eliminating various text link ads across Consumerism Commentary and a number of other websites. This will create a cleaner look, supposedly better standing in search engines, and less income. The prevailing thought among people who follow search engine practices is that the short-term reduction of income will be replaced by significant long-term increases.
Otherwise, February will be a standard month.
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Amazing progress. Pretty insirational stuff
Thanks for the detail!
I am a bit confused. You focus so much on your day job income while your business income is much more impressive. I assume this business income is from your website. But I don’t understand why you don’t list any business expenses, such as maintaining the site.
Bob: Most of the business income is from websites. My business expenses are either listed under the “Miscellaneous, Bus” category was well as mixed in with some of the personal expenses. There aren’t many to deal with. Particularly, I have web hosting and registration fees, income I receive on behalf of other bloggers, and not much else.