Although it’s a little late this month, it’s now time to share my personal finances. I’ve been doing this roughly every month since Consumerism Commentary started in July 2003. I did recently make one important change — I am no longer counting my “business” bank accounts in my net worth. I’m trying to separate my business, which consists mainly of Consumerism Commentary, from my personal accounts.
October was an interesting month. I traveled to my brother’s wedding in California, so there were a number of extraordinary expenses related to the event. I do have some good news, however. The IRS has approved the reclassification of my side business from a sole proprietor LLC to an S-Corporation. this should result in a refund of over $8,000 from my 2008 tax payments.
It could take a while to receive the refund, so I’m not planning anything for it yet, but it will most likely stay in a savings account for a while.
Here are the numbers. [click to continue…]
Now that I am working with an accountant, I have been making some changes to the way I track my finances. By the end of the year, I hope to have all of my business-related finances in QuickBooks. Although I am not quite at that point, I am working to separate my personal finances from by business finances. Currently, I tend to move money from my business bank accounts to my personal bank accounts as needed, which makes it difficult to track.
The report I publish on Consumerism Commentary each month will no longer contain anything business related. Any business bank accounts or credit cards will not be listed. I also won’t be publishing my business income online.
This change has affect by net worth numbers going back several years, so if you compare today’s report with any prior month’s report, the bottom lines will be significantly different.
September was another good month in terms of income. My online business continue to diversify and grow. Even with a significant payment to the IRS for quarterly estimated taxes, I managed to bring more in money than I spent. While I won’t be including a full income and expense report, I will post a quarterly investment report shortly.
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You may have noticed that over the past few days, Consumerism Commentary has been featuring a number of guest authors. A few weeks ago, I wrote about the cost of funerals, inspired by the passing of my paternal grandmother. My maternal grandmother entered hospice care around that same time, and a few days ago, she passed away. I decided to travel to California on short notice to be with my family on the west coast for a short time. I appreciate the assistance with Consumerism Commentary provided by our writers Smithee and Jeff as well as the guest authors.
Every month, I publish personal finance reports to keep myself accountable for my financial decisions, and the travel I mentioned above is the reason August’s report is a little later than it would be otherwise.
2009 continues to be a successful year, but I have some room for improvement. My “modified net worth” includes the balance of all my bank accounts, investment accounts, invoices I have sent out to those I do business with that have not been paid yet, invoices I have received that I have yet to pay, and credit card expenses which I pay off every month. This “modified net worth” is reflected on the bottom line of the first report.
While August’s net worth is up, I expect September’s to be down due mainly to the quarterly tax payment that I will be sending to the IRS. September’s expenses will also reflect the airfare for the flight to California, which was purchased only one day in advance. Most airlines do not offer bereavement rates, or if they do, they are inconsequential discounts off a full fare. I’ll write about this in a future article.
In terms of income, August was a healthy month for my side business, but there is a lot of unexplored opportunity yet to be tapped. With all the projects I am involved in, it’s increasingly difficult to keep track of and manage everything. Additionally, I seem to be getting headaches more often, possibly due to spending too much time in front of computer monitors. At the end of last year, I decided to let the recession play out before deciding whether to leave my full-time job and pursue my side projects full-time. We’ll see how much longer I can continue both aspects of my life.
I’ve also noticed that the automated charitable payments I had been making seem to have stopped, and I’m wondering if that is a result of a change in my credit card number. Once I have a chance, this is something I’ll need to look into.
Continue reading to see my balance sheet and income statement without any further commentary. You can click on the reports to zoom in to full size. If you have reasonable questions, feel free to post them and I will answer. [click to continue…]
We have reached the half-way mark for 2009, and time certainly does fly when you keep busy. As long-time readers know, the original purpose of Consumerism Commentary was to keep myself accountable for my own financial decisions and to blog about interesting things I find on the web. I freely admit that Consumerism Commentary has expanded quite a bit since the first post in 2003. One thing that has remained constant is the monthly report of my finances.
So far this year, my “modified net worth” has increased about 30% since the end of 2008. Despite fluctuating levels of income and irregular expenses, this seems to be in line with my earning and saving pattern for the past several years. This modified net worth is not a true net worth because I do not include some items like my household inventory and tax liability. I would also need to include the value of my business to get a full accounting of what I am worth financially, but I just like to keep things simple. I do include the private-party sale value of my car from Edmunds.com even though I do not intend to sell, and I only update the value once or twice a year. And if I decide to buy a house, I would include its value as well.
The quarterly tax payment due in June took a bite out of my monthly income. I plan for this my transferring a portion of my other earned income into an account earmarked for tax payments each month, but income will likely not keep pace with my estimations.
Continue reading to see my balance sheet and income statement without commentary. You can click on the reports to zoom in to full size. If you have reasonable questions, feel free to post them and I will answer. I will include my quarterly investment report in a following post. [click to continue…]
Every month, consistently for the past few years, I take the opportunity at the beginning of the month to develop financial reports. The first report I post every month outlines my “modified” net worth, basically a balance sheet including my bank accounts, investments, the approximate value of my car, and my credit cards. Following the net worth report, I publish an income and expense report. This includes details about the income I earned during the month as well as my discretionary and non-discretionary expenses during the same period of time.
After my net worth decreased last month, mainly due to a large tax payment and poor market performance, my net worth is back up 6.3% for the month of May. Income, on the other hand, is significantly down this month, more in line with my expectations moving forward.
Keep reading this article to see my May financial reports. I will not give further commentary, but I will answer any reasonable questions. [click to continue…]
Each month I open my personal copy of Quicken Home & Business to the public. This tradition was the original impetus for creating Consumerism Commentary in 2003. At that time, at the age of 27, I was about one year into managing my own finances. Prior to that, my own money was mostly something I ignored. That was not a successful approach, so I made the decision to switch gears.
Since then, I have been posting my net worth statement here, keeping myself accountable for my decisions. More recently, I expanded this voyeuristic exhibitionism to include a report listing my income and expenses. The two reports help provide a fuller picture of my finances.
April was not a bad month for my finances in general, but my net worth decreased this month. The biggest driver for the decrease was the check I wrote to the IRS. A large tax bill means I’ve been doing something right on the income side of the equation. Speaking of income, I saw an expected decrease this month. I also expect a bigger decrease for May. Keep reading for my balance sheet and income statement. I’ve included thumbnails in the post, and you can click on the images to zoom in. [click to continue…]
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