Income/Expenses For April 2015

writingsavingI’ve been publicly tracking my income and expenses since I initiated this blog back in early 2011. I do this for a few reasons.

First, I want to prove to the world that it’s possible to become financially independent at a relatively young age even if you don’t make a lot of money. I don’t make a six-figure income. I never have and I probably never will. But it’s not necessary. Oftentimes, people focus on income too much. Expenses are just as important, because if you make $200,000 per year, but spend $190,000 of it, you’ll never become financially independent. Conversely, bringing home $40,000, and learning to get by on half of it means you’ll likely be able to retire if you want to within 15 years or so. Making less means you have less potential income to save, but spending less means you need less passive income with which to retire off of.

The second reason I do this is because I want this to be a live look at one man’s journey. You can find countless books by financially successful people, but often it’s long after they’ve completed their trek to significant wealth that they’re then telling you how they did it. It’s easy to postulate. It’s much more difficult to actually show the whole process in action, for better or worse.

And finally, knowing that every dollar I spend is going to be published for the world to see serves as reinforcement to stay frugal. There’s been more than one occasion where I decided against a particular expense after realizing I might be a bit embarrassed to write about it.

So each month I will post my income and expenses for the previous month. I track every dollar in and out, so what you see is exactly what I earned and spent (rounded to the nearest dollar).

By the way, I use Mint and Personal Capital to track all of my expenses. Both are awesome (and free) services.

Income From April 2015:
Online Income$3,572
Other Income$640
Dividend Income$449
Total Income$4,658
Expenses From April 2015:
Rent & Utilities$528
Engagement Ring$287
Groceries$229
Student Loans$224
Health Insurance$193
Restaurants$128
Email Services$119
Gifts$98
Transportation$91
Fast Food/Takeout/Coffee$80
Pharmacy$38
Cable/Internet$27
Mobile Phone$25
Amusement$22
Everything Else*$295
Total Expenses$2,378

Income

The online income was yet again really fantastic. What you see here is net of quarterly estimated taxes, and I’m incredibly grateful seeing net income from writing routinely exceeding $3,000 per month. I’ve opened up on how I make money online before, and it’s pretty much the same overall formula to this day (hint: I write a lot). The only difference is that all of those income sources are producing more income now than they were last summer when I wrote that article. But I want to quickly note that I wouldn’t be making any money online if it weren’t for the support of you readers. I do my best to give back through the best content I can possibly provide, but I also wanted to take a quick moment and thank you all for your continued support.

Dividend income for April was also wonderful. But how else can you describe collecting hundreds of dollars in passive dividend income for essentially doing nothing? Make a great decision by buying stock in a high-quality dividend growth stock, and you’ll very likely be rewarded for the rest of your life. What’s not to like about that?

Other income was largely related to the sale of my car. I’m going to spread the profit out over the course of the year so as to smooth any month-to-month variances out. So this will provide a nice boost to my monthly savings rates for the rest of the year, just like it was a drag on my monthly budgets last year. The other $40 was due to a credit card cash-back reward redemption.

Expenses

*The everything else category includes expenses I don’t have a regular budget for. Almost all the expenses you see in this category were related to our wedding this past month. So that covers paperwork and the wedding ring. Not too shabby when the supposed average of a wedding in the US is now just over $25,000. We did relatively well. The only other expense in this category this month was the $16 I spent on the design of the cover for my book. I think I did pretty well there, too.

Expenses were overall quite high this month. Not only was there the wedding to pay for, but also the trip to Omaha to attend the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B) annual shareholders meeting (which doubled as a quasi-honeymoon for us). That’s why you see higher transportation costs this month (I had to book a rental car to get to the airport in St. Pete) and somewhat high restaurant expenditures. We went out to dinner after our wedding and then there were a couple of meals out our first night in Omaha. We refrained from going to any restaurants for the first three weeks of the month, saving all of that for the inevitable spending related to those special occasions that we knew were coming toward the end of the month. All considered, I think I did okay there.

Gift spending was also up. Claudia’s son had a birthday this month, and I paid for the cake that Claudia ordered for him. And then there was a 50th birthday party for Claudia. So I ended up covering the decorations for the party as well as most of the food. I don’t expect any more heavy gift spending for the rest of the year, save Christmas.

The engagement ring category will disappear after this month. This was the last monthly expense related to the amortization of the cost of the ring, so I’m glad that I don’t have to account for that moving forward.

I believe everything else is more or less in line. I did have to pay for an annual fee related to the MailPoet email system I use to send newsletters to readers that sign up for email alerts. That’s one less thing to worry about for the next year.

Savings

I managed to save 48.9% of my net income this month. I’m very, very pleased with that result. That’s rather impressive, in my view, when considering that I paid for a wedding and a good chunk of a honeymoon. I say a good chunk only because the hotel costs will be realized in May’s report, and we had some restaurant visits in Omaha our last two days there, both of which fell in May. But this is my best result thus far this year, and I’m slowly getting back to the savings rates I’m used to.

One of my goals this year is to save 50% of my net income throughout 2015, averaged monthly. So far, I’ve hit rates of:

MonthlyNetSavingsRate

I’m now at an average of 40.3% for the year. I’m behind, no doubt about it. But I’m very confident that I can climb back and get pretty close to my goal, barring a large unforeseen expense. I’m anticipating a very strong summer of savings, as I’m really hitting my stride in terms of maximizing income right at the same time that a number of large one-time and temporary expenses are disappearing. Things are absolutely looking up for me. And this is all being done without a traditional full-time job and the comfortable paycheck that comes with. I’m very happy with how this first year of working online full time is going.

I expect May to be quite strong as well. The cash flow is looking excellent thus far here as we’re near the halfway point of the month, and most of my regular expenses are being held in check. The only major expense that I see hindering my ability to register a fantastic savings rate for May is the hotel expense for our stay in Omaha. Other than that, things look really great for May and the rest of the summer. I’m incredibly excited. Stay tuned!

How did April turn out for you? Save as much as you wanted? Are you on track to meet your savings goal this year?

Full Disclosure: None.

Thanks for reading.

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107 Comments

  1. The more you pay your bills with your blog, the more I want to click on your blog which pays more of your bills. I think you’ve reached blog snowball critical mass.

  2. Luke,

    Good question! Amazon pays 60 days after the calendar month in which any applicable sales occur. So I’ll probably start to see something in June or July. But it’s not going to be life-changing money or anything. It’ll make a rather small difference for me this year in terms of online income and my savings rate and all that, but I’m more excited about it changing other people’s lives. 🙂

    Cheers!

  3. Great job Jason! It’s so exciting to see you being able to earn a significant income from writing and the fact that it allows you to continue to save half your income and invest is fantastic. Have you started getting any of the book payments yet? I’m sure that will be a nice chunk whenever that starts rolling in. I’ll be curious to see what kind of long tail income you’re able to generate from that. I haven’t calculated my savings rate for April yet but with income finally picking back up I’m sure it’s at a pretty good rate. Keep up the good work and keep on inspiring.

  4. Grant,

    Thanks for that. Appreciate the support. I do my best to provide the best content I can, and I’ve tried to live up to the promise of writing even better stuff after making the switch away from the job. So the more I’m able to do this, the more I want to do it and the better job I want to do at it. So you’re right in that there’s a critical mass there where success begets success. 🙂

    Best wishes.

  5. JC,

    Yeah, it’s really a dream come true. I can’t describe it any other way. I’m very, very fortunate. I just hope to continue to be able to do this for many more years, which is why I’m giving it my all.

    Amazon pays royalties 60 days after the calendar month in which any applicable sales occur, so I suspect to see something in June or July. But it’s not going to radically change my savings rate or anything. I think the potential there is really more along the lines of very long-term income that just adds a couple extra dollars per month for years to come. But while the income won’t really change my life or anything, I think the content can change other people’s lives for the better, and that’s what I’m most excited about.

    Glad to hear things are picking back up for you over there. I can imagine it’s tough to go back to work with the family stuff, but the income helps keep everything financially stable.

    Best regards.

  6. That is an impressive savings rate and even more impressive considering the expenses of a wedding and a trip. Last month I payed myself first 37%. I was unable to save anymore as I had a large tax bill mostly due to my capital gains which includes the approximately $3000 gain of Tim Horton’s when it was annouced Burger King was buying them.

    Due to the low price of oil, my hours were cut at work by 8 hours a week. So I might have to scale back paying myself 37% to 30%. I will see how this month goes first. I am more grateful now to have passive dividend income to cushing the blow.

  7. You definitely inspire people, me included. I think finance should be for everyone, and dividend passive income is a great way to do it. You own a piece of company not just a paper. I like also your companies analysts, both for the number side and for the quality side.

  8. Another awesome month Jason! Unrelated question to this article but I am currently on looking through some smaller dividend plays and thought to revisit one of your previous purchases, TIS. I am always curious to watch the sales rationale of other DGI’ers since they are much more rare. Looks to me that the dividend has been static for 10 straight quarters now. Due to timing of the last increase in 2013, they did pay more in 2014 than 2013 and can keep that streak going with an increase in either of the final 2 quarters of 2015. The current 6.4% yield is very nice, if sustainable. Is this one you are watching closely to possible cut loose or are you currently satisfied with the high yield and waiting until end of year (at least) before re-evaluating.

    Thanks!

  9. IP,

    Hey, a 37% savings rate is still really, really good. That’s something like 8-10 times the US average. That’s near my average for the year. And a tax bill due to large capital gains is, of course, a good problem to have. 🙂

    Your situation there at work is exactly what makes this strategy so wonderful. A lot of people don’t have that cushion. But having some passive income working for you in the background means you’re a lot more flexible than most. Plus, a high savings rate acts as the biggest cushion of all. When taking a big pay cut means you’re saving “only” 30% of your net income, you know you’re on the right track.

    The coaching is going well thus far. I’ve already taken on a few clients there. I’m super happy to have that opportunity to go one-on-one with people and do my best to help. I think I can do a lot of good there and add even more value. We’ll see!

    Thanks for dropping by. Keep up the great work.

    Best regards.

  10. Awesome month Mr. Mantra. You’ll ripping it up! I’m happy for you bud. You’re living the dream you’ve envisioned. What a blessing. You’ve definitely worked hard and the sacrifices paid off hustling and saving. Thanks for continuing to inspire many of us. Thanks for sharing and hope to see you again. Cheers my friend.

  11. RJD,

    Yeah, that’s a good question. TIS has changed a lot since I initially bought it. Not necessarily for the worse, and quite possibly for the better. They’ve gone from a sleepy paper company that pays out most of its profit in the form of a big dividend to a company that’s trying to grow aggressively on both sides of the country. I think when looking out over the long haul, that makes a lot of sense. After all, what shareholder doesn’t want to see the company grow? But they’re just doing it a lot more aggressively than before. So we’ll see. I think the dividend is probably unsustainable here when looking at it through that perspective. So that’s not a call on the quality of the company, but rather a shift in the priorities. I’m not really anxious to sell because the potential is even greater than before, but I’m also not really looking to buy more because I can’t really forecast where some of these changes are going to put them and the dividend when looking out over the next five or so years.

    Cheers!

  12. DH,

    The hard work has really paid off, my friend. Hard work goes a long, long way. I love that quote by Edison: “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

    Appreciate the support. Doing all I can to continue working hard and finding new opportunities! 🙂

    Keep up the great work over there as well. Your dividend income is killing it.

    Cheers!

  13. Another good solid month. Amazing figures for online income considering you’ve only just really started it. Very jealous of the low grocery spend, I think food overall is a bit cheaper in the US but you’re still way lower than me. Fingers crossed you can bring it up above the 50% mark averaged out over the year!

  14. I realize that your monthly income/expense reports don’t have to obey GAAP and that you can pretty much do as you wish, but I have the following comment.

    You say: “Other income was largely related to the sale of my car. I’m going to spread the profit out over the course of the year so as to smooth any month-to-month variances out. So this will provide a nice boost to my monthly savings rates for the rest of the year, just like it was a drag on my monthly budgets last year.”

    You should recognize the full amount of the income from the car sale on the month that the car was transferred to the buyer. “[Spreading] the profit” to “smooth any month-to-month variances” will yield monthly savings rates that are not representative of the actual savings rate for a given month.

  15. Jason,

    I probably missed it in one of your earlier writings, but why do you carry student loan debt as apposed to paying it off? Just curious. Also, ever thought about buying a home as apposed to renting. My brother bought a home in Palm Bay, FL (central Florida on the coast, Brevard County) 3 bedroom 2 bath for $30k (not the best area but a good area). Mortgage payment is next to nothing.

  16. ERG,

    The grocery bill was actually negatively impacted by some extra spending related to the birthday party, as I bought some food for that. But, yeah, I try to keep it within reason. Not loading up on meat all the time definitely helps. As does portion control (better on the wallet and the waistline).

    I’m really happy with the way the online income is progressing. It’s been a long road – I’ve been writing for over four years now – but hard work dose pay off over time. Just gotta be patient. 🙂

    Thanks for dropping by!

    Cheers.

  17. ST,

    ““[Spreading] the profit” to “smooth any month-to-month variances” will yield monthly savings rates that are not representative of the actual savings rate for a given month.”

    It’s also not representative of an actual savings rate for a given month when you buy a house and mortgage it out or buy a car and get a loan, yet record only the payments for a given month. Nobody records a $200,000 house purchase all in one month. Large purchases are frequently amortized out over long periods of time. I do the same, except the “loan” was against myself.

    Cheers.

  18. Some months expenses are high, but for good reason. And your reasons are very good and you were still almost able to save 50%! Great work and I bet your happy the following months won’t be as expensive 🙂

  19. Chris,

    I wrote about the student loans here:

    https://www.dividendmantra.com/2014/07/four-reasons-i-havent-paid-off-my-student-loans-yet/

    As far as buying versus renting, that’s something specific to a market and situation. I’m personally not interested in any household maintenance or anything, so I prefer renting. And that’s true even if buying were marginally cheaper. But it’s really not marginally cheaper over here in Sarasota. It’s actually cheaper for us to rent, which works out even better. If I could find a house here in Sarasota for $30k that still offered us a similar lifestyle (including living without a car), I’d probably jump on that, as that would be far past marginally cheaper. But it’s just not the case over here.

    I just did a search on Realtor.com to see what one could get for $30k here in Sarasota. A mobile home lot (not the mobile home – just the lot) came up. As did a couple condos in rough parts of town.

    Tough, though. Sarasota isn’t really known for cheap real estate. I moved here because I knew I could do well on the housing side (renting) and the income side (at work), which all worked out well. You could commit some geographical arbitrage there and move somewhere a lot cheaper, but I quite like it here. Maybe at some point in the future we’d move, but I’d be just as likely to move somewhere that I’d love to live… and not necessarily somewhere with cheap real estate. I’m also kind of a lover of urban areas, which tends to favor renters.

    Best regards!

  20. Congrats on the high savings rate again, the previous month was a little bit challenging but with your income back up again, it should be easy peasy. I was going to ask you about the book revenue but it was already asked byt the first commentor, he beat us all on that question hahah!

    You definitely changed our lives my friend!

  21. Jason,

    great read and very motivating, as always!

    However, I wonder about your savings rate — is it really supposed to include the dividend income for each month?

    With rising dividend income a target rate of 50% means that you are actually saving less each month as more of that 50% is taken over by the dividends.
    In the end it would mean that you will not put any more money from your day jobs into savings, once the dividend income reaches 50%.

    When I do these calculations for myself, I only take my non-investment income into account for my monthly savings rate and disregard dividends, which get reinvested immediately to compount interest. Otherwise these typical x years with a savings rate of y will not work out.

    I think you started calculating this way, when you quit your car dealership, and I wonder if it is good for your statistics — or rather your goal. Shouldn’t you use direct income to calculate the savings rate only, or else raise your targeted savings rate with rising dividend income?

    Love to hear your opinion on that!

    Keep on going!
    Chris

  22. FF,

    Yeah, I’m very pleased with the results here. To be able to save near 50% of my net income with all of the expenses I had going on is pretty solid. And I think it only gets better from here with some temporary and one-time expenses starting to drop off. I think it’s quite possible to climb back to 50%, but I’d have to average something like 60% monthly for the rest of the year. We’ll see. I’m up to the challenge! 🙂

    Best wishes.

  23. This year has been great for me so far as well. I seem to be spending more in the “unexpected” category (trips to visit friends, wedding trips, gifts, etc), but even a modest $500 trip seems to make barely a dent in how things have been progressing.

    Admittedly, I’ve gotten a lot lazier in tracking income and expenses since I deleted my mint account about a year ago, and stopped bothering to categorize everything in my personal capital account so the budgeting features are fairly unreliable.

    The laziness inside of me has won and moved me toward just tracking contributions and hitting that target for each month… and more broadly for the full year. So far this year, looks like I’ve contributed quite a bit!
    – 10k to taxable account
    – 8k to 401k
    – 3k to roth

    Still shooting for ~40k in contrubitons, so roughly on track or slightly ahead of pace. 21k in contributions, but personal caiptal shows net worth has gone up ~28k, so those gains are really starting to pile on!

    Rates still seem to be expected to go upward, so I’m waiting anxiously for some horrible news in bond prices. REITs here we come!

  24. FFF,

    Thanks so much. I’m giving it my all, while still trying to be reasonable when it comes to certain expenses. I think this is a really good level, and the odds of improving it from here are pretty good. Although, I’d honestly be pretty happy even with saving just 40% of my net income now that I’m working from home. The trade-off would definitely be worth it. But at the same time I’m still just as interested in pushing the envelope and staying as aggressive as ever. All in all, things are good. 🙂

    Appreciate the support. Keep up the great work over there as well!

    Cheers.

  25. Strong. That is the word for your savings performance. I have my expenses down to your level but that is with house paid for and single with no children to spend on. Gogogogogogogo! Pulling for you to hit the “number” ASAP.

  26. A great savings rate and awesome income for April! We didn’t manage to save anything for April, which is slightly embarrassing to write, though I know completely why it was the case. I wondered about the book sales but another commenter has already asked – it’ll be interesting to see what impact that will also have to your income and savings. I hope May is good to you!

  27. Chris,

    Well, I think everyone is entitled to calculate their numbers how they want. Some will strip out principal on debt repayment. Others won’t. You can look at it a lot of different ways.

    You’re right in that rising income against static expenses should increase the overall savings rate over time. But my long-term goal is still 50%. The rate as a goal doesn’t change because my timeline hasn’t changed or been moved up. But what’s happened over the past few years is that my expenses have unfortunately increased. When you look back at my budgets in, say, 2011, you’ll notice I didn’t have health insurance. I also didn’t have blog expenses. So there’s been some changes there. But the goal is still all the same. The savings rate should become easier to achieve over time, especially toward the tail end of the journey, as that’s when exponential growth starts to take over. I suspect a lot of my progress will actually take place over the last couple of years or so… and when looking at it like that, you can see I’m actually ahead of pace.

    But I think, overall, I look at it the opposite way. I think it’s pretty admirable to still attempt to save 50% of my net income even while quitting a job sending me $60k per year. A lot of people would kind of rethink the goals at that point and probably scale things down in light of the fact that the lifestyle that was originally aimed for had already been achieved. I’m instead still staying pretty aggressive on that front.

    Hope that helps!

    Best wishes.

  28. Ravi,

    “I seem to be spending more in the “unexpected” category (trips to visit friends, wedding trips, gifts, etc), but even a modest $500 trip seems to make barely a dent in how things have been progressing.”

    Yeah, that really shows the power of managing the big stuff and not worrying so much about the occasional/small stuff. The “latte factor” has been a popular way to look at expenses over the years, but it’s really all about managing the Big Three (housing, transportation, and food) from a high level. The rest tends to work itself out when you’re saving a very healthy chunk of your expenses. And it just comes down to good habits. If you have good habits with your money – you’re regularly saving large portions of your income and investing it intelligently – you’ll do well regardless of the occasional trips and what not.

    Keep up the great work!

    Cheers.

  29. FV,

    Thanks! I’m pretty excited by the results. I’m not sure how many people are out there can record a savings rate near 50% even with all that I had to pay for over the last month… and all of that without a traditional full-time job. Even better, I think things are looking up. There’s a definite possibility of breaching 60% for the remainder of the year, if my forecasts hold true. We’ll see! 🙂

    Thanks for stopping by. Keep up the excellent work and enjoy the fruits of your labor!

    Cheers.

  30. Nicola,

    Thanks so much. I’m happy with this and looking forward to improving it even more from here. 🙂

    I can imagine it’s tough to not save anything, but there are always those potholes in the road. As long as you stay on the righteous path and keep your eye on the long haul, you’ll be fine. There’s always next month!

    Thanks for all the support. Much appreciated.

    Best wishes!

  31. Jason,

    Again and again strong month and great savings, especially doing what you really love.

    Cheers,

    RA50

  32. Congrats on the excellent savings this month and so far this year. This is definitely something I’m trying to work on and your numbers are quite inspirational. I don’t think I can get my mortgage & utilities down to $500 out here in Cali but you’ve identified plenty of other categories I can cut.

  33. RA50,

    Thanks so much.

    You know, I recently wrote about how a dollar isn’t a dollar, comparing active income to passive income. But, equally so, I think you could compare dollars earned from something you enjoy to something you don’t enjoy. For instance, I’d rather earn 50 cents from writing and doing online work than a dollar from working down at the dealership. As such, the online income is conceptually twice as much as the real number for me. I’m very, very fortunate. I think that’s another idea for an article. Add it to the queue. 🙂

    Thanks for dropping by!

    Best wishes.

  34. Ken,

    Yeah, it’s definitely tough to compare expenses across the board because it’s not always apples to apples. California is a lot different than Florida, and not just in housing costs. But I think, no matter where you live, there are always opportunities to cut the expenses down. I know that I certainly could do a little better in some fronts myself, especially food. But I’ve started to enjoy writing outside the house a few times per month, and I’m okay with some of that additional spending. Overall, the balance is quite nice these days between saving and maximizing quality of life. It’s a tough balance to achieve.

    Thanks for all the support. Best of luck identifying which areas you think can be cut!

    Cheers.

  35. What service did you use for your book cover design? Were there any revisions? Looks like you got a great deal!

    I’m actually close to finishing it, only took me a few sessions to get through 85% of it. I plan on finishing in the next day or two and write an article on it.

    I tend to listen to audiobooks because I lose concentration when I actually sit down and read; however, I’ve found myself only putting your book down because I knew if I stayed up much later the next day was going to be very tiring.

    I look forward to seeing what type of impact it has on your income, not only now, but in the long-run. Congrats again on that accomplishment.

    Red to Riches

  36. RTR,

    Thank you very much. So glad you enjoyed the book. I’m also excited about the book’s long-term impact, both monetarily and in terms of the positive change it might elicit.

    I used a designer on Fiverr for the book design. There were no revisions. I was pretty clear right from the start in terms of what I wanted, which really helps the process. The book came together incredibly quickly. The book cover was done within two days. And then I wrote it basically in an evening. So it went from concept to finished product in about two days. It was definitely a lot faster than I ever thought it’d be. Of course, having a substantial source of content here on the blog made that possible. But I knew nothing about creating an e-book beforehand, so some of the time that first evening was spent up just learning how to actually put something together.

    I’ll be able to record some income from the book in June or July, so I’m excited about that. The first month’s payment is definitely going to be the largest, based on the way the sales have trailed off a bit. But I think that the book could provide a little bit of income for many years to come, which I think is where the real monetary potential lies.

    Best wishes!

  37. Jason,

    I completely agree with the statement that passive income is worth more than active income. It’s also true that income at a low-stress, satisfying job is greater than the income at a high-stress, soul-sucking job.

    Part of the reason I’m so anxious to pay off my student loans is that it will give me a lower “base” cost of living. This in turn allows me to potentially to enter an industry or career path that is less lucrative, but better for my work-life balance, less stressful, etc.

    It won’t necessarily be “retirement” or financial freedom, but it will make the journey to get there much more enjoyable.

    For example, you had the option to keep your previous position and keep writing (although likely not as much) and work late through the nights to maximize your total earnings. You’re a great example of how to make the journey more enjoyable rather than racing to the finish line with an unfulfilling job.

    Best!

  38. RTR,

    Absolutely. Paying off debt can absolutely make the journey a lot better from the standpoint of enjoyment and lack of stress, and in many cases can make the journey that much faster. The lower the expenses – including debt servicing – the more flexibility you have. And that’s what it’s all about. You want to buy yourself options and time. That’s where the money should be spent.

    “For example, you had the option to keep your previous position and keep writing (although likely not as much) and work late through the nights to maximize your total earnings. You’re a great example of how to make the journey more enjoyable rather than racing to the finish line with an unfulfilling job.”

    Indeed. I could have kept on doing that and maybe I’d be making $8,000 or $9,000 per month right now. But I wouldn’t be happy, that’s for sure. Some people think it’s all about the money. For them, that’s great. But it’s not all about the money for me. The whole purpose of this journey is to maximize time and happiness, not money. Just my perspective. I actually have an article coming out Thursday on the reflection of one year passing since I left my job in the auto industry. It’s nice to look back on that decision and see that everything turned out just fine.

    Best regards.

  39. There is an actual legal contract in the scenarios you describe (mortgage and car loan) that obligates both parties to proportionally recognize income/expense within a given timeframe.

    For example, let’s assume that we entered into a contract where I loaned you a certain amount for a fixed time frame. I would not recognize the full value of the loan plus interest the first month because the service portion of the contract (i.e. the length of the loan) has not been completed.
    But in this case, you have not entered into a contract with the buyer where the buyer has agreed to pay off the value of the car plus interest over time. Therefore, this should be recognized as a onetime revenue event.

    At the very least, you should put a footnote in your monthly income/expense reports going forward explaining that you’ve decided to recognize the revenue from the car sale over time.

  40. Argh, I’m jealous. Used to be able to save like crazy when I was younger. Now married, house, dog, car payment it’s tough. You turned me on to MINT and I already budget, so that helps. Saving what I can to pound into stocks. Luckily I have a portfolio (under 30k) that is half cash so I’m not starting from scratch. Created a spreadsheet to track everything dividend related so I can finally see how much I’ll get paid. Cleaned out some stocks I was emotionally attached to (TM, HMC) with low dividends for some better companies. Around $450 in dividends this year hopefully. I can deploy more capital to get it up to around $1000 but I need to find good values first. My wife is even interested in having me put some of her money to work!

    All future bonuses at work will be going to this and expenses will be cut!

    Keep up the good work,

    Steve

  41. ST,

    Well, you’re free to run your budget in a manner that you feel is most appropriate. What you’re looking at here is all cash that hits my account and leaves my account, though large expenses (and large profits) are amortized out. If you buy a house with $200,000 cash and recognize your savings rate as -1,000% or whatever in one month rather than amortizing it out over a long period of time, you’re free to do so. I’d amortize it.

    “At the very least, you should put a footnote in your monthly income/expense reports going forward explaining that you’ve decided to recognize the revenue from the car sale over time.”

    I sense that you’re arguing here just to argue, since I include notes on all of this. You’ve already quoted my own footnote where I note that I’m amortizing the profit out:

    “I’m going to spread the profit out over the course of the year so as to smooth any month-to-month variances out. So this will provide a nice boost to my monthly savings rates for the rest of the year, just like it was a drag on my monthly budgets last year.”

    If you have nothing else to do other than nitpick amortization and argue about footnotes (that which you already quoted), I have a list of hobbies that you may want to consider. Shoot me an email and I’ll go over them.

    Take care.

  42. Steve,

    Big things come from small beginnings. You can see where I started and where I’m now at. And we all know it’s not where you start, but where you end up. 🙂

    Keep it up over there. Every single good decision you make now can compound itself over and over again for years to come. Keep repeating those great decisions through the adoption of good habits and you’ll see what’s possible.

    Best wishes.

  43. Dm,

    I have been looking forward to this monthly income/expense post ever since the book came out, and am disappointed in that it will take a few months before you see any of it. April was an interesting month for me I actually brought in more money then most months by a lot however due to some unexpected bills I actually spent more than usual as well. I’m hoping may will be a great month for me though. Thanks for tupdate the post

  44. Congrats on your online income and high savings rate. Do you make your online income from Google adsense and affiliate marketing? I used to make big bucks from sites like Squidoo but Google slapped them pretty badly and now my online income is practically nothing. It is a shame because I could have used it to invest in dividend stocks. I look forward to seeing your income grow.

  45. Tyler,

    Sorry to disappoint you, my friend. It takes some time for Amazon to compile the reports and all that and then send the money out. That’s pretty common in terms of online income (advertising, affiliate, etc.). But I’d caution against too much excitement. The book won’t really make a huge difference in terms of one blowout month or anything. The first month will be an extra grand or so, but it tails off a lot after that. It’s going to be one of things that just provides a little residual income for many years. I think of the book in terms of boosting the possible online income by a hundred or so every month for a long period of time, rather than providing thousands of dollars right away. But I’d be very happy with that. And I’m truly more excited about the possibility of positively affecting others’ lives rather than making a lot of money off of it.

    Isn’t it funny how we’ll sometimes run into more money than usual and those unexpected expenses tend to creep up and surprise us? Funny how that works. I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve had a few months here and there over the years where the income was strong and the expenses were really held in check, but I’ve also had plenty of times where spending was more than I would have liked due to those inevitable surprises that life likes to throw our way. Just have to keep your eye on the long term. 🙂

    Best regards.

  46. Laura,

    Thank you!

    Sorry to hear about your troubles there with Squidoo. I don’t know anything about that site, but that’s a shame. I make online income through a variety of sources, with a good chunk of it coming from freelance writing. Google AdSense and affiliate advertising provides some income my way in terms of the blog, which I’m pretty happy with. I think there’s a good chance that the online income continues to grow, but I’d also be pretty happy if it just kind of held in this range. I’m very fortunate just to even be in this spot, so I’m pretty grateful. 🙂

    Thanks for stopping by!

    Best wishes.

  47. Goodnight from the Netherlands,

    Subject: payment and interest

    I read your expenses from April 2015.
    Question: ‘’ STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT, how many payment to go ? and what % you are charged ? “
    Thanks in advance,

    George T
    Netherlands

  48. George,

    Good question!

    You can read about the details regarding my student loans here:

    https://www.dividendmantra.com/2014/07/four-reasons-i-havent-paid-off-my-student-loans-yet/

    I don’t see where there’s a specific number of payments left, but I suspect they’ll be paid off by the time I’m 40 and living off of dividend income. There’s a chance that I might be even more aggressive toward the tail end of that and just pay them off all in one fell swoop when they’re under $5k. We’ll see.

    Hope that helps. Thanks for dropping by from the Netherlands. Wishing you a good night as well. 🙂

    Best regards.

  49. Do you get any credit when folks open up and read your email newsletters? I find myself browsing through your newsletter in the morning and forgetting to actually click the link to your blog. Perhaps you could just provide a teaser on the email and then link people to your blog to read the rest of the article. I want to support your work with a click, but I’m wondering if you’re missing an opportunity by sharing the full article on the emails.

  50. Pretty solid income and expenses Jason. 40% savings rate on average is very solid! Keep up the great work!

  51. Conrad,

    Great question. I don’t get any kind of traffic or revenue or anything if someone opens up the email and reads an article there but then doesn’t ever come to the site. I’ve read a lot of arguments for both sides of the coin (full article versus just teaser in a newsletter) and I just decided to go with the full article so that the largest number of possible people can at least read what I’m sharing. Maybe I am missing an opportunity there to increase traffic and engagement here at the site, but I also don’t want to turn people off. It’s something I’ll think about.

    Thanks for the note!

    Best wishes.

  52. Just wanted to give you a shout-out that some of my best recent purchases (BNS, KMI, PM) have all been inspired by your work. Prior to reading your blog, I was a bit more hit-and-miss, with some big wins (CVS, AAPL, NVS), but some real dogs (ahem, MAT, SQI, and CEL!) You’ve helped me think more clearly about the difference between a “cheap” and an “inexpensive” stock. So, thanks!

  53. DW,

    Thank you. It’s getting back to where I want it to be. The urgency isn’t quite what it used to be, but I’m still staying 100% aggressive. I just really crave that flexibility and freedom. Even though I love doing everything I’m doing right now, you never know what the future holds.

    It looks like I have about a little less than seven years to go on the loans, which would mean they’ll be gone by the time I’m 40 and FI. I may pay them off all in one shot when they’re below $5k, or I might not. We’ll see.

    Thanks for dropping by!

    Cheers.

  54. Tad,

    So glad to hear that. Glad you’ve found some value in what I’m discussing and what I’m doing. I certainly don’t know where stock prices are going, but I do have a pretty good feeling that the high-quality companies we talk about and invest in around here will generally be more and more profitable over the long haul. And so we will also likely be collecting rising dividend income. Makes it a lot easier to swallow that volatility when you’re collecting a regular (and increasing) paycheck. 🙂

    Best regards!

  55. I am surprised you had to pay for email services. Are you paying for a premium yahoo or google account or you are paying for staff?

    Impressive savings even with a trip (honey moon) and manage to save around 50%. I’ll have to tally thing up to see how well I do prior to calling it quit and live and pay bill strickly through my passive income.

  56. Happy to read and comment 🙂 For the loan, makes sense to invest extra cash if the return is higher than your interest, although the freed up cash flow could be nice and the piece of mind that that part of your past is done and paid for might be nice as well.

    All the best

  57. Vivianne,

    I use MailPoet for the newsletter service here. I’ve looked at AWeber and MailChimp, but found MailPoet to really offer what I’m looking for. They all cost something. I’m not aware of any free newsletter services, especially if you have more than a couple thousand subscribers.

    I’d definitely recommend tracking the income and expenses down to the penny. If you don’t know where you’re at, you don’t know where you’re going. 🙂

    Cheers!

  58. Man I just love reading these kinds of posts! I know I’ve said it before, but it’s funny how I really feel as though I am living vicariously through a lot of my favorite bloggers. Whenever you guys post dividend income updates or expenses recaps I get as excited as if they were about my own finances, haha!

    If you don’t mind me asking, does the bulk of your online income still come from advertising like AdSense and such, or is it evenly split between your freelance work and passive advertising? I ask because last year in that post you mentioned that advertising was doing most of the heavy lifting ($1200 a month vs $500 from freelance writing), and I’m just curious to know if that is still the case.

    Also, in the fast food category of your expenses, what’s your biggest hitter? My personal kryptonite is Chipotle, I could eat it literally every day! Such a good way to acquire dem dere gainz 😛 Too bad it’s pretty expensive, haha

    Cheers bro!

  59. ZTZ,

    I’m right there with you. I get excited reading about the progress others are making as well. It’s just awesome stuff. And that’s true of those that are both further along and not as far along. It’s all good and all very exciting. I think there’s just a ton of value in the community we’ve built over the last five or so years.

    That’s a good question about the online income. Freelance writing has been by far the biggest change for me YOY. That now makes up anywhere from 1/2 to 2/3 of my online income, depending on the month. The big difference is obviously just the sheer amount I’m writing. I think I was writing maybe one freelance article per week back then. I’m now writing 4-5 per week. So you add that to the 12-15 I’m doing here at the blog every month and that’s a pretty full schedule there, especially considering the length/quality of the articles.

    I took a look at the fast food/takeout category and pulled all of my transactions. It looks like I spent almost exactly half of that $80 at this small coffee shop/deli across the street where I write a lot. That was mostly just iced coffees. I also spent $10 at McDonald’s when I was able to spend a few hours writing there. There was also delivery pizza once in there. So that’s pretty much it. Pizza is definitely my biggest weakness, but it looks like I held it in check last month. 🙂

    Thanks for the support. Keep up the great work over there!

    Best regards.

  60. Hi Matra,

    Big fan of this blog. Been a reader since the beginning.
    Just a question about the book income. You say it will not effect your income much… Am i missing something?
    You have sold 20,478 books in the Kindle store. I am not sure on commission rates but if it is 50% to the writer then that is more than $40,000 profit so far.

    Cheers

  61. I often struggle with this same problem when I have large purchases or one time cash flows in – how to handle it so it doesn’t look so funky. For instance – when I purchased some furniture recently (I don’t put furniture on my net worth statement). The main reason I chose to take the expense all in one month was so the P&L correlated with my net worth statement. Amortizing it muds up the picture a bit when you see your net worth change drastically, but the P&L isn’t in line. BUT, and I do mean BUT, to each his/her own! (Full disclosure: I’m a CPA so I get where the other person is coming from, but personal finance is personal – each person has to find what works for them!)

  62. Hi DM

    Congrats again on the high savings rate.

    Could I ask roughly how many hours per day or week do you spend on writing now that you are doing it for full time?

  63. Dear Jason,
    I love reading your blog.Its a great inspiration. Keep-up the good work.I appreciate your courage for putting up your income & expenditure details in public domain.

  64. I think you did amazingly well considering you got married and went to Omaha! I bet you spent less than just about anyone else who got married this month, which is awesome. Congrats!

  65. Thomas,

    20,478 books? I wish. Ha!

    Where are you getting that number from? I’d like to see it, because the number that Amazon is showing me on the author platform side is quite different (like 2% of that).

    Take care.

  66. CH,

    I hear you. I think some of it comes down to how often you’re looking at those statements or reporting them. I report everything here on the blog monthly. If I were just updating my income/expenses on a yearly basis, then it wouldn’t really matter if you have that big spike in one month or whatever. You’d see it smooth out by just taking the annual income and the annual expenses. But I report everything here publicly on a monthly basis, which is part of my motivation behind smoothing out some of the big one-time profits/expenses. But it probably matters very little either way when looking at your savings rates over the course of many years.

    You’re absolutely right in that personal finance is personal. I’ve said that many times and continue to say that. I find it funny when someone dogmatically proclaims that there’s only one way to do something when that’s just not true. For instance, I’ve seen many people only claim interest expenses as an expense, since the principal repayments improve net worth. So, according to some people, I should only report the $35 or whatever in interest expenses for my student loan repayments, rather than the whole thing. If I were to do that, my monthly savings rates would be a lot higher. But I prefer to show all cash that comes in and out, as I just find that more accurate (not like the student loans are an asset I can later sell). Lots of different ways to look at the same thing when it comes to personal finance. To say someone is right or wrong in most cases is just silly.

    Cheers!

  67. Hi Jason. I’ve just added Du Pont to my portfolio now the price drops by more than 6%. I had it in my watchlist for some time now.

    Regards, Jose.

  68. B,

    Good question. It’s really tough to say, though. Every day is a bit different. There are some days where it seems like I write all day long. Other days I might only be at it for a couple hours or so. I don’t set a schedule. I write when I’m most creative.

    I tried my best to answer that question here:

    https://www.dividendmantra.com/2015/01/the-routine-that-isnt-routine/

    But I would say that I spend enough time with writing that it’s pretty much a full-time gig now. However, it’s infinitely more enjoyable than any other full-time job I’ve ever had… mostly because I don’t really view it as a “job”.

    Hope that helps. 🙂

    Best regards.

  69. Venkatesh,

    Thank you very much. Really appreciate that! 🙂

    I do my best to be as transparent and open as possible. Money is still a very “taboo” subject, but I’m doing my best to elicit open conversations about it, which helps us all. Just trying to inspire others. I want us all to be the best possible versions of ourselves.

    Stay in touch!

    Best wishes.

  70. teppo42,

    Hmm, probably so. Not real sure how all of that works. Some of my ads are based on traffic, whereas some are based on clicks and what not. But I probably receive something from all traffic. So thanks for that! 🙂

    Take care.

  71. Mrs. FW,

    Thanks so much!

    I think I did pretty well considering the burdens there. And most of that stuff is all done and paid for now, so it’s blue skies ahead. 🙂

    Best regards.

  72. Jose,

    Nice! Still seems a bit expensive here even after the drop, but they’ve been around a long time and I don’t see why that won’t continue. 🙂

    Cheers.

  73. magallanes,

    Thank you. Really appreciate that!

    That’s definitely the plan. I’m so fortunate to be in a position to inspire and help others all while earning a decent living from it. I consider that a win-win, and I just hope to remain in that kind of position for many years to come. 🙂

    Stick around. Plenty more content on its way!

    Best wishes.

  74. Congratulations on another successful month! thanks for sharing this. I think being transparent helps others see that it is very possible to build wealth doing what you love. This is amazing. I know exactly how you feel. When you are working on your passion, nothing feels like work. Keep up the amazing work.

  75. Mabel,

    Thank you. I’m really, really happy with the way things are progressing. Just doing my best to work hard, help others, and add value.

    You’re right in that working on something you really enjoy isn’t really “work” in the traditional sense. I still think pursuing financial independence makes a lot of sense even if you’re doing something you really like, but it’s certainly wonderful if you can enjoy that ride all the way there. 🙂

    Thanks for stopping by. Hope you had a great month as well!

    Best regards.

  76. Nice totals on the online income. I bet you do write a lot. I would love to go at the writing full time, however, things on my end do not allow that to happen. Wish you the best of luck, and keep up the good work.

    Keep cranking,

    Robert the DividendDreamer
    AKA — Seeking Dividends

    Follow me on Twitter– Seeking Dividends@DividendDreamer

  77. Hi Jason,

    Can you comment on your portfolio’s performance from the perspective of alpha generation, Sharpe ratio, etc.? I am very curious to know how close your portfolio comes to the efficient frontier.

    If your portfolio is not on the efficient frontier, can you comment on why you choose to not be on the frontier? It seems like you are leaving money on the table. You would be assuming risk without maximizing your return.

    Please do not misinterpret my question as a criticism, I am just trying to understand. From my limited knowledge, it seems like DGI strategies work *really* well for passive retirement income, but do not work as well for capital growth pre-retirement (especially when compared to portfolios on the efficient frontier). That said, your excess saving strategies are really smart and I am super happy for you. Congratulations on the wedding!

    Thanks!

  78. Robert,

    Thanks!

    Writing full-time can be pretty tough. Fortunately, I enjoy it for the most part. But it’s not for everyone. The key is finding that which you enjoy and seeing if you can monetize it. That can put you in a really wonderful position, and can certainly make the journey to FI a lot more fun.

    Thanks for stopping by. Hope you had a great month as well!

    Cheers.

  79. Taolo,

    I don’t follow anything related to MPT. Furthermore, I don’t compare my portfolio to the S&P 500 index or any other benchmark. My only benchmark is my own annual and long-term goals. If I can achieve them, then I’m sitting pretty. I look at things holistically. And if I can reach financial independence by 40 when I didn’t start until 28 and didn’t have a six-figure income to kind of push me along, I’ll be pretty happy with that. Whether or not I outperform or underperform anyone or anything else won’t matter to me at all. Besides, I’ll be paying my bills with dividend income, not with performance ratios.

    But I’ve discussed the nature of this strategy as it relates to growing passive income without taking on a lot of risk many times. I ultimately view risk in terms of how likely I am to permanently lose money and/or income. And the odds of the companies I tend to invest in going out of business or permanently cutting dividends are pretty low, and I further limit that risk via diversification. You can also look at beta there (I don’t since I don’t care about volatility) and you’ll generally find pretty low beta as well. So if I can achieve financial freedom while taking on very little risk, I’m pretty happy with that.

    But you can poke around the site. I’ve addressed these types of questions many times. This strategy isn’t for everyone, but I find it incredibly robust for those attempting to achieve financial independence early in life and live off of growing passive dividend income.

    Take care!

  80. Well, I actually made my first income from the internet, but I wanted to wait 30 full days to see how much I made for an entire month’s time. Been busy last week, so things, such as writing, have slowed a bit. I have been chasing some customers for money and 2 renters. So, everything is a little off lately. We will see. Good luck on the writing, and keep plugging along.

    By the way, I am looking to go to Disney at the end of the year, and I might be going to Sarasota for a day at the beach. It would be cool to give you a shout when I get there, if you are up to it and have time. Maybe, we could do another video for your youtube channel. Take it easy.

    Keep cranking,

    Robert the DividendDreamer
    AKA — Seeking Dividends

    Follow me on Twitter– Seeking Dividends@DividendDreamer

  81. Sounds great. We are currently deciding on dates to go, so things are not in stone, but it could be toward the end of the year around November-December. I will let you know. Take care.

    Keep cranking,

    Robert the DividendDreamer
    AKA — Seeking Dividends

    Follow me on Twitter– Seeking Dividends@DividendDreamer

  82. That number came from the amazon site.
    Perhaps this is your kindle book rank. I mistakenly took at as number sold:

    roduct Details
    File Size: 850 KB
    Print Length: 152 pages
    Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
    Publisher: Jason Fieber (April 17, 2015)
    Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
    Language: English
    ASIN: B00WBWZT6U
    Text-to-Speech: Enabled
    X-Ray:
    Not Enabled
    Word Wise: Not Enabled
    Lending: Not Enabled
    Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,396 Paid in Kindle Store

  83. DM,
    Nicely done paying off the engagement ring this month. Wedding, honeymoon, and still managed to save nearly 50%? You must be in the 1 percentile of all US weddings on that one. Awesome.

    Lots of interest in the comments about your book. I hope that becomes a lasting addition to your income. It’ll be interesting to see that rise, tail off, and then hopefully plateau. I’ve read some other bloggers with eBooks out there and sometimes it’s surprising how much they bring in.
    -RBD

  84. Thomas,

    Ahh, right. That looks like a ranking across all books in the Kindle Store. Definitely not the number of books sold. I wish that were true, as that means the book is really reaching a pretty wide audience. But it’s not even close.

    Cheers!

  85. RBD,

    Thanks!

    Yeah, I think we did alright in terms of costs there regarding keeping costs under control while still having fun. It’s a lot easier to be frugal when you enjoy the simple things in life. 🙂

    I’ve seen some people talk about making a lot of money off of e-books. I haven’t really experienced that, but I also didn’t create the product to make a lot of money. And I also haven’t heavily marketed it or anything. I just have it out there for anyone interested in it. But I think it’ll be something that can still sell a few copies here and there years down the road, which means it can simultaneously (hopefully) help people while sending a few dollars my way. We’ll see how it goes!

    Thanks for dropping by.

    Cheers.

  86. I think you got lucky by meeting Claudia. A lot of ladies want that $20,000-50,000 wedding. BTW it would be cool if Claudia would write an article here about what it’s like being on this FI journey from her side. I read the millionaire next door and they basically said having a spouse who is like-minded helps in terms of financial happiness and independence. I don’t know anything about your relationship aside what you tell us on your blog but it would seem that the millionaire next door is correct on this.

  87. Lila,

    I agree. Claudia’s been really supportive, even if she doesn’t really dream of financial independence. She found her calling in teaching a while ago and loves it. And she’s quite a few years older than me, so it’s difficult for us to both aim for the same target. That said, she’ll be hitting a traditional retirement age not too long after I’ll be hitting FI at 40.

    I definitely think having someone like-minded is very important. Not only from the standpoint of not arguing about money all the time and having a generally successful relationship, but also working together and supporting each other. I couldn’t imagine being with someone who was trying to thwart my progress at every turn. I don’t know if you necessarily need someone who’s exactly on the same page (Claudia’s certainly not), but being with someone who more or less understands, supports, and tries to encourage/help your cause is definitely valuable.

    But I did let her share her perspective in her own words a few months back:

    https://www.dividendmantra.com/2014/12/meet-claudia/

    Best regards!

  88. Is there a way to purchase your book in other formats than kindle? Ibook, pdf or paper form?

  89. Dude, that would be one heck of a salary if you were doing it the “traditional” way. Im impressed you can generate so much online income just by writing! Grats.

  90. Jason! Congrats on another great month without regular day job! I always enjoy reading your blog. I am trying to influence my boyfriend to watch his expenses more closely because it’s sad to watch someone making good money and spend it all every month…

  91. Zol,

    Thank you. It’s just really fantastic. I have a lot of drive and I can be pretty intense. Fortunately, that’s translated well for me in terms of how much I can write and what kind of quality I can put out on a fairly regular basis. I always have hundreds of ideas circling in my head, so I suppose this is a great fit for me. 🙂

    Hope you had a great April as well!

    Best wishes.

  92. Happy,

    Yeah, I know how tough that is. Nobody else in my family really has an eye on the future, so everyone mostly lives paycheck to paycheck. I’ve done my best to serve as an example and help when questions have been raised, but the resentment I experienced last year means that I no longer help at all. It’s tough to stand by when you know improvements could be made, but it’s just one of those things. People change if/when they want to change. I was the same way once upon a time. Then I woke up and got my act in gear. I’m sure you’re serving as a great example as well, and I’m confident that’ll translate in some way. 🙂

    Best regards.

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