Income/Expenses For June 2014

budgetI’ve been tracking my income and expenses online 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. Often, 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 to save, but spending less means you need less 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).

Income from June 2014:
Day Job Paycheck$1,127
Dividend Income $700
Online Income $4,247
Other $58
Total Income$6,130
Expenses from June 2014:
Auto$300
Rent & Utilities $200
Gifts$178
Health$174
Hosting $152
Auto Insurance$78
Groceries$76
Fast Food/Takeout$75
Restaurants$73
Amusement$60
Fuel$59
Student Loans$50
Pharmacy $41
Mobile Phone $25
Email Services $20
Everything Else*$105
Total Expenses$1,662

*The everything else category includes expenses I don’t have a regular budget for. I spent $105 on documentation related to my automobile and residency here in Michigan. I applied for and received a Michigan driver license, registration, license plate, and title. I’m officially here!

First, income was astounding. I received what might be my last ever day job paycheck, as this check was related to sales that had closed during the month of May. Since I was paid on commission only, I would always receive my check a couple weeks after the prior month’s numbers had posted. So that’s it for that. I’m on my own from here.

Dividend income was impressive. I just continue to say that I’m so incredibly glad that the me of four years ago decided to make some big changes, seeing that the grind was just unsuitable and unsustainable for me. This income is the result of blood, sweat, and tears. Literally.

Online income, however, was really where it was at this month. This result would appear to make my recent post on how I make money online obsolete, but this is unusual for me. I would love it if every month were like this, but I don’t know if/when that will happen. More than half of this income was the result of increased freelance writing, and I also received an annual payment for certain syndicated content. In addition, June was a really strong month for passive ad income, which came in at $1,177. I expect online income to be strong again next month, but likely nowhere near this number.

Other income was related to $50 I received as a cash back reward on one of my credit cards (woo-hoo!) and an $8 refund from Comcast. I canceled my internet services in Florida before my billing cycle ended, so I received a small refund.

I made some key changes to the expense side of the budget. Namely, I added budgets for gifts, hosting, and email services. I spend enough on gifts that it should have its own budget category, no longer being included under the “everything else” budget. This month was quite high here as I spent a lot on my sister’s 30th birthday as well as Father’s Day. And I added hosting fees and email services to the budget for expenses related to the blog. I’ve been actually reducing the income side of the ledger by the amount of expenses incurred over the past few months to “net” out my income from online activities. But this really isn’t correct as it artificially inflates my savings rate. I was doing this because I didn’t want to track my dividend income against expenses that aren’t effectively part of my everyday personal life. However, as online income has grown, expenses have too. So I’m accounting for both income and expenses as they should be. Since I incorporate online income with personal dividend income then I will do the same with personal and business expenses.

The other expenses were pretty average. I held food in check this month, which is great. I’m targeting a $220 budget for all food, and I came extremely close to hitting this mark. And this even included taking my sister and brother-in-law out for food twice this past month, so I’m glad to be on track here.

Health insurance rose slightly for me. I had to cancel my previous HDHP, as it wasn’t valid in the state of Michigan. So I signed up for the national healthcare marketplace (I was able to because I moved and my previous plan isn’t valid) and enrolled in a Blue Care plan through BCBS, with a $5,950 deductible. This plan costs $173.75 after tax. So it’s actually fairly attractive compared to what I had before. About $40 more per month, but a much lower deductible. It was the cheapest plan I could possibly find, but it’s really not that horrible. My dental insurance was also invalid up here, so I canceled that too. I haven’t signed up for a new dental plan yet.

Auto insurance also went up, unfortunately. My insurance rate automatically increased just for moving to Michigan, which appears to have higher rates across the board when compared to Florida. In addition, I also upped my total liability to the max as you just never know. However, I signed up for the Progressive Snapshot program again, so I have that plugged in and I’m driving extra cautious. I’m hoping to snag a 20% discount or so in the coming months. We’ll see!

I paid $50 toward my student loans this month, which covered my interest expenses along with a little extra to pay down the principle. These loans are in forbearance for one more month, which basically just allows me a little flexibility in regards to cash flow. It looks like I didn’t really need it after all, but it’s nice to have that safety net.

The amusement tab was much higher than usual. I spent $43 on a used copy of Battlefield 4 that my brother-in-law was begging me to get so we could play online together. I occasionally play video games when I have free time, which isn’t often. But he’s pretty hardcore and plays this all the time. So I caved in. The rest was related to a night out on the town with my youngest sister and her boyfriend.

I managed to save 72.9% of my net income this month, which is simply fantastic. That’s my highest savings rate since August of last year. I’m incredibly happy any time I can get this rate over 70%. I expect this to probably be my last hurrah in this regard for the rest of the year, but I’m optimistic I can still come close to 50% on a regular basis. If I can still save almost half of my net income without a conventional day job I’ll be ecstatic!

My goal is to save 50% of my net income, averaged monthly. So far, I’ve hit rates of:

  • 49.8% – January
  • 21% – February
  • 59.1% – March
  • 51.6% – April
  • 18.6% – May
  • 72.9% – June

I’m now at an average of 45.5% for the year. That’s slightly behind my goal at the midway point, but I’m excited to give it my best shot and come from behind for a last-minute victory. We’ll see how it goes!

How did June treat you? Did the budget go to plan? Why or why not? 

Thanks for reading.

Photo Credit: Stuart Miles/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Similar Posts

92 Comments

  1. Your % savings this month was awesome! As was your income – your online income far exceeds your last day job check, which must feel pretty good. June was good to us too; we managed to meet our aims which is always a bonus. Here’s to July being great!

  2. DM,

    Nice job with the freelance writing gigs and the impressive online income from ads in June = huge ticket right there! I hope that this gets better/stronger for you month after month, as your presence online continues to blossom.

    Higher auto rates up in Michigan huh? Would you say you’re also driving less miles? Those little increases stink though!

    You can’t beat the $25/month for your phone plan. Have you seen the FreedomPop plans before? Not sure what to think of those yet.

    Dividend income will continue to rise, which is awesome. Aka, your margins should hopefully get better each month with your total income and expenses = I am confident you’ll surpass the 50% month objective, as even making $2K less will just about get you there. Nice work, pumped for your future months to come!

    -Lanny

  3. Wow wow wow! Great job, the online income is really impressive! I’d like to think I helped a tiny bit by clicking on the ads haha…

    At the rate you’re going, you’re basically financially independent! You have a job that you love and get pay for doing it! Congrats!

    Cheers,
    Henry

  4. Looks like you are doing ok for yourself, Jason. Your last ever day job paycheck? I guess you might miss the check but won’t miss what you had to do to earn it.

  5. Hi DM,

    $4K in online income is pretty amazing. If you can do that every month, then you do not need to work, ever again, for someone else in a normal job.

    March, June, Sep and December are usually great months for my dividend income as well. For some reason however, the best days are Feb 15, May 15, Oct 15 and Nov 15, due to pipelines I own and some monthly REITs.

    Best Regards,

    DGI

  6. An amazing month! A bunch of nice things bunching up together makes up for last month a bunch of not-so-nice things bunching up.

    It’s fun to watch you update your budget categories, too. Here’s another tweak you might like: split your blog income from other other online income (freelance/syndicated). Some people might call it passive versus active, but you only get that ad income because you keep drawing readers to your blog, which is not passive. Still, it’s fun to watch how your blog income changes as you are able to devote more time to it and how your other online income increases as you substitute more of that for your old day job.

    Glad you like your new health insurance more!

    Also, did you end up enjoying Battlefield 4? (If not, you might be able to sell it again and recoup some of the price you paid). But hopefully you’re enjoying it and having fun hanging with your brother-in-law.

  7. Hi Jason,
    Firstly, you are doing awesome.

    My 2 cents about how you record your expenses: I think it makes sense to compartmentalize “writing” as a business for your own records, and count hosting and other business expenses against it before reporting your business income. Otherwise, if you were operating a business with a relatively low net margin (which you are, by owning pieces of 47 of them) it would make your savings rate look artificially low. The “dividends” from blogging are pure net income, in my view.

  8. Nicola,

    This month was definitely awesome in the online income department. I know it won’t be like this all the time, so I’ll enjoy it while it lasts. 🙂

    So glad to hear you met your goals in June. Sounds like it was a great month for the both of us.

    Thanks for stopping by!

    Cheers.

  9. Lanny,

    Appreciate the support. It’s such a blessing to be in this position – writing and inspiring others. I’m just hopeful I can keep this going. 🙂

    I looked into Freedom Pop, but I found Aio better overall for my needs. I suspect Freedom Pop would be pretty solid if you don’t really talk or text much on the phone.

    The dividend income has been awesome so far this year. I really feel like the snowball is starting to build now, and it’s almost like I can’t not succeed now. No matter what I do from here the dividend income will just kind of propel itself. It’s a great feeling!

    Thanks for stopping by. You and Bert are doing very well over on your end too!!

    Best regards.

  10. Henry,

    Appreciate that support! I really do. The online income would be pretty small if it weren’t for you guys. 🙂

    And you’re right: I’m about as close to financial independence as it gets without actually being completely FI. Even if I were to win $1 million in the lottery tomorrow my life wouldn’t really change much. However, I still want to exceed expenses via passive dividend income because you just never know. People could stop finding interest in my writing, the freelance writing could dry up, and maybe I’ll want to spend more time in the future doing something else (volunteer work or travel, etc.). So having enough passive dividend income to cover your lifestyle means your choices aren’t really bound by finances any more.

    Take care!

  11. Hi DM,

    Looks to me like you’ve already achieved FI with your online income, well done, now its just a case of saving up for that bright red Ferrari 🙂

    More changes to come here, the Mrs. and I have decided to go travelling again at some point in the future (Not in the next couple of years) this will take some frugal living on our part to save up the travelling money…Stay tuned for the “Frugal challenge.”

    Cheers,

    Dave…

  12. Steve,

    I couldn’t have said it better myself! 🙂

    I’ll miss the money, but not the work. And I just hope I can continue writing and building the online income so that I won’t even really miss the money either.

    Appreciate all the support!

    Best wishes.

  13. DGI,

    Thanks for stopping by!

    Well, this month was definitely an aberration in regards to online income, but I don’t think it’s unrealistic to expect I might be able to hit $2,500 or maybe even $3,000 on a regular basis. We’ll see. I’m definitely giving it my best shot right now. 🙂

    I’ll have to take a look at what days are best for my dividend income. I’ve actually never looked at it that way, but I do know that sometimes I log in to my brokerage account and there’s a couple hundred dollars or so in fresh dividends, and that’s just always a great feeling.

    Keep up the great work!

    Best regards!

  14. Debbie M,

    That’s a good point. Maybe I will separate it a bit more as time goes on. That way you can see the different categories grow. Although, I don’t think I’d really split them into active and passive categories because they both require quite a bit of effort. But it’s effort I enjoy. 🙂

    Battlefield 4 isn’t my favorite game. I guess maybe because it’s incredibly challenging and I’ve had a rough go of it. But I enjoy it because we get to play together, so that’s where the real value is. And that’s a great point in regards to selling it. I suspect I could probably get half my money back when I don’t play it anymore, so that’s not too expensive on an hourly basis.

    Cheers!

  15. Grant,

    Good points there. I went back and forth on this one because I felt netting out the online income was appropriate on the business side, But I am mixing personal and business income, so I figured I’d just mix the two on the expense side as well. It does lower my savings rate a bit, but at least the entire picture is on display here. There’s nothing hidden anywhere. This is all the income and all the expenses that went through my accounts this month. Every dollar is accounted for out in the open, and I think that’s kind of cool. I would have been near a 75% savings rate if I were accounting the old way, but I still did pretty well.

    Thanks for adding that!

    Best wishes.

  16. Polliesdividend,

    Thanks so much. Appreciate the kind words and encouragement. 🙂

    It was a great month. I think this is my last big month of the year, but I’m excited to see how it all turns out. I’m doing my best every single day.

    Hope all is well with your journey. And congrats on getting your blog up and running! Best of luck with it. 🙂

    Take care.

  17. insourcelife,

    Yeah, this month was abnormal. If every month were like this I’d be in great shape. But I suspect I can realistically hit over half this level on a regular basis.

    Thanks for stopping by!

    Cheers.

  18. Dave,

    Exciting times ahead! 🙂

    I wish you the best of luck with the new challenge, although you guys already live pretty frugally! Keep up the great work. Life is an adventure!

    Best wishes.

  19. Indeed it is!!…Its going to take some thinking and some sacrifice to get below 250 USD per month, but now all the livestock are sold off, I have the time to think!!

    Cheers,

    Dave…

  20. Jason,

    Killer month. As others have said, you have already achieved a pretty awesome level of independence. Pretty great that we both are seeing solid results after leaving the 9-5. We’ll have to get together and celebrate taking back control of our lives soon!

    Talk to you soon,

  21. Ah, too bad. Well, you may grow to like the game more as you improve. And/or you may find another game in the future that you both really like.

  22. June has been great. The market continues its climb, which is a boost when I look at my account balances, but scary when I think how expensive everything is now.

    In any case, I finally broke $60k in my brokerage account. A combination over the past year of some good stock picks, plenty of dividends, and reinvesting have put it in a solid place.

    Over the next year, I plan to leave the brokerage account alone and just reinvest through DRIP for most accounts through the Vanguard brokerage, and fully fund my 401k and a Roth IRA. Not sure if there are any screaming buys right now, but I guess the best time to buy stocks is yesterday, so we shall see. Plus, work has kept me pretty busy lately, so I prefer to be slightly hands off, with occasional pruning/planting.

    Assuming I do this, I’ll be accumulating ~$1k/mo in cash after the 401k & Roth, so +/- $6k or so by the end of the year. Fortunately, my sister has student loans and is willing to pay me 4% (lower than her 6% rate), so I may just take the “Sister CD” and be happy. I don’t really need the money right now, and 4% is solid as ever, so it will probably end up there.

    Great month for you! I think your goal of $2.5-3k in online net income is solid! Is that before or after reserving for income taxes? Either way, it’s great, just curious though.

    I’m still gunning for $180k NW by year-end, but it will be close. If the market dips a bit I may come up short but will be even happier to buy into everything on sale!

    It will be an exciting 5 years or so to see how the global economy plays out. I’m interested to see how China manages to cool things off a little, but still keep going strong. Also, I am very interested to see what comes from the UK Fed and ECB in terms of monetary policy, but not sure yet.

  23. Jason, I agree with you. Your dividend income is very impressive. And your online income too. I am truly jealous. My online income surprised me too as I received $250 while I have been expecting nothing, but it did happen.

    You really are doing excellent job. I am glad to have you in my circle as you are really a great inspiration to me.

  24. Nice job Ravi. I like your approach. I will be doing the same thing – I plan to reinvest everything and contribute to my account for next five years and then stop and let the account make the money. I am also curious what the next five years in the market would look like.

  25. Jason,
    Great numbers. Again.

    Okay, so I’m a math guy. I added your monthly savings numbers in my head and divided by six and got 45+%. So, I got the calculator out (not literally since it’s a Windows feature) and got the 45.5% rate that you show. However, your actual savings rate for the first six months is the total savings divided by the total income. If your income was the same every month the two numbers would be equivalent, but yours varies significantly, so that makes it highly improbable that it’s actually 45.5%. I’m not trying to be critical, but am curious to see what number you would get if you added the totals. The 70+% this month may get you closer to your 50% goal than you think since your June income appears to be greater than the average for January through May. I hope that makes sense, if not, no worries.

    Blessings,
    KeithX

  26. Hi DM,

    Congrats on a great month!

    I think you may have to change your view that you may never reach a six figure income if your online income continues to increase. That’s certainly a nice problem to have though – great job!

    Michigan auto insurance is crazy, much higher than it used to be in Alabama; I ended up adding my girlfriend to my policy to reduce the premiums we were both paying. She’s a better driver than I so that should be less risk.

    My June budget was good – I spent less than my budget so added to my reserve, but next month will be an excess as I’ll be paying said expensive auto insurance premium. At least I’ll get a lot of credit cards rewards from it!

    Have a great July and best wishes on your continued journey to independence, keep it up!

  27. Wow, you are a full time writer/blogger now. No reason to work 9-5! Congrats!

  28. Kraig,

    Thanks, bud. It’s really cool that we’re both in this spot where we’re kind of chasing our own versions of freedom and generally achieving what we set out for. 🙂

    And we both had great June’s. I know my budgets won’t look like this very often, but it sure is nice when it happens.

    Keep up the fight!

    Best wishes.

  29. Ravi,

    That’s really nice what you’re doing there for your sister. I wouldn’t hesitate to help out family at all in a case like that.

    The income you see here is after factoring in for the quarterly estimated taxes ($700/quarter). However, it’ll net out less than that because I didn’t anticipate making so much in online income this year. I should have sent in even more to the IRS. I just hope I don’t owe too much next spring.

    We’ll see what happens over the next few years. I’m not really worried about monetary policy, China, or anything else really. I’m just focusing on being able to regularly contribute capital, which will be hard enough. Just gotta keep my eye on the ball. 🙂

    Thanks for stopping by!

    Cheers.

  30. Martin,

    Hey, that’s great to hear. $250 is nothing to sneeze at, and it wasn’t that long ago that I was making that much. Keep at it!

    And I appreciate the very kind words. It’s just great to be part of this community. We all really support and inspire each other, and I certainly take as much as I give.

    Thanks for stopping by!

    Best regards.

  31. KeithX,

    Well, my net savings rate would be slightly higher if I took total income against total expenses for the year. The variance lowers it artificially a bit. I started off with averaging the rates out monthly, but probably should have just stuck with an approach that still did the math monthly, but then took the whole year’s numbers for the actual annual net savings rate. I may change this in the future to reflect a more accurate number, and one that would probably increase my totals. Of course, we’re not talking much of a difference. At least, it wasn’t much of a difference the last time I took a look at the spread. This year may end up making things a little off with big variances month to month, but I’ve always had big swings from month to month because of my variable income that was commission-based.

    I hope that clears it up!

    Cheers.

  32. kingkang,

    Good question. Typically, I found myself at the grocery store buying a lot of bread, milk, granola, Powerade Zero, peanut butter, jelly, Baked Lay’s, Edy’s Slow Churned, and tuna fish. I obviously eat a lot of sandwiches. And that’s because they’re quick, easy, generally healthy, and taste good. Of course, I also benefited from some cooking my sister did, and reciprocated with buying some pizza here and there and taking her out to eat.

    Take care!

  33. Dividend Life,

    I’d love to see a six-figure income. I still kind of doubt I’ll ever see it, though, and that’s because this month was an anomaly in the income department. We’ll see. I certainly wouldn’t turn it down! 🙂

    At one point Michigan was the most expensive in the country for auto insurance. Not sure if that’s still the case. I probably don’t even want to know the truth. I remember the joy I felt when moving down to Florida and saving on auto insurance and taxes. Back to reality!

    Glad to hear your June budget was also pretty solid. The more capital we can save, the more we can invest.

    Thanks for stopping by!

    Best regards.

  34. DD,

    Thanks so much. It’s crazy. I honestly never would have thought I’d be in this position, but here I am. I’m still shooting for financial independence, but aiming for FI while enjoying life so much in the meanwhile is great. I’m going to do everything I can to keep this train going. 🙂

    Appreciate you stopping by!

    Best wishes.

  35. Wow, great month for you, Jason. Ours was pretty good income wise, but we had over $1000 for a brake job on the truck and a $325 red light ticket, so it basically was a wash. 🙁

  36. Great job, Jason. I do recall that the car was added to facilitate your commute to the dealership job in FL. Now that you’ve stepped down from that job and ushered in a new age of frugality, is there a big red bulls eye on the car?

  37. Debs,

    Aww, sorry to hear the month didn’t turn out as great as you would have liked. However, ending up even is a lot better than ending up in the red. I hope next month is even better. We all get hit with those unexpected expenses from time to time, but it’s all about the long haul. 🙂

    Cheers!

  38. Josh,

    That’s a really good question.

    I wish I could get rid of it. I could easily sell it for more than I paid. However, up here in Michigan it’s terribly difficult to get around without a car. I did it once when I was living in downtown Ann Arbor, and that’s probably the best place in the whole state to try that out. But even there it was really difficult, and waiting around for the bus in the wintertime is no bueno. Plus, everything in this area is incredibly spread out and I’d have difficulties seeing my family as much as I’d like to. One of the big reasons I originally moved to Florida was because I felt it would be easier to get around without a car (I was right). But I knew moving back up here entailed keeping the car, and that’s okay. I plan on keeping that Corolla for at least another decade and keeping the overall ownership costs low.

    Best regards!

  39. Hoooooly shit! Oh my goodness! You are on fire man! Your previous stressful job is a long ways off in the rearview mirror!

    I’m flabbergasted. I mean, I knew you would be successful, I had no doubt about that at all. But holy cow, you are totally kicking ass…you are kicking The Man’s ass, to be precise.

    This is gonna be a huge source of inspiration for everyone that reads your blog. Taking the plunge is totally worth it!

    Although your online income may not always be this high, I hope you can continue to grow it so that you can continue your investing activities at the same old pace.

  40. Spoonman,

    Thanks so much. It’s really been an incredible journey to this point. I honestly never would have thought I’d be in this position, but here I am. To be able to write and do something I truly enjoy every day and make enough income to get by and continue to invest is just a dream come true. I’m pretty much just as flabbergasted as you! 🙂

    I also hope that it slowly increases over time. This is definitely not normal, but if I can slowly increase it from, say $2,500 or $3,000 per month to the point where $3,500 or even $4,000 is relatively common I’d be very happy. But I’ll take what I can get, and I’ll simply continue to reinvest the spread between the income I’m able to generate and the expenses I have.

    One nice thing for you is that you’re hitting FI just as cheap stocks are pretty much impossible to find. I suppose it takes away the difficult job of allocating capital, which is one less thing to really stress/worry about. Although, it’s a good kind of stress. First world problems. 🙂

    Thanks for stopping by!

    Cheers.

  41. Congrats on a great month Jason! That online income is impressive man as is breaking the 70% mark in savings, definitely not an easy thing to do. Keep up the good work!

    Best wishes,
    SFZ

  42. Your dividends cover close to 50% of your expenses. Also, a savings of 72% is wonderful. At this rate, you can retire from everything (including writing) pretty soon.
    Congrats.

  43. SFZ,

    Thanks so much. Saving 70% is definitely not easy, but the big month of income definitely helped. I think I’ll have a better test of my savings ability in July and the months going forward due to much less income. We’ll see. My expenses can’t really go a whole lot lower than they already are, but I’m excited to keep them as low as possible and keep a watchful eye on everything.

    Thanks for stopping by.

    Cheers!

  44. Allan,

    Thank you. 🙂

    It was a really successful month. It was kind of firing on all cylinders. This will probably be the last month of the year quite like this, but I’m hoping I can keep the savings rate near 50% from here. That would require net income of just above $3,000 or so, which might be tough. But even getting close to a 50% savings rate after quitting a conventional job would be a massive success, in my view. It’s a wonderful position just to be able to cover expenses at this point, so continuing to save and invest is really wonderful.

    Congrats on all of your success as well. I see you’re up to more than $1 per day in passive income! The snowball is definitely rolling along. Keep it up! 🙂

    Best wishes.

  45. DGJ,

    Well, I’m not quite that close to early retirement. My expenses are temporarily low due to the extremely low rent (renting a room from my sister). This situation won’t last forever, and as such my expenses will rise at some point. In addition, I didn’t fully account for the student loans this month as they’re on a forbearance.

    However, the $300/month I’m amortizing for the Corolla will go away by the end of the year, so that will lower the expenses nicely. But, overall, expenses will surely rise by this time next year. I’ll do my best to keep them in check, though.

    In the meanwhile, I’ll take these kinds of victories when I can get them. I know the rest of the year is going to be a lot more difficult.

    Thanks for stopping by!

    Cheers.

  46. Wow good job Jason. Great online income or pretty much great new day job income lol. Cant believe you spend so little on food. Would love a detailed food breakdown sometime, You must be starving or really living on cheap eats !!!!!!!! I approve the video game purchase especially If it provides 50+ hours of entertainment! 2-3 games a year is fine if its a big source of entertainment. I love a good game on my iphone once in while!

    Good Day and Game On!

  47. Nice month Jason! I had no doubt that your online income would rise as a result of your decision to semi-retire. I’ve always enjoyed reading your posts and it obvious (from your online revenue stream) that others do as well. 🙂

    Wishing you continued success on your personal journey! AFFJ

  48. Hey Jason, long time lurker here!

    Great to see your savings rate bounce back up after May, incredible month! I especially like how you balanced your frugal lifestyle with your family (sister’s birthday, father’s day, BF4 for your brother-in-law, etc.). That’s something I still have to work on myself.

    I’m looking forward to see how you will do in the upcoming months because of the big life changes you made recently.

    Thanks for inspiring me and all the best on your journey to FI!
    NMW

  49. Asset-Grinder,

    I actually laid out my diet not long ago here:

    https://www.dividendmantra.com/2014/03/my-frugally-fit-diet/

    It’s essentially the same right now, although I don’t eat as many Lean Cuisine meals because I’m not packing a lunch for work. I would say the only difference is that I’ve switched sandwiches to lunch and I generally eat something cooked for dinner. For instance, last week I ate chicken (friend and grilled) a couple days, spaghetti one day, and 3/4 of a $1 Totino’s frozen pizza another day. The frozen pizza wasn’t particularly healthy, but my portions are always quite small.

    But my weekly diet consists of plenty of granola for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch. Those are staples for me. I guess I’m a creature of habit, but they’re easy, cheap, and fairly healthy. The weekends are still mixed up quite a bit. Generally takeout pizza a couple times per month and 1-2 restaurant visits per month. I also tend to hit fast food twice per month, on average. But this is usually $2 or $3 per pop. And I try to eat the healthiest stuff I can, like yogurt parfaits and a chicken sandwich with no mayo.

    I hope this helps!

    Best regards.

  50. AFFJ,

    Thanks so much. It’s been wonderful thus far. I just gotta keep it up. 🙂

    And congrats again on your recent millionaire status. That’s really amazing. The next stop is $2 million!

    Best wishes.

  51. No More Waffles,

    Thanks for stopping by!

    I see we both had a 72.9% savings rate for the month. What are the odds of that? Keep up the great work. 🙂

    I do try to balance frugality with tending to relationships. It can be difficult at times because the people in my life that I care about aren’t particularly frugal, but I do my best with it. Gifts tend to be the one area that I don’t hold back on too much. I don’t want to force my beliefs on others, so I try to temper my frugality when it comes to family and friends.

    The changes have allowed my expenses to come down quite a bit, but it’s not permanent. Next year will be particularly challenging because I won’t be living with my sister any more. So that $200 rent payment will surely rise. But the $300 “auto payment” will be gone, and I hope to keep everything else in check as well. We’ll see how it goes!

    Best of luck on your journey! Seems like you’re pretty good at living frugally over there in Belgium. Even when you’re off on your own you should be able to carry those skills over.

    Cheers!

  52. Over 70% that’s amazing. I’ve been spot checking our savings rate and like you are right around the 50% mark(paydown the mortgage included and 401K investments not included). I’m sure a nice jump in online income certainly helps during the move, nice work.

  53. Hey congrats on your increased online income! You sound unsure if it will continue this way but I am sure because you are doing that you like now, it will keep going strong.

    For dental insurance you can just pay cash unless you find really good one. If you were raised in the USA, probably all you need is once a year checkup and cleaning, plus they usually give a discount if you pay cash. You just have to ask.

  54. Wow, amazing month for online income!! That is spectacular, and it’s looking more like your decision to go out at full time was the right now.

    You’re making me want to ponder the thought of trying to writing gig full time now 😉

  55. DM,

    Amazing job! $200 in rent and utilities is great. Keep up the great progress. I enjoy reading your updates.

    Regards,
    Dear Dividend

  56. Steven,

    Man, that’s fantastic. Saving 50% of your income is really difficult, but that puts you guys in a great spot. Saving that much consistently means you should be financially independent in 12-15 years, which is light years faster than the general population. Keep up the great work!

    Take care.

  57. Happy,

    It was really a great month. This was a crazy month with the way things happened, but I do certainly hope to build on past success.

    I hear you on the dental insurance. I’ll just self-insure right now. I did get a root canal done with my prior insurance and it was $1,200 with the insurance. It would have been $1,800 cash. So I did save some money, even factoring in the payments and everything. But it also wasn’t a life-changing amount of money either way.

    Hope all is well with you!

    Cheers.

  58. MDP,

    Thanks so much. Appreciate the support. 🙂

    I’ve got a really cool article coming out tomorrow, and I hope to go over some investment ideas here pretty soon. I was originally hunting V and IBM with my little pellet gun, but they’ve both kind of run away from me a little bit. So I may have to hunt elsewhere. We’ll see.

    Best regards!

  59. FI Fighter,

    It was a great month. I don’t expect to hit this kind of income on a recurring basis, but it’s certainly nice to know the potential is there!

    You may want to try it out yourself, but you’re so close to full FI anyhow. You’ll be on easy street here in no time. 🙂

    Thanks for stopping by!

    Best wishes.

  60. Dear Dividend,

    Thank you very much. I’m temporarily benefiting from lower rent, but I’m also really enjoying this situation right now. It’s great to be able to save money, help family, and enjoy time around loved ones.

    Keep up the good work over there!

    Take care.

  61. Hi Jason,

    $4,247 online income is simply amazing – it is much more than you earned in your day job at the car dealer shop. Now, you have more time to work in your passion (writing), so you can repeat this success again and again.

    So, You had a successful first month of experiment. Good luck and keep it up.

    Best Regards,

  62. DM,

    Nice month and awesome savings rate! That online income and the dividends can pay serious and even increasing dividends all the way to and through FI. Nice work! I’m hoping to have more time to write and possibly freelance a little eventually. I really do like this much more then my day job.

    Keep rolling!

  63. Have you thought about knocking out the car loan and student loan? I know it would mean pausing on the high saving, but with the debt gone, your expenses drop and you could accelerate investments. I know there are many perspectives on debt, but the debt just seems “out of your lifestyle”. Thanks for the update. Amazing savings rate.

  64. Way to go DM. Keep up the good work. June wasn’t so pleasant for me (budget) but I still managed to save a little for investments. Also June was the highest dividend month for me since I started investing. That was a pleasant surprise.

  65. Finance Journey,

    This month was really, really great. This income was definitely comparable with the dealership income, although I don’t think every month will be like this. But if I hit this kind of income even a couple times of year that would be great.

    Appreciate all the support. Keep up the great work over on your end too!

    Cheers.

  66. SWAN,

    Thanks! Hard work definitely pays dividends, especially when that work is targeted towards investing in high-quality stocks that pay dividends. 🙂

    I do hope you get a chance to do some more writing and even try your hand at freelance. You might really enjoy it!

    Thanks for stopping by.

    Take care.

  67. Wade,

    Great question there.

    I don’t actually have a car loan. I paid cash for my Toyota Corolla late last year. I scored the deal of my life. I’m amortizing the costs out over the course of a year so that it doesn’t disrupt my budget. You can read about the car here:

    https://www.dividendmantra.com/2013/12/macd/

    As far as the student loans go, I could pay them off. I hesitate because the interest rate is low and the interest is tax-deductible. Plus, the debt is pretty flexible, as this recent forbearance shows. But it would be nice to have the expense off the books. If I completely stop finding attractively valued stocks then it might make sense to funnel that money toward the student loans. But at a 3% interest rate that’s tax-deductible, I think I can do better in the market.

    Cheers!

  68. DFG,

    Wow, congrats on crossing over $400 for the month in dividends. That’s fantastic!

    Monthly budgets are a constant battle. Every month you’re in the trenches. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But it’s important to focus on the war. Losing a few battles along the way is inevitable. 🙂

    Cheers!

  69. Great work! Just curious, is that $175 healthcare subsidized through ACA? Congrats on your progress!

  70. envisionhappy,

    That’s a great question there. No, that does not include any subsidy. I won’t qualify for anything this year. But next year might be interesting, depending on how the self-employment income works out. However, I think any subsidy I might qualify for in the future would be really minimal. So I’m not even really looking into it right now.

    Thanks for the support!

    Best wishes.

  71. Oh wow, I didn’t even notice! Quite the coincidence! 🙂
    Thanks for checking out my blog, even though it’s brand new and still rough around the edges. Much appreciated.

    That’s indeed a balance I’m still looking for myself. Not forcing my views on others is something I actively try not do do. I have, for example, a personal rule never to say no to drinks with friends. Unless they become raging alcoholics of course!

    I’m sure you’ll manage just fine in the future. You clearly thought this through and have shown your flexibility before should something not go according to plan.

    I hope your writing carreer takes off!

    Take care,
    NMW

  72. Dan,

    Thank you. It was such a wonderful month. It won’t be like this all the time, as you’ll likely see in subsequent budgets. But I’ll gladly take it when I can get it.

    The income you see was both freelancing and advertising revenue. It was an approximate 70/30 split, with 70% resulting from freelance writing and other outside activities.

    Thanks for stopping by!

    Cheers.

  73. Jason, congrats about amazing Online Income ! I couldn’t even imagine that it’s possible to get as Online Income above 4K!

  74. gibor,

    Thank you so much. It was a great month in that regard.

    I honestly never thought I’d be in a situation like that either, but knowing it’s possible energizes and motivates me to keep going.

    Appreciate the support. 🙂

    Best regards.

  75. Matthew,

    Thank you! 🙂

    I use Mint.com to track my budget and expenses. Most of my transactions are electronic (credit card), and Mint automatically categorizes these expenses, for the most part. Any cash transactions (rare) or mis-labeled expenses I categorize myself.

    I hope this helps!

    Cheers.

  76. Hey DM,

    Congrat’s on yet another fantastic month! Hitting the 70% saving mark always feels sweet. I hope that’s helped push you towards your 50% goal for the year now.

    You’re online income is remarkable. I think it’s testament to the great articles you write, the time you take to answer questions people have on your comment sections and the support and encouragement you offer others….like me. That’s my opinion anyway.

    June was also a solid month for me. I had my biggest dividend payments to date (£114), so it was over 10% of what I’m looking for permanently (over a consistent basis). It feels like it’s dividend snowball is starting to build and get some momentum now which is nice. You have inspired me to review how my Blog is performing. I’m getting around £1-£3 a month at the moment from Google Adsense, so I have a long way to go!

    I’ve read that making more frequent quality Posts (2-3 per week) will help with my readership numbers, but I’m not quite sure how else to make a difference right now. Do you have any advice to a relatively new Blogger?

    So far you new lifestyle seems to be working out rather well. I hope you continue to enjoy it and can make it more of a permanent fixture. Please keep us posted.

    All the best
    Huw

  77. Huw,

    Thank you so much. Really appreciate the support very much. I’m extremely blessed right now to have this opportunity to write on a more full-time basis. I’m really enjoying it.

    Congrats on a great June over there. That’s a fantastic month of dividends, especially considering that you haven’t been at it long. You’re making much faster progress than I did. It took me quite a while to receive my first $100 month of dividends. Your savings rate is really impressive as well. That puts you on a really great trajectory for early retirement/FI. Keep it up!

    As far as blogging goes, I have no magic formula. I’ve basically just focused on writing. I try to produce the type of content I’d personally enjoy reading, which is why you don’t find constant yammering about typical personal finance subjects like credit cards, student loans, and mortgages. That stuff gets boring after a while, if you ask me. So I try to mix it up and hone in on what’s really important and effective if you’re looking to build wealth and retire early. And so I take a more extreme approach to everything because extreme is oftentimes necessary if you’re looking to do achieve something like early financial independence. It doesn’t happen by accident. 🙂

    My advice would be to simply be you and write from the heart.

    Keep at it, my friend!

    Best wishes.

  78. I love reading this blog!! Just curious on how you make so much with online income each month? Is this from sponsor ads? I would love to learn more. Thanks for being such an inspiration on financial independence. I hope to one day be at the same savings level you are at! Keep up the good work.

    Best,
    Nickie

  79. Thanks so much! This is very helpful and thanks for providing such detailed answers. You should definitely write a book with all of your real life examples and information. Thanks again and have a fabulous weekend!

    Nickie 🙂

  80. Hey DM,

    Thanks for the encouraging reply. I’m really pleased with my progress so far and if I’m able to replicate success anywhere near what you’ve been able to do I’ll be a happy man!

    Thank you for the honest feedback. Sometimes, success just comes down to doing the basics well, and it sounds like Blogging is no different. I will do my best to write posts in a style that I would find interesting and hope others find it interesting too.

    I appreciate the advice and support. Keep up the good work my friend!

    Cheers
    Huw

  81. Nickie,

    Thank you for the very kind words! I hope to be able to find the time here one of these days to start a book. I would love to put something really unique and refreshing together, and give a whole new spin on things. I’ve got some great ideas, but I’m busier than I thought I’d be (which is a GREAT thing). 🙂

    I hope you have a wonderful weekend as well. And please stay in touch.

    Best regards.

Leave a Reply