Income & Expenses For August 2015

Since 2014, I have been tracking my monthly income and expenses. You can see a breakdown of every penny I earn and spend. For perspective, this budget is for a household of two in a small US city. By documenting my journey, I aim to demonstrate the feasibility of saving a significant portion of your income and provide some ideas and inspirations for your own budget.

Below is my income and expenses for August 2015. You can see all my monthly budgets here. 

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	Aug 2015
Income
Wages	$8,422.47
Dividends	$1,079.32
Other Income	$154.30
Total Income	$9,656.09
Expense
Federal Tax	$305.56
Federal Tax Pmt/(Refund)
FICA-SS	$356.13
FICA-Medicare	$83.29
Rent	$450.00
Student loan repayment	$155.80
Cell phone	$17.86
Electric	$26.56
Other Expense	$36.79
Total Expense	$1,431.99
Ex-Tax Total Expense	$687.01
Surplus/(Deficit)	$8,224.10
Before Tax Saving Rate	85.17%
After Tax Saving Rate	92.29%

Income

Wages were typical this month. Dividend income this month was $1079.32, which covered my living expenses of $687.01. Here is a chart of my dividend income by month for the last 13 months:

Expense
Expenses were lower this month, from lower student loan interest rates and reduced electric usage, partially offset by increased in incidental other expense.

Savings
My after tax saving rate was 92.29% for the month of August, which exceeded my target of 90%. This marks 6 months in row with above 90% savings rate. Going forward, I expect to meet or exceed my 90% savings goal for the year.

How's your budget? Did you save as much as you wanted to? On track to meet your savings goals for the year? Thanks for reading.

Portfolio Update August 2015

The time has come for my monthly portfolio update. At the end of every month, I will update my portfolio and comment on any changes. I do that for accountability and also so you may glean some ideas on how I allocate my capital. You have the opportunity to learn from what I do well, so you can do the same, as well as what I do poorly, so you will not have to repeat my mistakes.

My Current Portfolio Holdings, as of Sep 2, 2015:

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Ticker	Current Price	Shares Held	Cost basis	Market Value	Weight	Dividend Yield TTM
BDX	$136.38	153.67	$13,194.11	$20,957.51	4.99%	1.72%
VWO	$33.88	615.82	$24,965.34	$20,863.98	4.97%	3.10%
AFL	$57.56	238.29	$12,291.00	$13,715.97	3.27%	2.72%
EXC	$30.10	454.53	$13,999.52	$13,681.35	3.26%	4.14%
XOM	$73.73	160.55	$14,240.79	$11,837.35	2.82%	3.88%
MCD	$95.91	101.84	$9,339.75	$9,767.47	2.33%	3.54%
LMT	$205.43	44.57	$4,715.95	$9,156.02	2.18%	2.94%
MHFI	$93.79	86.26	$4,360.44	$8,090.33	1.93%	1.38%
EMR	$46.35	173.64	$10,072.86	$8,048.21	1.92%	4.02%
BRK.B	$132.75	56.92	$6,313.57	$7,556.13	1.80%	0.00%
BMTC	$29.29	253.61	$6,408.72	$7,428.24	1.77%	2.63%
HPQ	$28.26	221.25	$4,135.16	$6,252.53	1.49%	2.34%
CVX	$77.84	71.00	$7,016.93	$5,526.64	1.32%	5.48%
AZN	$32.19	172.22	$7,612.12	$5,543.76	1.32%	4.42%
INTC	$29.23	190.28	$4,833.11	$5,561.88	1.32%	3.30%
NSC	$77.01	71.53	$5,617.97	$5,508.53	1.31%	3.06%
ESLT	$78.61	70.54	$2,576.12	$5,545.15	1.32%	1.77%
SAN	$5.86	915.31	$6,260.72	$5,363.72	1.28%	9.00%
T	$33.03	162.93	$5,319.66	$5,381.58	1.28%	5.70%
PEG	$39.24	136.14	$4,789.41	$5,342.13	1.27%	3.90%
UL	$40.01	131.93	$5,500.16	$5,278.52	1.26%	3.36%
SON	$38.82	133.96	$4,943.12	$5,200.33	1.24%	3.48%
MOCO	$13.50	386.15	$5,784.53	$5,213.03	1.24%	3.36%
WMT	$64.83	76.75	$5,412.41	$4,975.70	1.18%	3.03%
PEP	$92.28	52.98	$4,159.99	$4,888.99	1.16%	2.96%
MSFT	$43.53	111.49	$3,925.56	$4,853.16	1.16%	2.86%
OGZPY	$4.28	1,123.78	$7,461.90	$4,809.78	1.15%	5.30%
CINF	$52.87	91.00	$4,684.68	$4,811.17	1.15%	3.44%
NUE	$43.24	107.00	$4,684.46	$4,626.68	1.10%	3.48%
ABBV	$61.74	76.00	$4,684.64	$4,692.24	1.12%	3.16%
PG	$70.02	66.68	$4,586.92	$4,668.93	1.11%	3.74%
VEA	$36.79	126.04	$3,940.01	$4,637.01	1.10%	3.07%
CHL	$58.98	78.04	$3,717.05	$4,602.80	1.10%	3.22%
VIG	$75.14	60.71	$3,646.24	$4,561.75	1.09%	2.31%
VALE	$4.92	894.24	$9,532.60	$4,399.66	1.05%	6.88%
BAMM	$3.18	1,396.15	$4,928.41	$4,439.76	1.06%	0.00%
MAT	$23.08	190.64	$6,102.39	$4,399.97	1.05%	6.63%
DV	$25.08	167.07	$3,695.59	$4,190.12	1.00%	1.40%
ED	$61.77	67.00	$4,684.64	$4,138.59	0.99%	4.18%
HCP	$36.48	111.00	$5,122.65	$4,049.28	0.96%	6.10%
YORW	$20.86	187.06	$3,797.32	$3,902.07	0.93%	2.81%
BCR	$191.04	20.50	$2,047.34	$3,916.32	0.93%	0.47%
GIS	$57.56	62.42	$2,741.49	$3,592.90	0.86%	2.99%
K	$67.09	50.44	$2,858.94	$3,384.02	0.81%	2.95%
LUKOY	$37.20	89.42	$4,412.88	$3,326.42	0.79%	6.71%
JNJ	$92.96	32.90	$2,058.55	$3,058.38	0.73%	3.11%
WBA	$88.50	33.43	$1,243.26	$2,958.56	0.70%	1.56%
CSX	$27.17	108.27	$2,272.59	$2,941.70	0.70%	2.52%
HIMX	$7.03	421.22	$1,069.90	$2,961.18	0.70%	4.31%
NKE	$111.02	26.19	$2,350.55	$2,907.61	0.69%	0.98%
RBCAA	$24.50	118.94	$2,508.44	$2,914.03	0.69%	3.10%
VFC	$71.79	40.04	$2,650.25	$2,874.47	0.68%	1.71%
DGS	$36.25	78.87	$3,507.35	$2,859.04	0.68%	3.28%
BBL	$33.80	79.87	$3,640.47	$2,699.61	0.64%	7.47%
SKM	$22.93	110.63	$1,454.78	$2,536.75	0.60%	4.10%
BUD	$107.84	23.16	$2,550.15	$2,497.57	0.59%	3.23%
CEO	$115.68	21.29	$3,081.09	$2,462.83	0.59%	6.10%
AGNC	$19.16	130.35	$2,639.59	$2,497.51	0.59%	15.65%
KO	$39.12	63.00	$2,600.01	$2,464.56	0.59%	3.26%
FNDE	$19.65	121.85	$3,038.94	$2,394.35	0.57%	1.59%
LLY	$81.97	28.91	$1,065.91	$2,369.75	0.56%	2.43%
SC	$21.59	105.00	$1,840.65	$2,266.95	0.54%	0.00%
APOL	$10.99	194.00	$3,686.00	$2,132.06	0.51%	0.00%
TESS	$23.20	85.92	$1,060.25	$1,993.34	0.47%	3.40%
PPL	$30.17	65.03	$1,995.77	$1,961.96	0.47%	4.94%
TOT	$45.61	40.71	$2,123.84	$1,856.78	0.44%	6.30%
BP	$32.31	57.32	$2,236.63	$1,852.01	0.44%	7.45%
SGTZY	$5.08	371.00	$2,392.95	$1,884.68	0.45%	2.01%
RDS.A	$50.86	34.16	$2,178.04	$1,737.38	0.41%	7.38%
BVN	$6.15	282.50	$2,607.48	$1,737.38	0.41%	0.38%
PAYX	$44.76	38.69	$1,449.71	$1,731.76	0.41%	3.51%
SBRCY	$4.69	346.00	$2,138.28	$1,622.74	0.39%	0.70%
PBR	$5.39	285.38	$2,562.71	$1,538.20	0.37%	0.00%
CIG.C	$1.98	751.67	$2,908.96	$1,488.31	0.35%	7.61%
TLK	$39.57	36.14	$1,162.62	$1,430.06	0.34%	2.86%
HCBK	$9.29	153.92	$1,471.48	$1,429.92	0.34%	1.75%
TLSYY	$19.62	72.99	$1,087.55	$1,432.06	0.34%	5.81%
PKX	$38.88	35.13	$1,930.74	$1,365.85	0.33%	0.00%
DO	$22.62	59.44	$2,031.06	$1,344.53	0.32%	2.25%
PNY	$37.12	35.70	$1,323.40	$1,325.18	0.32%	3.45%
PDLI	$5.19	255.36	$1,544.93	$1,325.32	0.32%	11.43%
SBS	$4.06	307.00	$1,510.44	$1,246.42	0.30%	0.00%
NAT	$14.63	82.75	$1,617.76	$1,210.63	0.29%	8.06%
OGS	$41.84	28.52	$1,032.99	$1,193.28	0.28%	2.82%
MDLZ	$43.66	27.29	$486.03	$1,191.48	0.28%	1.42%
BCMXY	$22.35	52.00	$835.64	$1,162.20	0.28%	4.94%
POT	$25.66	43.85	$1,278.67	$1,125.19	0.27%	5.72%
HCN	$62.83	17.15	$1,067.24	$1,077.53	0.26%	5.17%
MBT	$7.55	142.00	$1,525.08	$1,072.10	0.26%	8.72%
SB	$3.25	314.89	$2,260.91	$1,023.39	0.24%	2.44%
VMI	$105.00	9.97	$1,204.38	$1,046.85	0.25%	1.43%
OAOFY	$27.95	38.00	$1,086.42	$1,062.10	0.25%	3.63%
ARLP	$25.13	41.00	$1,093.88	$1,030.33	0.25%	10.55%
CRC	$3.47	255.00	$1,259.70	$884.85	0.21%	0.54%
VSS	$91.79	10.00	$878.20	$917.90	0.22%	2.74%
MRK	$52.92	17.24	$597.71	$912.34	0.22%	3.38%
FTD	$30.00	30.00	$967.50	$900.00	0.21%	0.00%
DTEGY	$17.27	50.94	$637.26	$879.73	0.21%	3.31%
IBM	$146.66	6.02	$962.66	$882.89	0.21%	3.31%
OJSCY	$3.75	236.00	$1,109.20	$885.00	0.21%	3.85%
BEN	$39.84	22.00	$960.08	$876.48	0.21%	1.44%
MYTAY	$7.18	124.00	$1,634.32	$890.32	0.21%	0.00%
PTR	$78.54	10.31	$1,086.57	$809.75	0.19%	5.49%
STRA	$50.19	16.00	$768.00	$803.04	0.19%	0.00%
FSBK	$7.78	100.29	$453.31	$780.26	0.19%	1.30%
AEO	$17.00	45.30	$549.94	$770.10	0.18%	2.92%
CTL	$26.70	27.47	$1,068.03	$733.45	0.17%	8.00%
VIAB	$42.68	17.16	$1,099.96	$732.39	0.17%	3.33%
DRI	$69.17	10.22	$460.92	$706.92	0.17%	3.19%
KHC	$72.12	9.58	$312.40	$690.91	0.16%	0.76%
ITYBY	$97.06	7.16	$448.36	$694.95	0.17%	1.39%
RYAM	$6.32	106.83	$2,890.82	$675.17	0.16%	4.64%
MWE	$55.23	12.26	$258.69	$677.12	0.16%	6.66%
EZPW	$6.03	109.00	$997.35	$657.27	0.16%	0.00%
TLKGY	$17.70	36.34	$711.90	$643.22	0.15%	3.90%
MPC	$47.06	13.03	$290.44	$613.19	0.15%	2.29%
GSH	$19.38	31.59	$597.37	$612.21	0.15%	2.13%
DYN	$25.13	24.00	$764.16	$603.12	0.14%	0.00%
SWRAY	$10.88	53.34	$610.21	$580.34	0.14%	4.66%
SCL	$42.77	13.00	$499.98	$556.01	0.13%	1.69%
PB	$50.31	11.00	$499.73	$553.41	0.13%	2.12%
NUS	$45.48	12.07	$490.04	$548.94	0.13%	3.06%
CPLP	$7.03	75.76	$646.23	$532.59	0.13%	13.18%
TSCDY	$8.60	63.00	$504.00	$541.80	0.13%	0.54%
BFR	$16.35	33.32	$369.85	$544.78	0.13%	0.00%
HSY	$89.54	5.81	$525.34	$520.23	0.12%	2.47%
IDCBY	$11.55	45.00	$548.10	$519.75	0.12%	7.33%
BACHY	$11.01	45.00	$495.00	$495.45	0.12%	7.16%
PNW	$58.21	8.43	$368.98	$490.71	0.12%	4.10%
CICHY	$13.64	36.00	$504.00	$491.04	0.12%	7.28%
PM	$79.43	6.00	$493.50	$476.58	0.11%	5.08%
MRO	$16.86	27.26	$514.40	$459.60	0.11%	4.98%
OIBR	$0.69	682.30	$3,008.94	$470.79	0.11%	0.00%
ICE	$228.73	2.03	$173.02	$464.32	0.11%	0.91%
HNNMY	$7.60	61.56	$403.22	$467.86	0.11%	3.14%
BRGYY	$15.14	29.00	$493.00	$439.06	0.10%	1.90%
ABEV	$5.10	85.02	$510.97	$433.60	0.10%	2.35%
NTT	$38.90	11.12	$248.42	$432.57	0.10%	1.96%
E	$32.73	13.00	$518.44	$425.49	0.10%	8.05%
NGLS	$31.28	12.50	$212.00	$391.00	0.09%	10.65%
CQP	$29.21	12.93	$223.17	$377.69	0.09%	5.75%
RAVN	$17.32	22.00	$497.20	$381.04	0.09%	2.99%
ELNK	$8.49	45.36	$369.68	$385.11	0.09%	2.37%
CIG	$2.00	184.45	$959.14	$368.90	0.09%	0.00%
CACQ	$7.16	48.00	$504.00	$343.68	0.08%	0.00%
OPTI	$0.57	600.00	$1,392.00	$342.00	0.08%	0.00%
CLD	$3.82	82.00	$993.02	$313.24	0.07%	0.00%
APA	$43.19	7.03	$475.93	$303.63	0.07%	2.31%
PTGCY	$0.23	1,416.00	$2,421.36	$325.68	0.08%	0.00%
TPUB	$11.41	26.00	$494.00	$296.66	0.07%	4.71%
EVEP	$8.67	32.76	$711.55	$284.03	0.07%	26.47%
POM	$22.92	12.14	$194.36	$278.25	0.07%	4.70%
IEMG	$40.10	6.25	$316.44	$250.63	0.06%	2.67%
LYG	$4.72	50.00	$162.00	$236.00	0.06%	1.97%
IAG	$1.52	150.00	$253.50	$228.00	0.05%	0.00%
TGT	$77.72	2.57	$149.75	$199.74	0.05%	2.75%
ISH	$5.15	37.06	$796.42	$190.86	0.05%	11.41%
BND	$81.56	2.23	$177.82	$181.88	0.04%	2.45%
LGCY	$6.02	29.19	$439.89	$175.72	0.04%	32.05%
QCCO	$1.55	113.87	$412.21	$176.50	0.04%	0.00%
BCS	$15.59	11.00	$163.13	$171.49	0.04%	2.55%
ZA	$1.40	118.00	$200.60	$165.20	0.04%	0.00%
CEL	$6.63	23.13	$644.40	$153.35	0.04%	0.00%
AMC	$27.25	5.56	$100.08	$151.51	0.04%	2.87%
KSS	$52.41	2.74	$149.80	$143.60	0.03%	3.30%
LC	$12.40	10.00	$150.00	$124.00	0.03%	0.00%
SOUHY	$5.37	20.00	$180.00	$107.40	0.03%	0.00%
MVC	$9.31	11.69	$105.56	$108.83	0.03%	5.80%
WPG	$11.77	7.00	$123.13	$82.39	0.02%	6.42%
BK	$39.51	1.08	$27.26	$42.67	0.01%	1.74%
GOOGL	$640.66	0.05	$27.24	$32.03	0.01%	0.00%
ALN	$1.64	15.00	$31.65	$24.60	0.01%	0.00%
BKS	$15.76	1.00	$8.70	$15.76	0.00%	0.95%
BPI	$7.73	1.00	$17.85	$7.73	0.00%	0.00%
BBEP	$2.69	1.50	$20.36	$4.04	0.00%	42.16%
NUOT	$0.05	10.00	$5.00	$0.50	0.00%	0.00%
LPHIQ	$0.00	130.10	$870.37	$0.00	0.00%	1000.00%
			$426,754.29	$420,026.38	100.00%	3.42%

As of Sep 2, 2015 my portfolio contains 177 holdings, valued at $420026.38. This is an decrease of $13302.07, or -3.07%, over portfolio value of $433328.45 a month ago.

My transactions in August are listed as follows:

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Stock	Action	Cost	Price per share	Impact
VWO	BUY	$1,277.95	$34.54	0.30%
VSS	BUY	$878.20	$87.82	0.21%
CVX	BUY	$795.00	$79.50	0.19%
SBS	BUY	$502.00	$4.20	0.12%
BEN	BUY	$500.16	$41.68	0.12%
VALE	BUY	$498.75	$4.75	0.12%
PKX	BUY	$491.53	$37.81	0.12%
BBL	BUY	$477.96	$34.14	0.11%
CEO	BUY	$470.72	$117.68	0.11%
DGS	BUY	$307.12	$38.39	0.07%
BRK.B	BUY	$200.00	$130.99	0.05%
EXC	BUY	$200.00	$30.73	0.05%
UL	BUY	$200.00	$39.55	0.05%
WMT	BUY	$200.00	$69.70	0.05%
XOM	BUY	$200.00	$77.86	0.05%
BMTC	BUY	$150.00	$29.88	0.04%
MCD	BUY	$150.00	$95.10	0.04%
BDX	BUY	$100.00	$145.13	0.02%
BUD	BUY	$100.00	$107.72	0.02%
EMR	BUY	$100.00	$48.10	0.02%
INTC	BUY	$100.00	$28.41	0.02%
KO	BUY	$100.00	$38.75	0.02%
MAT	BUY	$100.00	$23.16	0.02%
MSFT	BUY	$100.00	$47.31	0.02%
NKE	BUY	$100.00	$115.24	0.02%
NSC	BUY	$100.00	$72.99	0.02%
PEG	BUY	$100.00	$39.94	0.02%
PEP	BUY	$100.00	$100.09	0.02%
PNY	BUY	$100.00	$38.92	0.02%
SON	BUY	$100.00	$39.28	0.02%
VFC	BUY	$100.00	$71.01	0.02%
YORW	BUY	$100.00	$20.47	0.02%
AFL	BUY	$92.30	$57.02	0.02%
PG	BUY	$43.82	$75.33	0.01%
MOCO	BUY	$41.44	$13.96	0.01%
TESS	BUY	$17.05	$23.28	0.00%
PAYX	BUY	$16.11	$47.55	0.00%
HCN	BUY	$13.98	$66.97	0.00%
OGS	BUY	$8.50	$42.59	0.00%
PNW	BUY	$4.97	$58.40	0.00%
PTR	BUY	$0.46	$84.08	0.00%
OGZPY	BUY	$0.10	$4.29	0.00%
SKM	BUY	$0.06	$23.86	0.00%
		$9,238.18		2.20%

Net cash inflow was $9238.18 during this period. Factoring out the cash inflow, my portfolio returned -5.20% in August.

Purchases
I continued to pour money into stocks this month, to reduce my excess cash and take advantage of a small correction. Emerging market, oil stocks, and commodity stocks have dropped the most, so I focused most of my buying there.

Sales

None.

My monthly performance against the S & P 500 is shown below:

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2015	My Portfolio Return	S & P 500 TR
Jan	-1.52%	-2.99%
Feb	1.90%	5.75%
Mar	-2.71%	-1.57%
Apr	3.25%	0.96%
May	-2.39%	1.29%
Jun	-3.59%	-1.93%
Jul	-4.05%	2.10%
Aug	-5.20%	-6.03%
YTD	-13.71%	-2.84%

I am trailing the index by 10.87% YTD.

Turnover was 2.20% in August, higher than normal due to increased purchase activities.

What do you think about my portfolio? Thanks for reading.