Income & Expenses For January 2016

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 January 2016. You can see all my monthly budgets here.

	Jan 2016
Income
Wages	$8,497.42
Dividends	$605.61
Other Income	$1,056.05
Total Income	$10,159.08
Expense
Federal Tax	$309.73
Federal Tax Pmt/(Refund)
FICA-SS	$360.77
FICA-Medicare	$84.37
Rent	$450.00
Student loan repayment	$159.53
Grocery	$65.09
Cell phone	$47.83
Electric	$36.39
Clothing/laundry	$14.50
Amazon sale costs	$2.72
Total Expense	$1,530.93
Ex-Tax Total Expense	$776.06
Surplus/(Deficit)	$8,628.15
Before Tax Saving Rate	84.93%
After Tax Saving Rate	91.75%

Income
Dividend income was lower this month compared to last, but represents +34% yoy. Here is a chart of my dividend income by month for the past 12 months:

Wages are about 1% higher compared to last year.

Expense
As mentioned last month, student loan repayment went up next month due to increase in interest rate. Cell phone also went up, as I lost my cell phone and spent $30 to buy a new one from freedompop. Going forward, my cell phone monthly expense should go down by $5, as my plan is now free compared to $5 per month with my old carrier. Laundry expenses went up this month due to increased washing load for winter clothing.

Savings
My after tax saving rate was 91.75% for the month of January, which is a great start. I expect to meet or exceed my 90% savings goal this 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 January 2016

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 Feb 1, 2016:

Ticker	Current Price	Shares Held	Cost basis	Market Value	Weight	Dividend Yield TTM
BDX	$146.02	158.43	$13,883.22	$23,133.95	5.09%	1.69%
VWO	$30.52	615.82	$24,965.34	$18,794.83	4.14%	3.45%
WMT	$67.48	239.96	$15,431.83	$16,192.50	3.56%	2.95%
XOM	$76.27	201.62	$17,363.51	$15,377.56	3.38%	3.70%
EXC	$30.00	501.70	$15,321.92	$15,051.00	3.31%	4.19%
AFL	$56.48	255.67	$13,343.42	$14,440.24	3.18%	2.73%
EMR	$45.50	279.43	$14,820.97	$12,714.07	2.80%	4.10%
AZN	$32.53	344.45	$7,612.35	$11,204.96	2.47%	4.35%
PG	$81.07	133.27	$9,558.12	$10,804.20	2.38%	3.25%
LMT	$209.99	44.57	$4,715.95	$9,359.25	2.06%	2.91%
BRK.B	$128.68	65.96	$7,513.50	$8,487.73	1.87%	0.00%
CVX	$85.24	88.00	$8,376.72	$7,501.12	1.65%	4.95%
BMTC	$25.86	284.86	$7,306.66	$7,366.48	1.62%	3.01%
MHFI	$84.14	86.89	$4,419.23	$7,310.92	1.61%	1.55%
MAT	$26.76	252.57	$7,503.85	$6,758.77	1.49%	5.51%
MCD	$124.57	53.71	$4,882.78	$6,690.65	1.47%	2.78%
MSFT	$54.71	121.53	$4,426.12	$6,648.91	1.46%	2.34%
UL	$44.42	146.06	$6,099.47	$6,487.99	1.43%	2.98%
INTC	$30.82	202.36	$5,233.03	$6,236.74	1.37%	3.09%
ESLT	$85.21	70.54	$2,576.83	$6,010.71	1.32%	1.68%
NSC	$70.19	85.10	$6,710.14	$5,973.17	1.31%	3.35%
T	$36.15	162.93	$5,319.66	$5,889.92	1.30%	5.24%
PEG	$41.38	141.32	$5,001.31	$5,847.82	1.29%	3.78%
MOCO	$13.32	437.91	$6,524.86	$5,832.96	1.28%	3.36%
PEP	$98.99	57.95	$4,647.59	$5,736.47	1.26%	2.78%
SON	$39.25	145.97	$5,438.84	$5,729.32	1.26%	3.47%
YORW	$26.60	211.48	$4,360.72	$5,625.37	1.24%	2.26%
NUE	$39.18	139.00	$5,778.23	$5,446.02	1.20%	3.82%
HCP	$36.23	137.00	$6,056.77	$4,963.51	1.09%	6.29%
OGZPY	$3.42	1,389.78	$8,463.76	$4,753.05	1.05%	6.27%
ED	$70.42	67.00	$4,684.64	$4,718.14	1.04%	3.75%
VIG	$75.93	60.71	$3,646.24	$4,609.71	1.01%	2.39%
VEA	$34.62	126.04	$3,940.01	$4,363.50	0.96%	3.09%
CHL	$54.57	78.05	$3,717.52	$4,259.19	0.94%	3.44%
ABBV	$54.37	76.00	$4,684.64	$4,132.12	0.91%	3.83%
BCR	$188.08	20.53	$2,052.59	$3,861.28	0.85%	0.51%
SAN	$4.12	915.31	$6,260.72	$3,771.08	0.83%	7.90%
K	$73.59	51.10	$2,904.52	$3,760.45	0.83%	2.70%
NKE	$63.15	58.75	$2,750.09	$3,710.06	0.82%	0.94%
VFC	$63.30	57.81	$3,699.84	$3,659.37	0.81%	2.12%
GIS	$56.67	62.89	$2,768.42	$3,563.98	0.78%	3.11%
JNJ	$104.31	32.90	$2,058.55	$3,431.80	0.76%	2.82%
KO	$43.00	79.76	$3,299.67	$3,429.68	0.75%	3.08%
BUD	$126.78	26.53	$2,950.14	$3,363.47	0.74%	3.14%
HIMX	$7.76	421.22	$1,069.90	$3,268.67	0.72%	3.87%
BBL	$19.67	165.90	$5,733.50	$3,263.25	0.72%	12.62%
DV	$19.14	167.07	$3,695.59	$3,197.72	0.70%	1.81%
RBCAA	$26.53	118.94	$2,508.44	$3,155.48	0.69%	2.92%
HPE	$13.79	220.82	$2,157.41	$3,045.11	0.67%	0.40%
LUKOY	$32.65	89.42	$4,412.88	$2,919.56	0.64%	6.95%
DGS	$33.02	83.87	$3,691.12	$2,769.39	0.61%	3.47%
WBA	$80.07	33.43	$1,243.26	$2,676.74	0.59%	1.75%
CSX	$22.86	108.27	$2,272.59	$2,475.05	0.54%	3.04%
PNY	$59.10	41.36	$1,549.76	$2,444.38	0.54%	2.23%
VMI	$104.49	22.94	$2,563.55	$2,397.00	0.53%	1.41%
PPL	$35.92	66.51	$2,045.18	$2,389.04	0.53%	4.28%
IBM	$124.82	19.02	$2,634.65	$2,374.08	0.52%	4.01%
HPQ	$9.96	230.36	$2,098.58	$2,294.39	0.51%	6.55%
LLY	$78.40	28.91	$1,065.91	$2,266.54	0.50%	2.53%
FNDE	$17.33	129.85	$3,199.50	$2,250.30	0.50%	2.13%
AGNC	$16.90	130.35	$2,639.59	$2,202.92	0.48%	14.41%
SKM	$19.68	110.63	$1,454.78	$2,177.20	0.48%	4.79%
VIAB	$46.05	47.17	$2,400.01	$2,172.18	0.48%	3.35%
VALE	$2.38	894.25	$9,532.71	$2,128.32	0.47%	11.88%
CEO	$96.71	21.29	$3,080.88	$2,058.96	0.45%	7.24%
OIBR.C	$2.96	682.30	$3,008.94	$2,019.61	0.44%	0.00%
PAYX	$48.35	38.99	$1,466.02	$1,885.17	0.41%	3.43%
SBRCY	$5.36	346.00	$2,138.28	$1,854.56	0.41%	0.58%
BP	$31.69	57.32	$2,236.63	$1,816.47	0.40%	7.41%
TLK	$49.36	36.14	$1,162.62	$1,783.87	0.39%	2.31%
TOT	$43.56	40.73	$2,124.88	$1,774.20	0.39%	6.09%
CIG.C	$1.77	1,001.74	$3,405.92	$1,773.08	0.39%	8.03%
SGTZY	$4.70	371.00	$2,392.95	$1,743.70	0.38%	2.09%
OGS	$56.92	28.69	$1,041.45	$1,633.03	0.36%	2.12%
SBS	$5.29	307.00	$1,510.44	$1,624.03	0.36%	0.00%
RDS.A	$43.35	34.17	$2,178.68	$1,481.27	0.33%	8.56%
TLSYY	$20.13	72.99	$1,087.55	$1,469.29	0.32%	5.64%
APOL	$7.30	194.00	$3,686.00	$1,416.20	0.31%	0.00%
TESS	$16.29	86.73	$1,077.19	$1,412.83	0.31%	4.84%
JOY	$10.08	136.00	$1,705.44	$1,370.88	0.30%	6.12%
PKX	$36.92	35.13	$1,930.74	$1,297.00	0.29%	1.13%
POT	$15.88	77.87	$1,778.55	$1,236.58	0.27%	9.33%
BVN	$4.20	282.50	$2,607.48	$1,186.50	0.26%	0.00%
MDLZ	$42.73	27.29	$486.03	$1,166.10	0.26%	1.48%
HCN	$62.83	17.39	$1,081.31	$1,092.61	0.24%	5.30%
DO	$18.36	59.44	$2,031.06	$1,091.32	0.24%	2.69%
MPC	$41.77	26.06	$290.57	$1,088.53	0.24%	2.73%
SC	$10.10	105.00	$1,840.65	$1,060.50	0.23%	0.00%
NAT	$12.61	82.75	$1,617.76	$1,043.48	0.23%	12.51%
MBT	$7.03	142.00	$1,525.08	$998.26	0.22%	11.76%
OAOFY	$26.00	38.00	$1,086.42	$988.00	0.22%	3.75%
BRGYY	$15.06	64.00	$1,011.20	$963.84	0.21%	1.91%
PBR	$3.29	285.38	$2,562.71	$938.90	0.21%	0.00%
BCMXY	$18.00	52.00	$835.64	$936.00	0.21%	6.14%
DTEGY	$17.43	50.94	$637.26	$887.88	0.20%	3.23%
KSS	$49.08	18.05	$850.16	$885.89	0.19%	3.62%
MRK	$50.74	17.24	$597.71	$874.76	0.19%	3.57%
CICHY	$11.98	73.00	$995.72	$874.54	0.19%	8.13%
VSS	$86.88	10.00	$878.20	$868.80	0.19%	2.84%
STRA	$53.98	16.00	$768.00	$863.68	0.19%	0.00%
MYTAY	$6.72	124.00	$1,634.32	$833.28	0.18%	0.00%
FSBK	$8.10	100.29	$453.31	$812.35	0.18%	1.20%
PDLI	$3.15	255.36	$1,544.93	$804.38	0.18%	19.11%
ITYBY	$109.77	7.16	$448.36	$785.95	0.17%	2.55%
OJSCY	$3.27	236.00	$1,109.20	$771.72	0.17%	4.42%
RYAM	$7.16	106.83	$2,890.82	$764.90	0.17%	4.00%
BEN	$33.68	22.00	$960.08	$740.96	0.16%	1.82%
KHC	$77.01	9.58	$312.40	$737.76	0.16%	2.18%
FTD	$24.29	30.00	$967.50	$728.70	0.16%	0.00%
CTL	$25.90	27.47	$1,068.03	$711.47	0.16%	8.50%
BFR	$20.02	33.32	$369.85	$667.07	0.15%	0.00%
AEO	$14.52	45.30	$549.94	$657.76	0.14%	3.42%
GSH	$20.80	31.59	$597.37	$657.07	0.14%	1.94%
DRI	$63.33	10.34	$532.10	$654.83	0.14%	3.41%
DE	$76.80	8.00	$566.56	$614.40	0.14%	3.12%
PTR	$58.53	10.31	$1,086.47	$603.44	0.13%	4.17%
ARLP	$14.10	41.00	$1,093.88	$578.10	0.13%	18.80%
PNW	$67.27	8.51	$374.10	$572.47	0.13%	3.68%
SCL	$43.70	13.00	$499.98	$568.10	0.13%	1.62%
ICE	$266.81	2.03	$173.02	$541.62	0.12%	0.85%
TLKGY	$14.80	36.34	$711.90	$537.83	0.12%	4.27%
RAD	$7.92	66.00	$528.00	$522.72	0.12%	0.00%
HSY	$89.36	5.81	$525.34	$519.18	0.11%	2.54%
SWRAY	$9.52	53.35	$610.32	$507.89	0.11%	5.23%
NTT	$44.26	11.12	$248.42	$492.17	0.11%	1.80%
TSCDY	$7.63	63.00	$504.00	$480.69	0.11%	0.00%
IDCBY	$10.11	45.00	$548.10	$454.95	0.10%	8.09%
PB	$41.25	11.00	$499.73	$453.75	0.10%	2.64%
BACHY	$9.56	45.00	$495.00	$430.20	0.09%	8.02%
SJI	$24.95	16.98	$402.60	$423.65	0.09%	4.09%
HNNMY	$6.50	61.56	$403.22	$400.14	0.09%	3.65%
ABEV	$4.63	85.02	$510.97	$393.64	0.09%	0.77%
MPLX	$30.27	13.00	$221.52	$393.51	0.09%	5.53%
NUS	$31.91	12.07	$490.04	$385.15	0.08%	4.42%
E	$28.75	13.00	$518.44	$373.75	0.08%	7.34%
CPLP	$4.67	75.76	$646.23	$353.80	0.08%	20.57%
EZPW	$3.12	109.00	$997.35	$340.08	0.07%	0.00%
POM	$26.74	12.14	$194.36	$324.62	0.07%	4.05%
RAVN	$14.71	22.00	$497.20	$323.62	0.07%	3.46%
OPTI	$0.53	600.00	$1,392.00	$318.00	0.07%	0.00%
CIG	$1.72	184.49	$959.35	$317.32	0.07%	0.00%
EVEP	$2.52	123.76	$1,211.61	$311.88	0.07%	74.07%
CQP	$23.01	12.93	$223.17	$297.52	0.07%	7.17%
GPS	$24.74	11.74	$300.07	$290.45	0.06%	3.72%
APA	$40.81	7.03	$475.93	$286.89	0.06%	2.35%
DYN	$11.93	24.00	$764.16	$286.32	0.06%	0.00%
CRC	$1.10	255.00	$1,259.70	$280.50	0.06%	2.10%
CACQ	$5.60	48.00	$504.00	$268.80	0.06%	0.00%
MRO	$9.73	27.26	$514.40	$265.24	0.06%	6.99%
ELNK	$5.78	45.36	$369.68	$262.18	0.06%	3.38%
TPUB	$8.97	26.00	$494.00	$233.22	0.05%	7.49%
IEMG	$37.02	6.25	$316.44	$231.38	0.05%	2.69%
IAG	$1.51	150.00	$253.50	$226.50	0.05%	0.00%
LYG	$3.78	50.00	$162.00	$189.00	0.04%	2.41%
ATW	$5.69	33.00	$495.00	$187.77	0.04%	13.46%
TGT	$72.82	2.57	$149.75	$187.15	0.04%	2.98%
BND	$81.39	2.23	$177.82	$181.50	0.04%	2.45%
NGLS	$13.15	12.50	$212.00	$164.38	0.04%	23.98%
CEL	$6.41	23.13	$644.40	$148.26	0.03%	0.00%
SB	$0.42	314.89	$2,260.91	$132.25	0.03%	9.13%
CLD	$1.49	82.00	$993.02	$122.18	0.03%	0.00%
AMC	$21.32	5.56	$100.08	$118.54	0.03%	3.67%
BCS	$10.65	11.00	$163.13	$117.15	0.03%	3.70%
MVC	$7.42	11.69	$105.56	$86.74	0.02%	7.30%
LC	$7.60	10.00	$150.00	$76.00	0.02%	0.00%
SOUHY	$3.51	20.00	$180.00	$70.20	0.02%	0.00%
QCCO	$0.59	113.87	$412.21	$67.18	0.01%	0.00%
WPG	$9.03	7.00	$123.13	$63.21	0.01%	9.47%
TLN	$7.06	8.00	$123.52	$56.48	0.01%	0.00%
ISHC	$1.33	37.06	$796.42	$49.29	0.01%	25.93%
GOOGL	$770.77	0.05	$27.24	$38.54	0.01%	0.00%
BK	$35.50	1.08	$27.26	$38.34	0.01%	1.88%
LGCY	$1.22	29.19	$439.89	$35.61	0.01%	111.45%
ZAHLY	$0.23	118.00	$200.60	$27.14	0.01%	0.00%
ALN	$1.13	15.00	$31.65	$16.95	0.00%	0.00%
BKS	$8.55	1.00	$8.70	$8.55	0.00%	5.13%
BPI	$6.78	1.00	$17.85	$6.78	0.00%	0.00%
BBEP	$0.68	1.50	$20.36	$1.02	0.00%	84.56%
NUOTQ	$0.01	10.00	$5.00	$0.10	0.00%	0.00%
LPHIQ	$0.00	130.10	$870.37	$0.00	0.00%	0.00%
			$464,480.17	$454,315.84	100.00%	3.59%

As of Feb 1, 2016, my portfolio contains 180 holdings, valued at $454,315.84. This is a decrease of $3,255.54, or -0.71%, over portfolio value of $457,571.38 a month ago.

My transactions in January are listed as follows:

Stock	Action	Cost	Price per share	Impact
MCD	Reduce	-$6,229.88	-$116.02	-1.36%
WMT	Add	$5,370.20	$61.58	1.17%
CINF	Sold Out	-$5,095.91	-$56.00	-1.11%
PG	Add	$4,927.56	$74.66	1.08%
VWO	Add	$2,238.00	$29.84	0.49%
EMR	Add	$2,171.36	$42.60	0.47%
CVX	Add	$1,360.00	$80.00	0.30%
XOM	Add	$1,138.99	$72.97	0.25%
NUE	Add	$1,094.40	$34.20	0.24%
HCP	Add	$853.68	$35.57	0.19%
IBM	Add	$710.82	$118.47	0.16%
VMI	Add	$656.20	$102.20	0.14%
VIAB	Add	$650.00	$41.70	0.14%
VFC	Add	$600.00	$54.28	0.13%
DE	New Buy	$566.56	$70.82	0.12%
OGZPY	Add	$506.19	$3.59	0.11%
BDX	Add	$203.26	$152.64	0.04%
AFL	Add	$200.00	$58.69	0.04%
BRK.B	Add	$150.00	$130.43	0.03%
YORW	Add	$133.77	$25.08	0.03%
PEP	Add	$118.61	$99.03	0.03%
BMTC	Add	$100.00	$27.90	0.02%
BUD	Add	$100.00	$121.95	0.02%
EXC	Add	$100.00	$27.71	0.02%
INTC	Add	$100.00	$33.61	0.02%
KO	Add	$100.00	$41.06	0.02%
MAT	Add	$100.00	$27.14	0.02%
MOCO	Add	$100.00	$14.62	0.02%
MSFT	Add	$100.00	$49.65	0.02%
NKE	Add	$100.00	$62.14	0.02%
NSC	Add	$100.00	$68.82	0.02%
SON	Add	$100.00	$41.11	0.02%
UL	Add	$100.00	$41.92	0.02%
PEG	Add	$54.56	$38.67	0.01%
PPL	Add	$24.83	$34.11	0.01%
PNY	Add	$13.57	$54.94	0.00%
TOT	Add	$0.33	$44.59	0.00%
LUKOY	Add	$0.28	$32.18	0.00%
CIGC	Add	$0.09	$1.36	0.00%
CIG	Add	$0.05	$1.25	0.00%
		$13,617.52		2.98%

Net cash inflow was $13,617.52 during this period. Factoring out the cash inflow, my portfolio returned -3.69% in January.

Purchases
This was an active month in terms of activities compared to last month. As a new year has begun, I rebalanced my Roth IRA, which invests in the 10 highest yielding Dividend Aristocrats. This year, the 10 stocks are HCP, T, CVX, ED, EMR, ABBV, NUE, XOM, PG, WMT. PG and WMT replaced MCD and CINF from 2015, the latter two having risen in price causing drop in yield, while the opposite was true for the two newcomers. The 10 highest yielding Dividend Aristocrats is a modification of the Dog of the Dow strategy, and is probably even more conservative in my opinion. 

I initiated new position in Deere (DE) and added to IBM, VMI, VIAB, VFC, OGZPY, all of which appear undervalued. The rest of the purchases are mostly part of my monthly DSPPs.

Turnover was 2.47% in January. 

Sales

As mentioned, CINF and MCD were replaced by PG and WMT in my IRA portfolio. 

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

2016	My Portfolio Return	S & P 500 TR
Jan	-3.69%	-4.96%

January is a good start for me, as I slightly outperformed the index and also bought some stocks during the correction, positioning them to outperform the index for the year. As I will continue to accumulate stock, I am hoping for the stock market to continue declining throughout the year.