Income & Expenses For September 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 are my income and expenses for September 2016. You can see all my monthly budgets here.

	Sep 2016
Income
Wages	$10,061.76
Dividends	$2,185.93
Other Income	$1,061.73
Total Income	$13,309.42
Expense
Federal Tax	$678.24
Federal Tax Pmt/(Refund)
FICA-SS	$418.24
FICA-Medicare	$97.81
Rent	$450.00
Student loan repayment	$160.47
Grocery	$46.47
Cell phone	$12.90
Electric	$44.23
Clothing/laundry	$2.00
Donation	$5.00
Amazon sale costs	$3.57
Total Expense	$1,918.93
Ex-Tax Total Expense	$724.64
Surplus/(Deficit)	$11,390.49
Before Tax Saving Rate	85.58%
After Tax Saving Rate	94.02%

Income
Wages remain my primary source of income by far. 

Dividend income $2185.93 reach all-time high this month. 

Here is a chart of my dividend income by month for the past 13 months:

As you can see, Sep, Dec, Mar, and Jun are typically high dividend months for me, generally equal to or exceed dividend income from the intervening months. 

Total dividends for the trailing twelve months: $13,848.91, up 19% from $11,630.24 in September last year. 

Expense

Expenses are pretty typical this month. Electric bill was higher than usual mostly due to air conditioning use during the hot summer month.

Total expenses for the trailing twelve months: $9,545.16. 

Dividend to expense coverage ratio = 1.45, also reaching new record high, thanks to record high dividend this month.

Savings
My after tax saving rate was 94.02% for the month of September, which is slightly above average for me. I expect to meet or exceed my 90% savings goal this year. 

Portfolio Update September 2016: Net Worth Up 0.34% to $823,112.74

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.

Follow my real-time portfolio here.

My transactions in September are listed as follows:

Stock	Action	Cost	Price per share	% of Portfolio
AZO	Add	$2,940.00	$735.00	0.37%
FOSL	Add	$2,071.00	$27.25	0.26%
SRCL	Add	$1,911.84	$79.66	0.24%
FISV	Add	$1,485.00	$99.00	0.18%
NVO	Add	$1,479.06	$44.82	0.18%
FOX	Add	$1,250.00	$24.73	0.16%
DIS	Add	$1,150.00	$94.01	0.14%
PII	Add	$1,036.00	$74.00	0.13%
BFB	New Buy	$1,008.04	$45.82	0.13%
TROW	New Buy	$1,005.00	$67.00	0.12%
CVS	Add	$1,001.00	$91.00	0.12%
WFC	Add	$990.00	$45.00	0.12%
CTSH	Add	$980.00	$49.00	0.12%
CHKP	New Buy	$973.05	$74.85	0.12%
NVS	Add	$700.00	$80.43	0.09%
NKE	Add	$650.00	$55.89	0.08%
VFC	Add	$650.00	$56.09	0.08%
SNY	Add	$600.00	$39.14	0.07%
AFL	Add	$514.92	$73.23	0.06%
DISCA	Add	$500.00	$24.09	0.06%
XOM	Add	$321.22	$85.51	0.04%
VMI	Add	$300.00	$127.99	0.04%
EMR	Add	$296.02	$51.79	0.04%
NSC	Add	$265.99	$93.36	0.03%
EXC	Add	$235.88	$34.06	0.03%
BRKB	Add	$200.00	$150.48	0.02%
KO	Add	$200.00	$42.33	0.02%
WMT	Add	$200.00	$72.53	0.02%
SON	Add	$160.48	$51.67	0.02%
MCD	Add	$150.00	$115.57	0.02%
BDX	Add	$100.00	$180.95	0.01%
BUD	Add	$100.00	$126.81	0.01%
INTC	Add	$100.00	$36.30	0.01%
MSFT	Add	$100.00	$57.43	0.01%
NNN	Add	$100.00	$49.31	0.01%
PEP	Add	$100.00	$107.99	0.01%
UL	Add	$100.00	$48.77	0.01%
YORW	Add	$100.00	$28.79	0.01%
BMTC	Add	$67.48	$32.21	0.01%
SPGI	Add	$31.98	$121.74	0.00%
K	Add	$24.33	$78.23	0.00%
PNW	Add	$5.41	$74.96	0.00%
VTI	New Buy	$0.54	$110.43	0.00%
VEA	Add	$0.29	$36.85	0.00%
VWO	Add	$0.07	$38.89	0.00%
PKX	Sold Out	-$0.03	$50.00	0.00%
	Bought	$26,154.60		3.25%
	Sold	-$0.03		0.00%
	Net	$26,154.57		3.25%

Purchases
This month, I initiated 4 new positions and added significant amounts to a handful of others, most of which are attractively priced stocks near 52-week low with low dividend payout. Total bought this month amounted to $26,154.60. This brought my cash in brokerage accounts down to 25K. I have another 15K bonus coming next month, which will make next month another busy month for purchases.

I also opened a wisebanyan account with a $1 deposit (which resulted in the small VTI, VEA, and VWO purchases), accepting their offer of $15 bonus if auto-deposit $10/month for 6 months. That is an annualized return of 25% after 6 months, so not a bad deal. 

Sales

No significant sales this month. 

Portfolio turnover was 3.25% in September.

Here is how my assets, liabilities, and net worth have changed over the past month:

	Beginning balance on 9/1/2016	+ Cash inflow /(outflow)	+ $ P/L	= Ending Balance on 9/30/2016	% P/L
ASSETS
Current assets
Cash	52,219.36	(12,046.87)	0.00	40,172.49	0.00%
Bonds	12,867.38	(383.72)	38.88	12,522.54	0.30%
Stocks	530,162.31	26,154.57	598.97	556,915.85	0.11%
Total current assets	595,249.05	13,723.98	637.85	609,610.88	0.11%
Tax-deferred retirement account	135,265.98	1,618.99	1,375.96	138,260.93	1.02%
Roth IRA	62,863.50	0.00	640.58	63,504.08	1.02%
Gold	14,091.25	0.00	79.59	14,170.84	0.56%
Other non-current assets	5,000.00	0.00	0.00	5,000.00	0.00%
Total assets	812,469.78	15,342.97	2,733.98	830,546.73	0.34%
LIABILITIES & EQUITY
Liabilities
Current liabilities	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Long-term debt
Student loan	7,579.76	(145.77)	0.00	7,433.99
Margin loan	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Total liabilities	7,579.76	(145.77)	0.00	7,433.99
Equity (net worth)	804,890.02	15,488.74	2,733.98	823,112.74	0.34%

My personal rate of return was 0.34% in September.

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

2016	My Portfolio Return	S & P 500 TR
Jan	-3.69%	-4.96%	Good
Feb	5.74%	-0.12%	Good
Mar	3.99%	6.79%	Bad
Apr	1.39%	0.39%	Good
May	0.21%	1.80%	Bad
Jun	3.41%	0.26%	Good
Jul	4.25%	3.69%	Good
Aug	0.34%	0.14%	Good
Sep	0.34%	0.02%	Good
YTD	16.79%	7.87%	Good

It's been a good year for me so far.