Income & Expenses For September 2020: Saved $3,254.30, 88.94% of After-Tax Income

Since 2014, I have been tracking my monthly income and expenses. You can see a breakdown of every penny I earn and spend. 

By documenting my journey, I aim to demonstrate the feasibility of saving a significant portion of your income and provide some ideas and inspiration for your own budget.

Below are my income and expenses for September 2020. I semi-retired in July 2020, after ten years of full-time work. You can see all my monthly budgets since 2014 here and here.

	Sep 2020
Income
Wages	$1,617.96
Dividends	$1,265.09
Other Income	$836.84
Total Income	$3,719.89
Expense
Federal Income Tax	$37.31
Federal Tax Pmt/(Refund)	$0.00
FICA-SS	$0.00
FICA-Medicare	$23.46
Housing
Student loan repayment	$0.00
Food	$240.48
Electric	$5.89
Water	$29.84
Gas/Heating	$6.56
Other Expense	$122.05
Total Expense	$465.59
Surplus/(Deficit)	$3,254.30
Before Tax Saving Rate	87.48%
After Tax Income	$3,659.11
Ex-Tax Total Expense	$404.82
After Tax Saving Rate	88.94%
Goal	95.00%

Net Worth Update September 2020: $1,958,453.56 (-$61,098.02, -3.03%)

Welcome to my monthly net worth update! Here is how my assets, liabilities, and net worth have changed over the past month:

	Beginning balance on 9/1/2020	+ Cash inflow /(outflow)	+ $ P/L	= Ending Balance on 9/30/2020	% P/L	% Equity
ASSETS
Current assets
Cash	3,611.15	(12,933.55)	0.00	(9,322.40)	0.00%	-0.48%
Bonds	26,900.11	(80.05)	56.50	26,876.56	0.21%	1.37%
Stocks	1,546,617.38	12,492.03	(54,542.87)	1,504,566.54	-3.53%	76.82%
Total current assets	1,577,128.64	(521.57)	(54,486.37)	1,522,120.70	-3.45%	77.72%
Tax-deferred retirement account	289,009.58	1,375.27	(5,017.71)	285,367.14	-1.74%	14.57%
Roth IRA	94,112.14		(4,522.42)	89,589.72	-4.81%	4.57%
Home	43,000.00		3,000.00	46,000.00	6.98%	2.35%
Gold	21,259.98		(850.83)	20,409.15	-4.00%	1.04%
Other non-current assets	708.70	40.00	(20.88)	727.82	-2.95%	0.04%
Total assets	2,025,219.04	893.70	(61,898.21)	1,964,214.53	-3.06%	100.29%
LIABILITIES & EQUITY
Liabilities
Current liabilities	138.75	93.51	0.00	232.26		0.01%
Long-term liabilities
Student loan	5,528.71	0.00	0.00	5,528.71		0.28%
Other non-current liabilities	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00		0.00%
Total liabilities	5,667.46	93.51	0.00	5,760.97		0.29%
Equity (net worth)	2,019,551.58	800.19	(61,898.21)	1,958,453.56	-3.06%	100.00%

Net worth: Bottom line up front, my net worth decreased by $61,098.02, -3.03% this month due to marked-to-market investment losses (-$61,898.21, -3.07%) partially offset by net cash inflow ($800.19, 0.04%). My net worth is now back below $2M milestone reached last month.

Here is the breakdown of my balance sheet:

Portfolio Update September 2020: Bought 19 Stocks for $36,330.62, Sold 4 for $22,537.50, Net $13,757.12 Inflow

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. Below is a snapshot of my stocks and ETFs portfolio as of 9/30/20:

Options Update: September 2020

Welcome to my monthly options update!

Here, I shall write monthly options update articles to keep track of options trades in my portfolio. Each options update serves as a status report on the open options and the obligations I have. A running tally of all my options trades and income to date are found on the Options page.

This was a quiet month for me, as I did trade any options.

Assigned Options

No option got assigned this month.

Income & Expenses For August 2020: Saved $791.01, 77.85% of After-Tax Income

Since 2014, I have been tracking my monthly income and expenses. You can see a breakdown of every penny I earn and spend. 

By documenting my journey, I aim to demonstrate the feasibility of saving a significant portion of your income and provide some ideas and inspiration for your own budget.

Below are my income and expenses for July 2020. I semi-retired in July 2020, after ten years of full-time work. You can see all my monthly budgets since 2014 here and here.

	Aug 2020
Income
Wages	$0.00
Dividends	$290.69
Other Income	$725.36
Total Income	$1,016.05
Expense
Federal Income Tax	$0.00
Federal Tax Pmt/(Refund)
FICA-SS
FICA-Medicare
Housing
Student loan repayment	$0.00
Food	$75.88
Gasoline
Car Insurance	107.32
Car Reg/Tax/Maint
Cell phone
Electric	$6.67
Water	$29.84
Gas/Heating	$5.33
Total Expense	$225.04
Surplus/(Deficit)	$791.01
Before Tax Saving Rate	77.85%
After Tax Income	$1,016.05
Ex-Tax Total Expense	$225.04
After Tax Saving Rate	77.85%
Goal	95.00%

Net Worth Update August 2020: $2,019.551.58 (+$116,534.04, +6.12%)

Welcome to my monthly net worth update! Here is how my assets, liabilities, and net worth have changed over the past month:

	Beginning balance on 8/1/2020	+ Cash inflow /(outflow)	+ $ P/L	= Ending Balance on 8/31/2020	% P/L	% Equity
ASSETS
Current assets
Cash	17,991.27	(14,380.12)	0.00	3,611.15	0.00%	0.18%
Bonds	26,484.25	(82.12)	497.98	26,900.11	1.88%	1.33%
Stocks	1,440,972.82	9,785.04	95,859.52	1,546,617.38	6.65%	76.58%
Total current assets	1,485,448.34	(4,677.20)	96,357.50	1,577,128.64	6.49%	78.09%
Tax-deferred retirement account	272,096.93		16,912.65	289,009.58	6.22%	14.31%
Roth IRA	90,467.24		3,644.90	94,112.14	4.03%	4.66%
Home	43,000.00		0.00	43,000.00	0.00%	2.13%
Gold	21,281.52		(21.54)	21,259.98	-0.10%	1.05%
Other non-current assets	632.32	40.00	36.38	708.70	5.75%	0.04%
Total assets	1,912,926.35	(4,637.20)	116,929.89	2,025,219.04	6.11%	100.28%
LIABILITIES & EQUITY
Liabilities
Current liabilities	4,380.10	(4,241.35)	0.00	138.75		0.01%
Long-term liabilities
Student loan	5,528.71	0.00	0.00	5,528.71		0.27%
Other non-current liabilities	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00		0.00%
Total liabilities	9,908.81	(4,241.35)	0.00	5,667.46		0.28%
Equity (net worth)	1,903,017.54	(395.85)	116,929.89	2,019,551.58	6.14%	100.00%

Net worth: Bottom line up front, my net worth increased by $116,534.04, +6.12% this month due to marked-to-market investment gains ($116,929.89, -0.02%) partially offset by net cash outflow ($395.85, 0.87%).

My net worth has reach a new milestone: exceeding $2M for the first time!

Here is the breakdown of my balance sheet: