April 2015 Passive Income and Expenses

Expenses	Cost
Taxes	$386.48
Car Repairs	$334.17
Restaurants	$265.61
*Rent	$250
Entertainment	$191.62
Groceries	$180.10
Car fuel	$172.93
General Merchandise	$110.02
Auto Insurance	$108
*Utility Gas	$75.00
Liquor	$71.80
Student Loan	$50
Post Office	$46.83
Phone Service	$42.50
*Cable Internet	$39
*Dish	$22.45
*Electric	$19.00
Total	$2365.51

*These are expenses that are split between my significant other and I.

Expenses were a little high this month due to taxes, car repairs, and a vacation to Vermont.  Unfortunately I had a tax bill to pay for and that was due in April. My car needed the Emergency brake fixed in order to get an inspection sticker. Then our vacation to Vermont was the reason why the restaurants bill was a little higher than usual. The gas for the car was also high because I drove over 700 miles to get there and back. Next month things should get back to normal.

Now let’s take a look at the passive income:

Passive Income	Earnings
Baxter (BAX)	$1.97
GlaxoSmithKline(GSK)	$4.09
Diageo(DEO)	$2.87
Bank of NS(BNS)	$3.38
General Electric (GE)	$4.92
Pepsi (PEP)	$1.93
Viacom (VIAB)	$2.55
Coca-Cola (KO)	$11.60
Wal-Mart (WMT)	$5.90
Dr. Pepper/Snapple (DPS)	$1.62
Mondelez (MDLZ)	$0.42
Kraft (KRFT)	$9.90
CD Interest	$0.47
Savings Interest	$4.37
Credit Card Cash Back	$48.43
Total Passive Income	$104.42

This month my passive income hit the $100 mark. Not a bad month at all in terms of passive income. I am hoping I can keep the passive income around this mark each month.

Now let’s take a look at all of the income sources:

Income Sources	Amount
Analyst Job (Net)	$1727.51
Ebay	$180.49
Dividends	$51.62
Interest	$4.84
CC Cash Back	$48.43
Loan Repayment	$100.00
401K	$190.00
Hotel Refund	$374.67
Total	$2677.56
Savings Amount	$312.05
Savings Rate	11.65%

My goal is to save at least 37% of my total income annualized for the year. I was starting out way ahead with a 51.05% saving rate in January. This month I was only able to save 11.65% of my income. This is way below my average and has put me behind on my goal for the year.

Month	Saving Rate
January	51.05%
February	25.89%
March	19.59%
April	11.56%
New Average	27.02%

I am a little behind on my goal to achieve a 37% savings rate overall for the year. About 10% down on my average goal for the year means I really have to take a second look at my expenses. Now let’s see how much of my expenses were covered by the passive income.

This is the most exciting part of this post because I can see how much of my expenses were covered by my passive income. This month 4.41% of my expenses were covered by the passive income from dividends, interest, and credit card rewards. 

How was your month in terms of passive income?