Wednesday, April 1, 2015

March 2015 Passive Income and Expenses

March Passive Income and Expenses
Expenses
Cost
Car Repairs
$473.54
Entertainment
$384.97
*Rent
$250
Groceries
$162.68
General Merchandise
$144.13
Car fuel
$127.53
Auto Insurance
$108
Car Registration Fees
$85.00
Restaurants
$62.22
*Utility Gas
$52.63
Student Loan
$50
Phone Service
$42.50
*Cable Internet
$39
Post Office
$36.70
*Electric
$35.04
*Dish
$22.45
Liquor
$10.99
Total
$2087.38
*These are expenses that are split between my significant other and I.

Expenses were a little higher this month for a few reasons. This month the highest expense was car repairs. Unfortunately the car needed rear end brake pads, rotors, and calipers. This is one of the expenses that I don’t mind paying for because I need my vehicle to get to work. The Cadillac is still going to need a power steering pump and an emergency brake line put in. I am trying to keep up with all the repairs but they just keep piling on. The other high expense for the month was Entertainment. We have plans to stay in a wonderful hotel in Vermont for 3 nights. I can’t wait to get away from the everyday grind back home. The other expenses were in line with what I usually spend on a monthly basis.

Now let’s take a look at the passive income:
Passive Income
Earnings
ConAgra (CAG)
$4.57
Target (TGT)
$5.80
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)
$4.96
Mattel (MAT)
$10.60
Unilever (UL)
$10.21
Microsoft (MSFT)
$5.86
Hershey’s (HSY)
$2.54
Time Warner (TWX)
$2.01
McDonalds (MCD)
$10.98
Kellogg’s (K)
$4.99
Dunkin (DNKN)
$3.33
Emerson Electric (EMT)
$2.06
VF Corp. (VFC)
$2.69
BHP (BBL)
$7.25
CD Interest
$0.49
Savings Interest
$5.07
Credit Card Cash Back
$15.00
Total Passive Income
$98.41




















This month my passive income nearly 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)
$1879.23
Ebay
$323.15
Dividends
$77.85
Interest
$5.56
CC Cash Back
$15.00
Job Lot Return
$105.19
401K
$190.00
Total
$2595.98
Savings Amount
$508.60
Savings Rate
19.59%

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. A big part of this was because of all the cutting of my expenses I have been doing lately, but car repairs have been a drag on my progress.  
Month
Saving Rate
January
51.05%
February
25.89%
March
19.59%
New Average
32.18%
I am a little behind on my goal to achieve a 37% savings rate overall for the year.
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 4.71% 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?







26 comments:

  1. That car repair is getting a big chunk in your expense category and yet you are still not yet done :(

    Great job on the passive income, keep it up!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. FtFF,
      I think part of it has to do with the car now being at 113,000 miles. I am expecting some things to start letting go due to normal wear and tear. The car is only worth $2,300 according to KBB. I have been keeping up with the repairs to ensure that the car will last me a long time in order to avoid buying another one. The costs associated with owning a car are really starting to add up.

      Delete
  2. Solid month Mongrel. 4% of your expenses covered is great especially since that's including some car expenses that shouldn't regularly come up. Well, you should at least have a few years out of the stuff you had done.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. PIP,
      I agree the brakes should be fine for a couple of years now. If it wasn't for the car repairs, I would have had a solid month. Unfortunately these things do come up once in a while. If I had no car repairs for the month the passive income would have covered 6.5% of my expenses. That would have been a real solid month. If I didn't need to drive to work 40 minutes a day each way, I would have sold it for sure.

      Delete
  3. I like how you record how much of your expenses are covered by your passive income. It's a nice way of looking at both sides of the equation; lowering expenses and increasing passive income. Keep it up!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ron,
      Thank you very much. It's good to see that percentage increase every month. When the percentage finally hits 110-120% then I will pretty much be retired. My goal is to achieve this in less than 25 years.

      Delete
  4. Hey Mongrel. Not a bad month bud. There's always things that comes up. Just be prepared and budget them into your expenses as "Surpise!" LoL. Well 100$ in passive income is sweet bud. Little by little and next thing you know! BAM! 500$ just like that! :) Wish you lots of success. Cheers bud.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DH,
      Thank you very much for the words of encouragement. April is probably going to be an expensive month as well due to a few more car repairs that need attention. I also have a income tax bill to pay off this month. After April I should see my expenses come back down to the 1,200-$1,500 range. It would be great to see $500 in passive income. I just can't believe I am already close to $100 and it only took me about a year to get here. Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  5. Solid month on dividend income, that car repair cost increased your monthly cost quite significantly but maybe it should be considered as a blip. Keep up the good work.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tawcan,
      I held out as long as I could with the rear end brakes. The problem was the brake pads were down to pretty much nothing and the rotors were really rusted so it made sense to replace those to. I also needed a caliper which added to the cost as well. I have some more car repairs to take care of in April but I don't think it will be as much as last month. Thank you for the words of encouragement.

      Delete
  6. Mongrel,

    Sorry to hear about the car repairs. When I realized my Corolla needed new tires at more than $500, I decided it was time to part ways. I worked in the auto industry for years and when cars crossed 100k miles it seemed to be one thing after another. Hopefully, you don't experience that.

    Congrats on the passive income, though. More money for the snowball!

    Cheers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DM,
      It's funny you say that about the miles because when I bought it with 97,000 miles, it ran perfect. And now that it has 113,000 miles, the repairs are starting to roll in. I am trying to get all the repairs done within the next couple of months. Getting it all done at once would amount to half of what the car is worth ($1,200). I wish I can do what you did and just sell it but my commute to work is 40 minutes each way. On a positive note the passive income is starting to snowball which helps offset the expenses. Thank you for being an inspiration in the community. I just read over your newest post and I like a bunch of your April considerations.

      Delete
  7. Mongrel,

    Your savings rate was not bad at all considering all those unplanned expenses. Your dividends are really rolling in at full force these days, and it's awesome it'll only increase from here. I'm excited for your escape to Vermont, that sounds wonderful for you guys! The worst part about trips like that is coming home, hehe. Stick with the investments and one day you won't need to get back to that daily grind! Hope all is well and take it easy!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ryan,
      I had a feeling March was going to be expensive, but it could have been worse. Keeping a budget really helps to manage everything. We are planning to keep the Vermont vacation cheap, except for the hotel. We are not big on staying at cheap motels for obvious reasons. Just have had bad experiences with those. Your right about the coming back part. It is going to be a depressing ride back home. I cant wait for the time where we wont have to worry about coming back home. Thanks for stopping by. Hope all is well!

      Delete
  8. Thanks for sharing your income and expenses. Knocking on $100 in passive income is a great milestone. I see we have a few names in common for the month which is cool. Always nice to be a fellow shareholder. Look forward to your next update.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DivHut,
      I am grateful to be sharing some of the same companies with you. Your one of the blogs I constantly look forward to reading for the latest updates on dividend investing. I certainly wouldn't be in this position if it wasn't for discovering blogs like DividendMantra, DivHut, DivGro, and many others. Best of luck to you in April and thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  9. Congrats on a great month. You almost hit the $100 mark and I am sure that next quarter, you will hit it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DGJ,
      Trying to break that $100/month passive income mark is a milestone and I am hoping to get their soon. I am hoping with dividend increase and extra capital being added, that this milestone will be reached in a few months. I am hoping for a slight pull back so I can take advantage of using up some of my cash reserves. Some of the names on my watch list radar for the month of April include KO and MSFT. Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  10. Not sure I like the metric of current need to current dividends since your monthly spending is a moving target. I think a better way to track it would be dividend income to your set monthly nut. Just my opinion.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Evan,
      You are absolutely right about the expenses always being a moving target. If I didn't have a vehicle, the expenses wouldn't move as much. I think I will look at how I can track this a little better. This way I can see exactly how far off I am from being financially independent.

      Delete
  11. DM

    Congrats on a great month. You almost hit the $100 mark and I am sure that next quarter, you will hit it like I :) , keep the snowball rolling.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. FF,
      I hope that I can hit that $100 mark very soon. I have been holding onto some cash so that I can invest in an income property and that seems to be holding me back from some gains in the stock market. Either way I think April should be a solid month overall. I don't think I will hit the $100 mark, but I should come relatively close to it.

      Delete
  12. That analyst job is a nice chunk of change.
    How are you making passive income from your 401(k)?

    WE

    ReplyDelete
  13. WE,
    I include the 401K as an income source but I do not count it into passive income. I only count dividends, interest, and credit card cash back as passive income. The $190 of 401K income is the amount that my company matched me last month. This money is included into my savings rate because it is being stashed away and is part of my net worth. One of the great things about the 401K is that I can always borrow against it if I ever ran into an emergency. I hope that answered your question.

    ReplyDelete
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    ReplyDelete