This first status will be from September when I created a chart that I update monthly. I will soon post the October and November updates as well. After that, it will likely be updated around mid month as I try to do my update after I am paid on the 15th of each month.
Income: We have a pretty consistent income from both myself and my wife. Our income does fluctuate due to my wife being in sales. For budgeting purposes I use a conservative amount for her income. Within our budget, we generally try to use my income for bills and living, and my wife's for saving/investing. In addition to our personal income, we had $4,100 of income from our 5 rental homes.
Expenses: Expenses are an area that we really need to work on. We have some pretty set expenses in terms of our mortgage and child care. However, we do overspend in other areas, which we are trying to focus more on sticking to our budget. Our rental expenses for the month were $2,531 for 4 mortgages and our monthly repair reserves that we set aside.
Remaining Money: We had a remaining "profit" for the month of $5,425. This money was already allotted as payment for the money we were incurring on renovating the rental property we were working on throughout the summer.
Debt: In September we had a total of $287,448 in overall debt which includes a mortgage for our personal home and 3 rentals, about $18k of credit card debt, and $3,900 on my wife's car. As of the creation of my monthly status for September, my goal at that time was to eliminate all of the non mortgage debt by January 1, 2017. An important point to note is that all of the credit card debt was either just the accrual of our monthly personal expenses or costs associated with rental renovation, all of which are paid in full each month. Any other credit card debt were previous costs of a rental remodel that were on a 0% credit card. No interest was being paid.
Summary: This was the first month that I put together this tracking document to give myself a 1 page summary of our financial snapshot. I do include on my sheet our cash and other assets, but I do not plan to share that. We are relatively low on cash due to the purchase and renovation of 2 properties since March 2016.
Goals for the Coming Months: My top priority in the next couple monthly updates will be to eliminate all of our non mortgage debt. As I alluded to in the debt section, we have a significant amount of credit card debt that is on 0% interest cards. These 2 card offers expire in October and November so all extra income, and perhaps some savings will be thrown at that in order to avoid any interest.
All of these efforts are to build toward my long term goal of Early Retirement. My absolute end date is my 40th birthday, but I believe we can achieve that much sooner. I hope. I will be 33 in 2 months from today.
I hope any readers enjoy this little snapshot into our lives. I also hope this may inspire you to begin looking at your own finances and get you on track to achieve your goals.
Good luck.
Goals for the Coming Months: My top priority in the next couple monthly updates will be to eliminate all of our non mortgage debt. As I alluded to in the debt section, we have a significant amount of credit card debt that is on 0% interest cards. These 2 card offers expire in October and November so all extra income, and perhaps some savings will be thrown at that in order to avoid any interest.
All of these efforts are to build toward my long term goal of Early Retirement. My absolute end date is my 40th birthday, but I believe we can achieve that much sooner. I hope. I will be 33 in 2 months from today.
I hope any readers enjoy this little snapshot into our lives. I also hope this may inspire you to begin looking at your own finances and get you on track to achieve your goals.
Good luck.
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