Monthly Spending and Budget Report-February 2013

To those new in this blog, This is my personal finance journal where I track my monthly spending. My goal for 2013 is to spend 60% and invest 40% of our income in order for me (and hubby) to retire comfortably in our early 40s.

Do you remember how we lived on 38% of our income in January and thought it cant possibly get any better? It did. Its an artificial jump due to the income I received for my tiny online business.

Our February 2013 monthly spending and budget report:

INCOME	FEB'13	JAN'12	NOTES
Real Estate	13%	17%	This is nicely toned down. I love it. 25% wouldn't be bad.
Personal Income	72%	82%	This is a new category.
Interest/ Dividends	1%	1%	Our emergency fund has been reduced. Interest will be low. But we expect dividends to fill the gap..
Online Income	14%	0.3%	I will get three months worth this month. I received a fat cheque and deposited it in January.It takes about 6 weeks to be cleared, I was told.
Other	0%	0%

One thing that makes me unhappy is that the interest on my Emergency Fund is 4.65%, which is below the inflation rate. I took some money to the stocks in January.

SPENDING	FEB	JAN	NOTES
Real Estate	7%	13%	Wish this would stay his low a contribution to total income.
Transportation	1%	1%	We live closer to Mr's work and I hardly ever drive.
Online	1%	0%	Laptop was fixed
Internet/ Phones	1%	0.4%
Consumer	3%	10%	Mainly food and clothing
Credit Card, Cash & Fees	4%	6%	We used the Mr's credit card and paid it off over 50 days spread.
Giving	2%	10%	This should be at around 10-12%. It will even out during the scholarship payment months.
Life Insurance	1%	1%	Fixed
Net Income (Left to Invest)	80%	62%	We paid most of it to our homeloan and some to top my stocks. Our debt-free days are fast approaching. I no longer top my Just Invest (Nedbank) interest up.

We lived on 20% of our income in February (comparing to 38% in January). Our Net Worth grew so so well again. This growth is from various sources. The unit trusts did quite well and so did the general JSE. I wish we would do this well throughout the year to be sure to hit our goal of R1M net worth growth by year end.

TRACKING 2013 GOAL PROGRESS

1. MAIN GOAL: net worth growth by at least 25%.-- 7% so far.
2. BUDGETING: invest at least 40% of income.-- 71% so far.  
3. EMERGENCY FUND: 3 months worth of living expenses.-- DONE.
4. GIVING: give of more than 10% of income.--6% so far.
5. REAL ESTATE: Construct at least 4 flats/ increase the rental income by 30% .-- not yet.
6. MORTGAGE: Pay up our home .-- not yet.
7. STOCKS AND DIVIDENDS: Get at least R12,000 in dividends.-- not yet.
8. EXTRA INCOME: Online income to R8000 per month by December 2013.-- +/-R3500 January.

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