August 2011 Progress Report

My focus on my personal finances took a serious nose-dive after I paid off my private student loans in March. Paying off my private student loans literally free'd-up $900/month in my budget and I started living the "good life." I stopped paying attention to my spending and spent money like it grew on trees. I'm happy to say that with $900/month in discretionary spending, I didn't get myself into any trouble. But I really hadn't saved much and I hadn't significantly paid down my $50k+ federal student loans either.


MY DEBT

	Starting Debt (6/08)	Last Month	This Month	DIFFERENCE
Private SL	$49,528.99	$0.00	$0.00	$(0.00)
Fed'l SL	$55,852.68	$50,965.88	$50,834.65	$(131.23)
Car Loan	$9,779.33	$0.00	$0.00	$(0.00)
CC	$13,610.75	$0.00	$0.00	$(0.00)
TOTAL	$128,771.75	$50,965.88	$50,834.65	$(131.23)

In light of the fact that I've decided to buy a condo, my debt snowball will come to a screeching halt. Rather than putting the extra money towards paying down my student loans, I've decided to "invest" it in real estate. Only time will tell whether this is a good financial move on my part or not.


SAVINGS

LAST MONTH	THIS MONTH	DIFFERENCE
$10,324.10	$13,834.42	+$3,510.32

The savings I report here is with respect to my emergency fund only and does not include my future spending earmarks. The increase in the chart above does not represent an actual increase in my savings. I merely shifted money from my unreported earmarks to my EF. I figure I'll need more $ in my EF since my housing budget will likely double in the next couple of months.

In case you were wondering, my unreported earmark fund is down from $10.8k in June to $4,765 currently. This makes me a bit nervous.


MY "X"-FUND

LAST MONTH	THIS MONTH	DIFFERENCE
$5,898.14	$19,369.56	+$13,471.42

My "X"-Fund represents a part of a windfall that I had originally set aside either as an emergency fund or a down-payment for my first home. Either way, it's money that I didn't intend to touch unless it's for an emergency or for reinvestment purposes.

In February 2011, my X-Fund had $28,573.36. I used approximately $26,319 in March to pay off my private student loans. It left me with only about $2,254.58, but I slowly built the balance back up to $5,898.14 by July. In July, I sold a bunch of my company stock, liquidated one of my Roth IRA accounts and shifted some of my earmark money to my X-Fund which explains the sudden $13k+ jump.

I anticipate this fund will be exhausted in October on closing costs and home improvements.

MY ROP (LIFE INS) FUND

LAST MONTH	THIS MONTH	DIFFERENCE
$1,478.27	$1,514.53	+$36.26

Long story short, I'm pretending to pay myself an additional $55/month for a "hypothetical" return of premium (ROP) term life insurance policy. I'm basically trying to "earn" back the term life insurance premiums through savings and investments.

Considering I saved $55 last month and my gain was only $36.26, I guess I lost money on my investments. But who didn't in August?


MY NET WORTH

LAST MONTH	THIS MONTH	DIFFERENCE
$187,411.16	$186,209.75	-$1,201.41

August was a brutal month for my 401k, IRAs and other investments. It could've been worse, though. I didn't suffer as big a loss as I could have since I liquidated a bunch of my company stocks and one of my Roth IRA account at the end of July in anticipation of buying my first home.

The breakdown and the history of my net worth can be seen here.