November 2016 Update

It's been a month since my last update and, wow, has it been busy. Lots of things going on in my world lately; good and not-so-good things. But, I'm sorting them out and moving forward. Anyway, that's why I'm a day late posting this update. It also explains why I haven't posted anything since my last financial update. I've simply been too busy elsewhere in life. I guess I should stop beating around the bush and get to it, right? As of now, my net worth is...

$74,660

It's higher than it was last month by $3,500 and that means my net worth graph is up and to the right, which is always good. As you'll see in the screenshot (below, as always), I'm actually showing a credit card balance.

Normally, I make it a point to pay these off before I report my net worth because it just makes things easier: no debts. This bill isn't due until 12/13, so I've got some time to pay it off, which is good because I had to take an emergency trip a few days ago to New York. I had to buy last-minute plane tickets, book a hotel, and rent a car (not to mention, eat while I was there and buy gas for the rental). All of this really added up. Some of those expenses I paid using my debit card and the remainder (what you see in the screenshot) is the rest, including buying a birthday present for my wife.

I plan to pay a large portion of the credit card bill tomorrow, so it won't be so much out of my next paycheck.

Some other expenses I had this month include paying my brother for installing some windows in my shed and doing a few other repairs. I had to pay for a broken window on my car and I bought 2 growlers from a nearby craft beer shop. So, I did have a few unnecessary expenditures this month. I received 2 paychecks during November, making my income $4,020. According to my budget, my total expenses were $3,277 (82% of my net take home pay). Yet, according to my monthly investment/savings contributions, I managed to tuck away $3,132, which is satisfactory indeed.

While I'm happy with the amount I managed to invest or save (on paper), it feels like I didn't really save as much as I would have liked. I only remember making about 2 money transfers this month and they didn't seem to be very significant in the grand scheme of things. 

I'm doubtful that I will put away much more money before the new year since Christmas is still approaching and I've got my wife and son's birthdays this month. I plan to take the final net worth amount and determine how much I managed to save over the course of the year since this was the first year I kept detailed budgets of all my income, spending, and savings. I think it will be interesting to see various breakdowns of those categories. Stay tuned to find out.

November 2016 net worth