Well this quarter is purely for recording purposes. I have kept up my investing goal and at present, the dollars don’t look like they have moved at all however I know I have increased the ‘units/shares’ so as they go up, the value will increase AND we will have more dividends/passive income. The goal of this post is to document my journey and post each quarter on our timeline.
I reckon in 5 years I will be able to look back at these quarters and *sigh* and have proof that “little by little, a little becomes a lot”……… Gosh I hope so!
This year I am more intentional with documenting each month’s investing and expenses to keep me focused and to feel that I AM doing something. In 6-7 years we will be able to tap into our Superannuation for passive income and gosh I am working on that being a decent amount. Lately, I have been thinking of ways to work for 3 months in the year and live a retired life for the remaining 9 months. As soon as my youngest has completed high school, I am keen to move to something more ‘seasonal’ or ‘remote’ for work. All ideas are welcomed. So far I have the following list:
Even though I don’t have much to report, I like the opportunity to write down what swirls around in my head almost every day. So follow along in the below assessment and ramblings.
I work on a BUCKET type system for our expenses and we transfer money each payday into these buckets and when there is none left, there is none left! We do not use a credit card so there is no overflow to the next month. We do have an emergency fund and a yearly expense fund that I tap into these if needed. For example, a new washing machine OR kid’s clothes (which is one of the yearly expenses that I put money away each month for). With reviewing our expenses on a monthly basis and calculating our actuals vs forecast/budget, it has been helpful to see how we are tracking within our BUCKETS.
- Some key notes on our actuals:
- Kids Expenses are over forecast due to replacing my Year10’s laptop for school (smashed the screen!). We are at approx 60% of the year’s budget.
- Investment Expenses (IP) should come down for the second half of the year now that we have fixed our interest rates.
- All other budgets are close to the 50% mark for half the year. It has been an interesting exercise and also good discussion points with my partner about what expenses we will still have in 3-5years time when the ‘kids’ expenses will drop dramatically.
I enjoy seeing other people’s spreadsheets so I thought I would post a section of my expense spreadsheet. I treat my investing each month like an expense. I budget and pay these out pretty much as first priority. After reading THE RICHEST MAN IN BABYLON and the simplicity of ‘paying yourself first’ I have enjoyed working with this approach. This has been a game changer for me. I no longer consider trying to save what is left. It is my first task and then I am intentional with all my other expenses and am always finding ways to Review, Reduce, Remove (refer to this post)! It is also a self-worth/mindset growth that means a lot to me in my pursuit of peace and harmony with my money.
I have left our properties valued as they were in 2021 so our NetWorth has stayed pretty much the same. Since we have no traveling coming up we have managed to save $2000 so we decided to update our dining area. Love the new table, chairs & rug. I would still rather spend on adventures and visiting family overseas but for now it’s all at a standstill (youngest in Year 10 so I reckon we are staying put for another 2.5 years). I dislike being regimented to going in school holidays and 2 weeks is never ever enough! I will wait and then go for a season!
Lets hope the next quarter is steady and we see some movement upwards 🙂
