Expenditure Tracker - May 2012

May 2012 saw a large reallocation of funds from my Home Loan offset account (effectively investments in fixed interest securities) to the share market to take advantage of the very low valuations that the market was showing.  It was also marked by a significant decrease on my personal expenditure compared to previous months however I still could not keep this within my target range.

A summary of my expenditure for the month is shown below:

• Share investments: $15,111 ($11,811 over)
• Home Loan Offset account: -$12,411 ($14,011 under)
• Personal expenditure: $3,045 ($1,546 over)

On a cumulative basis (January - May 2012) the accounts are as follows:

• Share investments: $23,684 ($7,184 over)
• Home Loan Offset account: -$8,699 ($16,699 under)
• Personal expenditure: $19,331 ($11,831 over)

Over the last few months I have had large swings in and out of my share investment accounts (including my large proposed investment in the share purchase plan which was scaled back ~99%).  However the amounts I have invested this month are relatively long term value investments which I do not expect to exit in the near term.  They were to take account of the significant weakness in the share market seen in May.

As mentioned above personal expenditure was more in line with my target compared to previous months however it is still double what it should be.  This was because I had several lumpy expenditure items during the month as well as weekend trips away (including a bucks weekend which we managed to do relatively cheaply)

On a cumulative basis only my share investments are in positive territory while I have actually taken money out of my home loan offset account compared with the start of the year.  This is a position that I am comfortable being in as I am very overweight property at the moment.  My aim is to have a relatively balanced portfolio. 

• My goal is to have property / fixed interest / share market investments approximately even (i.e. 33% / 33% / 33%) 
• At the moment the weighting of my net investments (after borrowings) is currently 40% / 25% / 35%
• It is much more skewed on a gross (exposure basis) at 79% / 9% / 12%
• The difference above is because all my borrowings are against my property investments

My focus over the next few months will be on evening my net exposures first (i.e. increasing the amounts held in my home loan offset accounts) and will then look at my gross exposures.