Friday 2 August 2013

July 2013 Expenditure Tracker

If you read my July 2013 Net Worth post you will have noticed that I was pleased as punch with how I performed.  However this result was driven almost entirely by existing asset performance.  My actual savings for the month were not as good as they should have been although compared with previous months it certainly wasn't as bad!


ItemJuly 2013TargetOver/(Under)
Share Investments+$1,268+$2,000-$732
Offset Acct.+$1,966+$3,500-$1,534
Personal expenditure+$3,951+$2,200+$1,751

The major movements in my 3 accounts are discussed below

  • Share investments
    • Although I had transferred money into my share market trading account as discussed in last month's expenditure tracker post, I didn't end up investing any in the stock market this month as the share market started to rally almost as soon as I had transferred the money in
    • Unfortunately, while I was waiting for a dip this money could have been earning a return
    • At the moment I have a dilemma about what to do with some of my shares
      • There are some which are good assets which have performed very strongly and I feel like taking my profits
      • There are others which have not performed to expectations and I don't know whether I still believe in the story and I certainly don't want to be holding on to dogs
    • While I mull about what to do, I have a significant amount of 'lazy capital'...that is capital where I do not have a strong belief in the value of the investment
  • Home loan offset account
    • My home loan offset account was a bit of a non story this month
    • I managed to save a bit of cash into the account however due to a quirk of the dates my interest charge for this month was significantly higher than it was last month
  • Personal expenditure
    • I keep screwing this particular savings goal up - however I think it is because I have not really thought through what is effectively non discretionary and what is discretionary for me
    • I am going to do a post very shortly on this and try and work out whether I am being unrealistic
      • Since the start of the year I have spent ~$32,000 on non investing items.  This just fees way too high so I'm going to look at that more carefully
On a cumulative basis my performance from the start of 2013 can be seen below:

ItemJan 13 - Jul 13TargetOver/(Under)
Share Investments+$13,999+$14,000-$1
Offset Acct.+$6,529+$24,500-$17,971
Personal expenditure+$31,902+$15,400+$16,502

My share account is pretty much exactly where I wanted it to be however what has really suffered has been my home loan offset account which has underperformed to almost exactly the same extent as I have over-spent on my personal expenditure.  I really do wish I could make a dent in this however as mentioned above I never seem to come in under what I hope to spend.  It is one thing to set aggressive goals and another to be unrealistic...I have a feeling that I am in the latter category.

I think what has changed is that moving out of home has fundamentally changed my expenditure (for the worse) and I have not adjusted my budgeting for it.  Simple things like food and groceries cost me ~$150 / $200 a month which I did not have to spend before and my rent is ~$450 higher than what I was paying my parents when I set my goals.

My credit card bill for August is much higher than it was this month although I have been putting money away to help fund this as discussed in my July 2013 net worth post.  Also August 2013 will be an interesting month as I am doing my next big purchase of collectible coins.

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