June 2014 Net Worth: $503,000 (+2.1%) and Expenditure Tracker

A few months ago I combined my net worth and expenditure tracker posts as the posts were interlinked and it seemed to make sense to display them together.  This post represents the 'regular' net worth update however in coming days I will also post up an annual review of my net worth performance which will give far greater insight into the construction of my portfolio as well as my liabilities.

June 2014 Net Worth: $503,000 (+2.1%)

	Value	% Change
Assets	$860,000	+0.9%
Liabilities	$357,000	-0.8%
Net worth	$503,000	+2.1%

What drove my net worth performance this month?

I was incredibly happy to reach my net worth goal for this month as it was also my revised goal for the year. I can't believe I've crossed the half million mark - although it has been a slow and steady process it still feels strange to sit here at this level.

The month on month improvement was one of my best for the year and represented incremental improvement in all of my accounts instead of one big hit which improved everything.  Outlined below are some of the biggest factors that affected this result:

• Positive factors
• I finally submitted my tax returns for the year and this had several positive implications for my net worth
• I received a modest tax refund which was mainly driven by my investment property which was negatively geared over the year
• This eliminated many of the tax liabilities that I was carrying in the liabilities section of my net worth tracker (especially CGT liabilities from share sales)
• My share portfolio was up for the month - it wasn't a significant improvement (less than 1%) however this has been a drag over the last few months so it is good to see it back in positive territory
• I had loaned money to my girlfriend for our overseas trip this year which she paid back which increased my cash balance over the month
• I continued to contribute to my employee share plan and my superannuation balance was also marginally higher
• Negative factors
• The only thing that was slightly disappointing this month was that my credit card balance did not decrease as far as I would have liked it to - this was driven by my personal expenditure and not any particularly lumpy expenses.  I am hoping this will revert to normal levels next month

What is my outlook for next month?

Next month is going to be the last month before I start to have some serious expenditures start to come through my net worth so I'm hoping to save some cash and reduce my credit card debt over the month.  I am aiming for a net worth of $508,000 assuming the share market and my investments do not do anything too crazy.

June 2014 Expenditure Tracker

Item	Jun 2014	Monthly Target	Perf. vs Target
Accommodation / Living expenses	$2,263	$2,246	+$17
Car expenses	$231	$692	-$460
Health / Well being expenses	$580	$566	+$14
Entertainment / Personal expenses	$891	$1,230	-$340
Travel expenses	$519	$675	-$156
Other 'big' expenses	$2,900	$3,508	-$808
Savings / Investments	$1,484	$1,051	+$433

If we look at the major line items in my tracker above

• Accommodation and living expenses
• Above expectations driven by higher than expected utilities, groceries and clothing expenses - The monthly target includes the lumpy expenses associated with my apartment bond (paid in January) so I should be outperforming this every month by quite a margin
•  Car expenses
• Nothing out of the ordinary - everything in line with expectation.  Fuel expenses were lower than normal because I didn't get out and about as much.
• Health / well being expenses
• My health insurance costs are far higher than they should be and I have been putting off researching and finding new insurance cover.  July will be my month to do this
• Entertainment / personal expenses
• For the first time I actually performed well in this category.  It was driven by several factors
• I did not go out as much this month (probably something to do with the cold)
• I did not have as many parties and thus did not have significant expenses on gifts
• Travel expenses
• Marginally positive this month.  I did book some flights for short weekend trips away and some accommodation for my large end of year trip however these tend to be very lumpy expenses so I expect this to grow in coming months
• Other 'big' expenses
• I'm still on track with my savings plan for my sports car, wedding and engagement ring.  This should start to really pick up in the coming months as I have the savings ramping up on these expenses
• Savings / investments
• This was significantly higher than in previous months as I repaid temporary 'loans' which I had used to fund things like my overseas travel expenses.  I would not expect this level of out performance going forward

The coming month should be one of the few 'normalised' months with limited lumpy expenses.  Hopefully I will be able to use the month to save for some of the rather large expenses I have coming up in the latter half of the year.

Keep an eye out in the next few days for my annual net worth review.  I will be posting much more information than I usually do on how I manage to achieve my net worth and how I structure my affairs to keep them as simple as possible.

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