This month, I haven’t kept careful track of all our income and expenses. The result is there are quite a few mystery entries in the bank statement. I can’t remember where that check I deposited on September 7th came from. I think the solution is to update my spreadsheet in the middle of the month so I can recall what all those items are.
All right, here is the September cash flow.
| Income | September | August |
| Mrs. RB40′s paycheck | 2,984 | 2,622 |
| rental income | 1,375 | 1,450 |
| side income | 2,222 | 1,447 |
| dividend and interest | 278 | 115 |
| Total income | 6,859 | 5,634 |
| Expense | ||
| Housing | -1,992 | -1,992 |
| rental debt service + annual HOA | -907 | -1,182 |
| cash allowance + $160 editor pay | -860 | -600 |
| transportation | -153 | -99 |
| pet | 0 | -59 |
| baby* don’t count daycare | -42 | -84 |
| bills (electric, insurance, internet) | -246 | -333 |
| medical | -89 | -182 |
| electronics (air purifier) | -277 | 0 |
| entertainment | -34 | -43 |
| misc (costco, home depot, new check, business cards) | -178 | -165 |
| Total expense | -4,778 | -4,739 |
| saving (Income – Expense) | 2,081 | 1,058 |
*There is a bit of fuzzy accounting here because I didn’t count the cost of baby daycare. We paid $1165 in August, but it is covered with DCAP from my paycheck. It is already deducted pre-tax and we wouldn’t have seen it anyway. Also, once I quit work, then I’ll be home to take care of the little guy so I think we can zero it out as we look forward to the future.
Income (Target > $5,000)
September was quite a good month for income. Mrs. RB40 received a little bonus from work so her paycheck looks better than usual.
Rental is a bit lower than normal because the newly acquired 4plex lost $75 this month. I’ll have to write a whole post about this.
Side income – There are about $300 of extra income unaccounted for in September. I think part of it has to do with the 4plex closing. We had a small refund from closing a few days later than scheduled. Other than than, we received a check from our reward card and won $50 from the Yakezie tweet chat. Retire By 40 closed a few year long advertising deal in September so that helped a lot too. All in all, a great month for side income.
Dividend and Interest – I need to open an ING or Ally bank account and move some cash over. Our credit union’s best rate is only about 0.5%. Dividend looks great in September. I would love to get this kind of dividend+interest income every month.
Expenses (Target < $4,500)
Our expense is still not quite under control this month.
Cash allowance is a bit higher than normal. It’s actually $700 due to September having 5 Fridays. We get cash allowance once a week. Mrs. RB40 also received her first editor pay of $160.
Transportation – I drove a bit more than usual and also had an oil change in September. I would like to keep this under $100, but it’s really been creeping up. We’ll see how it goes in October.
Electronics – I purchased a BlueAir and a change of filter for our living room.
Misc – The $178 is mostly spent at Costco on baby formula, food, TP, and other household items. I should keep better track of this one also.
Halo Reach - $13, LuxeLink purse holder - $21
Here is our unauthorized $34 entertainment bill for September. We’re suppose to use the cash allowance for these kind of things.
September Cash Flow
Our expense is creeping up and we need to control it a bit better. All in all, it’s still a good month though. I can’t complain about the $2,000 positive cash flow! October is going to be a mess though. The 4plex is going to be a cash drain (repairs), but I think it will turn around by New Year at the latest.
Have a great Columbus Day everyone!
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{ 47 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice side and rental income. You guys rock! Editor’s pay is completely worth it.
Do you find it harder to keep track because more is coming in? It just made me think of Budgeting the Fun Stuff’s recent post about not being as diligent because of cash flow.
I think next month I will show rental income = rent – cost. It’ll be easier to see. I think editor pay is good too, Mrs. RB40′s attitude improved immensely.
It’s difficult to keep track of little checks like reward checks and that kind of things. I track all the blog income and expense diligently because I’ll need that for tax later.
A few things that stick out:
- for side income to increase by 300% is incredible.
- rental income to drop by 75$ is random.
- dividend and interest looks spectacular.
All in all, anytime you’re able to stash away 2k is great. I’d love to see follow-ups on the increase in side income and tiny loss of rental income.
Ooops, I made a mistake. I fixed the August side income, it was showing July’s. I’m afraid the 300% increase is temporary though since blog income is not very steady. Some month is just luckier than others.
Dividend income is also not stable due to the quarterly payment. Oh well.
As other people have already commented, you have a nice side and rental income coming in. That is great news. You may have to change your site’s name to retire by 39 if you keep going at this pace.
It doesn’t have the same “ring” to it, though.
Retire By 40 means anytime before 40 right? So 39 is still good.
When do you find time to play Halo?!
I get an hour or two in on Fridays around 11pm.
That’s some great side income!! I’d be pretty happy about this considering the amount of repairs that are on the table and you still came out cash flow positive!
I think I will have to do a more detailed analysis and add other hidden expenses. Next month, I’ll just show (income – expense) for real estate so it will be more clear. I forgot to deduct property tax this month…
Great side income! I haven’t had the time to tally all of my Sept income/expenses yet, blaming FINCON11 and my flu for that. But I am sure it was not as great as yours.
Why did the rental income reduce by $75? May be I will know the answer in the follow up post. I still have not actually paid my editor, even though I gave him a paper raise
Paper raise? Did you give him stock options?
I’ll have to write a follow up on the rentals.
Girlfriends and wives beware! Halo Reach is here! lol If there’s one thing I’ve learned is that you can debate the usefulness of most video games but don’t mess with Halo lol
LOL. Halo is fun, but I only get to play once a week or so – Friday around 11pm….
Thanks for sharing Joe. I appreciate being able to look into others personal finances. I hope you can turn that 4plex into a cash-cow for quickly.
I think the 4plex will look better in 2012. There are just too many repairs and tenant turn over this year.
Great results for the month. Best of luck with the real estate getting that earning.
Thanks, it’s not easy getting positive cash flow from real estate on the West Coast.
Did the 4plex show any net income in September? Was that the refund? You want to detail the rentals with just net income.
No net income on the 4 plex. One of the tenant is section 8 and the city takes 4 weeks to process payment. I’ll detail the rental with just net income next month.
Great great job RB40! You will be retired before you know it and you will have to change your website to RETIREDby40.com
But he can still advise the rest of us hoping to retire by 40, after he has succeeded with flying colors!
That would be Great!
Good show, RB40. You’ll retired and taking afternoon naps in no time at all.
Even though your numbers might not blow anyone away right now, you are so set for the future in terms of multiple income streams! I am very envious!
Thanks, I’ll keep working on it.
I have started using an online site called mint.com (www.mint.com/) that pulls all of your transaction from your bank statements and credit card statements. You can then assign their default expense categories or customize categories for each transaction. You can set up a budget for expenses etc. They send you an email every week with a summary of your position and you can then tweek/modify transactions that are not getting automatically categorized.
I am an accountant by trade, but never seem to find the time to keep track of my own financial affairs. LOL I am finding that this is really helping me.
(I am not affiliated with mint.com)
Anne-Marie –
I am an accountant by trade as well. I had to smile when you admitted that you never seem to find the time to track your own financial affairs. I am the same way too!! Spend my time working on everyone else’s stuff but never getting around to my own. I’ve started to put our priorities on the front burner and am taking a look at the entire 2011 year. Hopefully within the next week or so I will have everything categorized and up to date.
You might have mentioned this in a previous post, but I don’t recall. What is the cash allowance for? In our family budget, I find that cash goes towards those things you don’t want to admit you waste money on, so you don’t budget for it. This is why I’ve tried to drive our cash expenses down to 0.
I think they use their cash for groceries and then other stuff that they want to be able to waste their money on
Cash allowance is for groceries, clothes, eating out, and other personal spending. We budget $300 each every 2 weeks and it works pretty well for us. That way we can save what ever is left at the end of the month to spend on what we want.
Those are impressive numbers. I think it is good that you are showing how the rental can sometimes be a cash drain as it shows that owning rental property isn’t all fun and games. I think you are well-set to retire by 40!
I’ll write a follow up about the rental on Friday. It’s not that good in September actually. October will be a bit worse.
You’re doing great! That side income is impressive. I really need to ramp up my side income, myself. I’ll be able to focus on that in December when I’m finished with my final semester. Keep up the great work!
I think we got lucky in September. I’ll try to keep it up, but it will be difficult.
Yes, congrats on the rental income. This is great. It is nice to see your investment pay off I am sure. I need to ramp up my side income. The blog hasn’t been cutting it.
You’re doing so great! Especially the rental income. I envy you
.
Another great job, RB40! I like how you’re regularly tracking this, and holding yourself accountable – while being flexible as well. Seems like you guys have a great balance.
Excellent job RB40:D The dividends are coming from your stocks right? I wanna get at least that every month, that would be great
Joe, is the expenses on rental home (mortage, HOA, fees, tax) less than the income from rental property?
For September, I think so. I’ll do a more detail posting Friday.
Looks great… a couple of questions (oh, by the way, very impressed with your discipline):
1. did i miss the food somewhere?
2. what is the housing vs. rental debt servicing?
1. We use the cash allowance for grocery. I had a note in previous post, but forgot to put it in this one.
2. housing is where we live. Rental debt service is the mortgage payment for the rental home. Next month I’ll get rid of that category. I’ll compute it into the rental income.
Do you actually take your dividends or are they reinvested?
I take the dividend, but it just goes into the general fund which will be invested in something eventually. I’m not using it to for discretionary spending.
I’m enjoying your unauthorized entertainment expenses. I’m envious of the purse holder.
Great job on such a high savings rate! (PS: I’m envious of that too.)
That purse holder is really neat.
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