April has come and gone. I continue to work my financial plan. The progress made this month was good. The longer I work my plan the easier it becomes to work my plan. Let’s take a look at how the month of April shook out!
Spending/Savings
Spending was down from normal this month. The main area in which spending was down was groceries. Since I have been following a budget and tracking my expenses it has become easier to spend less. I actual want to spend less and look for ways to spend less. Spending less is becoming a habit that I am happy to have. Savings is relatively flat over the previous month.
Dividends/Options
This month I received $238.10 in dividends. In April 2020 I received $45.08 in dividends. It is nice to see the year over year growth in dividends. So far for the year I have received $1,098.72.
Income from options premium this month was $421.54. This is the best month for options income this year. So far this year I have received $1,338.75 in options premium.
Combined I received $659.64 from dividends and options premium this month. Again this month I fell well short of my goal of $1,000 per month. For the year I made $2,437.47 in combined income from dividends and options premium. Currently I am $1,562.53 behind my goal of $1,000 a month. This deficit may be too much to overcome but I will continue to try to reach it. I have learned a lot and look forward to continue learning.
Debt
My total debt went down by $3,218.02 this month. This is well above my goal of $2,083 a month. So far this year I have paid off $8,992.80 of debt. This puts me $660.80 ahead of schedule to pay off $25,000 in debt this year.
Traditional IRA
The Traditional IRA finished the month up by about $2,707 at a value of $113,702. The account value is up about $35,596 from last April. The estimated annual income increased by $27 from last month. For me, the estimated annual income is the most important number. As a dividend investor my goal is to increase the amount of dividends I receive. The amount of dividends I receive can go up even if the overall value of the account goes down. One change I did make to this account is that I no longer make contributions to this account. This account will fund itself through dividends, options premium and capital gains.
Roth IRA
The Roth IRA is up about $86 over last month. A good portion of this is from my monthly contribution. I have taken the $35 a month that I was contributing to the Traditional IRA and am now putting it into the Roth IRA. Combined with the $25 I was normally contributing to the Roth IRA my monthly contribution is now $60. I know I need to fund this account more and will contribute some “extra” money from time to time but I also need to focus on paying down my debt. The estimated annual income increased by $6 over last month. I really like seeing that estimated annual income grow month over month.
401k
The 401k is up by about $554 over last month. This account is funded bi-weekly through automatic payroll deductions. I spend less time on this account than any of the other accounts. I pretty much just fund it and watch it grow.
Taxable Account
The taxable growth account is up by almost $58 over last month. Most of the gains were from contributions. The normal monthly contribution to this account is $25. I also received a $30 referral bonus this month which helped to boost the value of this account.
This was another good month. Spending was kept in check, savings remain stable, debt is going down and the accounts continue to grow. My net worth continues to grow also. My net worth grew by almost $6,400 over last month to almost $39,000. This is a huge change over last April when my net worth was -$27,350. This just goes to show that if you develop a plan and follow it, the results will come. Thanks for following along on my journey!
*Disclaimer – I am not a financial professional. The information shared here should not be considered financial advice. I am just a factory worker sharing my experience as I strive to achieve financial freedom. Before investing or making any financial decision do your own research and due diligence and consider seeking the advice of a financial and/or tax professional.
Here are some of the businesses that I use that I thought some of you might be interested in.
I use the free version on trackyourdividends.com. This is a quick an easy way for me to track my estimated annual income from dividends.
Lolli has a variety of stores that it is affiliated with and offers rewards for shopping at these stores. I use Lolli when I shop on Chewy and I get bitcoin as a reward. If you are interested in Lolli and want to help support the blog here is my referral link: https://www.lolli.com/share/XP7gxDgqC4
I use M1 Finance for my taxable growth account. M1 Finance offers promotions for signing up. At the time of writing this post, the promotion is for $30. These promotions vary from time to time but is usually a $10 bonus. If you are interested M1 Finance and want to support the blog here is my referral link: https://m1.finance/ktIiFeOI5zDr
If you use the referral links listed above I could receive compensation. Please take the time to read the terms and conditions before signing up.
Sounds like an very very solid month (even though you didn’t hit 1$k) and amazing growth yoy. Awesome to see your results with options, it’s something I’ve been interested in (for over a year) but haven’t made any moves on yet. Still need to do my research!
Yes, definitely do your research before you start options trading. Options can be a good way to create some extra income but you need to be careful. I am still learning and trying to develop my strategy. Thanks for reading!