July 2021 Financial Update: Savings, Dividends, Options and Investing

Another month has already gone by so that means that it is time for another update. Progress has been going great. I achieved a milestone this month in regards to my net worth. Let’s check out how the month went!

Spending/Savings

Spending this month was kept in check and was within the budget. The savings in the emergency fund is still down a little due to dipping into it last month to replace the hot water heater. I will continue to working on replenishing the emergency fund over the next few months.

Dividends/Options/Interest

This month I received a total of $231.22 in dividends. This is up considerably from last year when I received $143.41 in dividends in July 2020. For the year I have received $2,010.55 in dividends. For the entire year of 2020 I received $1,877.71 in dividends. The progress in growing my dividend income has been great. With five months left in the year I have already surpassed last years total. I looking forward to watching grow more and more in the future.

This month I made $258.26 in options premium. This is a decent increase over July 2020 when I made $185.20 in options premium. For the year I received $2,039.82 in options premium.

Interest income was still down this month. This month I made $5.28 in interest. For the year I have received $64.15 in interest income.

The combined income from dividends, options premium and interest was $494.76. Again this month I missed my goal of $1,000 in income from dividends, options premium and interest. This is up over July 2020 when I made $328.61. For the year I am up to $4,114.52 of income from dividends, options premium and interest. Last year I made $4,035.29 for the entire year.

Debt

The total amount of debt went down by $1,770.77 this month. This is a little less than normal as I try to balance paying down debt, replenishing the emergency fund and investing. For the year, I have paid down $16,474.13 in debt. Even with the reduced debt payments this month I am well ahead of pace to reach my goal of paying $25,000 in debt this year.

Traditional IRA

The Traditional IRA finished the month at $117,861 which is up about $1,167 over the previous month. At the end of July 2020 this account was at $86,836. That puts the year over year gain at just a little over $31,000. The estimated annual income income decreased from last month from $3,726 to $3,671. This is due in part to 100 shares of Invesco Mortgage Capital (IVR) being called away on a covered call. Another factor was a dividend “cut” from DTE Energy (DTE). While technically a dividend cut, my dividend income may go back up. DTE spun off the midstream assets into the new company DT Midstream (DTM). DTM has not yet announced a dividend but I expect it to soon. Hopefully, the dividend will be equal to or greater than the amount of the cut from DTE. Below is a chart of my expected dividends for this account over the next year. This account is now funded through dividends and options premium only.

Roth IRA

The Roth IRA finished the month a little over $699. This is up about $82 over last month. Monthly contributions to this account are currently at $60 but will be raised soon due to a promotion and raise at work. The estimated annual dividends increased from $25 to $26 this month. Below is a chart of my expected dividends from this account over the next year.

401k

The 401k finished the month at about $8,333. This is up about $395 over last month. The contributions to this account are approximately $177 every two weeks. In July 2020 this account was at about $2,923. Year over year it is up by about $5,410.

Taxable Account

The taxable brokerage account finished the month just over $300. This is up by about $8 over the previous month. When you factor in the monthly contribution of $25 it is down about $17 for the month. This account has struggled. I plan to make a couple of additions which hopefully will stabilize it a little bit.

Cryptocurrency

I have decided to add the very small amount of bitcoin I own to the updates. The only cryptocurrency I currently own is the bitcoin that I received from lolli’s rewards program. Once I do more research and become more comfortable with cryptocurrencies I expect to add more.

The total amount that I have invested across all accounts is now up to about $127,210. This is up about $2,683 over the previous month. At the end of July 2020 I had about $89,758 invested. This is a year over year increase of $37,452.

My net worth increased by over $6,600 this month to $52,749. It is hard to believe that I have broke the milestone of $50,000 in net worth this fast when last year my net worth was -$12,775 at the end of July 2020. Year over year I have improved my net worth by $65,524.

Seeing the progress I have made not only month to month but also year over year is motivating. I would suggest that everyone should track their progress. Sometimes we get bogged down in the day to day activities and don’t take the time to reflect on where we were and where we are now. That is one of the reason I enjoy writing this blog. It gives me the opportunity to see the progress I have made. That’s about it for now. Thanks for following along!

*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 or 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. Who doesn’t want free bitcoin! 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 $50. 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.