Personal Finances – May 2010

It certainly has been a while since I updated my finances, but it feels good to see where I am financially. My new job is going to change my spending and saving habits until I can get a good grasp on how to balance everything out and find a way to make a little extra money on the side. With all the extra time afforded to me, I will have to start using ChaCha more. I’m estimating that I will be taking home around $1,500 a month with the new job as opposed to almost $2,000 at the old job. It’s a big pay cut, but not an unmanageable one. My girlfriend and I have also come to an agreement that I only have to pay for our utility expenses, which means I am directly responsible for how much I pay every month.

Unlike most people who use their tax return to buy things they weren’t able to afford before, I used mine to pay off some of my debt, beginning with my loan that I had through Prosper. It was a foolish loan that I took out with them. My plan was to get a cheap interest rate on my loan and use the money I received to invest in loans on the site that were being charged a higher interest rate. That didn’t turn out too well, because with higher interest rates came greater risk, and several of the loans I invested in defaulted and were charged off. They went through a dormant period where they were going through some filings to increase their investment choices, and I took a lot of money that was being paid to me out of their site, but after they were able to start loaning money again, I have been reinvesting in safer choices.

Tomorrow, I will be investing more money in the stock market with the last check I received from Rent a Center. I was only expecting about $400 or so from my unused vacation time, but it turned out to be more than $900! It was very tempting to use it to buy an iPad, which I have been wanting since I heard it was coming out, but I don’t really see using it to it’s full potential to justify me purchasing one. So, I figure I will take the investment route and perhaps wait until it comes down in price or I get one as a gift.

$1,605.13 Total Income

$1,500.00 Monthly Pay Checks
$5.73 Checking Account Interest
$0.51 Savings Account Interest
$16.84 Dividends ($50.52 / qtr.)
$82.05 Prosper Loans

$1,043.86 Total Expenses

$200.00 School Loans
$192.00 Car Payment
$300.00 Food & Utilities
$100.00 Gas
$72.00 Cell Phone
$50.00 Entertainment
$129.86 Insurance

$561.27 Net Monthly Cash Flow
$105.13 Passive Income
10.07% Passive Income % of Expenses

$9,678.06 Total Assets

$2,290.63 Checking Account
$509.11 Savings
$62.52 Scottrade Account
$47.23 Prosper Account
$19.96 ChaCha Account
$9.05 Paypal Account
$963.14 IRA
$1,843.52 401k
$3,995.42 in Stock
$1,104.45 Loans on Prosper

$19,471.30 Total Liabilities

$11,901.35 School Loans
$6,716.95 Car Loan
$853.00 Credit Card

-$9,793.24 Net Worth

Related posts:

1. Personal Finances – July, 2010
2. Personal Finances – June 2010
3. Personal Finances – October 2009
4. Personal Finances – April 2009
5. Personal Finances – Beginning 2009