Personal Finances – March 2009

I am currently writing this from California! My girlfriend and I bought our tickets a while ago and the trip is finally here.

This month, I made a huge reduction on my credit card debt! I want to start investing my money in stocks, both in my IRA and in a trading account. Before I begin, I want to pay off my credit card and most of my personal loan as the interest rates on both of them would outweigh any gains I would be making for at least a couple of years.

I made a mistake a couple of days ago when I payed extra on my credit card. Instead of paying $700 from my savings account, which isn’t yielding me anything worthwhile, I payed $700 from my checking account. That caused me to go over $100 in the hole, and now I have to pay a $26 overdraft fee. It’s not terrible, but still a silly oversight that I should have noticed before I hit “submit payment.” Luckily, I won’t be making two payments on my credit card per month to reduce my debt further. My credit card will be payed off this month, and I will be getting the cash back bonus from my purchases and no more finance charges!

Well, it’s off to view the rest of the sunny California coast! Our trip has been pretty nice so far. We are staying with my girlfriend’s uncle in Cambria. We have a five minute walk to the coast, and a gorgeous ranch, full of trees and foliage to explore!

$1,880.62 Total Income

$1,800.00 Monthly Pay
$1.84 Checking Account
$0.01 Savings Account
$6.80 Dividends ($20.40 / qtr.)
$62.30 Prosper Loans

$1,229.47 Total Expenses

$188.00 School Loans
$192.00 Car Payment
$300.00 Food & Utilities
$100.00 Gas
$81.60 Cell Phone
$30.00 Entertainment
$116.90 Insurance
$32.97 Personal Loan
$88.00 Medical Bill

$748.69Net Monthly Cash Flow
$78.16 Passive Income
6.92% Passive Income % of Expenses

$6,028.38 Total Assets

$550.65 Checking Account
$7.50 Savings
$54.45 Scottrade Account
$71.93 Prosper Account
$11.03 ChaCha Account
$2.98 Paypal Account
$97.25 OneSeason Account
$1,285.20 in Stock
$1,193.00 Loans to Friends
$1,818.44 Loans on Prosper

$25,480.43 Total Liabilities

$14,061.51 School Loans
$9,217.50 Car Loan
$1,066.78 Credit Card
$761.64 Prosper Loan
$373.00 Medical

Related posts:

1. Personal Finances – October 2009
2. Personal Finances – April 2009
3. Personal Finances – February 2009
4. Personal Finances – January 2009
5. Personal Finances – Beginning 2009