October 2015 Money Report

It is time for another monthly Money Report – check out my October monthly update to see how we did this time!

To view any previous monthly money reports, check these monthly money reports.

Actions Plans for October 2015

We will start with a review of my goals for the month of October to see how well I hit them:

Key: Complete/Some Progress/No Progress

• Re-read the book I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi
  • Complete – this was my third read-through of this book, and I still love it!  Here’s my original review of it: Book Review – I Will Teach You To Be Rich
• Publish 8 posts for MoneyAhoy
  • Complete – I had 13 posts for the month of October!  So, I blew this one out of the water 🙂
• Publish 4 posts for HealthierDay.com
  • Almost – we had 3 posts for the month – close but no cigar!
• Get to below 5% cash through investing funds in savings accounts
  • Complete – we were able to get right at 5% cash with the rest of our money invested in one way or another.  This has been a long term goal of mine, and I am happy that we were able to finally get there through dollar cost averaging into our investments.
• Create 2 YouTube videos for MoneyAhoy/HealthierDay
  • Failed – we had one video for HealthierDay, but it was actually uploaded in November.  So… we didn’t get any for October.  I have definitely been lazy in this area and need to pick things up!
• Exercise at least 5 minutes every day
  • Complete – I did a good job of committing to exercising at least a little bit each day.  Since we started HealthierDay.com, I’ve lost a total of about 12 pounds!

I did pretty well with my October goals.  The main area I need to pick up the slack is around creating YouTube videos.  I have some ideas in mind for videos, I just haven’t jumped on producing them yet.

Now, let’s see how we came out on our finances for the month of October:

Notes on Making Money for October 2015

Money making for the month of October was above average for the month!  The black line is the 6-month moving average – we were a couple hundred bucks over this.  Our normal salaries/hourly income was pretty average, but dividends really came through in a big way!  Side hustle income dropped off quite a bit however…  This is similar to last October when I saw side-hustle income come in on the low side.

Here’s a rundown of our side income for the month of October:

• Monthly Dividends – $1,313 – wow!
• Youtube – $129
• Sponsored Posts – $125
• Start an LLC in Less than 6 Minutes – $112
• Ad in sidebar – $25
• Google Adsense – $13
• Stock Market Investing for Newbies book – $3
• HealthierDay.com Adsense/Youtube- <$1
• TOTAL = $1,721

As you can see, dividends really came through in a big way this month!  I don’t know about you, but my favorite part of this money report each month is watching the dividends edge up each and every month as we continue to invest through dollar cost averaging.  Compounding interest is also beginning to take effect as we continue to roll the dividends into new investments.  You can see this through the 6-month moving average (black line) as it begins to curve upward.

Notes on Money Saving for October 2015

We continue to work on our money saving – and it is really continuing to pay off.  You can see from the total expenses graph that our 6-month moving average (black line) continues to move lower after hovering around for a while.  Our total expenses for the month of October were lower than average, so this is also something to feel good about.

We did have several large “other expenses” that added up to nearly $700 for the month :-(.  It wasn’t terrible, but not too happy about some of these items.  Here are the big ones:

1. $321 – Season passes to area theme park.  This was the biggest “other” expense for the month.  We decided to renew our membership as we ended up using the season pass about 20 times this past year.  That averages to about $20 a visit for a day of family entertainment.  That’s not too bad and may actually help save money as $20 for a day is a pretty cheap option…
2. $249 – Vet bill for our dog.  I included this in our routine expenses “roll-up” as we seem to be spending money in this category every month!  For this month, our dog hurt his leg when our daughter crashed her scooter into him!  After some x-rays, pain medication, etc. the total cost was on up there.  Shoot me now!  By the way, do you have an emergency fund?
3. $145 – We signed the kids up for recreational basketball teams.  My wife will probably be the coach this year – I wish there was a discount for this, but sadly there isn’t 🙂
4. $60 – Birthday presents for our son.  We got some Nintendo DS games off of eBay and saved about 30% versus buying them new at the store.
5. $38 – Cavity fillings at the dentist for our daughter.  She brushes her teeth twice a day and still got cavities!  We were so upset about it, we wrote and article about it here: Best Tips for Preventing Cavities in Kids.  Hopefully we can avoid repeats in this area.

I am happy that we are continuing to move lower with our overall expenses.  If we can stay away from the Vet, I think we can continue to trend lower.

Overall we had a savings rate of 72% for the month – this is a home run in my book!

Notes on Investing for October 2015

For October, I purchased 195 shares of JNK for a about $7,000 for the month. JNK is the Barclay’s Capital High Yield Bond ETF.  This is a “junk bond” ETF that pays an annual dividend of ~6.7% and  has a very low expense ratio.  Adding bonds to your portfolio can help dampen large swings in the stock market.  Because these are high yield bonds (junk), they are riskier than higher quality bonds.  Because they are riskier, they can offer higher returns.  The downside is that they can be more volatile in their price vs. the higher quality type of bonds.

If you are interested in stock market investing but don’t know where to get started, check out my excellent book: Stock Market Investing for Newbies.  It will get you up to speed with stock market investing very quickly!

Actions Plans for November 2015

Here are my goals for the upcoming month of November:

• Publish 8 posts for MoneyAhoy
• Publish 4 posts for HealthierDay.com
• Create comments on  30 other blogs (average 1 a day) to build link juice
• Create 2 YouTube videos for MoneyAhoy/HealtherDay
• Create free version of my stock market investing book: Stock Market Investing for Newbies – make it available at SmashWords.com
• Exercise at least 5 minutes every day

Other Points of Interest

If you missed any of the below posts for October 2015, be sure to check them out:

1. Avoid Becoming Small Minded About Money With These 7 Lessons
2. 8 Benefits of Buying a Used Car
3. How to Beat the Car Dealer When Shopping for a New Car
4. MoneyAhoy Featured Article at DealSpotr.com!
5. 10 Best Budget Decorating Ideas for Newlyweds
6. Learn How to Save Money As a Teenager
7. September 2015 Money Report
8. 10 Ways to Save Money While Losing Weight
9. 10 Ways You Can Invest in Yourself
10. How Small Businesses Can Save Money
11. How to Save Money on Healthcare
12. How Much Does Starting an Online Business Cost?
13. 3 Ways Your Home Is Draining Your Money

What are your money saving, money making, and investing plans for November?