Budget Check & Cash Flow Update - April 2019

Budget | Cash Flow | Personal Finance
Budget Check & Cash Flow Update - April 2019

The saying goes that cash is king.  While that's true, a more accurate saying when it comes to finances is that cash FLOW is king.  Whether you're retired, still working or just starting out the only way you can improve your financial house is to have positive cash flow.  

If you're in the accumulation phase then that positive cash flow allows you to save and invest to build up your future cash flow.  If you're already retired, or FIREd, then congratulations because I'm sure your cash flow is well above what you need.


We've been fairly lax in regards to our budgeting, but the time is right to really get things moving forward.  One of our big goals for 2019 is to focus on our monthly spending.  When it comes to personal finance it's rather simple: income - expenses = savings and savings x investing = financial independence.  There's obviously two main levers there and while we'd all like to increase our income, many times reducing expenses is some of the low hanging fruit that you can go after to increase your savings.

Budget Check

Total income for April came in at $9,517.32 which was nice to see although that did include our tax refund of $2,558.  The bulk of the income came from my day job which should come as no surprise since we're still in the accumulation phase.  Although there's no complaints from me since I didn't work at all during the month and my employer provides paid bonding leave.  The remainder of income for April came from interest, dividends, blogging/side hustle and some cash back on my credit card.
Budget | Income | Passive Income
Monthly Income Breakdown - April 2019

Total expenses were higher than I'd like; however, they were still below the rolling 12-month average which is a good sign.  Total expenses for April came to $3,579.32 with core expenses at $3,103.63.

Overall April was a great month for cash flow with a total of $5,938.10.  Even backing out the tax refund still puts the cash flow at a positive $3,380.10.  Our savings rate from all income sources was 62% and from work income alone it was 43%.  
Budget | Cash Flow | Savings
Cash Flow Check In April 2019

*A few notes about the cash flow check in.  All income is only income that I receive and does not include my wife's income likewise for the expenses.  We've found it's easiest for us to just keep separate accounts since I'm gone most of the time for work.  Also, pre-tax withholding for the 401k (I currently withhold 6% in order to get the full 5% employer match) and the ESPP through my employer (8% post tax withholding) are not included in the above savings amount.  

Non-Work Cash Flow

Each month I like to examine the state of our non-work cash flow.  Since our goal is to become financially independent the monthly cash flow has to come from somewhere in order to cover our expenses.  I break our non-work cash flow into 2 categories: (1) Passive Income - dividends from taxable accounts and interest, and (2) Non-Work Income - all income from outside of my day job.

Passive income for April totaled $399.82 and covered 13% of core expenses.  Non-Work Income totaled $3,192.94 and covered 103% of core expenses.  Non-Work Income ex-tax refund came to $634.94 and covered 21% of core expenses.

Through the end of the April passive income has totaled $2,166.52 while non-work income has totaled $5,839.81.

Conclusion

Last year saw a bunch of changes and other needs for our cash that didn't allow us to make as much progress as I would have liked throughout the year.  However, things are settling down and once we get back to our regular schedule after my time off with the newborn we can focus on reducing our consumer debt and then hopefully get back to regular investing sometime in Q3.  Reducing our expenses is going to be our main focus for the year which will be accomplished by (1) paying off my wife's car loan and (2) by looking for ways to save whether that's cutting back on some things or searching for new and cheaper alternatives.

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What are you doing to improve your cash flow situation?  Are you working on reducing expenses or increasing income?

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