April has been a fast month for me. It seemed like it was over in a blink. April is always packed with birthdays, as nearly all my family was born in April. Along with daylight saving, and a few cold days, April has hinted that winter is coming for us in NZ.
This is the second spending report that I have posted. I post these in the hope that I actually use my spending data to improve the next months spending. The aim is to direct as much extra money as I can to invest in passive income streams for the future. Ultimately, allowing me to retire years earlier than the socially accepted retirement age of 65.
So here is April’s spending.
Again, our mortgage payments have been around 50%. This month we will have to negotiate with the bank to get a new fixed rate. Already I have asked around and currently, the Bank of New Zealand is offering 4.2% fixed for 2 years with a bonus retainer of $3000. I’m going to take that offer to my current bank to see if they can match it. I don’t want to change banks, but if the offers are better at the competition, we will have to change.
The Good
In March I opened a new account with InvestNow and deposited some money to buy some passive funds. It took me a while to decide what funds to buy, but I managed to read all the documentation and bought some funds in April. I have added another $400 to this account.
Groceries were down on March
We slashed $200 off our grocery bill was down for the month of March!
The Bad
Miscellaneous consumption
My spending has gone up for the month of April. This is because I bought a 3D printer, both for work prototyping and for making items for around the home. I have made several items for the garage. And printing items has been quite relaxing for me. I spend a chunk of that spending on consumables and upgrades for that printer.
Eating out has crept up
Since April is a month of birthdays, it is not unexpected that the dining out bill has more than tripled to $330. It is expensive, but sometimes you have to do it to strengthen your social network.
And the Ugly
Car expenses
Car expenses have gone down to in absolute terms, but in percentages, it is still up at around 12%. And I haven’t even travelling much recently. It is quite a large expense for just driving back and forth from work on my luxury sofa.
Overall, we had a loss this month of $330.89. We need to sort that out!
Goals for 2018
So I have decided to start some goals for the remainder of 2018. I am still formulating some other goals, but at this stage, I am going to aim to increase my investing this year. Over the month of April, I will look into some other goals. I am thinking about setting a monthly expenses goal but need to analyze past data to see what is actually achievable. I don’t believe it is worthwhile setting an unachievable goal.
Increase investments by $12,000
My goal for 2018 is to increase my investments by $12,000. Since I started in March, that is around $1200 per month. In April I invested $1500, and this month I managed to invest $400. So I am currently 15% towards my goal.
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