Tomatoes in the garden during November
It’s been a big month.
In many ways, it has been a poor month financially. Spending is up, savings are down but there have been several positives to come out of the rubble. The month has included many gifts purchased for Christmas and there have been several functions for work that are expensive (and compulsory). November is one of the most expensive months for me.
It has been a great month for the blog with readership growing strongly, subscriptions taking off and more followers on twitter. I have done two guest posts over at Monster Piggy Bank and Frugal Rules. Go check them out!
Financial summary
- Saving rate: 53.50% of net income (-10.04%)
- James’ spending: 25.5% of his income (+6.5%)
- Theoretical investment income^: 13.17% of money spent this month (+0.17%)
- Mortgage reduced by: 3.21% (-1.49%)
- Net worth: 3.43 years of living expenses* (+2.3 months)
- Years until financial independence**: 14.26 years (+5 years)
*Target living expenses, not actual – target is about 25% of current net income
**If we saved this much each month
^Is our net worth x 0.07%/12, to give a monthly return assuming our whole net worth was in an index fund returning 7% a year.
I’m still pretty happy with my savings rate, and a lot of things went well but just not quite as well as last month. The time until financial independence is a bit deceptive because it assumes that spending will continue forever at the rate it did this month. When I have a few more months of data, I’ll base it on a rolling average of the last six months.
Overall financial picture
November report: Click to enlarge
Black = Net income
Red = Expenses
Green = Theoretical investment income
The beauty of this overview, is that when the expense line is regularly eclipsed by the investment income line, it means I will have reached financial independence. It’s great fun to watch the two bottom lines coming closer together.
November’s blog stats
- Blog visits: 920 (+686%)
- Page visits: 4,571 (+578%)
- Twitter followers: 171 (+50%)
- RSS Subscribers: 57 (1,425%)
- Alexa rank: 333,852
- Revenue: $1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Goals for December
I’m going to try to be more accountable with my goals. I’m going to set them monthly and work out whether I achieved them the following month.
- Do a guest post per week
- Post three times a week
- Keep my personal spending rate below 25%
Summary
Overall a bit of a down month financially, but the blog is going well. Plus, with the $1 in revenue I’m officially in the money.
Congrats on the first dollar! I wish I could just focus solely on content and traffic for a year before even looking at revenue stats, but like you I am already checking them every once in a while.
DC @ Young Adult Money recently posted..Resale Value and other Considerations When Buying a Home
Yeah, looking at the various stats is addictive. I check most of then each morning, but don’t check the advertising aside very regularly at all.
I usually check traffic but I wish I only checked once a week or even once a month.
DC @ Young Adult Money recently posted..Will Young Adults opt-out of Health Insurance? Economics Lessons from Health Care Reform
Yeah, it’s probably not healthy to be too worried about those sorts of things that are largely out of our hands. It’s pretty nice to log on and see a big jump in traffic though.
Hey James, really like this post – especially the financial summary bit. I’ll start doing a monthly summary myself, but you’re way ahead of me… :)
Also, congrats on your first $ and good blog stats!
Cheers,
Chris
chris_moneyandi recently posted..Flight ticket refund and compensation: What’s the difference and when to claim?
Thanks Chris. It feels really good to be paid even a dollar to do something that is so enjoyable and keeps me on track.
If you think keeping these stats would help you should! It doesn’t matter what stage you’re at, it will help anyone
Good job on making strides with your blog. The percentage of income that you’re able to save is pretty impressive. I wish you luck with your goals this month.
Justin@TheFrugalPath recently posted..Credit Cards: Should I Blame Them for my Debt?
Thanks for the kind words Justin
Congrats on the first $1!! Let me know if you want to guest post on Reach Financial Independence.
Pauline recently posted..How to negotiate your bills and your debt
I’d love to. I’ll send you an email over the weekend. Maybe we could do a swap?
Wooohoo on $1! Hope December is even better :)
Thanks Michelle. I think it will be!
Great job! I would say you are moving in the right direction!
Holly@ClubThrifty recently posted..How Much Money Is Enough?
Thanks Holly
Wow…first time I’ve caught one of these monthly reports. Living on 50% of your income is quite impressive. What types of things are you invested in to generate your investment income?
Jason recently posted..What to Get Your Husband for Christmas – Ideas for Every Budget
At the moment it’s a theoretical number based on networth and average sharemarket returns. I’ll be opening a vanguard index fund account soon and the number will change to my actual passive investment returns.
I love how you post how many years you have until Financial Independence! That is a great way to keep your goal in front of you so that you know what to strive for. I might just have to figure that out what that would look like for my wife and I!
Deacon @ Well Kept Wallet recently posted..My First YouTube Appearance Ever. At Least That I Know of…
Yeah, that is probably the most motivating stat that I keep. All I want to do this month is lower that number.
First $1, and then the world!
Congrats!
Financial Samurai recently posted..Should I Use A Wealth Management Company Like Personal Capital?
Thanks FS.
The first $1 is always the hardest to achieve. Now you can focus on gaining more visitors and pushing it to $2, then $5, then $10. It is a slow process, but keep it up!
Grayson @ Debt Roundup recently posted..Putting Cyber Monday In Perspective – Infographic
Thanks Grayson
Good work on the stats! I thought I was ambitious to want to do 2 guest posts per month. :)
John S @ Frugal Rules recently posted..November Blog Goals Update
Already have two up this month! It will be hard to keep it going though, they take ages!
Yeah, I am really, really, impressed with your savings rate. As your income rises so will that savings rate. Congrats on your first buck! Is it gonna go in a frame or in the bank? Ha ha…
Ian recently posted..Apocalypse Survival: 5 Pros And 5 Cons To Being Frugal During An Apocalypse
Thanks Ian. The first dollar will be spent on reducing the mortgage!
Congrats! Great way to stay on track with that graph too! :)
CF recently posted..Keep your passwords safe
I am so jealous that you can grow tomatoes in November. Living in Canada the snow gets in the way…lol. Congrats on the stats. I think you are doing well. My site took a while to grow so don’t get discouraged. Good luck with the guest posts. Feel free to submit one or two for my site.
Miss T @ Prairie Eco-Thrifter recently posted..Saving Your Pennies For A Rainy Day
Thanks Miss T – I’ll definitely take you up on the offer. I’m not too worried about the pace of growth or anything, even though I’m tracking it. I’m just enjoying going along at my own pace. It’s pretty fun when you get into the swing of it.
I could have sworn I left a comment on this post already, but I don’t see it. :( Anyways, I wanted to say that it’s awesome that you have tomatoes in November, and nice graph!
CF recently posted..Dealing with debt
For some reason, your original reply and this one were caught by my spam filter! I’m not sure why that happened. Tomatoes in November is made possible by the southern hemisphere – they are looking really good at the moment. Almost every plant has two or three marble-sized tomatoes. Very exciting.
Hah, that is awesome, your first buck. For the first time last night I was approached by an advertiser regarding purchasing a text link on my site. I turned it down but does this mean we are making progress? :D
Jennifer Lynn @ Broke-Ass Mommy recently posted..The Vagaries of Life
Thanks Jennifer – I had a similar experience recently although it was to pay me to have a post on my site with a link to theirs. The site looked dodgy and I didn’t want to do it. It would have increased my awesome take for the month by ten, but you’ve got to have standards!
Thanks for guest posting this week James.
I find tracking my progress really helps me to stay motivated. Sometimes you feel like your blog hasn’t progressed at all and then you look back at the last month and realise that things are ticking along nicely.
Glen @ Monster Piggy Bank recently posted..MPB – Pool Room Posts #7
Thanks Glen. It was good fun writing that article for your site. Thanks for being so supportive of my blog – it helps a lot.
Congrats on the $1. Don’t know why, but that first few bucks feel really good even if it figures out to be 1/10000000 of a dollar per hour spend in work. I will be out of town toward the end of the month and would be eternally grateful for a guest post if you have time. I’ll return the favor, promise.
Kim@Eyesonthedollar recently posted..December Goals
Consider it done. I’ll be in touch.