As I mentioned in my June 2013 net worth post my personal expenditure was off the charts this month due to having to repay very high credit card bill and this impacted my ability to save and invest this month. I am really struggling to keep my personal expenditure under control which I have discussed further below.
The major movements in my 3 accounts are discussed below:
| Item | June 2013 | Target | Over/(Under) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Share Investments | +$6,094 | +$2,000 | +$4,904 |
| Offset Acct. | -$3,926 | +$3,500 | -$7,426 |
| Personal expenditure | +$5,815 | +$2,200 | +$3,615 |
The major movements in my 3 accounts are discussed below:
- Share investments
- This month I both bought some shares on market and transferred funds into my share trading account
- Unfortunately I moved far too early and the market continued to be weak right through the month
- The poor sharemarket performance, while creating opportunities to buy which have not been available of late caused me to have my first negative net worth performance since I started tracking in June 2011
- I also continued to contribute to my employee share plan
- Home Loan offset account
- As I will discuss in my personal expenditure section, I actually did not contribute as much as I would have liked to to this account because I did not have the cash to do so as I was paying off my credit card
- Combined with this I had maintenance expenditures at my investment property that needed to be paid as well as several rates which fell due
- The biggest negative contributor though was the cash I transferred from this account into my share trading account
- The interest rates in Australia have been falling over the last few months and so the effective return on this cash has been getting lower
- Combined with this is the fact that my investment property is now positively geared so there is the reduced tax benefit
- It made sense to me therefore to try and get a better return on this cash in the weakening share market
- Personal expenditure
- Both my credit card bill as well as my expenditure in cash was much higher this month
- The credit card bill I discussed in last month's net worth post and my cash expenditure was so high this month due to one particularly big bucks party for one of my closest friends - it really is amazing how much money you can spend on one day when you are going all out
On a cumulative basis my performance from the start of 2013 can be seen below:
| Item | Jan 13 - Jun 13 | Target | Over/(Under) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Share Investments | +$12,731 | +$12,000 | +$731 |
| Offset Acct. | +$4,563 | +$21,000 | -$16,437 |
| Personal expenditure | +$27,952 | +$13,200 | +$14,752 |
The softer share market and reduced returns on my offset account and consequent investment in shares means that this is the only account which is ahead of where I wanted to be. My personal expenditure this year has been the major drag in what I want to achieve - it is amazing to think that I have spent so much money in only 6 months.
I am trying different strategies to spend less however nothing seems to be working so far. I may start limiting how much cash I withdraw each month as the amount I spend does seem to be directly correlated with how much cash I have in my wallet.
My credit card bill for next month is much lower than this month and although still not at a level where I am happy, should at least allow me to save a decent amount.
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