Looks like June 2005 was a pretty good month for us:

NOTE:   I carry no revolving, interest-bearing credit-card balance. I do, however, use credit cards to my advantage whenever possible. This includes using credit cards to generate rewards from normal, everyday usage, but always paying the balance in full each month. It also includes using low-rate offers to generate profits via arbitrage. At this time, I am holding a balance of roughly $7800 on one card, carried at zero percent interest through November 2005. Those funds are concurrently held in my account at ING Direct, where they earn me 3 percent annually.

As far as income goes, June 2005 was one of those enjoyable three-paycheck months. The extra pay period allowed us to increase our net worth by over $1,900 from its level at the end of May. That's a 2.6 percent increase month-over-month, and a 12.8 percent increase from the beginning of the year.

As I wrote about in my May wrap-up, last month saw me deplete my savings (liquid assets) in order to finally pay off the last of my student loans. Thus my excess income in June went straight back into savings, and I'm feeling a bit more comfortable with my cash cushion once again.

That said, though, my primary goal at this point is to increase my Emergency Fund to $5,000. It's currently at a level of $4,499. Once I hit the $5k mark, I plan to spend a little money on some held-off repairs on our home. When those items are accomplished, I will set to work on getting the ol' E-fund up to $10,000. (That's my ultimate goal for it, at least for now.)

Yes, we did some serious dining out in June. I don't worry too much about this, as we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary with a very nice dinner out. That, plus dinner for the babysitters that evening (Thanks Grandparents!) accounted for about 44 percent of the month's total dining-out expenses.

For those of you familiar with my Balanced Money Formula page, I thought it might be interesting to see how my household's financial management for June stacked up to the guidelines recommended there. Here's how it all washed out:

Keep in mind that those results are a bit skewed — June had an extra paycheck, and it went entirely to savings. I doubt that upcoming months will be quite so agreeable, financially speaking.

If I wished to use my total monthly Must-Have expenses as a basis for computing how much to keep in my Emergency Fund, then the E-fund I've accumulated to this point would cover me for just over 2 months. Not that I'm doing it this way, but I suppose it's useful as another perspective on savings.

One other note: As of June 2005, thanks to changes in state law, our auto insurance bill has increased by almost 32 percent, or $21 per month. That's $123 more I'll have to spend for renewal every six months.

Thanks, state politicians. You guys had to make your presence felt somehow, didn't you?

Michael | July 10, 2005

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