Similar to how companies report their quarterly earnings, I too like to reflect once a quarter on my own financial performance, including income, expenses and overall net worth. It’s helpful to review my performance, celebrate the successes, and learn from my mistakes! Let’s dive in and see how I did this past quarter. 

Income

I’ve been at my current job for 9 months, 2 of which I was out for paternity leave (ah-mazing). Since the last quarterly update, two major financial events have occurred at work. The first is my Employee Stock Purchase Program had a purchase event, so I’m now the proud owner of company stock! Each paycheck, they pull out my desired amount (8% in this case) and it sits in an account. Then, twice a year (June and December for us), that money is used to buy stock. It’s bought at a discount, the lower of the price at the beginning or end of the quarter, and then 15% off from there. It’s a great discount and with me still saving 15% overall for retirement (9% me, 6% match), I feel comfortable with contributing 8% to company stock. I’ll plan to sell a few shares about a year from now, as I think it’s wise not to have too much of my money tied up in company stock. The other big event was a quarterly bonus, which is always pretty sweet. I personally don’t budget my bonus, so the bonus is all icing on the cake. I ended up saving/investing about half of it and then using another half on traveling (Ft. Lauderdale, Portland/Montreal and the Outer Banks of NC). I feel so blessed with my job and enjoy it a lot! 

In addition to my main source of income (my job), I’ve worked to increase my passive income. My Lending Club is still at a 6% return, although I haven’t been putting money in, just reinvesting the payments. I’ve got a few stocks/funds that pay dividends (not anything to get excited about) and I reinvest those too. Mrs. Money and I also have been landlords for a few months now, and I’m able to earn a little more than the mortgage payment that’s due. Finally, I have seen a few more sponsored posts on the site (I try to be clear with a disclosure at the end of the article BTW calling it out), which it’s nice to be able to cover the hosting fees for the site. 

Overall I’m please with my income levels, it’s great to see slow yet steady increases in both my active and passive income! 

Expenses

We knew that having a baby would change our finances, and it has. I’ve been surprised with how many little things pop up; beyond just diapers and clothes, which we were so thankful for hand-me-downs and baby shower gifts. It’s just little things here and there that always present themselves and say (‘money please’). Apparently babies outgrow carseats(?!?) and we’re thinking about buying the next one. Summer clothes, sunscreen, wipes, a fan, toys, all add up! We knew this day would come and honestly although I complain from time to time, it’s worth every penny that we spend! We also did a few upgrades around the house and bought a shed and grill. We did some traveling over the summer which wasn’t cheap, but hey, having both Mrs. Money and I on leave during the summer seemed great. I also earned a companion pass from Southwest by getting a credit card so BOGO airline tickets seemed like a no brainer. Although the budget hasn’t seen as much saving as I would like, on the whole we’re still saving/investing money so I’m happy! 

Giving 

I continue to give a portion of my money to my local church and charities that I’m passionate about. It’s not the most logical thing giving away my hard earned money, but it honestly is such a benefit to give back and I feel much happier by doing so! 

Adulting 

While on paternity leave, I did some financial adulting and took care of a few things that had been on my to do list. One of the big ones is rolling over my 401(k) from my old job. When you leave a job, the plan will often start charging you a nominal monthly fee to keep you retirement money with them. I also like keeping my money in fewer places rather than more, and so I always will roll my 401(k) into an IRA (individual retirement account) that I manage. It wasn’t a hard process but took a phone call or two, and I had to mail the checks I got from the old plan (don’t cash them!!) to the new plan. If what I just said sounded like jibberish, check out my resources on “What a retirement plan is” and “Rolling over a 401k”

The other big move we made was officially getting a will in place for our final wishes. We didn’t so much get it for our assets (don’t have that much!), but more so in case Mrs. Money and I both pass away to leave instructions to clearly say that BabyMoneyFinance gets our money and how we wish for them to be raised. Although I normally don’t like paying for things I don’t have to, getting a more official will seemed wise and I paid $70 (each) for a will from LegalZoom. We then got it notarized and witnessed and feel better knowing we’ve got things organized. 

I also refinanced our house, as interest rates have dropped a whole percentage point (which will save us thousands if not tens of thousands in interest over the course of the 30 year loan) and save us a bit in our monthly payments. It’s not a super easy process (have to get lots of documents sent over) and it does cost some money but it’s a simple math equation. For more info on when I did it the last time, check out my article on the Curious Case of Refinancing.

Never a dull moment for us financially, always something new popping up for us to consider, think through or figure out. Thankfully we stick to the YMF cardinal rules and continue managing our money wisely!