In this post, I review my spending, investing, and dividend earnings for the month of August.
Spending
I spent a total of $678 in August across a variety of spending categories.
I should preface by saying I live at home with my parents so I don’t pay rent/have a mortgage or pay for my own insurance or anything like that. I’m very grateful for my situation!
Most of what I spend my money on (outside of savings and investments) are on things like subscriptions, food, gas, and clothes/shopping for necessities.
Here’s why I overspent this month:
- I went to Target twice and ended up spending over $100 in total
- I took a friend who was moving across the country out to dinner and I footed the bill for everyone (which was over $100)
- I paid for the blog’s hosting upfront (over $100 for 12 months of hosting)
Of course, not every month is going to look like this. Those circumstances I just mentioned were one offs that ultimately led me to overspending.
I don’t think September will be much better though, since my birthday is at the end of the month (😂), but my goal is to stay within (or under) budget!
Investing
In August, I invested a total of $673.08.
At the beginning of the month, $500 of that got automatically deposited into my General Investing account that I have through Betterment. (Shoutout to automatic contributions!)
My 401(k) received $173.08 straight from my paycheck (this is not including my company match).
Unfortunately, I did not contribute to my Roth IRA in August, but I am planning on making a lump sum investment sometime this month.
Dividend Earnings
This month, I earned a whopping $1.52 in dividends. I know it’s nothing impressive right now, but one day it will be!
My General Investing account brought in most of the dividends at $1.36 while my Roth IRA brought in $0.16.
These dividends all come from index funds, which is my primary investment right now.
This post dives into why I love investing in index funds
Some of the index funds that paid me in August include MUB (iShares National Muni Bond ETF) and BNDX (Vanguard Total International Bond ETF).
For the record, all of my dividends get automatically reinvested. I never deposit these earnings into my bank account because I want them to keep making me even more money!