In this post, I’ll be reviewing my spending, investing, dividends earned, and monthly goals for the month of September.
Spending
I spent a total of $558 in September. While this was less than I spent in August, I still exceeded the $500 limit I set for myself in my Personal Capital account.
I actually spent less money on food than I thought I would this month, which is a good thing because I usually tend to spend a lot on food since I’m a big foodie!
I did spend a lot of money on clothes because I needed some new pieces for the fall. (Although I am returning one clothing item because I don’t like it, so I’ll see a little bit of that money back!)
Overall, I did have a “Spendy September”, since it was my birthday and I had some other things going on as well. But we’ll see how I do in October (and hopefully I can stay within my $500 spending limit)!
Investments
September was a great month for me investing-wise since the market was basically on sale! I invested a total of $2,673.08.
My usual investment of $500 into my General Investing account went in, as well as my usual investment of $173.08 into my 401(k) (not including employer match – this is just what comes out of my paycheck).
But this month I also invested $2,000 into my Roth IRA, which puts me on track for maxing it out by the end of the year!
Dividends Earned
September was a much better month for dividends than August was, and I’m attributing that to the end of Q3. (I’m sure October is going to be much better, though!)
I earned $28.88 in dividends for the month of September, and I know that isn’t a crazy amount at all, but it’s adding up! I’m hoping that next year at this time, it will be double!
Monthly Goals
As you can see in the image above, I only achieved half of the goals I set for myself in September.
It was a busy month for me, personally and professionally, so I’m not beating myself up for not achieving everything I set out to do.
Here’s a breakdown of each of my monthly goals:
- Finish reading “The Psychology of Money” – I am terrible at finishing books so I’m not even sure why I set this as a goal. I thought I could do it, but other things got in the way and unfortunately I wasn’t able to finish it. It is a good read though and I do hope to finish it eventually!
- Invest $2000 into my Roth IRA – I achieved this goal on 9/16 and I posted about it on my Instagram because I was super happy about this! I’m not much of a lump sum investor (I’m a big fan of DCA) so I was proud of myself for achieving this goal.
- Open a new brokerage account – I honestly don’t even know why I didn’t do this, since it’s so simple to just open up an account. I tend to procrastinate on things like this (although I am working on breaking myself out of that bad habit!), but opening a new brokerage account is one of my goals for October.
- Enjoy my birthday! – This was a fun goal that I set for myself because I usually never enjoy my birthday, but this year I can say that I did! I am very lucky to have amazing friends and family who made me feel special this year!
We’ll see how I do with my next monthly goals in October!