Monthly Expenses for January 2021

I have been tracking my monthly expenses for a while now and I have decided to post my monthly expenses for January 2021. I did this at the start of last year as well. Learning how to manage your finances and living within and below your means is an essential component to achieving financial independence. Over the past 3 years, I have managed to achieve over a 50% savings rate each month on my income. More money saved means more money to invest. The more invested means money is working for you. That money works to generate more money over time and your wealth grows. That is the power of compound interest.

Using the model of dividend growth investing, I am on course to achieving financial independence. Over the years, I have built a six-figure portfolio that generates dividend income each month. The results have been amazing. I also like to compare my monthly expenses with my dividend income. Once passive income is greater than living expenses, financial independence is achieved. So here was January 2021’s expenses:

• Rent: $558.49
• Utilities: $58.53
• Internet: $79.99
• Cell Phone: $35.00
• Netflix: $13.99
• Food & Supplies: $391.70

All in all, my expenses for January 2021 totaled: $1,137.70.

Last year, my expenses for this month were $915.09. Obviously, this year was much more expensive. There are three main reasons for this. Firstly, my rent was increased by $50.77 compared to last year. Secondly, I do my food and supply shopping every Sunday morning and this January had 5 Sunday’s compared with 4 Sunday’s last year. So, I had an extra week of food and supply expenses. Thirdly, utility expenses have also gone up a bit since I have been home more than compared with last year. None of this, of course, changes the fact that I had over a 50% savings rate again this month.

Now let’s compare my month expenses to my dividend income. I will compare my expenses to my January dividends and my average yearly dividend income going forward. As of this post, my portfolio is set to generate $11,116 in dividend income over the next 12 months.

• January 2021 dividend income: $719.83 = 63% of my expenses covered this past month.
• Yearly dividend income average: $926 per month = 81% of my expenses covered this past month.

Thus, this concludes my monthly expenses for January 2021. I must say, writing these numbers out like this is really quite interesting and exciting. It helps you really get a good grasp where your financials are, where they are going, and how far you progressed. I am really getting closer to covering all my expenses. Financial independence is obtainable in the next few years, but I won’t stop there at the bare minimal. I will continue to build my dividend dynasty.

So, how about the rest of you? Do you track your monthly expenses? Also, how close are you to covering expenses via passive income? Let me know in the comments below!