Monthly Expenses Report: February 2021

Happy Spring everyone! I decided to post my Monthly Expenses Report: February 2021. I think I will make this a monthly thing now. 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. As a result, 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 is February 2021’s expenses.

• Rent: $558.49
• Utilities: $60.30
• Internet: $79.99
• Cell Phone: $35.00
• Netflix: $13.99
• Food & Supplies: $338.45
• Miscellaneous: $20.00

All in all, my expenses for February 2021 totaled $1,106.31

Please note that I use the word “rent”, however, I own a Co-op apartment which means I pay what is called monthly “maintenance fees” (everyone in the building pays to cover the operating expenses of the building). However, to keep things simple, I will just refer to it as “rent”.

Now let’s compare my month expenses to my dividend income. I will compare my expenses to my February dividends and my average yearly dividend income going forward. As of this post, my portfolio is set to generate $11,178 in dividend income over the next 12 months.

• February 2021 dividend income: $676.32 = 61% of my expenses covered last month.
• Yearly dividend income average: $931 per month = 84% of my expenses covered last month.

Thus, this concludes my monthly expenses report: February 2021. Writing these numbers out like this is really quite 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!