October 2015 Income/Expenses
It’s payday today which means time for this month’s Income/Expenses!
I think it’s important to keep track of your income/expenses every month as it allows you to spot trends and areas for improvement. I find it really useful to track the spending changes each month, and really motivating to see the networth improvements. Sometimes it can seem like financial independence is so far away, but by watching your networth steadily increasing you’ll know you will reach that point eventually. I’ve created a new page to keep track of total networth, you can find it here.
October was a rare social month for me. I went to the awesome FIRE Escape hosted by Huw and I really enjoyed being able to talk about finances in such an open and honest way. If you’re thinking about coming along to one of these meet-ups I highly recommend it, everyone was very friendly and I’d have loved to stay longer. Last weekend I travelled back up north to my University city and met up with all my old housemates. It’s been 10 years since we started at university so was really interesting to see everyone again and hear about what they’ve been up to. One chap in particular really surprised me with his career choice and outlook on life, I’ll probably write about it later next month as it’s a story worth sharing.
Also of interest was chatting to another old housemate who makes a pretty reliable side-income on various matched betting techniques. I spent a long time chatting to him about it (as I’m very risk-averse) but he convinced me that a majority of it could be done risk-free so I’ve taken the punt and signed up. 2nd bet in and I managed to make a mistake which meant my bet wasn’t matched at all.. unbelievably the horse won and I pocketed £310! Complete fluke and a (good) mistake I won’t be making again. Aside from this windfall I’m up about £50 in profit using the normal system. Due to the large cash float requirements and money spread out all over the place; I’m only going to record income from this once it’s separate from the float and paid into a bank account.
Google Analytics tells me we’ve had 6,600 pageviews from 1,400 users. A quiet month as I’ve been away so much and not had time to post. I’ve also joined the cool kids and started a Twitter account to post updates and a few random thoughts. Please feel free to ‘add me’ or whatever the Twitter equivalent is. I’m @EarlyRetireGuy
On to the report:
Income
Salary: £2049.38
Pension Contributions: £506
Lottery Win: £2.80
Affiliates: £48
Online Suveys: £20.60
Travel Reimbursement: £50
Total: £2,676.78 (+4.8%)
Expenses
Mortgage/Bills: £718.11
Groceries: £126.52
Petrol (Gas): £40.01
Maintainance/DIY: £9.99
Eating out: £51.89
Healthcare: £0
Entertainment: £90.85
Other: £83
Total: £1120.37 (+1.6%)
Pretty good month on the income side. The usual from salary plus a decent affiliate payout and online surveys. The travel reimbursement is where I used my own vehicle for a business trip and was paid £50 above what the petrol actually cost which is pretty sweet. Expenses very slightly higher due to the expense of going away to visit people twice in the month. Again; massively lower grocery bill compared to previous months as my partner and I now split the cost of it evenly rather than me subsidising her.
A savings difference of £1556.42 which is 58.1%!
Networth
House Equity: £33,892.20
Cash in bank: £3,632.64
ISA Investments: £6,072.20
Pension 1: £16,561.47
Pension 2: £5,014.33
Total Networth: £65,172.84 (+4.5%)
A huge networth increase this month thanks to ISAs & Pension value increases, almost £3000 between them! Very happy indeed.
14 thoughts on “October 2015 Income/Expenses”
Way to go Guy! I love that even though you had a big social/travel month, you still did really well. And it just puts the cherry on the cake to get a nice little increase on the ISAs and pensions. Here’s to a great November too!
Cheers
Thanks M, I was actually surprised at the level of increase on the stocks. I guess it’s just a rebound from the terrible few months previously.
Pretty good month indeed. Having savings rate higher than 50% is pretty awesome.
Thanks Tawcan, this is the 2nd month in a row now thanks to splitting the household food bill. An easy £100 – £150 extra saved each month and the Mrs can’t complain as she now earns more than me! ;)
Well done on that £310 win!
I once tried a similar match betting technique – guy at work was always rolling in it so I thought I’d give it a go.
Ended up messing it up and when the money dried up, I didn’t attempt it again, as like you say, you need a fairly large cash float and need to keep track of where it all is – best of luck with it though, when it works, it’s great!
Great work on the savings rate – well done.
Thanks Weenie, I really can’t take credit for it as it was entirely due to my mistake! I’ve still got alot of welcome offers to do so reckon there’s still a few hundred quid to make at least, how sustainable it is after that I’m not sure.
Big time savings there ERG! Almost 60% is incredible. I think we had a -400% with the purchase of a new vehicle but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Keep up the great work! you have been killing it this year!
ADD
Thanks ADD!
Great numbers again Guy, good job.
You’re the 2nd person I’ve seen talking about matched betting this month. A guy a know was also singing it’s virtues as a good way to make a bit of beer money on the side. What sort of time investment does it require and what kind of return can you expect?
Thanks Fibrarian. I started with a cash float of £150 which is more than enough to get started. The first couple of matched bets were for around £20 – £30 each which require a backing float of about £80 – £150 and give a profit of £12 – £25. All of this is 100% risk free if you follow the terms in the offers exactly. Most people though build up a decent float and then use that money to take part in some of the (small) risk offers. How much you expect back depends on how much time you put in and how lucky you are tbh, I think most people could expect at least a few hundred quid back from doing the main welcome offers alone.
I think when you are in a long term relationship you need to look at your finances jointly
If you don’t you are storing up a lot of trouble for the future
Thanks Neverland, I know alot of couples do handle all their finances jointly and we have spoken about it but decided we both preferred to keep things separate and then have a single joint account for household expenses. It’s worked well for the past 5 years so I see no reason to change.
Nice one on the matched betting there Guy, even though it was a mistake that caused it, let’s call it beginners luck :)
I’ve still been finding a few offers I can partake in after nearly 15 years in the game, once you’ve been away from it for a while there always seem to be new bookmakers who want to give you their cash, I am more than happy to oblige ;)
Currently working my way through 10bet and MarathonBet’s (who!?) wagering requirements, I should be done by the November update so will let everyone know how it went.
I don’t normally do proper matched betting which normally means I either lose my stake or win a bit bigger when I do win, it probably balances out in the end but I prefer to have the option of winning big ;)
(Saying that I found a great matched bet on Betfair the other day, backed a golfer at 16/1 then laid him at 7/1… not sure what was going on there!!!)
Cheers!
Hi Guy,
Congratulations on another great savings month, and good going with the betting! I have to say I have always stayed away from the betting – a little too much effort and always feel its rigged against the individual, and when someone says “Guaranteed” I run a mile :) I think mainly I am just too lazy!
Keep up the good work, and here’s to a great November for you!
London Rob