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Happy May!!

April was a bit slower for me in regards to saving, but I’m grateful I was able to cash flow the taxes I owed and still save/invest quite a bit!

General $ Updates

I decreased my 401(k) contribution by 1%

Since I received my bonus in May (and 32% of that was contributed to my 401(k)), I knew I would be dropping my contribution come April. I thought it would be a larger decrease but turns out I really could have left it at 32% or drop it down to 31% to max out my 401(k) by December 31st and still receive my full company match for the year (6%).

I closed my Regions Checking Account

I’m slowly starting to close accounts I opened in the past for bonuses (if I don’t want to use them anymore). Regions was next on the chopping block!

In order to avoid the monthly maintenance fee with this account, I had to have at least $500 direct deposited at a single time (so I was doing $1,000 total). I appreciate the bonus I got from this awhile back, but didn’t like the account overall.

I initiated the transfer of my M1 Brokerage to Vanguard

A couple months ago, M1 Finance announced that anyone who has less than $10K total in their M1 accounts will have to pay a $3 monthly fee. I had a bit over $7K. Now $3/month isn’t a lot, but I just really don’t like that they decided to do this.

So through Vanguard, I initiated a transfer of everything from my M1 Brokerage account to my Vanguard Brokerage account. I was invested all in VTI with M1 anyway so it works out well.

This is still in progress and will take a couple of weeks to complete.

Spending

Some main things to point out about my spending in April:

Business SF: I added $500 more to this fund for my $1,000 giveaway so all done with it!

Household: I bought a bunch of stuff for my garden including a hose, vegetables, flowers, and stakes. I also got a new pot for one of my indoor plants.

Personal: I had only spent $70 until the last day or so of April where I ended up buying new gym shirts and shorts.

2023 Taxes Due: I mentioned this last month, but I did end up owing $2,311 in Federal taxes so I paid that before the 15th. I wasn’t able to save as much because of this!

Income

Full-time job (consultant) – GROSS: $5,880

ONLINE/BUSINESS INCOME

Teachable: $4.18
Buy Me a Coffee/Venmo: $22.72
Etsy: $102.76
Mediavine (display ads on LivinglikeLeila): $292.30
Coaching: $485.65
Google AdSense (ad revenue from YouTube): $1,345.68
Affiliates/Sponsors: $1,398.79

Online/Business Income Total: $3,652.08

EXTRA INCOME

BOA Cashback: $11.61
Discover Cashback: $13.16
CITI Cashback: $18.39
Chase Checking Referral: $50.00
Federal Tax Refund: $50.00
HYSA Interest: $137.96
DiscoverIt Referrals: $200.00
GA Gas Surplus Refund: 211.01

Extra Income Total: $1,124.13

*Total Gross Income: $10,656.21

*I decided to start putting my gross income from all sources. This number does not reflect my taxes or 401k contributions.

Net Worth

As of April 30th, my net worth is $111,515.44*. Up about 3.1% compared to last month!

*Does not include the value of my car (personal preference).

Roth IRA (VTSAX): $33,981.93 (down 2.8% compared to last month)
401k: $33,203.67 (up 4.5% compared to last month)
M1 Invest (VTI): $7,437.34 (down 4.3% compared to last month)
Vanguard Brokerage (VGT): $1,223.13 (down 5.6% compared to last month)
Coinbase: $45.20 (down 28.8% compared to last month)

Sinking Funds:

• Emergency Fund = $13,696.72
• Gifts = $865.21
• Beauty = $3,053.35
• Car/Car maintenance = $3,874.53
• Travel = $6,040.96
• Car insurance = $583.81
• Sabbatical = $1.07
• Furniture/Home = $0.75
• House Down Payment = $105.05
• Business = $5,051.41
• Investing = $1.74

Sinking Funds Total = $33,274.60

Checking Balance as of April 30th: $2,349.57

I do not have any debt/liabilities.

Credit Score

My VantageScore is at 811.

April Goals Update

• Put at least $2,500 to my emergency fund ❌ (Since I had to pay taxes, I wasn’t able to save as much. I was still able to save $867 to my EF though!)

May Money Goals

• Put at least $2,000 to my emergency fund