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Happy September! I’m finally getting around to this (halfway through September 🤦🏼♀️). Of course I got my YouTube video up for this though!
August was a good month overall. It was busy and went very fast, but that’s normal these days.
Also, there was a MAJOR announcement regarding student loans! On August 24th, the Biden Administration announced that up to $20,000 of student loan debt will be canceled for those who qualify. I made a whole video on it here.
I do qualify for the $20,000 cancelation because I received several Pell Grants in college. That means that I already have enough money saved to be completely debt free after the cancelation is applied.
However, my plan is to continue saving for my student loan debt until that cancelation actually happens. I will have a decent chunk of cash left over to use for investing, savings, and booking some travel! If you haven’t seen it yet, you can hear more about my thoughts on this cancelation and my plan in this video.
Let’s get into some updates and numbers though!
General $ Updates
I saved the highest amount of money for my student loans (again)
I saved over $2,000 for my student loans in August! The last time I saved over $2K was July 2021!
I didn’t do any personal spending!
After a lot of personal spending in June and July, I knew I needed to slow down for August. Happy to report I spent $0!
Debt
I started the month of August with my official debt at $36,000 and ended with $36,000. However, I technically started at $17,323.99 if you consider the money I have saved to pay those loans down.
In August I saved an additional $2,023.99 for my student loans (bringing my total saved to $20,535.19) so my final debt for August would be $15,464.81.
I still have paid $0 in interest 😊 I did gain $35.19 in interest through my HYS account.
However, with the Debt Relief plan, I would technically be debt free! And I would have $4,535.19 cash left over.
Spending
Some main things to point out about my spending in August:
Groceries and Food out: Grocery spending is looking good. I went a bit over budget on food out.
Gas: I drove long distances in August which meant I had to get gas twice. Nothing I can really do about this but I am happy to see gas prices going down!
Health/Beauty: I spent more here but I also bought more than I needed of certain things so it will last me several months (3 tubs of Creatine, 3 tubes of deodorant, 2 bottles of face cleanser). This also includes my Sculpt You membership, a massage, body wash, and vitamins.
Income
Full-time job (analyst/consultant) – Take home: $3,665.42
ONLINE/BUSINESS INCOME
Google AdSense (ad revenue from YouTube): $614.43
Financial Coaching: $505.00
Buy Me a Coffee/Venmo: $501.80
Mediavine (display ads on LivinglikeLeila): $103.92
Affiliates: $13.37
Teachable: $38.76
Online/Business Income Total: $1,777.28
EXTRA INCOME
Discover Cashback: $12.18
CITI Custom Cashback: $10.90
TalentStacker Referral: $131.01
Udemy Refund: $12.99
IBotta: $23.80
Facebook Marketplace: $50.00
Rakuten: $40.48
Extra Income Total: $281.36
Total Income: $5,724.06
Net Worth
As of August 31st, my net worth is $16,452.29!! Up 13.5% compared to last month!!
Total Assets = $52,452.29
Total Liabilities = $36,000
Net Worth = $16,452.29
Roth IRA (VTSAX): $9,993.68 (down 0.9% compared to last month)
401k: $3,460.95 (up 16.5% compared to last month)
M1 Invest (VTI): $5,777.90 (down 3.6% compared to last month)
Coinbase: $279.14 (down 13.7% compared to last month)
WeBull: $84.87 (down 0.8% compared to last month)
Fidelity: $142.57 (down 1.3% compared to last month)
Sinking Funds:
- Emergency Fund = $6,046.95
- Gifts = $242.07
- Beauty = $684.51
- Car/Car maintenance = $1,923.06
- Travel = $402.51
- Car insurance = $542.55
- Project $0 to Profit = $14.13
- Phone = $215.49
- House (previously MacBook) = $0.72
Sinking Funds Total = $10,071.99
Credit Score
My VantageScore is at 778 which is one point lower than last month.
August Goals Update
- Reach $19.5K saved for my student loans CHECK
- Make at least $2K in online/extra income CHECK
- NO Personal spending CHECK
September Money Goals
- Reach $22K saved for my student loans
- Make at least $2K in online/extra income
Good morning, I’m wondering why you contribute to an M1 account. It looks like you could still contribute to 401k and Roth and reap the benefits those type of accounts have to offer.
I don’t invest in it! Almost all the money in there is from referrals in 2021.