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Happy June!

May was a slower month in regards to finances, but otherwise was a huge month for me because I quit my job!! My last day at my 9-5 was May 3rd and I am now officially self-employed. It was a scary decision to make, but I’m so glad I did it. I’m already feeling better overall and I feel so fulfilled now that I’m doing things I actually enjoy doing!

General $ Updates

My M1 Brokerage account is officially closed

As I mentioned last month, I decided to move my brokerage from M1 finance to my Vanguard brokerage account. This was because of the monthly fee that they started in May and I just don’t think they should have done that.

I was only invested in VTI so it all just came over to Vanguard now!

I closed my CITI Accelerate Savings Account and simplified all my sinking funds

Awhile back I opened the CITI Accelerate Savings account for a bonus. For months I’ve kept over $1,500 in that account because otherwise there is a monthly fee. Luckily that account has a decent interest rate so I just kept it there as part of mt emergency fund.

Well lately I’ve been simplifying my finances a bit so I moved all the money to my emergency fund with Marcus and closed it.

Then in Marcus I reduced my total sinking funds to 8 (down from 12).

Spending

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

Insurance: Now that I’m self-employed I am paying for my own insurance. I’ll make a whole video on this soon, but I went through healthcare.gov and selected a high deductible plan and took a $346 monthly tax credit. The cost you’re seeing also includes dental insurance.

Brokerage: Since quitting my job, I decided any extra income (from direct support, apps, etc.) I earn will be invested in my brokerage account!

Groceries: Do y’all see how low that is!! I’m impressed with myself. I really only ate clean Whole Foods and the same meals daily so I didn’t spend much!

Health/Beauty: I knew I would spend a lot here, but this ending up being spending on things I didn’t expect to spend on. I did get one laser skin treatment that I planned to get, but I didn’t have a great experience so I decided I wouldn’t do it again. I pulled $600 from my beauty sinking fund to help cover all the costs here.

Income

Full-time job (consultant) – GROSS: $801.82

ONLINE/BUSINESS INCOME

Buy Me a Coffee/Venmo: $36.23
Etsy: $104.78
Mediavine (display ads on LivinglikeLeila): $173.01
Affiliates/Sponsors: $457.10
Coaching: $609.00
Google AdSense (ad revenue from YouTube): $1,039.54

Online/Business Income Total: $2,419.66

EXTRA INCOME

BOA Cashback: $8.20
US Bank Cashback: $51.66
Chase Checking Referrals: $100.00
Rakuten: $127.77
HYSA Interest: $146.94
Chase Cashback: $174.76
CITI Cashback + Bonus: $243.18

Extra Income Total: $852.51

*Total Gross Income: $4,073.99

*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 May 31st, my net worth is $111,811.03*. Up about 0.3% compared to last month!

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

Roth IRA (VTSAX): $35,009.59 (up 3% compared to last month)
401k: $34,567.29 (up 4.1% compared to last month)
M1 Invest (VTI): CLOSED
Vanguard Brokerage (VGT and VTI): $9,073.34 (up 4.8% compared to last month)
Coinbase: $52.05 (up 15.2% compared to last month)

Sinking Funds:

• Emergency Fund = $13,806.55
• Gifts = $944.24
• Health Insurance Tax Credit (used to be Beauty) = $2,465.34
• Car/Car maintenance = $3,996.94
• Travel = $6,067.93
• Car insurance = $4.58
• Sabbatical = CLOSED
• Furniture/Home = CLOSED
• House Down Payment = CLOSED
• Business = $4,572.74
• Investing = CLOSED

Sinking Funds Total = $31,858.32

Checking Balances as of May 31st: $1,250.44

I do not have any debt/liabilities.

Credit Score

My VantageScore is at 815.

May Goals Update

• Put at least $2,000 to my emergency fund ❌ (I knew I wouldn’t be able to do this because I knew I was leaving my job lol)

June Money Goals

• Make over $3,500 from business income
• Save to the following sinking funds: Emergency Fund ($100), Gifts ($75), Car/Car Maintenance ($100), Car Insurance ($125)