Earned Income Savings Percentage: April 2008 (0%, YTD: 22.25%)
Not one cent from our day jobs went into savings or investments during the month of April. To complicate matters, we also did our part to spend the US out of a recession.
Here are the numbers for the month ending April 30th:
- The key number on that chart has been our monthly living expenses
We have been unable to get our living expenses below our critical $4000 threshold since February. We have been over budget by about $2000/month in 3 out of 4 months thus far this year.
Each month this has been due to a large “one time expense” such as car repairs, airline tickets or hospital bills.
Unless we can get our spending under control, it will be very difficult for our family to get ahead until I am completely finished with my training.
- I have been delaying my IRA/403b contributions for 2008 until I begin my fellowship
Although my salary will essentially the same, my benifit plans will change when I change training institutions. Although I do not anticipate being eligible for a match this will at least ensure that all my savings for the year will go to the same mutual fund company.
- We are not doing anything really well and we are not doing anything really poorly.
We are just living and enjoying the experience of being new parents. Because we made sure we have adequate insurance coverage and a sufficient emergency fund, we are comfortable living a little above our budget for the next 14 months.
