Record Of Special Events: Personal Income Statement, February 2009

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Personal Income Statement, February 2009

Did you read my February balance sheet? This article contains my personal income statement, which goes hand-in-hand with the balance sheet. These two reports provide a relatively complete accounting of my financial standing and progress.

February was short, but good for a number of reasons. Setting personal records, my gross income and net income for the month were higher than any other month I’ve experienced. This was thanks mostly to the biggest month in terms of visitors to Consumerism Commentary since I created this website in 2003. It seems to be an anomaly; I expect traffic to return to normal, but it’s quite possible to see similar surges again this year. I don’t count on it, however.

I don’t generally like to write about blogging on Consumerism Commentary. I write about personal finance, not about blogging. On the bottom line in February, I managed to save over $22,000. Please keep in mind this is a theoretical amount; it depends on me receiving checks. There is still some income I recorded last year that I have not yet received. Keep reading this article for the numbers and explanations.

The above report is made with Intuit Quicken and Microsoft Excel. Here’s an income and expense report Excel template.

Income

In February, I received my annual bonus for my day job, where I work for a large financial company. The bonus is included in the “Salary and Benefits” line. While my company wasn’t subject to the issues that brought several financial companies down last year, we were still significantly affected by the industry and the stock market. Management started early preparing us early for low bonuses and salary increases. This was my first year as an “exempt” employee, which carries with it a wider bonus range. I didn’t receive a bonus that reflected my performance, however. My annual increase was not significant, either, but combined with a promotion and raise last year, I’m still doing better. Even though it wasn’t great, my boss explained that my increase was twice the size the average increase of the entire department.

The annual increase doesn’t take effect until the first paycheck in March.

I still have decisions to make. Time I spend working on my business pays off better than time I spend working at my day job. Leaving my relatively stable career would offer more time to devote to writing, but it would also entail finding my own medical insurance coverage and dealing with a less than stable income.

Expenses

There is nothing out of the ordinary to report here. I purchased some new clothing, recorded under the “Household” category. I have been holding onto a lot of old clothing. Some of my shirts, while still in very good condition, were more than ten years old. I decided to replace some old clothing, most likely acquired during college, with new, better quality items. I should continue to clean out my wardrobe about twice each year. I’m finding it hard to adapt from my old approach of spending as little money on clothing as possible. In February, I purchased new sneakers, new work-quality pants (for a financial company, we’re surprisingly casually dresses), and several new shirts which I found for great prices.

This month, I plan to purchase airline tickets for a vacation in April. Besides tax, rent, and possibly utilities, this should be my largest expense of March.

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