March has ended and so did the first quarter of the year. Wow, time is moving by fast. What’s more, it’s Spring. It’s actually hot outside and the community pool is once again open. But, whether it’s rain or shine, hot or cold, my dividends are right there working hard as ever. While my dividend income is important, it’s only one part of my financial life. I have other goals, both financial and personal, to help me stay healthy and get wealthy. This year, I decided that to help keep me accountable, I was going to track my progress on my blog. Being accountable has worked for me in the past, especially when I was trying to get out of credit card debt. I figure it will work for me now as I try to pay off my student loans and keep my financial house in order. So, with that said, here is my progress report for March 2018.
Student Loan Repayment
In March, the beginning balance of my student loans was $15,807.27. The minimum payment is $97.61 and the interest rate is 2.625%. My goal is to pay off my student loans by October at a rate of $2000 per month.
In March I was able to achieve my goal. I made a $2047.61 payment towards my student loans. The new balance is now $13,806.68.
The one thing I’ll mention here is that I really overspent money in March. I had to use $1100 from my tax refund to help get me over the $2000 mark. I’m hoping to be more disciplined in April, since I won’t be getting another tax refund.
To follow my progress towards paying off my student loans, visit my debt tracker for 2018.
Savings Rate
I decided to do something a little bit different this time around. I’m learning how to use graphs and have decided that I’m going to represent my savings rate pictorially. Please let me know what you think.
As you can see, the trend is going down. My savings rate for March was 35%.
Personal Goals
My trips to the gym have significantly decrease while my trips to Burger King and expensive restaurants have significantly increased. Hence the reason for my reduced savings rate. Thank goodness for my tax return, which I didn’t include in my calculations above.
April is a new month so let’s see if I can make any improvements in these areas. I am only going to get more busy at work, doing more long hours, including working on the weekends for the next couple of months so I’m not optimistic.
Conclusion
That’s it for my progress report. Another month down. March was quite expensive and I’m looking back to getting to a sense of normalcy this month. I know that some expenses have been eliminated and I have already increased my income, but I’ll save that update for the future.
My financial health remains strong, but the other areas in my personal life, not so much. There’s much work to do in that department.
What did you think of the graph? I still haven’t figured out how to copy a graph from excel, but I’m slowly learning as I go. What was your savings rate last month? Do you even keep track?
Let me know your thoughts by commenting below.
Hi DP. Way to go saving rate over 30% is awsome 🙂 We just manage to do ~10%. Extreame rate is >50% most of succesful DGI gurus has that. With saving rate over 50% you will reach FI in +/- 10y, but you have to radicaly change your life like Jason Fieber did. The graph is good. What plugin you use? Your ussing wordpress right?
What relates to sports. Been therr done that. its that new years resolution sympthom 😉 Gym trainers even joke that January and partly Feb is their high season due to new year resolutioners fluding gyms. If your a regular gym guy it is better to take a vacation on January as they are crouded to level that it is unconfortable. Ive done this mistake with running last year. Overrunned and got knee problem. Im doing it slowly. My main sport now is small morning exercize before work. And bet way to start is by so called ‘morning greeting’. Its a full body streach pack invented and developed by yoga people for milleniums 🙂
Ou and keep up with that student loan repayment. 2,6% interest is the breakinkg line of repayment/investment rational. As your Fed will increase the interesr dont be suprised that your interest rates will go up by 1% this year. Or do you have fixed interests?
p2035 recently posted…2018 Q1 Sport
There’s a decent chance my savings rate for April will be over 50%, but I’ll run the numbers after the month is over. What’s more, because I just bought MCD and KMB, I’ve increased my monthly contributions to my dividend portfolio by $200, which counts towards my savings. I’m trying to get to the point where I don’t keep extra cash laying around because all I do is just waste it. Your 10% savings rate is much better than most. I think if you have a plan to increase it over time, that’s what matters, as very few people start off with a 50% savings rate. So, if every year you increase your savings rate by 2% or so, you’ll be higher than the 10% that you’re saving right now.
The interest rate on the student loans is low and it is fixed, so not worried about the rising interest rate environment. Also, my very own dividend portfolio that I track on this blog has a higher average dividend yield so it definitely makes financial sense for me to put all that extra money in the market and keep paying off those student loans. My rationale for paying off the loan is more emotional than financial. I’m not really burdened by the debt, so to speak, because I can comfortably afford the $97.61 minimum payment. However, I’m just tired of always trying to decide if I should pay down my student loans or invest every time I get extra cash. So as not to keep having that constant debate, I figure I’d just get rid of my student loans and devote all my attention to building wealth after October. Granted, I may finance the purchase of a car and I might direct my attention to paying that off after the student loans but I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.
The gym and eating out are constant struggles for me and they’ve been so for years.
The plugin I used was Visualizer and I am using WordPress. I’m not a huge fan of the plugin. It took a little bit of time for me to get used to, and I’m still trying to figure it out. It does a good job for basic graphs, which is what I needed it for.
I like that you’re paying down debt / student loans. Also like how you use tables and show the dividend income. Nice presentations. Seems like you need to update your goal asap 😉
Stockles recently posted…Watchlist April 2018
Thanks Stockles. Which goal do you think I should update?
Hang in there DP. It’s okay to set high goals and not achieve them sometimes. Winning is easy. Anyone can be a good winner. It’s what we do when we don’t win that’s important. So just turn the page and get after those tough goals again in April. Tom
Tom @ Dividends Diversify recently posted…You Gotta Eat
Thanks Tom. Depending on how today goes, I might hit the gym.
Don’t be tough on yourself. Its okay to spend more once a while. Just make sure what you spend on is worth it. Our expenses in April are up … thanks to our vacation. But, we loved it. Try categorizing your expenses. See if you notice any trends. We use google sheets to track our expenses and identify leakages. Once you get done with your student loan you will automatically get a 2.65% increase 🙂
dividendgeek recently posted…Dividend Increases This Week (Apr 2 – Apr 6)
Great points geek. I know exactly where my money is being wasted, but it is what it is. Interesting and fair point about the student loans. Another way to look at it is that I will have an extra $97.61 per month to play with.
DP –
Making progress and yes – cutting out BK as much as you can (Make those PB Sandwiches!!), will improve your wallet and health. It’s your choice my man!
-Lanny
Yea, the struggle is real Lanny, but at least I know what the problem is and also what the solution is. I just got to do it.
Great job keeping with your debt payoff goal. The more you pay off, the lower the monthly payment will be as well. And once it is gone, you will have all that much more to add to your portfolio instead. As well as the psychological gratification of having that much less debt. I am with you on needing to work out more. Keep at it man.
Thanks Dividend Daze. I might work out tomorrow, we will see. But I can’t wait to pay off that debt and scream that I AM DEBT FREEEEEE!!!!