DISQUS

Consumerism Commentary: Personal Balance Sheet, Net Worth, Income, and Expenses, June 2009

  • Julia · 4 months ago
    It is quite inspiring that, despite the current economic climate, you have managed to do better than you did last year. Keep up the good work, and keep us posted!
  • Amy · 4 months ago
    I don't understand how you have no housing costs. Unless I missed something, I don't see rent, or a house payment. Also, because I am new to reading this, I don't know if you have family responsibilities, kids, etc. It looks great on paper, but I don't know the background. What is your business? How did you pay off your student loans and car so quickly?
  • Flexo · 4 months ago
    Amy: Thanks for your questions. I generally don't repeat my entire back story each month but having some knowledge of my situations definitely helps put the numbers into context. You can see my Rent expense listed under Nondiscretionary Expenses. No family responsibilities other than a pet cat. My business is web publishing, and Consumerism Commentary, this blog, falls into that.

    It actually took me a long time to pay off my undergraduate student debt; in fact, for many years I didn't get very far with that. My graduate degree was paid about 90% by my employer, but I didn't always use my reimbursements to pay off my loans when my cash flow was tight. So it took me about a year to pay off the rest of the undergraduate and graduate loans.

    I made an effort to pay my car off as fast as possible, although it still took a few years. I put extra money towards paying off that debt every so often.