Monthly Financial Snapshot: April 2018

Please excuse the somewhat late posting, as I'm on vacation.

This month was another somewhat high spending month, as I traveled once for family and once for personal vacation. My policy is to record all of my expenses incurred while traveling (including food) under "travel" rather than where they might otherwise be recorded if I incurred them while at home, so that I can better understand the financial impact of my trips and budget for them in the long-term. As a result, "travel" continues to be my largest budgetary line-item after my rent, even though I only travel a few times per year. I'll have to take a deep dive sometime to see whether that's a testament to how low my remaining expenses are or an indictment of my lavish spendthrift ways while I'm on vacation.

Category	Apr-18	Comments
Rent	$768.75	$750 for rent + $18.75 Plastiq fees
Internet	$55.92	Internet is kind of expensive.
Cell Phone	$0.00	Already paid for 1 year of service through MintSIM. = $15.51 / month!
Natural Gas	$0.00	Nothing this month due to quirk in billing timing.
Electricity	$21.64	Below average. I switched providers recently because they offered a low intro rate. Will cancel in a month or two when the rate changes again.
Water	$38.18	Slightly above average this month.
Groceries	$66.56	Significantly below average. I did some travelling this month, so less groceries at home. Ate less meat this month as well.
Car Insurance	$246.21	I pay every 6 months in April and October.
Gasoline	$47.52	Below average for the month. More time away = fewer days driving.
Car Expenses	$40.40	Tire swap + oil change.
Health	$48.44	Heavily subsidized, high-deductible health plans through my work. Includes health and dental. Also monthly gym membership.
Other	$0.00	Nothing this month.
Necessary	$1,333.62	A little above average, but only because it's a car insurance month.

Restaurants	$0.00	Nothing this month, again.
Entertainment	$0.00	Nothing this month.
Shopping	$240.94	Accessories for Switch and a new computer monitor.
Travel/Parking	$868.57	Loaded up on discounted (15% off) hotels.com gift cards, plus food/incidentals on my current trip.
Gifts/Donations	$47.00	Birthday gift for my grandfather, as well as gifts for friends in Japan.
Software/Games	$695.27	Bought myself a Nintendo Switch, plus several games.
Business	$358.50	More inventory
Other	$0.00	Nothing this month.
Discretionary	$2,210.28	Far above average, mostly due to travel and my Switch purchase.

Total Expenses	$3,543.90	Pretty spendy this month.

Gross Income	$9,607.70	Had good results this month from my side business, last remaining overtime from work, and quarterly ESPP gains.
401(k) Match	$207.74	My company matches 3% of gross salary
Taxes	$1,508.77	Had to reduce my 401k contributions

Net Income	$8,306.67	Higher than normal this month.

Savings	$4,762.77	About average for the month.

Savings Rate	57.34%	Below average, but not enormously so.

Net Worth	$221,776.17	Market went up slightly this month, so that helped a bit in addition to my savings.

Projected time to FI (assuming 6% growth and 4% withdrawal rate): 5 years, 8 months.