February is the shortest month by calendar days, but it's also the longest month for me in terms of hours spent working. In a typical month, I might spend approximately 168 hours working, but in February I worked 220 hours. That comes out to nearly an extra week's worth of work due to mandatory overtime! While I am paid at least straight time for most of the overtime, I still resent it because it's:
- Mandatory
- Takes over my life for 3-4 weeks every year
- Isn't healthy
- Leads to poor productivity and poor decision-making
I don't have much energy left to write more today, but suffice it to say that I'm happy that this month was pretty great from an income perspective, even though I would trade back some of that overtime for a day off if I could!
| Category | Feb-19 | Comments | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rent | $768.75 | $750 for rent, paid via Plastiq | |
| Internet | $55.92 | Internet is kind of expensive. | |
| Cell Phone | $0.00 | Nothing this month. | |
| Natural Gas | $27.82 | Slightly above average | |
| Electricity | $24.97 | Slightly below average | |
| Water | $35.25 | Slightly above average | |
| Groceries | $162.41 | Slightly above average | |
| Car Insurance | $0.00 | I pay every 6 months in April and October. | |
| Gasoline | $63.07 | Slightly below average | |
| Car Expenses | $0.00 | Nothing this month. | |
| Health | $42.62 | Heavily subsidized, high-deductible health plans through my work. Includes health and dental. Gym membership. | |
| Other | $0.00 | Nothing this month. | |
| Necessary | $1,180.81 | Somewhat below average | |
| Restaurants | $46.28 | Pizza and dinner with a coworker | |
| Entertainment | $0.00 | Nothing this month. | |
| Shopping | $0.00 | Nothing this month. | |
| Travel/Parking | $480.60 | Annual fees on 2 cards, stayed a night at hotel, and visiting family next month! | |
| Gifts/Donations | $0.00 | Nothing this month. | |
| Software/Games | $47.40 | Moved this site to a Wordpress host. | |
| Business | -$284.53 | Negative number = net business income | |
| Other | $0.00 | Nothing this month. | |
| Discretionary | $289.75 | Way below average! | |
| Total Expenses | $1,470.56 | Way below average! | |
| Gross Income | $20,123.84 | Annual bonus and overtime work | |
| 401(k) Match | $225.06 | My company matches 3% of gross salary | |
| Taxes | -$129.52 | Got my federal tax refund which was larger than the total tax paid this month" | |
| Net Income | $20,478.42 | Way above average! | |
| Savings | $19,007.86 | Way above average! | |
| Savings Rate | 92.82% | Way above average! February and March tend to be extra-high SR months due to my work patterns. | |
| Net Worth | $279,882.21 | Markets did decently well in February, but this is mostly due to high savings this month. |
Projected time to FI (assuming 6% growth and 4% withdrawal rate): 4 years, 4 months.