75% February Savings Rate - Here Is My Breakdown

Last month, my savings rate ended up at 75%! This marks one of the lowest savings rate months I have had in awhile, but I am extremely proud of it! There are months where you should always expect your savings rate to go down. Whether this is from a vacation or some extra fun you decided to have, you should celebrate every month!

Time to go through a breakdown of February!

February Total Money Earned

February brought a little dip in my income. The main reason for this is how I breakout my W2 income when looking at earned income. For me, I take my pay and determine how much money I earn per day and then multiply that number by the number of days in the month. For that reason here is the breakdown of my income I generated. Note I exclude any investment income as I track that separately.

Income Breakdown:

W2 - $13,543
House Hack Room #1 - $900
House Hack Room #2 - $800
House Hack Room #3 - $650

This brings my total income for the month $15,893.

Not a bad income month. Now time to look at expenses.

February Expenses Breakdown

February brought some expenses that were definitely not planned for. I ended up taking a last minute trip to Vegas to celebrate a friends birthday and we went all out. Between VIP at Omnia ($5,500 for the night) and a suite at Planet Hollywood, we definitely didn't hold back on expenses.

Breakdown of expenses:

Housing - $2,207
Entertainment - $1,329
Food - $234
Transportation - $123

Total expenses for the month ended at $3,895. The rest of my money went straight to investment accounts.

Investing For February

What a wild market we have been seeing the last couple months. This wild market doesn't stop my investing strategy. In a singular statement, I would outline my investment strategy as follows:

Setup automatic investments in the market and retirement accounts while continuing to add income streams through real estate and other investment vehicles.

With that in mind, I had two paychecks for February. I have been automatically sending 50% of each paycheck to my 401k. This puts me at $13,076 sent to my 401k so far this year. I am close to maxing out my 401k. Only two more paychecks and I will be there.

I also maxed out my HSA with my first paycheck this month! Now that this account is maxed out, I can work to invest that money elsewhere and save for my next property!

From a taxable account perspective, I continue to invest $1,200 each week in my Vanguard account into VTSAX. At some point I think I am going to transition this investment strategy to buy a few other index fund. For now, I am going to continue investing in VTSAX!

All in all, it was another great month! House hacking and earning a great income at my W2 have been incredible ways for me to continue with my high savings rate.

Key Takeaways:

Have some months where you spend! Be just as proud of the months where you spend a little extra on doing some fun things!
House hacking continues to be an incredible way for me to have a high savings rate. If I wasn't house hacking, my savings rate would be around 70%. Still not bad, but there is nothing better than living for free.
Automating your investments is extremely helpful! Don't worry about what the market is doing. You can't time the market. Trust me. You might hit the right timing once in a while, but over a 10 year period, you don't beat the market.

Don't forget @TheYoungRetireeBy33's 3 Core Principles:

1 - Your money should make money for you⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 2 - Start early to realize the power of compound interest⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 3 - Eliminate your largest expense by house hacking

75% February Savings Rate - Here Is My Breakdown

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