March 20, 2007

Above Average Income, Above Average Expenses

My wife and I make a combined $109,350 per annum (not including her commission pay). Not more than some, but certainly above average. The tough part though is that we have a very high monthly burn rate - spending close to 90% of our net income each month. I’ve included our monthly budget below (click on spreadsheet).





















*Note: This budget does not include our investments/savings.

We spend over 2 times more per month than some couples we know. Granted, most of our friends rent instead of own and condo costs make up 40% of our monthly bills. Nevertheless, we need to slow the bleeding so that we can put more money into our investments/savings.

We plan to make the following changes next month:

  • Sell Car 1
  • Buy a replacement car for ½ the price of Car 1 - $200/month savings
  • Switch to a lower cost Internet/cable package - $20/month savings
  • Look into combining auto insurance and condo insurance
  • Look into lower cost birth control


Further down the road, we will have the credit cards (0% interest currently) and auto loans paid off. Of course, we also want to sell our condo and get a house in 4-5 years, so that money will be used to help cover the higher housing costs.

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