Financial self-analysis

Here is a list of my expenditures with my analysis. See how you rate yourself.

Item	Cost	Savings	Comments
Mortgage			We pay $1300/monthly for mortgage, taxes, and insurance. We could pay the mortgage off quicker by making payments twice a month.
Second mortgage			We pay $60 a month on a home equity line of credit. If we paid this off, we could use the line of credit for emergencies.
Auto #1			We pay $305 a month on our 2000 Toyota Sienna. If we could double up payments, we could have this paid off at lot quicker.
Auto #2			Our VW Jetta is paid off. I actually work close enough to home that I could walk to work and save gas and insurance.
Auto insurance			We pay $128 a month for two vehicles. Our daughter soon will have her driver’s license and this could go up. We could look for less expensive insurance. (An alternative could be to have our daughter but her own car and pay for her own insurance. However, by working, our daughter might not do as well in school. The tradeoff may not be worth it.)
Utilities			We pay $200 a month on average. We could turn down the heat 2 degrees and turn off lights. Spend less time in the shower.
Auto gas			We pay about $100 monthly, $20 for the Jetta and $80 for the Sienna.
Telephone			Our phone bill has been $162 plus per month including DSL. We have gone to cable broadband and VOIP (voice over Internet) which is saving us $100 a month. With Champion Communications we get more features than our regular phone and more flexibility. Our referrals help to pay for the phone.
Memberships			We have a Costco membership that costs $100 a year. We could get a less costly membership for $35 or get rid of the membership all together.
Clothes and personal items			If we each had a monthly allowance for clothes and personal items and kept to that allowance, we would save money.
Food			We spend about $300 a month on food. We could save money on our food bill by making a list each time we shop and taking only enough cash to pay for what we need. Use sale flyers to decide on the shopping list.
Entertainment			We have satellite television that costs $35 a month. We have a two year subscription, but as soon as we can we should get rid of this service. In addition we rent about four videos a month, we see a movie a month, and eat out once a month. When we eat out by sharing an entrée we can save half the cost. We don’t drink alcohol or soda pop so that is a great savings.
Medical			Medical is a real problem. My work pays for my medical and we have private insurance for my wife and daughter that costs us about $300 a month. We feel inadequately insured. Two years ago I spent a night in the hospital and I’m still paying off my share at $50 a month.
Donations			We tithe to our church. Our donations support our church and provide humanitarian aid around the world. We view this as a sacred privilege and feel that we are blessed because we do this.
Retirement			My employer contributes to a retirement plan. I should be “paying myself first” by contributing at least 10% of my income to a tax-deductible retirement plan.
Other

Contact John Fisher, April 2, 2005

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