Another year, and another annual report. Unlike some of my contemparies such as 2million I don’t produce a report that is quite as detailed or reveal to the public the minutia of my finances. Call it a false sense of modesty.

Flow Pie

Spending Percentages

Spending 2006 2005
Savings 24.0% 19.1% I had to adjust the numbers for 2006 to account for some one-time items. These adjustments allow for better year-on-year comparisons. If we focus on the net savings rate, we would assume that I did a better job saving. However,if we instead look at the Food and Entertainment rate, I did worse. Almost all of my increased savings came from lower loan payments this past year. I finally paid off my 401k loan and some other balance transfers in 2005, and early 2006. As a result, I had fewer loans to pay. Most of this money got diverted into savings, and some of it got diverted to food and drink.
Housing 20.0% 17.6%
Insurance 3.2% 1.3%
Utilities 1.2% 1.8%
Taxes 30.3% 26.2%
Other Loan Payments 2.2% 8.8%
Gifts 0.0% 4.0%
Charity 0.4% 0.0%
Vacation 0.0% 2.0%
Food and Entertainment 17.6% 16.7%
Other 1.2% 2.5%
   

Because I only use percentages, I’ve masked some less than flattering facts. While my percentage increase in spending is minimal, 0.9%, as measured as a percentage of total spending, the actual change is not. Because I made more money in 2006 than 2005, the entire pie got larger. By stating my expenses as a percentage of total outflows, I’ve masked certain year-on-year increases. In actuality, my “Food and Entertainment” spending increased nearly 20%. That’s not good, and I hope to pull that in. It’s too easy to let spending creep get the better of us. For 2007, I will try to actually break out the details in my “Food and Entertainment” category. With some discipline on my part, I hope to get the absolute number to creep back a bit.