Making Progress Towards My Goals - June and July 2024 Update

I forgot to post my June update, so I'll combine two months.  I am doing well with my 2024 goals.

Financial

My goal this year is to invest 40% of my gross income from meeting work - 30% to index funds and 10% to something more aggressive.  In June/July I met this goal.

In June, I earned $8,400 from meeting work.   I fully funded my June goal in May, so in June I funded my July goal.  That was easy because July is a very light month for meeting work.  In July, I earned $3,875 from meeting work. I transferred $500 to the brokerage account where I make more aggressive investments and $1,350 to my other brokerage account.

I purchased a mix of CDs and an index fund for the 30%.  For the "more aggressive" investment, I bought shares of Walgreens.

In addition to these investments, I made a $2,000 contribution to my ROTH IRA in June.  I have fully funded my 2024 IRA contributions!

*This will not match what I report in my income blog as payments aren't always received in the month the work was performed.

Health

In early June I had severe pain in my left foot.  I didn't exercise as much because I was focused on letting it heal.  I did better after about a week and returned to my regular exercise routine.  I also have scheduled an appointment with a podiatrist in a couple of weeks.

Simplify

I am close to deciding to close my Platinum AMEX card.  The annual fee won't be due until November so I have time.  Although the $695 annual fee comes with many benefits, I've increasingly been annoyed by the amount of effort involved in taking advantage of those benefits.  I did some research and will first ask AMEX for a retention offer.  This usually comes in the form of points if you keep your card open and spend a certain amount of money.  If my request is denied, I will probably close the account.

Have Fun, on a Budget

We're took a vacation in July.  I used miles for our flights and points for the hotels.  I prepaid for a rental car to visit my mom.  It was much needed and fairly frugal.  I downloaded the app All Trails as a big part of our trip was hiking.