May 2014 Net Worth Review

I just realized now that I did not post last month.  Spring has come and gone and Summer will soon be upon us.

Here's to the Numbers!!

Cash - $28,981 (-$3,338) 
Investments - $139,808 ($2,498)
Home Value - $366,000 ($0)
Personal Assets - $51,525 (-$842)
Less: Liabilities - $319,139 (-$8,410)

Assets -

Cash - Our cash balance took a bite but its been for good reason.  As I mentioned previously, we decided that we have a solid emergency fund and that we should be knocking out our debts faster.  So, I'm okay with the cash balance, although we had a bad spend month, the overall progress was very good.

Investments - We've made normal 401k contributions during the month, but otherwise, its the markets doing their thing!  I'm very proud of our retirement situation and am actually considering dialing back a little bit as the Prof and I consider some family/career goals and how we can gain financial freedom.  Her monthly contributions are around $160, which is always good, but would the extra $125 be utilized more as extra debt payment and allow her to stop working faster.  It's a personal finance no-no to stop contributing to retirement, but sometimes we need to reevaluate priorities.

Personal Assets - 

Just lowering the value of cars....

Liabilities -

Mortgage - $290,412 - I hate this beast.  Slow and steady.

Student Loans - $9,184 (-$5,036) - BAM! BAM!  One of my two graduate loans is GONE!  We had a balance of $18k in June of last year and $14k in December.  Now- GONE!  That feels so good!

Acura Loan - $13,485   Nothing crazy.  Just the usual payments being made.

PNC (Screw You) Loan - $3,058- I hate writing these checks and will be glad when all my PNC accounts are closed.

Total Joint Net Worth - $252,213.  A 5.9% improvement in two months.  I'm pleasantly surprised!  We had an unpleasant family event this past month and performed some home improvement projects to appease our mental state.  It helped, but did put a dent in our credit card.  Not proud of that, but we'll continue our steady upward climb to major financial freedom.

March 2014 Net Worth Review

Spring is here!  Baseball is back!  It's March Net Worth Time!!!

Here's to the Numbers!!

Cash - $32,319 (-$2) 
Investments - $137,310 ($1,520)
Home Value - $366,000 ($0)
Personal Assets - $52,367 (-$1,767)
Less: Liabilities - $327,549 (-$6,715)

Assets -

Cash - Our best cash flow month yet!  That's crazy to see a change of $2 considering everything that happened.  First, we finalized our taxes to the tune of a $4,500 Refund!!! Easily the highest refund I have ever received and something that definitely helped eliminate our debts this month.  I've written before about why I like getting a refund and don't treat it like an "interest free loan to the government".  However, this year's refund is probably little higher than I'd like, it's also out of the ordinary considering everything that went into it.  3 years of grad school, Baby Boy and some capital losses (caused by moving) caused the spike in return - I'm not complaining, but I'm also not going to change my W-2 because not all those things will happen again.

Investments - Considering I invested $1,500 into my IRA and I made $980 weekly contributions into my 401(k), this month was not a great month for the market, but also not a terrible month.  Markets be crazy!!

Personal Assets - 

Just lowering the value of cars....

Liabilities -

Mortgage - $291,214 -   Ho Hum.  I've seen other places that quote this at Home Equity (Home Value less Mortgage), and it's six-and-half-one-dozen-the-other in my mind.  I like looking at it as debt because then I can have a goal = $0.  With equity, my goal would be $1,000,000; which is unattainable.

Student Loans - $14,220 (-$4,220) - BAM!  We beat this up in March.  The prof and I are on the same page about lowering this to $0 before Baby #2 and we are okay with less emergency fund, we'd like around $10k available.  So, I used the refund this month to spear the b*tch, but we'll utilize some E-Funds (mostly cash flow though) to knock this out by Sept.

Acura Loan - $14,622   We'll continue to make larger than needed payments to the Acura, but won't get ultra aggressive until the 6.8% student loans are gone.  Just math.  This should still be gone by mid-year 2015.

PNC (Screw You) Loan - $7,859 - I hate writing these checks and will be glad when all my PNC accounts are closed.

Total Joint Net Worth - $252,213.  A 1.2% improvement in one month.  Nothing to go crazy about, but I feel better about our position and our strategy going forward!

February 2014 Net Worth Review

It's March 2nd and we're expecting 6" to 10" of snow today.  Not cool.  It's been a wild two months of 2014 and as such, I missed the boat on my January Net Worth Review.  Little Guy turned 1 on February 7th and the Prof turned 30 on the 22nd!!  It's been a great month (among the snow and ice) and we are excited for the rest of the year.

Here's to the Numbers!!

Cash - $32,321 (-$839) 
Investments - $135,790 ($10,210)
Home Value - $366,000 ($0)
Personal Assets - $52,367 ($3,968)
Less: Liabilities - $334,264 ($1,960)

Assets -

Cash - January & February were pretty boring months in terms of cash flow.  We've been very aggressive with my student loan payments as you will see below, so our cash levels haven't increased that much.  We're actually happy with our level of cash at this point and would like to use some of the excess to pay down Debt and build investments.  Having an emergency fund is important, but with the new house - our next big purchase need will be construction projects or my new car, which won't be for at least 18 months.  So, eliminating debt is high priority right now.  

Investments - Wow.  January was a sour month for the market place, but February roared back strong.  I've done some consolidating to my accounts this year and transferred my PNC IRA to a Vanguard IRA and then rolled over my 401k as well.  Now, I have fewer accounts and achieved a lower expense ratio as a result of increased holdings!  BAM and BAM!

Personal Assets - 

We got some jewelry appraised as part of our new insurance policy.  The value of our wedding rings and other items increased significantly than my original estimates.  Although we wouldn't sell these items unless absolutely necessary, its also nice knowing that its there.

Liabilities -

Mortgage - $291,612 -   More small gains.  We may attack this harder in the future, but for now, I'm okay with interest rate and a roof over my head.

Student Loans - $18,344 - We've paid down this by $5,732 in only two months!  I'm really excited to watch this go down and we should make another large payment in March when our Tax Refund comes in.  As I said before, we're comfortable with our current savings and using some of that to lower our debt to $0 in 2014 is goal.

Acura Loan - $15,188   We'll continue to make larger than needed payments to the Acura, but won't get ultra aggressive until the 6.8% student loans are gone.  Just math.  This should still be gone by mid-year 2015.
 
PNC (Screw You) Loan - $9,120 - So, the Education Assistance that PNC provided was bogus.  They changed their policy and are forcing me to pay back over $9k of the $15k that was provided.  This is why I will be closing all my PNC accounts in March.

Total Joint Net Worth - $252,213.  A 4.9% improvement since December.  Steady growth even with the unexpected liability (still bitter).  I expect our Net Worth to continue to grow as debt goes down and investments go up!  It's an exciting time for our household!!

December 2013 Net Worth Review

I'm really late on the New Year's review!  I'm sorry but it's been a crazy few weeks with finishing grad school, turning 30!!, and starting a new job!!  Did I mention that was all in the same week!

Regardless, the review should have been done and there are no excuses - so let's review and I'll fill you in on the details later!!

Here's to the Numbers!!

Cash - $33,160 ($6,034) 
Investments - $125,580 ($3,830)
Home Value - $366,000 ($0)
Personal Assets - $48,399 ($0)
Less: Liabilities - $332,304 (-$3,441)

Assets -

Cash - We saw a crazy influx of cash during the month and the major contributor to that was a $5,000 bonus for starting my job, a $3,000 birthday gift from my parents and a $1,000 christmas gift.  The other question is where did it all go - well, we stepped up our graduate school loan payback and will do additional paybacks next month.  So, I'm very happy with our cash position, but will not maintain such a high balance.  

Investments - A good month for the market place.  This was almost solely due to the markets as I have not started my 401(k) at my new work yet, so our contributions were limited.  Little Guy got a nice boost in his college fund from his godfather though!!!

Personal Assets - 

No change here.  Just lazy.

Liabilities -

Mortgage - $292,010 -   Small gains but still loving the house!

Student Loans - $24,076 - We made a big payment in December and have another ready in January.  Our high-interest loans should be around $16k by the end of January.  I'm proud of that considering they were once at $32k!!

Acura Loan - $16,218   Nothing unusual here.  Lower on the priority list but still making monthly progress.  The loan is actually structured so that we don't have to make another payment until August since we've "prepaid" so much already.
  

Total Joint Net Worth - $240,835.  A beautiful 10.3% improvement in December.  I'm pumped how well we are doing and our ability to progress going forward.  I can't expect the market to continue its crazy upward trend, but the debt reduction will definitely continue.  I just have to remember the immortal words of Ferris Buellers - "Life moves pretty fast.  If you don't stop to look around every once in a while, you might miss it."

November 2013 Net Worth Review

No time for chit-chat.  November (and Thanksgiving) was great.  The Prof and I have so much to be thankful for!  We love our little boy and have already got the Christmas decorations up and ready for the 1st Christmas with the Little Guy.

Here's to the Numbers!!

Cash - $27,126 ($1,334) 
Investments - $121,750 ($6,157)
Home Value - $336,000 ($0)
Personal Assets - $48,399 ($0)
Less: Liabilities - $335,745 (-$1,601)

Assets -

 

Cash - I love 3 paycheck months!  We were able to make larger than normal student loan and car payments this month while building cash!  

Investments - Great month for the markets.  Other than usual retirement building, these gains are solely attributable to the equity markets.  and I LOVE IT!!!  Keep it coming!

Personal Assets - 

No change here.  We'll check the car values next month and the home price will stay at sale value for some time.

Liabilities -

Mortgage - $292,391 -   This is going to be fun...Small gains here now and in the future.

Student Loans - $26,627 - Still making payments here and Prof and I have talked about eliminating the Grad School Debts in 2014 as priority #1.  Those loans are at 6.8% as opposed to my undergrad loans of 1.26%.

Acura Loan - $16,727   A larger than normal payment of $750 led to slightly higher gains here.
  

Total Joint Net Worth - $227,529.  A very nice 4.2% improvement in November.  We met our goal of $224k and appear poised for more!  Real excited for the future!

Mud on the Mountain was Great!  I finished in around 2 hours and 15 minutes.  It was definitely rough and I was not a fun of my injured thumb for the next two weeks.  I would definitely do another Mud Run in the future if I can find teammates to run it with me.  I enjoyed the thrill of the run, but would have liked to have run with others.

October 2013 Net Worth Review

Wow.  That just happened!  Somehow it's been two months since I did a review and the whole Coach World went crazy!  Here's a quick recap of the last two months:
1.  We bought and sold a house!  NBD!  We moved to USC two weeks ago after six intense weeks of negotiating, estimating, planning and waiting.  It was a long road, but we made it through unscathed.
2.  I completed a whole High School Football Season.  The Prof hasn't killed me for not being around 8 days out of the week.
3.  Our Baby Boy has grown like a weed!  He's almost 9 months old, 23 lbs and fun as heck.

Here's to the Numbers!!

Cash - $25,795 ($8,523) 
Investments - $115,593 ($1,302)
Home Value - $336,000 ($169,000)
Personal Assets - $48,399 ($-3,462)
Less: Liabilities - $337,346 ($160,229)

Assets -

Cash - Obviously, with the sale and close of houses, we saw significant cash movement the past two months.  The total cash received from the sale of our old house was $76,055.81 after all costs considered.  We paid $87,319.54 for our new house.  So, for the exchange of homes we paid $11,263.73 out of cash.  In October, we've also received $959.75 related to the closing reimbursements and insurance exchange (we changed insurance companies).  In Sept., we closed an investment for $5,534 - also being an increase to cash.

Investments -As noted above, we closed one investment for the home buying process.  Otherwise, the markets were able to grow and make up that outflow (I know I lose opportunity for growth).  We also received a nice 529 increase for our Baby Boy.

Personal Assets - 

Obviously, the value of our home went up significantly.  I'm using the sale price of the home vs. Zillow estimate because Zillow was very wrong on our house.  The car value went down more than expected, but I can't complain about that ever.

Liabilities -
Mortgage - $292,800 -   Well, the old number is gone and it has been replaced by a monster!  I'm not thrilled by this new value....not one bit.  However, (allow me to rationalize real quick) we got a deal on the home and our interest rate is still decent with no points or anything.

Student Loans - $27,102- We made good progress here.  After the close, I used some excess cash to double up one a payment.  Prof and I have made this a priority the next two years as we don't want multiple kids with these hanging around our necks.

Acura Loan - $17,438.  Same as above.  Going to get aggressive.
  

Total Joint Net Worth - $218,441.  I should wait two months all the time!  A $15k (or 7%) jump since August 2013.  Close to our year-end goal of $224k!  The whole process of buying/selling a home was a whirlwind and something that I do not want to do again!  My stress levels were through the roof!  Right now, its time to concentrate on my family, friends and career.

Before I do - I'm going to one last stupid thing before turning 30.  Mud On the Mountain at Seven Springs tomorrow!  7.5 mile run with 24 obstacles scattered throughout the mountain.  It will be muddy, it will be exhausting and the Prof will be right that I am stupid.  And I CAN'T WAIT.  I don't get to push myself athletically or physically too often (or ever) anymore.  Work piles up and my football days are long gone.  Before I turn 30 and the best (physically) days are behind me - I figured I would this challenge.  Nervous but exciting.

July 2013 Net Worth Review

I'm still working out the kinks in the system, but I think we are all ready for a little look-back into the month that was!!! July was crazy. We completed our central air installation and wrote a few hefty checks. In addition, our property tax bills came due and some money went out the door. Lastly, my Speed Hustle was not as fruitful as I had hoped due to vacations and cancellations. All is not lost though - Little Guy continues to be amazing!!!

Here's to the Numbers!!

Cash - $17,272 $(4,323) ($0)
Investments - 114,291 (5,850)
Home Value - $197,000 ($0)
Personal Assets - $51,861 ($0)
Less: Liabilities - $177,117 ($1,331)

Assets -

Cash - Most of that decrease is for paying the last portion of Central Air. Otherwise, we actually saw an increase of cash of $500. That's not ideal considering we should see an increase of $1,500 to $2,000 based upon Prof salary, but I'll take increases.

Investments -Nicely done markets! No contributions other than retirement 401k and 403b, so I'm very happy to see the market doing work!
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Personal Assets - 

No change to house or assets. Still looking for the next house, but until we actually sell it, I'm going to let the valuation stay where it is. Also, I need to update the car values, but I got lazy, sue me.div>

Liabilities -
Mortgage - $129,603 -   Ho-hum. Just paying it down and earnign more back when we sell.

Student Loans - $28,402- Depressing to think I paid $96 in interest in July. That motivates me to stay the course and try to get rid of these darn graduate student loans FAST.

Acura Loan - $18,970.  Another $1k milestone achieved. Celebrate a little.
  

Total Joint Net Worth - $203,307.  A small $2,858 increase is awesome considering all these extraneous things that we did in July. Obviously, the markets have a profound impact on our overall movement, but every little payment helps and I love it. It's definitely been tough the past few weeks staying the course while also dreaming of what it will be like when there are no more payments. I'm tired of the rat race or feeling like I'm running up a mountain; I want freedom..