May 2015 Net Worth Review

Wow - I didn't realize its been 5 months since my last review.  Time to get back on track....

Here's to the Numbers (since January 2015)!!

Cash - $29,103 ($6,104)
Investments - $170,469 ($11,868)
Home Value - $366,000 ($0)
Personal Assets - $47,700 (-$1,787)
Less: Liabilities - $305,084 ($157)

Assets -

Cash - Wow.  I'm very happy about our ability to save $6k while buying a bed, hanging a kid (and push present) and home upkeep.  We've set a goal of updating our kitchen in the next 24 months, so we've made a big push to allocate money to savings more in 2015.

Investments - Great example of how steady contributions can grow over time.  The markets have performed well and we've made our usual 401k and several 529 investments.

Personal Assets - 

Nothing to see here.  Just depreciation of my Sonata.

Liabilities -

Mortgage - $289,526 - Well, we refinanced at 3.875% and lowered our payments.  We did add some principal back to eliminate all of our closing costs - which was a nice boost to cash.

Student Loans - $2,629 - Just making our usual $100/month payments.  At 1.26%, I have no concern with paying them off early.

Acura Loan - $9,929 - Steady payments!
 

Total Joint Net Worth - $308,187.  A 5.5% increase since January and 3.7% since January! 

Retirement savings Up - Check.
Cash Levels - Check
Lowered Debt Payments - Check

Very happy with 2015 so far!!

January 2015 Net Worth Review

I can't believe I never wrote a review for YE.  Our December Net Worth was $297,211!  So close to $300k

Here's to the Numbers!!

Cash - $22,999 (-$2,699)
Investments - $158,601 (-$790)
Home Value - $366,000 ($0)
Personal Assets - $49,487 ($0)
Less: Liabilities - $304.927 (-$1,713)

Assets -

Cash - Tough couple months as we've taken on some major changes within our house.  I actually started a new job and because of our new pay cycle, missed a paycheck in January.  Also, we completely furnished Baby #1's big boy room through Pottery Barn.  So, he's all ready to move once his lil sister comes!!  In addition, in January, we renovated our family room.  We covered the wood paneling and painted the walls and bricks a toupe/white to brighten up the room!  It looks great these items took their tool on the bank account.

To offset some of this stuff, the Prof has been side hustling like crazy through ebay and craigslist.  We've sold nearly $1,300 of old stuff in the last two months!  One man's junk is another man's treasure.

Investments - A rough few months in the market.  No major contributions on our end, but the markets have been up and then down in December and January.

Personal Assets - 

Nothing to see here.

Liabilities -

Mortgage - $287,084 - Slow and steady.  We are actually investigating refinancing this bad boy in order to lower our interest rate 0.5%.  It'll lower our monthly payment by about $100 but allow us to do with very minimal closing cost - win/win.

Student Loans - $3,017 (-$405) - Another one bites the dust!  I paid off my third and last graduate student loan this month!  All that is left are my undergrad loans at 1.26% - which means I pay $100/month and only $4 in interest.  I'm in no hurry to kill these right now.

Acura Loan - $11,826   Getting back on the car payment horse.  I need to get rid of this in order to start thinking about my new car!

Total Joint Net Worth - $292,160.  A -1.7% drop since December!  We were so close to $300k - soon enough.

That being said - my goal for 2015 is to increase my liquidity.  I've got a hefty retirement fund and stable earnings.  I'd like to increase my emergency fund and cash accounts.  With a new baby on the way, I'm more concerned about handling the month to month stuff than my retirement right now.  I'll still contribute 7% of my paycheck, but need to build up savings for future projects/cars.

November 2014 Net Worth Review

Here's to the Numbers!!

Cash - $25,698 ($127)
Investments - $159,391 ($10,449)
Home Value - $366,000 ($0)
Personal Assets - $49,487 (-$1,113)
Less: Liabilities - $306,640 (-$4,302)

Assets -

Cash - A couple large car repairs led to us holding steady in cash.  The Acura needed four (4) new tires and my car needed tires and brakes/rotors within a 6 week period.  So, in addition to paying down debt in September, October was about managing our cash while maintaining out savings.

Investments - Amazing to see how this area has grown!  Over $125k in retirement assets, nearly $18k towards Baby #1's college savings.  Steady growth is what I hope for and love seeing the markets help out!

Personal Assets - 

Just lowering the value of cars....

Liabilities -

Mortgage - $287,971 - I STILL hate this beast.  Slow and steady.

Student Loans - $3,426 (-$2,028) - We've made significant progress in this area and the 6.55% grad loans are a $215?  I'll be paying this off and just haven't due to laziness and desire to build cash.  Undergrad loans are at 1.26% - so the $4/month interest paid is worth waiting to pay it down.

Acura Loan - $12,244   Made some strides in this area and will be continuing this moving forward now that Student Loans have been reduced.
 

Total Joint Net Worth - $293,935.  A 4.9% improvement in three months!  One month to go in 2014 and $300k looks achievable - although tough.

August 2014 New Worth Review

Wow, its actually been 3 months since our last review.  This should make for some interesting fluctuations....

Here's to the Numbers!!

Cash - $25,571 (-$3,410) 
Investments - $148,942 ($9,134)
Home Value - $366,000 ($0)
Personal Assets - $50,600 (-$925)
Less: Liabilities - $310,942 (-$8,197)

Assets -

Cash - We really need to monitor our cash as the Prof has started her new Part-Time position and our monthly income has decreased by 15%.  We've made significant debt progress, so the need to get crazy there is gone, but maintaining our diligence is as important as ever.

Investments - Markets continue to market!  Plus, I've finally qualified for my company 401k match, so our monthly contributions just doubled!  I love it!

Personal Assets - 

Just lowering the value of cars....

Liabilities -

Mortgage - $289,198 - I hate this beast.  Slow and steady.

Student Loans - $5,454 (-$3,703) - Continue to get loco with the graduate student loans in preparation for job change.  My 6.55% (set up monthly direct debits to lower the rate) graduate student loans are at $1,954!!  Should be gone by end of September!

Acura Loan - $13,290   Very slow progress here as I had to dial it back due to some unexpected expenses during the summer.  We had a home improvement project take over our basement in June and we created an awesome living space for the family.  I love it, but not the check book impact.

PNC (Screw You) Loan - $0 - Eff You.

Total Joint Net Worth - $280,171.  A 11% improvement in three months!  WOW!  That is awesome and its a nice kick in the pants as I was feeling worried about the part-time change and other things.  THat's incredible and I think $300,000 is totally achievable by the end of the year if the market continue to rock out!  Even still, our debt progress is encouraging and really gets me excited.

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!!