This is the first month that I have seen a significant jump in my net worth since I started tracking it. My overall net worth jump by 28%, which is nice considering a) I purchased a engagement ring and b) went on vacation for a week in April. I have to admit this is an incredible feeling seeing my net worth have such a great month. Minus the stock market I thought that my cash saving would take a big hit because of the vacation and the amount of money we spend. We locked our finances down the rest of the month and I was still able to save some money. So with that here is the break down:Cash & Savings: This is about normal, as I have $780.00 directly going into my money market fund which has my emergency fund and my house down payment fund. So as you can see I managed to save around $170.00, somehow I am still not sure how? It will be going towards paying off the remaining $125.00 on my AMEX card from vacation. This category also houses my monthly budget, vacation, and vehicle maintenance funds.
Stocks/Brokerage: This also saw a increase in value mostly because of the stock market doing a little better the last couple of weeks. I also purchased a little bit of Nike stock as well.
Retirement 401k: This category saw the biggest jump and again it is mostly because of the turn around in the stock market. I am still adding 5% of my paycheck as well so that is helping. It would be nice to see it gain this much monthly every month. I believe since I started my 401k a few years back the market value is about what I have paid for it, which is better than losing 40-50%. I am thinking of rolling some of this(around 14k) from my previous job over to an IRA, I just haven't pulled the trigger.
Roth IRA: I have made close to 1k over the last 2 months and I would love for this to keep up. At the end of this month I will be adding more to this, I have a savings fund that has the 3% I took out of my paycheck so that I can max out my Roth. See here
Debts and Liabilities - Still need to cut down on the vehicle
Credit Card 1: This is all but paid off on AMEX - this is from vacation and I am making sure I pay the remaining balance before I get hit with interest. I have about $125.00 that I have to pay before end of the week and will be sitting at $0.00.
Credit Card 2: $4140.00 this is a card which is 12 month 0% APR. I have the money in my savings to pay off the remaining balance if I wanted if something unexpected came up. $4,200 divided by 12 months = $350.00 a month. I will be paying the minimum of the card every month (2.5% of remaining balance) while putting the rest of what remains of the $350.00 into a high yield saving account to make a little interest off while I borrow interest free. I will be cutting a check for the remaining balance on the 12 month of next year before the 0% APR expires.
Car Loan: $13,147.00 is the choke hold on my budget. This is what they talk about being enslaved to debt. I could be putting $400.00 a month more into my down payment on a house or investing in retirement or for charity. I drove my last car till it died 270k miles and I plan on doing this but I wish I could just not have that payment every month. I am borrowing at 4% so its not breaking the bank but not loosening up around my neck either. I want to start paying down the principle but I have been saying that for a few months now and can honestly say that this year is not going to probably happen. So I will keep getting at it...
Overall I cannot be mad, it was my best month since starting this blog and it feels good to see my net worth grow. I just have to stay the course and be realistic that I am going to have up and down months, and that I am in it for the long haul. Sure would be nice though for the Dow to get back around 12, ha
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