Well, that’s a far cry from last month’s $60,000 gain! Haha… But not like you can sustain something like that forever ;) (Or you get inheritances every month for that matter – thank goodness!)
But despite how awful the numbers this month are lookin’, we’re actually doing quite the opposite. If you recall earlier this month I maxed out my Roth IRA @ $5,000 which caused us to lose a big chunk of savings (and as you can tell from that blip of green there, it didn’t do much yet to increase our portfolio! haha…), and then, of course, we still have Operation Mortgage Pay Off in full effect now too. Dragging out another $2,000 from the ol’ sleep-well-at-night-pot. So really, we’ve earned a little over $6,000 EXTRA in cash this month. Not bad!
Most of this cash is still coming from all my online projects, of course, but now we’ve also got the Mrs. back in Grad School and teaching again – adding in an additional thousand or two each month! Something I’m crazy excited about ;) I can’t even imagine what it’ll be like once she’s back to FULL-TIME again, jeesh. We’re still plenty of years off for that though, so for now I’ll keep hustlin’ and doing whatever it takes to keep moving this financial ship forward…
It does bring up a pretty good nugget to think about though: If you can get used to living off of 1 paycheck in a family, your options open up like CRAZY when it comes to the other person going back to work again! You could continue working and banking even MORE money every month, invest in more stocks or real estate, decide to work less, or pretty much do whatever it is your heart desires. Mastering your lifestyle on the cheap definitely has its perks. It’s financial freedom at its finest!
Here’s November’s Net Worth break down:
CASH SAVINGS (-$947.90): Again, not too bad considering we maxed out my Roth IRA ($5k) AND continued on with our goal of killing our mortgages once and for all (+$2k each month). I’ll take the $1,000 loss for a $7,000 gain any day ;)
EMERGENCY FUND ($0.00): Same $10,000 in there as it’s always been. It does gain interest each month, but since we have other funds in that same account, I don’t spend the time figuring out what % of the pennies are split up where ;)
TAX FUND If you recall from last month, we decided to nix this category since it was more trouble than it was worth. I never found a good way to incorporate these quarterly taxes, and since it just goes right out the door anyways every few months, we’re just zero’ing it out and getting back to our old way of tracking our net worth.
IRA: SEP (-$46.64): Nothing new here – the market just doing it’s thang. I’m not gonna invest any more here until the year ends, and we see how the mortgaging paying off stuff continues… more than luckily, though, when my accountant says I can invest $X,XXX and save $X,XXX in taxes, I’ll probably cave in and do it ;) I’m not good at saying no to “free” money.
IRA: ROTH(s) (+$2,299.62): Our maxed-out $5,000 is now in, and the market’s already started nibbling at it! Haha… but it’s a long-term plan here, of course, so always to be expected… just wish it wasn’t so soon! ;)
IRA: TRADITIONAL(s) (-$12,072.95): Floating about on the market waves, just like most our other investments. Only interesting part to report here is that IRA #1 has now taken the lead!! The one that’s just invested in static accounts, and no managed by USAA at all! Haha… granted it’s only up by $100 or so, but still – just goes to show that paying someone to handle your money doesn’t always mean they’re gonna do better. We’re not gonna make any drastic changes yet though until at least a year or two (or three?) pass. Gotta be fair and play the long-term goal here – I’m sure this will keep flip-flopping as the months go by…. kinda like the Republican candidates! (Ooooooohhhh)
Here’s our our Ultimate IRA Game breaks down:
- IRA #1 (NOT Managed): $53,959.45 **Took the lead this month!
- IRA #2 (Managed, USAA funds): $53,358.16
- IRA #3 (Managed, ALL funds): $53,871.34
AUTOS WORTH (kbb) (-$567.00): All normal here… no plans on picking up a new car anytime soon, but I will say I’m starting to get tempted again ;) I picked up a Volvo S60 Turbo the other day when I needed to rent a car, and sitting in that thing was fuuuuuuuun! Boy… had bluetooth for holding convos through the speakers and everything. Was pretty tight. (And I’m sure the price tag pretty large too!)
- Pimp Daddy Caddy: $2,464.00
- Gas Ticklin’ Toyota: $9,107.00
HOME VALUE (Realtor) ($0.00): Still set at the same $300,000 as it’s been the entire year (appraised by my realtor). Haven’t looked much into adjusting yet as I have no plans of renting or selling it in the near future. Once we get back to that, we’ll ask him to re-appraise and I’ll re-update!
MORTGAGES (-$2,454.57): TWO MONTHS DOWN and going strong!! About to actually make my 3rd extra $2,000 payment soon too :) Man time is flying, by… That’s what I love about these kinds of plans — no matter what happens, life keeps moving on and every year the time seems to keep moving faster and faster along with it. Which is all the reason MORE to get your projects/goals started ASAP! Next month, and the month after that, and the month after that will be here before you know it! Gotta get those balls moving, my friends. (Hah! I said “balls”)
- 1st Mortgage: $287,666.23 – 30 year conventional @ 5.5%
- 2nd Mortgage: $57,666.49 – Maxed out HELOC @ a variable 2.8%
That’s it for this month. Lots of good things cookin’ up, and lots of bad debt getting the axe! (Notice how I said “bad” debt there — None of it is good! Only slightly more tolerable than others ;)). Hope you all are full force too!! Tell us how you’re doing in the comments below and start making TIME your bitch. Each and every one of you has the power to kill it!
Love and Hugs,
———————
PS: When these net worths read $1,000,000 I’m buying beer for all of you.
PS: If you’re just getting started in your journey, here are a few good resources to help track your money. Doesn’t matter which route you go, just that it ends up sticking!
- The "Budget/Net Worth" spreadsheet - the colorful Excel template I personally use.
- The "Money Snapshot" spreadsheet - a simple Excel template I created for my former $$$ clients
If you're not a spreadsheet guy like me and prefer something more automated (which is fine, whatever gets you to take action!), you can try your hand with a free Empower account instead (formerly Personal Capital)
Empower is a cool tool that connects with your bank & investment accounts to give you an automated way to track your net worth. You'll get a crystal clear picture of how your spending and investments affect your financial goals (early retirement?), and it's super easy to use.
It only takes a couple minutes to set up and you can grab your free account here. They also do a lot of other cool stuff as well which my early retired friend Justin covers in our full review of Empower - check it out here: Why I Use Empower Almost Every Single Day.
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I know you had a big month last month, but it still hurts to see it go down so much this month, especially with you maxing out your Roth IRA, oh well that’s the game I guess.
Not too shabby J$ :)
I’m officially back in the black networth wise as of this month! :D I have $7,800 left on the LOC to pay off, then I can attack my mortgage! *happy dance*
Oh, and hurry up an get to $1,000,000. I’m thirsty ;)
Bummer with the loss J, But you know you’re doing great.
Im up $2400 but that would have been pretty even without the huge trading day yesterday.
Don’t get discouraged, you are rocking! The bigger the monthly moves in your net worth, the bigger your net worth!!! It’s all a percentage game. If the market moves 5% in a month on $500,000 portfolio thats $25,000!! It feels bumpier than before, but it just means you have more money than before!
yeah that Volvo was kinda hot! It’s a bummer on the loss, but it is all relative after it’s all said and done…the husband and I are debating refi’ing to a 15 yr mortgage, just not sure if we’re prepared to drop that much cash monthly. I do have to see the long-term, though :)
Back to grad school for teaching? Did you check this school out? http://www.wgu.edu/education/ I go there for my IT degree, it’s non-profit so out-of-pocket expenses are super low, my degree (includes industry certs) is only $6000 a year.
I’m beginning to rethink your mortgage plan (what I was going to do after my cc debt is gone). If you have your mortgage at 5-6%, and with tax deductible interest that lowers that eleven more. Vs investment over time that can earn you 8-10%. I think I’ll be doing more investing rather than being so aggressive with the mortgage. I’ll put some extra here and there as well to. Still have time to decide :)
Will have my net worth latter today but looks like I’ll be down a couple thousand as well
@KC @ PsychoMoney – Yep! I aint’ worry. All a part of the master plan ;)
@Cassie – Haha.. I’m trying, I’m trying! Then it’ll be your turn after ;)
@Alex – Oh man, I calculated all of this BEFORE yesteday’s monster increase too! I thought for a hot second of updating this post, but it takes me foreverrrrrr, haha… it’ll just mean the next update will be even better ;) (Well, unless it goes psycho again. Jeesh.)
@Neo – YUP! Exactly. Though I’ve never really thought about it that way :) I like it. Thanks!
@Trinnie – Ooooooh THAT would be hot, girl! Maybe you can try paying that same amount, whatever it turns out to be, every month for like 3-4 in a row to see if it’s do-able long term? You know what I’m saying? Run the calculations on a refi calculater to see what it would come out to each month on a 15 year note, and then just pay that amount for a bit and see how you feel. If y’all are killing it, and it’s super easy, do the refi then and save even MORE money! That’s what I’d do anyways :)
@Miriam – Oh, cool! I meant to say that my girl is back in Grad school again to finish up her PHD ;) She teaches classes as part of her scholarship so she can get a stipend, and now that classes are back up again, she can start getting paid. Glad you found a school you like though!
@Jeff @My Multiple Streams – You know, that’s what I’ve been doing for years – and thought I’d be doing for more and more years to come too – but then it hit me that eventually I’ll need to pay it off some time. But not only that, there’s no gaurantee that I’ll keep making enough money to invest time and time again. With the mortgage gone, however, I wouldn’t *need* to make mony any more in theory cuz the largest expense is now gone! Of course the other side is I’d have $300k+ years of investment time to grow it even more like you mention, and THEN I could pay off the house I suppose, haha…, but for now it’s a nice change in thought so we’ll see how it goes :) I think as long as you’re doing one or the other, it’s a totally winning situation. I got respect for ya!
1) Does paying more into your mortgage earlier mean you pay less in interest in the long-haul vs paying off your mortgage with 5 years left?
2) How do you valuate your IRA? Is it based on the current value or value after penalties if you liquidated it?
3) Tax fund: I have a little spreadsheet for this. I take my monthly gross, figure out my margin, which generates the profit. Add up the profits and calculate against the estimated tax bracket (I just have a percentage not another spreadsheet). Then I put my estimated tax payments against it to calculate if I need to sock away additional funds.
Hey J Money!
I’ve been checking out the website for a while, but this is my first time commenting! Do you pay PMI Insurance on your mortgage? If so, that would be another reason to aggresively pay down your mortgage. That would be $100-$200 bucks a month going down a black hole, and I HATE black holes! Keep up the good work!
I’m down this month :-( but thankfully it’s not my fault. KBB and 401k are just being silly, I’m not worried. We’re not planning on selling the car and the 401k has YEARS to grow up and be strong.
I’m definitely taking you up on that beer!
J$
What is your wife getting her phd in? My wife is currently applying to psychology phd programs.
I’m extremely jealous of your net worth.
That IRA negative has got to hurt! I know how you feel though. My 401k is still down about 10% on the year. :(
Up just under $1500 for the month. The big market rally yesterday really helped! Noticed that the markets have tanked toward the end of the month the last few times I did the net worth update. It’s nice to see the month end on an uptick for once :)
I’m saving this post to make sure I get my beer.
Looking at the investment losses made me cringe a bit. But, like you said. It’s long term. Living on 1 income is were it is at! Talk about flexibility. We currently live off one income and use the other income to invest in money making opportunities.
Up about 2% this month! The retirement portfolio is showing no losses for this year-to-date so that helps. And the house held steady this month, too. Our cars, however, lost $1,500 this month according to Kelly Blue Book, so that hurt. Overall, though, our net worth this month is the highest it’s ever been, so I can’t complain. If we can get through the holiday season without overspending, 2012 should be looking pretty good for us.
@Sun – 1) Yup! Usually… If we pay ours off under 10 (intead of 30) we’ll save over $250,000 in interest!!! You can find out how much you pay by looking at your most recent statement :) The other side of the coin, though, is if you can make MORE by investing the money vs. paying it all off. Once’s definite savings (paying mortgage) and the other is more speculative.
2) I just log into my accounts and grab the number that’s currently in there. I don’t account for fees/etc, especially since I’m not going to touch it until there ARE NO FEES.
3) Awesome, glad you found a way that works :) I just xfer the same amount every month into a “tax fund” (really just a separate savings account) and then use that to pay the quarterlies… your route is DEF more accurate though, haha… I’m gonna have to adjust it more for sure.
@Andrew – Hey, thanks for saying hi now! Glad you’re enjoying the site – I love hearing from my readers more than anything! :) And to answer your question, no. We do not pay any PMI. But you’re right, that WOULD be another great reason to keep knocking it down!
@Jen @ Master the Art of Saving – That’s right! All a part of the game, right?
@Jenna, Adaptu Community Manager – I’ll have plenty to give out when the time comes! I’ll even bring some good craft beer especially for you ;)
@DC – Oh, cool! She actually doesn’t want me mentioning it here on the blog (privacy reasons), but if you want to email me I can tell ya :)
@Michelle – I’m extremely jealous of others’ net worths ;) We’re all somewhere on the chain, eh? The awesome part is that we can all keep climbing too!
@retirebyforty – Nah, doesn’t really hurt much cuz I expect it to go up and down all the time – especially in this market. It’s actualy kinda weird to be honest with you. The old me would have been FREAKING the F out right now – or any of the times it’s dipped this year – but I think I’m so used to it all now that it’s just an afterthought :) On the other hand, when it goes UP so much I also don’t get as excited as much, haha… I can’t tell if that’s good or bad all the way?
@Evan H. – Haha, yeah!! And I did mine the day before so I missed it in the calculations! D’oh.
@Courtney – Print it out baby and stamp it up and everything! Just a matter of time! (Though, you’ll probably need to put like 10 more stamps on it by then ;))
@YFS – Work it yo! That’s the sexiest way to go right there — live off one and play/invest/pay debt off with the other! I love it!
@Jennifer Lissette – GREAT!!! I love hearing that :) 2012 is gonna be a KILLER year for sure, I’ve got nothing but good good feelings about it. Less than a month away!
Hey J.
That shows discipline. Don’t get discouraged. I know you’ll be on track soon.
My besy wishes.
No worries, not discouraged in the least :)