Hey hey! Back from the beach and ready to talk $$$$!
But first up โ special shout out to my son, J. Penny, who turns 5 today โ whaaaaaat?! How did that happen? Remember when I wanted to track all his expenses for 18 years but then gave up a little after two when his baby brother, J. Nickel, came around? Hah!
We ended at $28,185.49, and probably good we stopped there before my wallet had a heart attack ;) The final breakdown was pretty interesting to see though, and hereโs a snapshot of it after 29 full months of tracking (starting from the day the pregnancy test showed a positive):
- Toys: $360.76
- Clothing: $642.84
- Diapers: $1,141.59
- Home/Furniture: $1,117.12
- Food: $1,332.49
- Supplies: $1,859.52
- College Savings: $3,350.00
- Medical: $6,792.42
- Daycare: $10,588.75
- Extra padding: $1,000 (for stuff I probably forgot to track)
Some biggies in there like daycare and medical and even college savings (all of which will vary drastically between families, of course), but still mind blowing when you see it all added up like that. And thatโs just for our first kid!
Anyways, good times ;)
Hereโs a pic of us celebrating together on the 4th:
And hereโs a picture he drew recently he was pretty proud of. (Want to guess what it is? ;) The answers on Twitter were hilarious!)
I love you buddy!! Keep expanding that brain of yours and one day youโll be taking over the family biz!
Now Onto The $$$ Numbers For June:
[This marks net worth tracking #114 in a row, and is one of the best things Iโve ever done for my money. Highly advise doing it yourself if youโre not already! (I list a few of my favorite tools to help you do so at the end of this postโฆ)]
CASH SAVINGS (-$1,145.57): The only drop in categories this month, and mainly due to me underestimating my quarterly taxes. Which I keep separated out from all my main accounts here so I donโt feel such a pain of loss every three months :) Figured itโs really the IRSโ money anyways, so why include it in my overall net worth? (I tried this for the first year of self-employment and it sucked!)
THRIFT SAVINGS PLAN (TSP) (+$448.37): Uppity up it goes! The percentages of increase keep going down as the pot grows, but still fun watching it trump all others over the monthsโฆ Hereโs how itโs looked from the start of my wife contributing to her account last year (starting at $0.00):
- First contribution (n/a %)
- +119.00%
- +51.82%
- +37.54%
- +27.62%
- +21.87%
- +28.09%
- +14.04%
- +12.93%
- +11.75%
- +9.82%
All automated from the beginning too so we never got used to seeing the money โ tip #381!
ROTH IRAs (+$973.77): A nice little increase here too without any additional contributions lately (we usually max it out all at once at the beginning of the year once we know our tax situation from my biz).
SEP IRA (+$4,337.27): Same with this bad boy too โ nothing new added but continues to rise over the months due to being fully invested in index funds. Particularly, VTSAX from Vanguard. Hereโs a screenshot from the end of last month:
CAR VALUES (+$79.00): Always odd when they go up a little, but needless to say theyโre depreciating assets and will always trend downwardsโฆ Unless, perhaps, you rock a collectible car, but I highly doubt many of us own one of those ;)
Hereโs how both our cars currently break down per Kelly Blue Book:
- Lexus RX350: $12,693.00
- Toyota Corolla: $3,592.00
CAR LOAN: (-$468.35): Another nice bump as we continue paying down the loan on Lexi! Still not ready to wipe it all away quite yet (cash savings + debt > less savings + no debt, for me at least), but one of these days Iโll finally rip off the band aid and be done with itโฆ
And thatโs Juneโs numbers!
Hereโs a nice snapshot of the past yearโs worth of tracking everything below. We had a solid bump back in December, and then itโs really just been the markets doing their thing ever since. Though as Mr. Money Mustache recently warned gleefully exclaimed: be ready โ another recession is coming!
And then hereโs a snapshot of the net worths of my two little boys โ bless their little walletsโฆ Our $50/mo automated contributions to their 529 accounts are now in full swing:
Hope your month treated yโall well too! Anything new go down over there? Anyone hit some cool milestones? (Paid off debt? Bought a house? Became a Thousandaire? :))
As always, you can see all 100+ previous net worth updates of ours here, and of course check out the Ultimate Net Worth Tracker over at Rockstar Finance where thereโs now 359 bloggers publicly disclosing their net worths. Weโre not shy anymore, thatโs for sure!
But really, all that matters is that YOU know yourself where your money is, even if you never tell a soulโฆ Itโs personal finance for a reason, weโre just a bunch of voyeurs up in here ;)
To the next step!
PS: If youโre just getting started in your journey, here are a few good resources to help track your money. Doesnโt 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.
Get blog posts automatically emailed to you!
Nice job on the increaseโฆ keep it climbinโ!
Happy birthday to little J. Penny! Itโs mine too although Iโve got a few years on him! :) Congratulations on your net worth increase. Itโs cool that you have everything set up so simply. Not owning a house probably helps with that too. Our roof replace starts today so Iโm feeling the pinch of homeownership acutely! :)
Happy July!
Ack โ what a birthday present!
Iโll have to shoot over some left over cake to you tonight :)
Happy Birthday to J.Penny! Five and on heโs going to be getting into all kinds of activities now. Enjoy it, it goes fast. I know everyone says that but we are two of our three are heading to college in the fall and my wife and I still look at each other and ask how did this happen? Congrats on a solid month!
Just dropped him off at camp and canโt believe how much of a little man he is now! Iโm sure you remember clearly all yoursโ first steps too :) I believe it goes by fast!
Iโm curious about your TSP allocation! Care to share?
Yup, sheโs 100% in the Lifecycle 2040. Not as aggressive as Iโd do myself if it were my account (I like the C and S stock indexes!), but hey โ itโs her money ;) And really, all the TSP funds are pretty amazing w/ its low fees.
What are you invested in?
You forgot to add $1,000,000 โ $2,000,000 to your net worth due to your M&A deal with your online business!
Hah! I donโt own FinancialSamurai.com :)
Happy birthday J. Penny. Congrats on a solid June and getting closer to your goals. Little by slowly. The TSP is a good retirement plan. My dad was a GS employee for 37 years and contributed to a TSP. Great stuff.
I passed through the 150k barrier this month, after just hitting 100k last June. Itโs exciting watching things take shape, knowing the plan is working. And with the raise I got two months ago, Iโm now contributing $1,500/mo to my 457(b), meaning Iโll max it out next year! W00T
You know what they say, the first $100,000 is the hardest!
Congrats, man :)
Awesome work! Keep it going. Love these updates!
Happy birthday, J Penny! And congratulations on an impressive month of net worth, J. Money! Itโs always great to check your net worth report every month and see the number increase.
Daycare and diapers are definitely among the biggest expenses for Baby FAF right now. I canโt wait until he can go to pre-K for free! ^.^
Your wallet canโt either! ;)
Happy birthday, J Penny!
Sir, youโve got a good, really good month.
Way to go! We also had a couple of great milestones this month. Paid off our mortgage at 47 years old, yay! Then we took some of the extra money plus an unexpected bonus from my job and bought an adjoining property for our second house plot in the mountains. We recently found out that the A Frame cabin and land we bought 9 years ago will soon be overlooking another reservoir (we already overlook one, about 8 miles away), as they are building one below us in the valley about 1 mile away. So yeah, a damned good month for us too :)
Oh $hit, yeah it is. Nicely played over there!
Bahaha, your kiddos are so precious! I do wonder about the costs of raising a kid, but I already know theyโre pretty high lol. :) Our June was good! We came in under budget in our typically spendy categories and paid off my student loans! :)
Woo! I like how you just slipped that in there at the end too as if it wasnโt no thang ;) Thatโs huge girl, congrats!!
No crazy milestones financially. Shooting to be a 1/4 millionaire by the end of the year. only $20k left to go
Should be do-able but you never know with another little one running around :O
I know next year is going to be crazy hard to see the networth stale out with baby 2 going into daycare. :'(
The good thing though is that it only lasts a few years! And theyโre cute as hell at that age, so we take a hit on the wallet and then appreciate our $$$ even more when it all starts flowing back ;)
Youโre totally right, seeing some of those costs tallied is frightening, especially daycare. Sometimes I wonder if I shouldnโt just round up some close family and friends, buy like 100 acres and start a commune type farm. You take care of the kids, I handle the garden/animals, you over there go work in a officeโฆ that probably wouldnโt work out thoughโฆ
Itโs a damn good idea to consider! I always joke about creating a little village of tiny homes for my family to start one, but while everyone is just laughing me out Iโm actually researching here and there to see if itโs actually possible :) I donโt know now iโm going to convince them all when itโs time, but hey โ itโs a valiant mission! Gotta make sure thereโs a chef in there somewhere too โ imagine never having to cook dinner again? :)
The tiny home village idea isnโt a bad one. I have seen (er watched YouTube videos) of people who build these with a main house for kitchen/bathrooms and just rent โem out nightly/weekly. Definitely not passive by any means, but depending on the location/market, might be preferable to staying at a hotel.
Hey J, The Methodists beat you to it over a hundred years ago, at least here in over-priced Long Island, NY. Our โTinytownโ even has its own Facebook page. too. But Iโm sure yours will be more affordable and self-contained:
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/towns/north-merrick-s-tiny-town-keeps-a-small-semblance-of-its-history-1.6023649
Very cool โ clicking over now!
Youโre doing really great J$! โcash savings + debt > less savings + no debtโ โ totally agree!
Your son is an artist! Our kidโs art work is usually just a blob of color or two. He has no patient for art and just want to go play.
Yeah, childcare is ridiculous. Iโm so glad our kid is school age now. Pretty soon both of your boys will be in school. That will be awesome.
I havenโt paid estimated tax because last year we didnโt have to. My wifeโs deduction offset my taxes. This year, weโll have to pay, but Iโll just pay in Aprilโฆ
Weโre getting closer every year, but now considering adding a 3rd to the mix which will jack it all up, hahaโฆ Somebody stop me!!!
Happy Birthday to Penny. Loved the drawing. I think it looks like a turtle ownership flowchart.
June was a good month for me. Mostly because itโs a 3 paycheck month and I donโt include the those in my budget so it can all go to savings.
Hah! I thought it was a turtle of some sort too. But we were both wrong โ it was a bird :)
Congrats J$, that more flat increase this year is only relative, if you look at the actual number itโs quite impressive!
Baby Penny and Baby Nickel are two lucky little coins and most likely wonโt have student loan problems.
On our side we also hit a milestone in June by exceeding EUR 200k net worth which I was quite happy about :)
Alriiiiight, nicely done! Now repeat 4 more times and youโll officially be a millionaire :)
Great net worth increase J$! Pretty soon youโll be pushing millionaire status!
Love your monthly net worth updates! Congrats on adding up another $5k, thatโs awesome. Your doing it right J money! Love the picture on the 4th.
The impressiveness of your month of financials paled beside the impressiveness of your 5 year oldโs art. That is _clearly_ Evel Knievel doing stunts on a turtleโs back (and for good measure said turtle is wearing Spongebobโs shorts โ I guess Spongebob must be running around somewhere with it all hanging out, assuming that sponges do in fact have stuff to hang out).
Hahaโฆ My son is going to LOVE that answer!!
And itโs much more creative than what it actually was too โ which was โa bird.โ Hah.
Hey J! Iโm excited because my PC reported a new milestone for me, 90k(!!!!), and all of a sudden itโs up to 94k! that jump is mostly from the zestimate increasing on my home, so it feels inflated, but Iโm gonna pop bottles when I break 100,000! Thanks for encouraging me to track, love doing it with personal capital.
Love to hear it! Keep going!! :)
J โ
Nice, Nice โ I did make an extra pay down on the car loan โ to keep savings but to just get rid of this thing quicker, less than 60 days and Iโll be auto loan free.
Also โ I bet you enjoyed the nice little dividend you received for the Vanguard fund you have โ have to love it โ reinvestment I am assuming?
Keep the push hard, youโre killing it and having a great time it seems along the way.
-Lanny
Great job on the car debt! I donโt even notice when Vanguard pays dividends, haha.. I just let it all ride and check in once a month for the reports :) (Yup โ re-investing all dividends)
Happy birthday to J Penny! All of this investing stuff is relatively new to me, so reading your reports has been super inspiring and educational. My husband and I have always invested in our 401(K)s as much as the company matches, but are getting ready to invest more in a Roth IRA. And figuring out our net worth is on our to-do list. I do have a question I would love to pick your brain aboutโฆ.We are currently saving a six month emergency fund. Would you recommend only keeping a three month fund in cash and investing the rest? If so, what would be some options that could keep our savings fairly liquid while also earning some interest? This would be in addition to our retirement savings. Thanks so much!
Fun! Will you be sharing your net worth publicly or just keeping it amongst yourselves?
As for emergency funds โ never a โrightโ answer there as weโre all comfortable and aiming for different things. I will say that you can never go wrong keeping buckets of cash in it though, so whether you need 3 months or 6 months or even 6 years worth (okay, well that may be too much hahaโฆ) you gotta do what makes you most comfortable :) not every dollar needs to be maxed out for returns.
https://budgetsaresexy.com/each-dollar-serves-a-purpose/
as for other places to stash $$$, money market funds are another option as are CDโs. But really youโre not going to get rich off any of it so personally I just keep our savings all in savings for an easier life. Hope this helps :)
I just had to chime in and once again sing the praises of the Baby Tracker idea. That was just so funny to me, and yet at the same time it held out the promise of the offering the most informative blog post of all time if you could have kept it going for 18 years!
Thanks for the net worth updates. You inspired me years ago to do this, and I am so thankful that I did. Happy birthday to J Penny!
Haha, thanks Scott. I really DID intend to keep it around forever, and then realized that being a dad was probably more important than spending my time on spreadsheets every day :)
Health insurance used to be a beautiful thing. My first child was born 9 weeks early and our total out of pocket was a little over $1100 (including medicine co pays). He was in the NICU for 8 weeks, I added up the total once, it was roughly $115,000 billed to insurance. Cant even imagine with todayโs insurance, Iโm sure I would have easily hit the Max out of pocket and been on the hook for like $12,000 + whatever technicality they could find to disallow other charges. That would have ruined us at that time in our lives.
Oh yeah โ I donโt miss our crappy $1,000/mo premiums we were paying at all. Itโs been great since the wife started working with the feds! Especially if we do venture out to kid #3 (gulp).
I think Iโve said it before. The only thing I ever hear older people say they regret is not having more kids. I have 4 boys and will not be saying that, I can honestly say Iโm good now. I just didnโt want there to be a twinge of regret. If it helps at all, with our 3rd child we barely skipped a beat. Was like 0% extra work, but every child is different, with our 4th, he made up for how easy our third was and then added on top of that.
I know people talk about how expensive kids are and all that but I would say to them, do you really want finances to dictate how you live your authentic human life? I mean isnโt that really the reason we are all here, its not really to find a budget, it goes beyond that, its because we want something more than this world tells us we can have. If someone wants 0 kids or 6 kids I think they should go for it without considering how much money they have in the bank. Because money (while it is a necessary tool in our society) is not nearly as important as living fulfilled (whatever that means to you). In short, the biological window for having kids is short, kids are as expensive or as cheap as you make them, and money while important to live in our society has no business dictating to you how many kids you can have or want to have. My 2 centsโฆ
Amen, brother. Amen.
Our boys have the same birthday, one year apart!
Nice job on the Net Worth boost- I need to update mine sometime soon.
Whaaaaaa? Awesome!!
I love budgetsโฆ.I use YNAB, you need a budget, and it changed my life. Thanks for sharing yours. And holy crap, kids are expensive!
YNAB is GREAT โ I agree :)
Your posts involving your sons are beyond, beyond cute and heart warming. I would be keen on just a โday in the life of a dad x2โ post!
We only started tracking our NW this month and the first time we did it, I did it wrong, ha! >_< can't wait until we get to your level of experience.
hah! did you copy and past wrong or something? :)
Weโre at about $640,000 this month. I had a slow month of sales in June. Still on your tail. Keep up the good work.
Yeah you are!
While having the data for his first 18 years of life would have been interesting, Iโm glad you stopped trying to collect that. More time to focus on enjoying them. I hope your family had a lovely birthday gathering.
My month did well and Iโm looking forward to seeing where I end for July.
Congrats on the solid net worth gain. Loved the update, but especially loved the 4th of July pic with you and your son. Thatโs what it is all about! Hope he had an awesome birthday.
Thanks man :)
My family just crossed the 100k mark in net worth in cash and investments (not including assets). Since following your blog and a couple others that we discovered a couple months ago, we have increased our savings rate dramatically. We are now putting $2,250 per month in my husbandโs 457, $320 per month in his 403b, and $1,600 per month in my 401k. We are trying to catch up for this year so we can max the 457 and 401k. Thanks for all your inspiration!
Daaaaaaamnnโฆ Yโall will be surpassing us in no time w/ that kind of savings rate! Keep going!!
Love the net worth of your two babies, baby nickel, and baby penny. Iโve done the same thing to my kids and got them started early. The times when they do not know much about money is the best time. I remember my wife opening up a joint bank account with our two kids and start initially with money gifts from relatives. They really add up big time. Theyโre both done with college now and theyโve taken over their accounts and itโs great to see how they start growing their net worth now themselves. Good job!
Oh wowwww โ that time just FLEW by too, didnโt it?