Now we’re talkin’! It’s been a while since we’ve seen a nice bump in stats here, and I’m soaking it in while I can ;)
It’s not every day you get your long lost $17,000 back! Haha… Though I might add we did pretty good in the other departments too – namely our cash savings and our mortgage payments.
It’s amazing how much BETTER conventional loans are vs. Interest-Only! Even without trying we pay off a few hundred dollars each month :) And the cash part is a plus too – we had a good month w/ some of my projects going on lately. Summer tends to be hit or miss with everyone taking vacations and all, but July was a MUCH better one that June where I lost money… and the nice part here is that these numbers don’t even reflect the other day’s $5k repayment yet! So next month shall be a fun one too. And I love how everyone’s paying back their debts now! I hope they are to you too, if you’re owed some money still :)
Here’s how July’s Net Worth breaks down:
CASH SAVINGS (+$1,203.24): Less spending, and more earning this month. Mostly on the “more earning” part (And the “being too busy to splurge even if I wanted to!” part as well ;))
EMERGENCY FUND ($0.00): Sitting pretty at $10,000 as it should be! Though it’s ready for any emergencies that may come too (bleh).
TAX FUND (+$1,860.00): Just the normal monthly amount being saved up for when quarterly taxes are due again… couple months to go.
IRA: SEP (+$373.12): This is the market’s reflection from the past month – I haven’t added anything new to it lately. At least yet ;) I’d like to max out this account at the end of the year once I know more on how much I earned from blogging and what not. You can only invest a % of your profit, and I’d rather use definite numbers than guesses and go over or anything like that. It’ll suck dumping a big chunk all at once of course, but if I keep stashing away the savings in the meantime, hopefully I’ll have enough to just xfer it all over. We’ll see :)
IRA: ROTH(s) (-$1,025.53): Same thing here – haven’t added or taken out a dime, it’s just the way the markets been rolling lately. Which is kinda weird cuz I earned a lot more in the SEP (an account that has 1/4th the funds in it) yet I lost a lot here. Guess I picked better funds in the other one!
401(k)s: No more! All the 401(k) madness is gone :) From now on, this money is in our new Traditional IRAs seen below.
IRA: TRADITIONAL(s) (+$16,908.95): BEST INCREASE EVER! Without having to do a thing! Haha… well, actually that’s a pretty big lie considering I earned it months and months ago, but when there’s a chance you may never see it again in your lifetime, it kinda feels like *free* money :) I’m just freakin’ excited to close out this chapter once and for all!!
AUTOS WORTH (kbb) (-$325.00): My AC decided to break down, and I think it dropped my Caddy’s overall value by a couple hundy :) I haven’t taken it in to get checked out yet, but me thinks it’ll be way more money than it’s worth… I’m okay with riding ghetto fabulous as long as my hawk doesn’t get crushed by the wind :) But that’s what they make hats for, right?
- Pimp Daddy Caddy: $2,470.00
- Gas Ticklin’ Toyota: $11,405.00
HOME VALUE (Realtor) ($0.00): Still the same $300k our realtor set it at in mid-2010. I’d love another estimate done to keep it more accurate these days, but for now it’s a good benchmark to keep in mind until it’s time to start selling it or renting it out again like we always think about doing…
CREDIT CARDS: Yeah, I don’t know why I even kept this in here since it’s been at $0.00 for a while now. If we start causing trouble again, I’ll be sure to add this category back up :)
MORTGAGES (-$433.25): Operation Refinance continues to pay off! Literally! Every month I think we knock out $330 automatically via our monthly payments, and then we’re continuing to round up and pay off $100ish altogether too (between the 2 mortgages). But very VERY soon I’ll unleash my new sexy game plan on killing this stupid mortgage debt once and for all! I really can’t stand it, and it’s time to finally do something more aggressive toward it. Stay tuned…
- 1st Mortgage: $289,203.65 – 30 year conventional @ 5.5%
- 2nd Mortgage: $61,907.88 – Maxed out HELOC @ a variable 2.8%
That’s it! A net worth recap that actually doesn’t have me $hitting in my pants, haha… not that I get *too* scared these days, but when you’re self-employed your mind does seem to get a bit more jittery than normal. Every month is a roller coaster up in here! All we can do is keep our head on straight, and do our best to keep building out those income streams of ours… no one said it would be easy ;)
How did you guys do this month?
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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Hey J Money,
Did your AC go all of a sudden in the Pimp Daddy Caddy? If so it might just be a relay. All you need to test it is some wires to run off your car battery and a multimeter. If it is bad just pop that sucker out and head down to the local auto parts store. A new relay will probably run you about 5 bucks.
I’m curious about what you’re going to do with your 2 mortgages. We have almost the same situation (with interest only HELOC) right now. I was thinking of refinancing into 1 loan, and then we got the *magic* call from Chase. We took that deal even though it meant we couldn’t roll the HELOC into the mortgage. I called Chase about a rate lock for the HELOC this week and it was close to 10% (ugh) so I’m just letting the HELOC ride while I figure out what to do.
Don’t keep us in suspense!
Congrats! This has been a pretty good month for me too, considering I just paid a semester of tuition and fees for business school (25% of the way there!). My income’s been solid and the spending has been pretty low :)
I was wondering why you hadn’t attacked the mortgages yet. I’m looking forward to hearing about your plan of attack to get some more ideas about how to cut mine down! :D
My net worth is up about $1,000 from May. June was a funny month because I put a big chunk of our trip to Australia on my credit card. That brought my net worth down for the month of June. That was all payed off when I was reimbursed by work, so that’s why I compared July to May. Considering my income is fairly humble, the $1000 jump is noteworthy in my opinion!
You are doing really well – several more months like this one and the first million will roll in much faster than expected. Keep it up.
We had a good month as well – we are £13,000 up. Do you know the best part? Close to two thirds of this is a pay off from a bank for their bad behaviour to us in the past. I love it!
My net worth is slowly increasing every month, because of earnings and paying down debt but lately the stock market has not been helping and I loose $100 or so a month from my investments.
Shouldn’t you have a liability for your taxes owed but not yet paid? Otherwise, you’ll have this quarterly hit that isn’t real. You’re saving money for taxes because you have a current tax liability.
Congrats! It must feel good to have all your owed money finally; it sure makes your Net Worth fabulous. ;-) Our Net Worth went up $993.71 from last month, slowly (snail-like) getting there.
I finally logged into my Mint.com account after avoiding it like the plague for 12 months. The Cons: It took forever to classify transactions and cleanup my account. The Pros: I realized I still (often) spend money like an idiot ($150 on Potbellys WTF?), and I was able to easily calculate my net worth.
I’m up approx. $1,800 for the month due to monthly 401k and ING savings account contributions. Sold some stock and used that money to open up a Roth IRA. Ongoing liability is 9k in student loans. Total net worth sits at $34k. Currently 25 and tentatively shooting for $150k net worth before 30 (I think this is a realistic goal?). Thanks for posting – Your Net Worth pieces help inspire me to analyze where I’m at now and realize what I need to do to achieve my savings goals.
Looks great J$. I think we must be down a bit because the market dropped so much, but I’m not too worried yet.
Hey I am also curious how you will be attacking your mortgage payments :) I will be buying my first house sometime in the near future. So i can’t wait and read that next article.. And i also plan on getting an IRA soon. Sooner the better right :)
Shouldn’t the 401(k) be listed as -+$16,908.95? (or whatever the balance was before you rolled it over to the IRA) As you pointed out, this is technically money you already had, even if they were dragging their feet about giving it to you.
My net worth went down about $10,000. I am at $189,860. Most of the reason is I lowered the estimate of value of my second property that is still not sold. I had it as $120,000, but since it still hasnt sold, it obviously isnt worth that! So, I am now estimating it at $115,000…Zillow agrees.
The other reason my networth went down is I am getting married in September, so I have been on a spending splurge. Luckily, the fiance’s parents are paying for the wedding (Mostly because they are the ones that wanted the wedding, fiance and I wanted to just go to Vegas and mine arent paying because they threw me a beautiful first wedding and I wont ask them to do that again). Anyway….I’ve been buying bridal shoes, and jewelry and honeymoon clothes, and bathing suits for Hawaii, etc, etc.
But, I still think a networth of almost $190,000 is pretty good for a 35-year old single mom. My hope is that by age 40, my husband and I will be at $500,000. He’s got some student debt and credit card debt though that I can’t wait to start kicking out. I hate that I am inheriting his debt, but we’ll manage. Also, upset that he is 40 and just started his 401(k) last year. What a difference between me starting at 21 and him starting at 39. Hmmmm, am I a sugar mama?
“being too busy to splurge even if I wanted to!”
That’s not entirely a bad thing! Seriously, just like with the page views, the first million takes time, but it should be easier after that!
Up 20K?! DAAAAYYUUUUUM J Money!! That’s freakin awesome. I’m surprised you made other gains besides the 17K though with the markets being as not cool as they are.
Hey guys! Sorry for the delay here — been in and out of town for the past 3 weeks hustlin’ ;) Well, that and vacationing – but still!
Here are some responses:
@John – Yes! That is exactly what happened – my AC just went kapooey all of a sudden. I don’t know jack about cars, or how to go about even fixing a relay, but I can def. run it by my mechanic friend to try out :) Though luckily Fall is slowly approaching which means I have another 8 months or so until I need to start worrying about it again! Haha… good lookin’ out though, bro.
@jennypenny – HAH! We *are* in very similar situations :) Though unfortunately I still have yet to figure it out… I’ll actually be blogging about WHICH mortgage to pay off first though this week, so def. stay tuned. I promise to let y’all know the plan as soon as I do!
@No Debt MBA – Awesome! Glad to hear it my friend :)
@Cassie – Haha, well yeah – I haven’t done it yet cuz I HATE THEM! ;) But it’ll be coming up soon, I promise. Stay tuned…
@CityFlips – Heck yeah it is! $1,000 is no joke for anyone’s net worth – congrats :)
@Maria Nedeva – What? Really? Like, you sued them or a group of people sued them and they’re now forced to pay people back? Cuz if so that’s allllll kinds of awesome! Haha… congrats :) Def. let us know what happened!
@Ginger – Oh man, the markets haven’t been helping at all this month either so far, bleh…
@Alex – Yeah, I should probably have a liability section too, but last time I tried it I just confused myself more. I figured this way it HITS me more when I see such a big clump going away every 3 months. It may not make the most sense tracking-wise, but it def. helps to keep me on track and conscious of it all ;) So for now, it works.
@Jen @ Master the Art of Saving – Yup! A HUGE relief. I don’t think it’s still even settled in yet, haha… almost 2 years of waiting and hoping for it just makes it all so surreal once I got it! :) I’m glad your net worth is going up too over there though, it all adds up!
@HP – Oh awesome, that’s great :) Watching others’ net worths helped ME when I first started blogging, so it’s something I def. keep doing to hopefully help others too (as well as keep myself on track at the same time). Keep up the good work!
@retirebyforty – It’s all a part of the game ;)
@Kody @ Financial Money Tips – Heck yeah! The faster you start saving/investing, the more it snowballs over time! I’ll try and get that morgage post out sooner than later, I’m just working on figuring out some more stuff… as for your house buying, I won’t tell you not to do it, but DEF please for all that’s holy – make SURE it’s something you really want to do! It’s def. not for everyone, so take your time and make super wise (and slow) decisions :)
@Edward Antrobus – Nope, cuz it could have very easily been long gone. In fact, I started writing it off in my head as the odds got smaller and smaller every month that passed w/out any deposits :( I was still planning on fighting tooth and nail for it, but to me it was all wishful money and could only be counted once I had it in my hand.
@Nicole – Hah! You ARE a sugar momma ;) Very impressive too – $200k at your age is awesome, ESP with having a child. Keep rockin’ it my friend! And congrats on the upcoming wedding :)
@Million Mile Secrets – No doubt, good sir :)
@Brian – I get lucky sometimes ;)