April 2011 Net Worth
Here are the changes to my net worth over the last 6 months, since my last posting in November 2010. I ramped up my debt payments as of January, and I’m fully on track to paying off more than $10,000 for the year, beyond any extra unexpected income. However, that may not be fully apparent at first glance, because due to a major decision to get a new-to-me vehicle in April, my overall networth flattened with an additional $13,700 of new debt (after the sale value of my old vehicle). So instead of a whopping decrease in my debt, I only show a $2700 reduction is 6 months.
Here’s a simple chart, with a description to follow afterwards. WordPress blogs won’t allow javascripting to be displayed, so I can’t show you a pretty graph. Instead, you can view it here.
| Assets: | |||
| April ’11 | Nov. ’10 | Difference | |
| Cash | $1,520 | $1,849 | ($329) |
| Savings | $1,000 | $715 | $285 |
| 401K (current): | $9,820 | $7,928 | $1,892 |
| 401K (rolled over): | $50,163 | $44,814 | $5,349 |
| Total Assets: | $62,503 | $55,306 | $7,197 |
| Liabilities | |||
| SBA: | $23,291 | $27,699 | ($4,408) |
| BECU Auto Loan: | $10,283 | $0 | $10,283 |
| BECU Visa: | $0 | $1,389 | (1,389) |
| Line of Credit: | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Citibank: | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Discover: | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| US Bank: | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Total Liabilities: | $33,574 | $29,088 | $4,486 |
| Total Net Worth: | $28,929 | $26,218 | $2,711 |
Cash will continue to fluctuate. It is my reserve savings for things that will eventually be spent (vehicle fund, christmas spending, clothes fund, and whatever is in my checking account at the time of posting).
With a recent windfall due to a settlement, I fully funded my $1,000 emergency fund. Nothing further will be put into this fund until I am fully out of debt. Then I’ll build up a 3+ month fund, but not before.
the 401K funds continue to grow. I increased my pre-tax contribution for my current job from 4% up to 6% this year. I previously decided to increase my contributions by a percentage point a year, but due to the social security payroll deduction of 2%, I split the difference, 1 for me, 1 for 401k, bringing the total increase to 2% for the year. Next year? I’ll probably keep it at 6% if that deduction goes away in 2012.
As for debts – I paid off my BECU Visa, have kept all other cards at $0, and continue to pay down the SBA loan. I’ve decided to put all my energey in the larger SBA loan – it has a slightly her rate (5% instead of the auto loan’s 3.99%), and they charge an annual fee, which the auto loan does not. Plus, I hear having different types of loans is good for the credit score. I haven’t ever had an auto loan, so maybe this will help get me into the 800s finally? Who knows. Not planning on paying off the auto loan beyond the minimum. It’s a 45-month loan.
Net Worth November 2010
It’s been 8 months since I posted my last one at this blog and 3 months since updating my chart. My debt reduction continues to have a steady increase in my monthly net worth. WordPress blogs won’t allow javascripting to be displayed, so I can’t show you the chart. Instead, you can view it here.
| Assets: | |||
| November ’10 | March ’10 | Difference | |
| Cash | $1,849 | $1,225 | $624 |
| Savings | $715 | $1,000 | ($285) |
| 401K (current): | $7,928 | $5,913 | $2,015 |
| 401K (rolled over): | $44,814 | $43,354 | $1,460 |
| Total Assets: | $55,306 | $51,492 | $3,814 |
| Liabilities | |||
| SBA: | $27,699 | $28,762 | ($1,063) |
| BECU Visa: | $1,389 | $0 | 1,389 |
| Line of Credit: | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Citibank: | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Discover: | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| US Bank: | $0 | $5,643 | ($5,643) |
| Total Liabilities: | $29,088 | $34,405 | ($5,317) |
| Total Net Worth: | $26,218 | $17,087 | $9,131 |
Not bad. My net worth is now just slightly less than my total debt. Small gains in the stock market, for which I have no say in, have positively impacted my 401K. My very small 4% contribution (and 1% employer match) have helped my current 401K contributions as well. My formula is based on very few items, so it’s slow, steady, and consistent from month to month. In other words, my networth continues to plod upward.
Cash looks deceptively better. Most of this shouldn’t be counted. It includes $500 for xmas spending, which should be blown by the end of the year, obviously, and $525 for my vehicle to be maintained. Something is guaranteed to break on it soon.
It’s been so long since I last posted this that having a new source of credit (the BECU Visa) shows up as a new debt, while I actually moved the US Bank charges to it, and have been steadily paying it down. So it deceptively looks like all new debt, which it isn’t, it just hasn’t had a higher start on a net worth charge before to be compared to!
March 2010 Net Worth – Effects of Furlough/Layoff
I’m a little late in posting this, since it’s obviously way into the month of April, but I did put my March net worth together shortly into March.
WordPress blogs won’t allow javascripting to be displayed, so I can’t show you the chart. Instead, you can view it here.
| Assets: | |||
| March ’10 | Feb ’10 | Difference | |
| Cash | $1,225 | $950 | $275 |
| Savings | $1,000 | $1,000 | $0 |
| 401K (current): | $5,913 | $5,399 | $514 |
| 401K (rolled over): | $43,354 | $40,930 | $2,424 |
| Total Assets: | $51,492 | $48,279 | $3,213 |
| Liabilities | |||
| SBA: | $28,762 | $29,196 | ($434) |
| Line of Credit: | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Citibank: | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Discover: | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| US Bank: | $5,643 | $5700 | ($57) |
| Total Liabilities: | $34,405 | $34,896 | ($491) |
| Total Net Worth: | $17,087 | $13,383 | $3,704 |
If you’ve been reading any of my most recent posts, you’ve heard that my partner J is now unemployed and I have been having furlough days at work. Due to that, and other very large expenses for the new raised-bed garden we just put in to our new place (a rental), I have been paying very little towards debt. The only reason I have much of a gain is due to the stock market and my 401K.
I can already tell that I’ll be paying a large chunk of debt before May, so unless the market tanks (or even just backslides), I should continue to improve; my liabilities should reduce more like it’s supposed to in April.
Feb 2010 Net Worth
As expected, I had a huge and positive change to my net worth this month! I made a huge payment towards debt, paying off my personal line of credit in full ($1,000!), fully funding my emergency fund ($300), and paid an extra $500 towards my SBA loan. This was due primarily towards some very large paychecks this past month and receiving my tax refund.
WordPress blogs won’t allow javascripting to be displayed, so I can’t show you the chart. Instead, you can view it here.
| Assets: | |||
| Feb ’10 | Jan ’10 | Difference | |
| Cash | $950 | $580 | $370 |
| Savings | $1,000 | $700 | $300 |
| 401K (current): | $5,399 | $5222 | $177 |
| 401K (rolled over): | $40,930 | $40,147 | $783 |
| Total Assets: | $48,279 | $46,649 | $1,630 |
| Liabilities | |||
| SBA: | $29,196 | $29,699 | ($503) |
| Line of Credit: | $0 | $1,017 | ($1,017) |
| Citibank: | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Discover: | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| US Bank: | $5,700 | $5763 | ($63) |
| Total Liabilities: | $34,896 | $36,479 | ($1,583) |
| Total Net Worth: | $13,383 | $10,170 | $3,213 |
Next month will probably be pretty lean. My next paycheck is only 9 days, and of those days, I lost about 4 hours of overtime due to attending a 3-day seminar (8 hour days instead of 10). I also expect some major changes at work, with a probable reduction in my salary in response to several months of losses at work (the economy has finally come calling). I’ll be posting more when I find out more this week.
Jan 2010 net worth: slow progress
January saw a modest decline in my net worth because of 2 things. Most of my assets are tied up in 401K mutual funds, which decreased, slightly in the past month. The other reason was due to my final large installment on rental move-in costs (the second half of last month’s rent, plus security, pet, and cleaning deposits).
WordPress blogs won’t allow javascripting to be displayed, so I can’t show you the chart. Instead, you can view it here. Further explanations are below.
| Assets: | |||
| Jan. ’10 | Dec. ’09 | Difference | |
| Cash | $580 | $300 | $280 |
| Savings | $700 | $700 | $0 |
| 401K (current): | $5222 | $5013 | $209 |
| 401K (rolled over): | $40,147 | $41,727 | ($1580) |
| Total Assets: | $46,649 | $47,740 | ($1,091) |
| Liabilities | |||
| SBA: | $29,699 | $29,637 | $62 |
| Line of Credit: | $1,017 | $1,469 | ($452) |
| Citibank: | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Discover: | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| US Bank: | $5,763 | $5888 | ($125) |
| Total Liabilities: | $36,479 | $36,994 | ($515) |
| Total Net Worth: | $10,170 | $10,746 | ($576) |
Cash:
I started contributing small amounts again to my mini-funds. Most of this money I expect to pay out at some point, so it won’t have a large impact on my networth from year to year. February will see a much larger and regular gain, once my budget gets back to “normal.” The most this category should increase in any one month would be $370.
Savings:
This category is primarily my $1,000 emergency fund. It’s been depleted with moving, rental fees, a recent car expense that I didn’t quite have enough saved up for, and finally, moving my primary checking/savings from Wells Fargo to Boeing Employees Credit Union. Now that the rent will be back to a sane $895/month instead of over $1500, and now that I don’t have to shuffle between paying out of 4 different accounts, I can start building this up again in February.
401K funds:
The only reason my current 401K (the one I am contributing to in my current employment) went up at all is due to my contributions and extremely minor (1%) employee match. As you can tell from my past (and partially rolled-over) 401K, I lost in the one that I don’t contribute to. Just a small jog in the road, and I’m not really concerned.
Credit Cards:
I overpaid my US Bank account as I started online banking (and was worried payment wouldn’t make it in time). This is a low-priority debt, as it is currently 0% interest; it should only go down by $60/month until the rate expires. Citibank is always paid in full (like frugallawyer, I hate them). Discover is now paid in full, now that their 0% rate expired.
Personal Line of Credit:
This is at $1017 and should be paid in full by end of February. All my extra payments go here; it’s my highest interst rate at 10%.
SBA:
Until the line of credit is paid off, this gets the minimum payment. It is at a lowly 5% interest rate. I overpaid a little in January for the same reason I overpaid the US Bank card – I was worried about my first online bank payment getting there in time. Come March, this will be receiving my complete and undivided debt-payoff attention.
Next Month
Unless the stock market completely tanks, I should have a somewhat (at least to me and my moderate salary) significant change in net worth in February – I expect to get my $792 tax refund in 2 weeks and this will go towards my EF and completing my line of credit payoff. This will be on top of my regular debt extra payments, which I guestimate will be about $800, making it one of the best debt payments I’ll have made outside of any month that I receive a tax return. Fingers crossed that nothing untoward happens.
Dec 2009 Net Worth
December saw a nice increase in my networth!! Most of it is attributable to the stock market, since about $46K are invested in various funds. However, I did make about a big reduction in debt, to the tune of $1249. Every little bit helps!
I also updated my networth IQ chart, and see that the last time I did it was in December ’08. Big change there! I went from a negative net worth to over $10K in a year. A good start for my first year of financial awareness! I hadn’t updated in a year on their site. I think the problem is that wordpress does not allow javascript to be posted to their blogs; I’m unable to put the mini-chart on my blog so it wasn’t something I felt like returning to monthly. However, you can go see it here. I expect I’ll be updating it regularly, at least I’m going to try to!
| Assets: | |||
| Dec. ’09 | Nov. ’09 | Difference | |
| Cash | $300 | $700 | ($400) |
| Savings | $700 | $849 | ($149) |
| 401K (current): | $5013 | $4520 | $493 |
| 401K (rolled over): | $41,727 | $39,392 | $2,335 |
| Total Assets: | $47,740 | $45,569 | $2,171 |
| Liabilities | |||
| SBA: | $29,637 | $27,860 | $1,777 |
| Line of Credit: | $1,469 | $304 | $1,165 |
| Citibank: | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Discover: | $0 | $4065 | ($4065) |
| US Bank: | $5888 | $6014 | ($126) |
| Total Liabilities: | $36,994 | $38,243 | ($1,249) |
| Total Net Worth: | $10,746 | $7,218 | $3,528 |
Cash:
This category is from my mini-funds. Most of it was spent on xmas gifts. I will be adding about $500/month into this category, but it will get spent often, so it won’t ever have a huge impact on my net worth (these are savings for larger expenses that will happen unexpected or infrequently).
Savings:
A recent $450 car expense had to partially come out of savings, as my car fund was exhausted. Hopefully nothing more will happen for a few months, as I put in $100/month back into my car fund (which of course is currently zero).
401K funds:
My rolled over 401K I do not contribute anything to; It is an unchanged invested amount. I will not be contributing anything to an IRA until I get out of debt. At least, that’s the decision I have made now. With the majority of my debt at 5%, maybe I should consider revisiting that? It was only a few weeks ago that I got the news that my maturing SBA loan would transfer over to a business line and remain at 5%. I had expected to have moved $23K to various credit cards at higher rates. Since that is no longer having to occur, maybe I should invest in a Roth IRA or something? Still have to mull it over… My current 401K I am contributing 3% at work; just enough to put something in it, but not enough to affect my take-home pay or my debt pay off. Work contributes 1%. I am going to increase this to 4% in 2010.
SBA/Discover/Personal Line of Credit:
My 0% interest transfer rate on my Discover card expired in December. I elected to pay it off in full and use my SBA loan (my lowest interest loan) to pay it off. Because I didn’t have enough cushion to put it *all* into the SBA, the remainder went to the personal line of credit. That will be the loan I focus on paying down first, since it is now my highest interest rate, at 10%. I expect I will have it paid off by March and can then focus fully on the SBA while making only the minimum payments to the US bank card – either til that is paid in full or until the interest rate increases from 0% (which is when it will get transferred to one of my 2 bank loans).
Citibank:
This card will never have a balance. I will always pay it off in full. I will take it off future networth statements.
US Bank:
This balance will continue to decrease, at about $60/month. It has no interest, so I will only be paying the minimum each month.
Net Worth: In the black (at least)
This is my first net worth calculation! I don’t own a home. I have a lot of debt. But I invested a sizeable amount (with an excellent match by my employer) in my 401K when I was in my 20s. When all is calculated, I come out with a positive number. Not very high, it’s only 4 digits, but it’s a start, and it will continue to grow as the economy improves, as I pay off my debt, and increase my savings. I expect I’ll see growth into the 5 digits by March of 2010.
So here are the numbers (and excuse the boring plain text – I’ll get a pretty & colorful table by the time I do my next posting):
Assets:
Cash $700
Savings $849
401K (current) $4520
401K (rolled over) $39,392
Net Assets: $45,569
Liabilities:
SBA: $27860
Line of Credit: $304
Citibank: $0
Discover: $4065
US Bank: $6014
Net Liabilities: $38,243
Total Net Worth: $7,218
DebtMaven 