Archives for Net Worth Update category
1
Aug
Posted in Net Worth Update by Roger |
Ah, another month has come and gone. July was extraordinarily busy, with everything from family visits to graduate school trips taking up time. Add in the fact that I’m still working, studying for said grad school, and helping around the house, and it was a very full month.
Of course, the advantage of all that running around is that the month went pretty quickly. When it comes right down to it, I’d rather be too busy than not busy at all; in the latter case, time just seems to drag on and on, taking forever. Like most adults, though, it’s been many a year since I had absolutely nothing to do; even when I wasn’t working, there was still housework, yard work, and other domestic tasks to keep me occupied. I suppose it’s part of being an adult; the responsibility that comes along with being in control of your own life.
Speaking of responsibility, one of the biggest responsibilities we have as adults is to manage our own money. (Like the way I tied it back to personal finance?) On that note, let’s see where my finances stood at the beginning of the dog days of summer:
Not too much to report on the financial front. My investments are moving upward (July was a pretty good month in that respect). My debts would be going down, but I helped my fiancee get a used car by putting the down payment on my credit card and co-signing for her (she has a decent income, more than me right now, actually, but virtually no credit history; I’ll have to help her rectify that situation). Thanks undoubtedly to the seemingly endless extensions (and my stint at Sanofi, however brief it was), I qualified for further unemployment benefits, so that helps to keep my finances in check.
All in all, not a bad month.
Related Websites
1
Jul
Posted in Net Worth Update by Roger |
July is well on its way to being a very busy, very exciting month for me, and it’s barely even started. Here are a few of the things waiting in the wings this month:
- I’m starting graduate school in the fall, which means putting my job hunt aside for the moment (at least, until I know how much time, if any, I’ll be able to devote to working, after taking care of school work and possible work study)
- My fiancee’s grandmother and uncle are coming out to visit us (and my future mother in law) this month, so we’ve been in a whirlwind attempt to clean and have everything spotless by the time they arrive. It’s Spring Cleaning multiplied by twenty around here lately.
- Speaking of my fiancee, this month is our anniversary. We can’t remember whether it’s the 17th or the 19th of this month (which probably tells you more than you need to know about both of our memories, as well as how much importance we prescribe to a particular date). In either event, we’ll have to find some way of celebrating when the middle of the month rolls around.
- Last, but far from least, July brings with it the Fourth of July, an always fun time to be an American. This year, the fourth also has the added pleasure of being when the first stage of the Yakezie challenge ends. I’ve managed to meet my first goal (although sadly, my secondary goal of leveraging my blog to achieve global domination has yet to be met), so we’ll have to see what stage two of this challenge will bring.
All in all, a pretty busy looking month. With all that going on, it’s almost hard to focus on my finances; still, I know I need to keep an eye on them to keep everything under control. So, here’s how my finances look this month:
Not too much to report. I had to rollover my 401(k) from my last job to a traditional IRA (which I kept at Fidelity in their Freedom Fund), but unless you look pretty closely, you might not even see that. My mony market fund at Vanguard was closed for insufficient funds. And my Alexa ranking has decreased (well, gone up, but since I’m trying to reach a lowered rank, going up is bad). An interesting month last month; next month promises to be even more interesting.
Related Websites
1
Jun
Posted in Net Worth Update by Roger |
Wow, it’s June already? May went by way too quickly, I’m still trying my best to get caught up with blogging, housework and my personal life (what little there is of it, there seems). It didn’t help that May started with my fiancee working her cute butt off with the pending end of school and ended with me working thirty hours a week or so at Wal-Mart, mostly lifting heavy things for the bulk of the shift. It barely seems like I barely had time to think about my blog, let alone write anything. (Let’s not even get started on how little time I’ve had to browse the various blogs I follow, including my fellow Yakezie; I’m basically a month behind at this point…)
Anyway, enough complaining about how busy life is getting; busy is pretty much the modern American’s natural state of being, from the age of twelve on. (Or possibly even younger, if what I keep hearing about schools overloading the little whippersnappers is accurate.) No sense complaining, particularly when I’ve brought most of my busy-ness on myself. Just have to keep plugging away, doing what I can and trying to do even more. And on that note, onto the main attraction, my finances as of this month:
May was pretty rough, investment-wise. Now, I try to console myself with the fact that most of my investments are for retirement, and therefore, the day to day (or month to month, as the case may be) variations of the value don’t really matter. Still, there’s something about ‘losing’ over two thousand dollars in a month that hurts a bit. Add in a high month of credit card expenses (although, we (that is, me and my fiancee) have agreed to cut down the credit card usage for the foreseeable future, so that should help on that part of my net worth.) Here’s hoping that June turns out better!
Related Websites
1
May
Posted in Net Worth Update by Roger |
Well, April has come and gone, and good riddance! Far too many April showers for my taste, to say nothing about the fact that many of them were snow showers… Still, it would have been nice to have a bit more time last month; I’m not entirely sure why, but it seemed even busier than most months lately.
This month has just been insane. Between the vacation at the start of the month (which was great fun, but did throw me off) to how busy Sondra has been with the end of the semester coming up quickly, it’s just been a month that was much busier in the non-blogging world than I’ve been in quite a while. I’ve finally managed to get caught up within the past few days, but still, it’s nearly the end of the month; I should have been done with all this by now. Here’s hoping that May is less hectic and more relaxing.
All of that out of the way, let’s get into the financial details for April:
Not too much to tell; my investments are up a bit, my debts are down quite a bit (hopefully, they’ll be even lower if I can keep my spending in check), and my net worth is slowly climbing up. If I can keep this up, soon my finances will be in great shape. (Although, if I can’t find some kind of job, my money supply will take a major hit in a few months when my unemployment benefits run out.) So, good news, overall.
Related Websites
4
Apr
Posted in Net Worth Update by Roger |
Another month, another collection of bills, investment statements, and other pieces of financial information to go through. Of course, since this month happens to be tax month, there’s also numerous earning statements, W-2s, and 1099 forms to go through and organize. I managed to finish my taxes late Saturday night (a wild time, I’ll have you know), so as of Monday, my taxes for 2009 will be complete. (I never felt like getting my taxes done by the beginning of April was cutting it close before I started following personal finance blogs and reading tips to complete your taxes being posted in February; now, I feel like a slacker.)
My fiancee Sondra and I have also just returned from a trip to Philadelphia and visiting with my extended family, so I’ve got stories galore just waiting to be shared. (Consider that a tease for tomorrow.) First, though, it’s been a month since I shared my updated net worth, so let’s get right to the main event:
As is often the case, the results are sort of mixed. My investments are up across the board, a reflection of the generally good economic conditions as of late. My savings are up, as well, although my debts are up even higher (in no small part due to expenses related to the aforementioned trip), making my Available Funds a net loss for the month. The rest of April is going to have to be a big month for cutting down my spending and possibly increasing my alternative income streams.
I get to finish on a high note, at least; my Alexa Ranking has decreased by more than 50% in this past month; if I can keep up this kind of growth, I’ll zoom right past the 200,000 mark and have a good chance to reach 100,000 (or perhaps even 50,000) by the July 4th deadline. It just goes to show what a little hard work can accomplish.
Related Websites
1
Mar
Posted in Net Worth Update by Roger |
Wow, February went by fast, didn’t it? I suppose this is to be expected, since it is the shortest month, but dang, twenty-eight days never seemed to move so quickly. It’s probably a sign that I’m getting old; when I was younger, it seemed to take forever for each day to go by, let alone an entire month.
I suppose this is part of growing older, partially because it puts time into perspective, and partially because we inevitably get busier. Yes, the carefree days of youth are long since past, and even when I’m between jobs, there is inevitably so much to be done. In fact, it seems like I’m even busier now; looking for jobs is nearly a full-time job itself, to say nothing of trying to keep my blog running, doing chores around the house (I’m the official dishwasher and dog walker at home, among other things) and doing other hobbies. Pretty soon, the whole day is gone. Plus, apparently the day is literally getting shorter; NASA notes that the recent earthquake in Chile actually shifted the Earth’s axis, shortening the day.
Alas, such is life, I suppose. We have to adapt to whatever life throws our way, even shorter days and more work to be crammed into them. With that out of the way, let’s get to the real fun; it’s time to go over how my financial situation has changed in the last month:
Money-wise, February was pretty good; I increased my net worth a bit, decreased my outstanding debt a little (although, since I pay off my credit cards each month, this means I spent nearly as much in February as I did in January, when I spent more than I was planning to spend), and my investments did alright overall.
You’ll also notice an interesting addition on the bottom of my net worth chart. Since I joined the Financial Samurai Alexa Challenge last month, I thought it might be fun (and informative) to start keeping track of my Alexa ranking right along with my net worth. In the course of a month (actually, less than a month; the starting number was taken on February 5th, and of course, February is the shortest month) my ranking jumped up more than 100,000 ranks, putting my humble little blog solidly in the top half-million websites IN THE WORLD!
Most incredibly, more than half of the gain occurred over this past weekend; I went from 515,000 on Friday to 480,000 on Saturday to 460,000 on Sunday. I’m not sure what exactly what made this weekend so special, although my post on death taxes brought out more responses than I usually see. A few more weekends like that, and I’ll make my goal of 200,000 by July 4th easily. Banzai!
Related Websites
31
Jan
Posted in Net Worth Update by Roger |
Well, it’s the end of January already. Funny, I’m still having trouble remembering to put ‘2010′ on my checks rather than ‘2009′, and already the new year is more than 1/12th over. Is there anyway we can, as a society, call a redo and turn the clocks back to January 1st? I can’t be the only one who could use a whole new January just to get their act together.
Well, I suppose getting a replay on the year is very unlikely. I’ll just have to keep moving ahead, trying to get my finances in shape as best I can as I travel forward in time. While this year certainly gotten off to the best start, I have faith that things will improve in the near future. Call it optimism, call it faith, call it pure hope, but I have the feeling that February’s going to be a good month. If not, I’ll have to redouble my efforts into my time machine project.
Alright, enough of my optimism; it’s time to look at my finances:
So, not one of my best weeks; with the end of the month coming up, I’ve been spending quite a bit to cover various bills, which did not make the American Express happy. Add in investments falling (in spite of adding over four hundred dollars to my Roth IRA, my account showed a net loss this week), and it’s been a rough week. Still, my optimism remains intact. Come on February; I’m ready for a new month to come!
Related Websites
24
Jan
Posted in Net Worth Update by Roger |
Well, I made a mistake this past one, one that could cost me a pretty penny. I didn’t pay my American Express bill on time this month. Unfortunately, with all the trouble I had with getting unemployment benefits, I didn’t schedule a payment for Amex when it closed for December, and didn’t think to double check this month. I realized my mistake this Saturday (when the payment was due on Thursday), paid the bill, and had the payment credited to my account.
Well, today, I re-checked my account, and I was both charged a fee, and credited an equal amount to my account. I’m not entirely sure what happened; I was expecting (and prepared to pay) a fee because of my mistake, but perhaps because it was my first time failing to pay on time and because I corrected the situation within two days, they gave me a pass this time. If so, I’m thankful, and will have to try even harder to prevent this event in the future.
In either event, I’m taking the initiative and setting up automatic payments for my credit cards (and will see if I can do so with my student loans, as well). I’m also making notes on my net worth table to keep track of which automated payments are scheduled to be paid, so I can add any other payments that are needed. So, with all that in mind, let’s see where my finances stand this month:
It was a bad week for my investments, which got hammered. That went a long way to dragging my net worth down, but hopefully the markets will pick back up soon. Until next week, here’s to an increasing net worth (and no stupid credit card mistakes) for everyone reading!
Related Websites
16
Jan
Posted in Net Worth Update by Roger |
One of the things that happens when you lose your job is that you start to consider the next step you take in your life. You think about what you really want to do, and whether you are on the path to achieve your goals. You ask questions about where you wish to be in life and what you want to do in the future.
After doing much of this sort of soul searching, I’ve decided that I should go back to grad school and get my Master’s degree (and possibly a Ph.D., eventually). Besides opening more doors to me in my field (in biochemistry and similar fields, I’ve noticed that an advanced degree can easily substitute for experience when applying for a job), it’s also a major requirement for becoming a professor, which is something I’ve wanted to do for quite a long time (ever since I noticed a fondness for teaching when helping my classmates during my undergraduate career).
In order to do this, I need to get into graduate school, and to do that, my first step is going to be studying for and taking the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). So, if am not around quite as much on everyone else’s blog in the following few weeks, don’t think that I’ve gone off a partyin’; more likely, I’m spending my spare time studying up on the GRE. But for now, let’s get onto the fun of going over my finances (I can hear the joy in your voice at the thought):
Not too much to report; I’ve settled my investment shifting in my Roth account, so now I’ll be able to just track my progress. After reading some of the commentary from Financial Samurai, I’ve decided against converting my 401(k) to a Roth; instead, I think I’ll just roll it over to a traditional IRA, and try to diversify my retirement accounts a bit (it’s good to be prepared for whatever tax changes the future might bring). I need to cut down on my spending even more; but other than that, not too much wrong with this picture, I’m happy to say.
Related Websites
9
Jan
Posted in Net Worth Update by Roger |
Sorry to quote David Bowie, but is seemed pertinent to my net worth update this week. With the coming of the new year, I’ve been doing what I can to get my finances better organized. As with any type of major clean up project, though, things are going to get messier before they get cleaner.
Take my investments, for example. I’m currently in the process of selling some funds and buying others in my Roth in order to get my allocation to my desired levels. I’m also trying to roll over my 401(k) into my Roth, although going from a pre-tax account to a post-tax account always involves quite a bit of paperwork (as well as plenty of money in taxes). Hopefully, by the end of the month (or by the end of February, at the latest), I’ll have everything consolidated and close to my desired allocations. Until then, it’s going to be a bit of a mess with my investment portfolio.
My savings accuounts is a much different (and happier) story. As you might tell from the two thousand plus dollar increase to my savings, I have gotten my unemployment benefits paid out, as well as past benefits, which have swelled my accounts. For the first time since I lost my job, I’m not worried about meeting my bills, and have enough money to start building my emergency fund back up and continue my investment plans. It’s always nice to have some breathing room.
Spending is an uglier picture, although it’s not as bad as it might seem. I’ve spent quite a lot on my American Express this last week, but many of the expenses are one time things (books for me, books for Sondra, gifts for my mother and her sister) or were things that I put on my card but was compensated for with cash (spending on groceries that Sondra and I split, for example). As a result, while I added much more to my card than I was planning, I’m pretty confident I’ll be more frugal in the near future.
Anyway, enough about my budget, let’s get to the meat of my personal finances:
Overall, not too bad; a nice boost to my net worth, one that I hope I can maintain over the next several months. But I’m happy for now.
Related Websites
