The weather seems to be getting weirder and weirder lately.  You might recall from my Yakezie Carnival introduction that it has been a surprisingly snow-less January.  Well, in one of those odd coincidences that make me think that God is listening to me (and has an odd sense of humor), later that very day we had a snow storm that was so severe, and occurred so suddenly, that I was almost afraid to drive.   But in less than an hour, it had finished, leaving an inch of snow.  That alone would be pretty odd, but then yesterday, a mere two days later, the temperature is up to 60 Farenheit (about 15 Celsius, if all that metric training I had as a biochemistry undergrad is worth anything).  I have been walking my dog without even wearing a jacket and feeling a bit warm while doing so.  It is nuts.

So, it is in a world where the weather seems to be going mad, I find myself looking over my finances, as always, trying to figure out where my monetary situation stands.  It’s always interesting to see where things stand, and of course, it’s hard to determine how to improve your finances unless you know what improvements you need to make.  So, with little more ado, here’s where my finances stand:

So, quite a few changes have occurred in the last thirty-one days.  On the investment side of things, I’ve sold my non-retirement investment in the Vanguard STAR fund, using the money to cut down my credit card debt.  I’ve also put much of my most recent student loan installment toward decreasing my outstanding credit card debt; it seems appropriate, as much of the debt accrued as a result of my needs when joining graduate school.  So, on the plus side, my credit card debt is much lower than before, but my net worth has taken a big hit anyway.  Not the best possible result, but still, it could be worse.

On a much, much, MUCH happier note, my Alexa score is doing significantly better than last month.  (Hosting two carnivals, the aforementioned Yakezie Carnival and the Carnival of Financial Planning, in the space of a few days will do that to you.)  On that note, let’s see how the rest of my resolutions and goals for the year are doing:

Not too shabby; my alternate income, while not nearly as high as last month, still did pretty well, and my charitable giving for the year is actually ahead of the game.  The credit card paydown thing is tricky one; on one hand, I did technically cut down my credit card debt by more than four thousand dollars, on the other hand, I added six thousand dollars to my student loan debt, so it’s not exactly a clean debt elimination.  So, I decided to set a new goal line of sorts: if I can get that Amex debt under nine thousand dollars, I can consider my ‘Repay $5000 in Credit Card Debt’ resolution as complete.

It’s been an interesting year so far, in both weather and my money.  Here’s hoping that the rest of the year continues to be productive and entertaining.

Well, well, well, look at that.  You look away for what seems like only a minute, and when you look back, a whole new year has come around.  It’s practically some sort of conspiracy, designed to age us all before our time!

Or maybe it’s just the natural flow of time, and my increased busy-ness, combined with the natural perspective on time that comes as I age, just makes it seem like time is going steadily faster every year I am alive.  Nah, it’s a grand cosmic conspiracy, I tells ya!

Well, regardless of how the universe is plotting against me, I still need to try my best to be diligent and productive in my life, as well as earn some more cash to support myself.  Let’s see how well I did with that this past December:

In a word, ouch.  In more than one word, my investments didn’t do too shabby (there’s been a decline in my foreign holdings, but my domestic ones aren’t doing half bad), but my savings took a bit of a hit, and I added on much more debt than I had planned getting ready for (and celebrating) the Christmas season.  It’s going to take sot to recover from all that, I’m afraid.  On the plus side, after a few months of rising, I got an early Christmas present in the form of some improving Alexa scores.  On that note, let’s see how my goals for 2011 went in the final month:

Not too shabby.   My alternate income finally surpassed $1000 per month, a personal goal (and resolution) of mine for the year, although keeping it that high in 2012 is going to be tricky.   I fell a little bit short of my charitable giving goals for the year, but still managed to do pretty well in that respect, as well.  It’ll take some effort, but I’ll have to try even harder in the coming year to make myself a better, richer person.

Hard to believe it, but it’s already the end of 2011.  I know I’ve said this several times already, but it’s amazing how quickly this year has been going by.  It seems that almost every time I turn around, another month has gone by.  This might be a sign that I’m getting older; it’s probably not a good thing that I feel so much like an old man when I’m not even 30 yet…

But, my feelings aren’t the subject of this blog entry; instead, it is the time of the month when I take a (closer) look at my financial situation and see where I stand .  With the year approaching its end and the holiday season upon us, it’s more important than ever in the year to have an idea of where my finances stand.  Let’s see just where that is:

A pretty mixed month, overall.  With everything that’s been going on in the world, particularly in Europe, it’s pretty understandable that my investments aren’t as healthy as I would have hoped.  Still, as I write this, there’s some good news coming from the international markets, so perhaps that will change in the near future.

The news on my debts and savings is a bit more complicated; thanks in no small part to (belated) gifts for my birthday (and more than a little financial help from my family), my savings are as healthy as they’ve been in a while.  My credit card debts are also about as high as they’ve been in a while, though, which is definitely less good; a major portion of that is from prepaying my health insurance for the next year.

So, a busy month in my finances, it seems.  (Also pretty busy, although not in a way I would like, there’s my Alexa score, not heading in the direction I would hope.)  Now, let’s see how I’ve done with my side income and donation goals:

Not too shabby with my alternate income (although still pretty far below my goal of $1000 per month), and December should be even better, as I’ve got more than a few advertising agreements that are up for renewal; here’s hoping I can clear $1000 (or more).  My charitable donations kind of fell by the wayside this month, and I’ll have to improve how much I donate in the coming month, which should be pretty easy, as the holiday season is upon us.  Speaking of which, have a happy holiday season!

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Merry All Saints’ Day, Everyone!  Admittedly, it tends not to get the same sort of attention as All Hallows’ Eve, aka Halloween, but you try to compete with a holiday that involves costumes, candy, and other sorts of fun times.  It’s not an easy task.

Of course, All Saint’s Day also marks the start of the month of November, and that means that as with the start of all new months, around here that means it’s time to double check on where my net worth stands.  October was, I will not lie, a pretty rough one, as classes ramp up, research expectations increase, and the semester gets trickier in general.  Now, there were some high points, such as my birthday, but it’s been a pretty rough month.  On that happy note, let’s see where my finances stand:

All in all, not too bad; my investments are doing quite well, which is always a good thing.  My bank accounts are a bit lower than I would like, due in part to paying down some credit card debt, which unfortunately seems to always creep back up (the fact that everything from gasoline to my charitable giving winds up on my credit cards is not helping, of course, but that is life, I suppose).  My net worth is up on virtue of my rising investments, which is nice to see.  The only real bad news is the significantly fallen Alexa ranking; falling back under 200,000 in particular is a bit sad, as I had hoped to stay up there upon getting into the Yakezie.  All the more reason to work extra hard in November to get things back up there.  On the subject of blogging and goals, let’s see where I stand on my goals for the year:

I’m not doing half bad so far; the alternate income is down this month, that much is true, but I already have a few options lined up for November, so I’m not worried.  My charitable donations are right on track (although, I’m likely to look more into giving to charity without giving money in the future, at least until I’ve shored up my own financial state a bit more), so that’s a plus.

All in all, October’s been pretty good to me.  Hopefully I can keep this up, and end the year on a high (net worth) note.  Here’s hoping everyone had a good October, and has a happy November, as well!

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Wow, September has been a crazy, crazy, crazy month.  There’s been new classes, new labs (I’m starting to realize that perhaps I have overstretched myself, at least if I was hoping to do some of this ‘sleeping’ I hear so much about), and new marriages.  Not mine, at least not yet (June 12th of next year, in case you were wondering), but two of my many, many cousins got married this past month.  I did my best to attend, traveling for hours to get to each event (including one in Boston that required over ten hours of driving each way; the next time I have to go to Boston, I will DEFINITELY take a plane).

With all of this happening in my ‘real’ life, my online presence has dwindled more than a little bit.  As you’ve likely noticed, my blog hasn’t been updating as much in the past few weeks, and I’ve also been falling behind on keeping up with the blogs that I follow.  Luckily, a new month means a new opportunity for me to get caught up; I’m determined that when the time comes to next catch up on my resolutions, I’ll have much better news to report.  Of course, while we’re talking about reporting on my progress, it’s as good a time as any to share my financial standing as of the start of this month:

Well, the investment picture isn’t too pretty, although this is par for the course lately, it seems.  Definitely a lot more red ink there than I would like to see.  The picture for my available funds is a bit better; the bank balances dropped pretty far, but most of that went to paying down credit card debt (always a good goal to have), so I consider it pretty close to a wash.  It’ll take some effort to get the accounts back up and running, but not too shabby, particularly with the expenses noted earlier.  While we’re looking at my financial situation, let’s take a look at where I stand on meeting my resolutions:

So, overall, pretty good.  A slight boost in my alternate income, pretty steady progress in my charitable donations, and generally a nice picture to paint.  October should be a good month (it has my birthday in it, so how could it be bad), as I have a few pending arrangements that should lead to a pretty healthy alternate income.  All in all, I’m pretty happy about where things stand.

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It’s September once again.  Schools are starting to open again, the air is starting to get a bit chillier, and your chances to wear white before Labor Day are rapidly disappearing.  Yes, the fall season is nearly upon us, and with it, school has resumed for me.  It’s going to be a tough semester, with plenty of tricky classes and attempts to make some progress on my research; sadly, there’s not much good news to report there.

On the subject of potential bad news, it’s time, as usual, to see where my finances stand at the start of the month.  It’s been a long and interesting August, and there’s been quite a few changes that occurred.  Let’s see where my finances stand as all the dust starts to settle:

So, sort of a mixed month, all and all.  To the bad, I’ve managed to increase my credit card debt, my investments are still taking a hit (as might be expected, given how the markets have been behaving), and my student loans have increased as well.  On the other hand, my student loan requests have finally gone through, which you might remember, was causing me quite a bit of consternation; albeit, it took until the second to last day of August for the complications at my school to be resolved, so I’m still waiting for the last of the student loan money to come through, in case you’re wondering why my student loan debt has increased so much more than my available funds.  While I’m leery of taking on even more debt, there’s something to be said about having money available to cover my monthly bills and other obligations.

For further good news, my Alexa ranking has also been going up.  It hasn’t translated to a huge amount of new income (at least, not yet), but it’s nice to see that people appreciate my blog.  It’s also nice to get some more money coming in (as I’m sure I’ve said already, graduate students aren’t exactly the most highly paid members of society).  Speaking of which, let’s see how my side income and charity payments worked out this month:

Not too shabby.  My alternate income is a bit below where I had hoped it would be (and quite a bit below my goal for this year), but still, it’s nice have some money coming in.  My charitable donations are also keeping up, which is quite good; as bad as I might have had it this summer, I know there’s definitely people who have it worse, and I try to do what I can to help.

So, not too bad a way to start the fall and the school year.  Here’s hoping that by the time I graduate, I have much more good news to report!

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Another month, another update to see where my finances stand.  The summer is nearly done, the school season is nearly upon us again, and my research is giving me more troubles than I would have thought possible.  It looks like I’m going to have start all over once again.  So, that’s all kinds of fun right there.

If that weren’t enough, Sondra’s wisdom teeth removal had some complications (namely, her teeth didn’t want to come out), so we had to go to an oral surgeon on top of the cost of the dentist.  Add in the costs of trying to get the air conditioning in my car repaired and making two trips out to see my mother on the other side of the state, and it’s been a pretty expensive July.

With all that introduction out of the way, let’s see where my personal finances stand:

So, all that preparatory explanation stuff I made you read through up there?  Hopefully it helped keep this from being too much of a surprise.  My investments are down, my savings have been nearly wiped out (mostly trying to pay down my credit cards, or at least keep them from growing even faster), and said credit cards have even higher balances.  Not a good month; although, I have reached new heights with my Alexa ranking, so there is a little silver to this cloud of woe.  On that note, let’s see where I stand on my goals:

Not too shabby; my alternate income is down a bit, but all those trips I mentioned and helping to take care of Sondra after her operations did kind of cut into my ability to make money from around the internet.  The charitable donations are proceeding pretty well, although there is some room for improvement there.  Hopefully, when my student loans come in, I’ll be able to put some of the money towards charity, as well as keeping my own head above water.  Here’s hoping August is a good month for all of you, as well!

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Wow, this year is going fast.  Maybe it’s being in grad school, maybe it’s trying to make time for my Sondra, maybe it’s trying to keep up with my blog; probably, it’s a combination of all three, working together as a sort of tag team to keep my free time, well, anything but free.  Alas, I suppose this is the natural way of things for adults; once you get older and have responsibilities, free time becomes more and more of a rare commodity.

In the same way, for that matter, money starts to be more and more of a priority in your mind as you start to get older.  It certainly has for me; that’s a major reason I started this blog, after all, and as I attempt to build a family with my fiancee, it’s only likely to become more important.  If I hope to become one of the highest net worth people on the planet, it’s going to take a lot more effort on my part.On that note, let’s see where finances stand, as we speak:

There’s really only one word to describe this: horrible.  I’ve added more debt this month (mostly to my credit cards) than I make in three months as a grad student.  The combination of lower summer wages, numerous car and medical costs, and lower stock prices, along with, I’ll admit, my own rather reckless spending at times, really did a number on me and my net worth.  I’ll have to do a better job of going cash only with my spending, and cut down all but the most neccessary spending while I’m at it.  Luckily, when the fall semester rolls around, I’ll be able to take advantage of student loans; it’s not a perfect solution (as I’m simply trading one debt for another), but lower, fixed interest rates and the ability to defer payments (and interest, for at least the subsidized loans) will be a help in getting out ahead of this.

There is one bright spot in all this trouble: my blog is as popular as it’s ever been, if not moreso.  My Alexa score is near the best I’ve ever had, and my Google PageRank has gone up to 5!  (Apparently, I’m not the only one; I guess Google did a major update this June.)  I’ve already noticed a significantly larger level of income via Adsense, and if I can keep up with blogging and build other alternate income sources, I should have a much better time financially in the coming months.  All of which is a fine way to introduce my goal achievement list for the month:

Not too bad on alternate income; not the $1000 per month I’m aiming for, but for a fairly slow month as blogging and advertisements go, I’ll call it a success.  I fell behind on my charity giving this month, but I’ll do my best to make it up in the coming months.

So, a mostly negative month, with a few bright spots.  Now, all I need to do is cut my spending, increase my income, and ramp up my work on my side projects.  Piece of cake, right?

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Ah, summer is here.  Well, technically it’s not here until the 21st of this month, although you won’t know that from the 90+ degree Farenheit (32+ degree Celsius) weather we’ve had this past weekend.  I am very glad for the invention of air conditioning, as I’m quite a wimp when it comes to excess heat.

Still, summer does have its advantages.  Since my classes are over for the summer (although, my research continues unabated), I have the opportunity to catch up on my blogging, and perhaps even get ahead of the game.  Of course, I’ve spent much of the month of May playing catch up after not being able to do as much as I would have liked in April (and honestly, through most of the year thus far).  Don’t worry, though, I’m getting back on the horse as best I can, and will be riding off into the sunset soon (hopefully).  On that note, let’s check out where my finances stand for my future riding:

In a word, crud.  My investments are down, my savings are down, and my debts are up; if only those things were reversed, I would be dancing in the streets.  (By way of explanation for my higher credit card debt, I had to help out my fiancee when the check from one of her jobs (she works two of them) was late and when combined with two trips across the state to visit my mother (paying for gas at the rather high prices it currently sells for), you can see where much of my money has gone this past month.)

Possibly the most vexing, though, is the decline in my Alexa ranking.  It’s not that surprising, I suppose; as noted already, I’ve been rather busy the past few months, and haven’t been as diligent in promoting, sharing, and even writing in my blog.  That is definitely going to change this summer, and hopefully my Alexa ranking (and alternative income) will reflect that new dedication.  On the subject of alternative income, let’s see where my alternative income and charitable giving for this past month stands:

A much better picture here, at least. My alternate income is only a fraction of my alternate income last month, which is understandable due to the higher than normal one-time income last month, but still, I’m not going to be a full-time blogger anytime soon, it seems.  My charitable donations are doing pretty well, which is nice to see; at this rate, in a few months I will catch up to my charitable goal, and then hopefully surpass them.

Hopefully, June will be a great month for me, and there will be even more good news to share when it is time for my July update.  Have a good June, everyone!

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Happy May Day, everyone!  Here’s hoping that everyone is ready for Spring to be here in full force.  I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m more than happy for the April showers to finally give way to some May flowers.  Even though it means that I’ll have to do a great deal more yard work (I spent a good portion of yesterday mowing the yard, amongst other tasks), I’m still ready to see Spring get here in full force.

Of course, April has been a very, very busy one for me.  It’s nearly the end of the semester,which means that I’ve been incredibly busy with reports, papers, and preparing for tests.  Sometimes I wonder how I manage to get everything done (although, perhaps I should make sure I make it through the last week and one half of the semester before I claim to get everything done).  It’s going to be tough, but I think that I should be alright; worst case, I end up slightly more insane than I am already.

On the subject of busy months, this April was also a pretty interesting one, money-wise.  There’s quite a few changes to my financial standing (mostly for the good), but why am I still talking when I can show you?

So, investments are up (quite a bit, actually) and savings are down a bit as I’ve used some money to pay off some credit card debt.  The most change is in my debts.  I’ve paid off my Mastercard, cut down the amount of my American Express debt significantly, and took out more money in student loans.  As a result, my debts stayed fairly stable.  Similarly, my Alexa ranking seems to be hovering around the same value that it has for the past few months.  The more things change, the more they stay the same, I suppose.  Still, seeing a bump in my net worth, even a fairly small one, is a nice change of pace.

Now, when it comes to my passive income, that’s where things get interesting:

As you can see, my alternate income is well above what I’ve been earning the past few months.  Now, a lot of that is one-off income; agreements made to display ads in my blog’s sidebar for X months in exchange for Y payment.  So, there’s a fair to high change that next month, I won’t pull in quite so much money (although, I’m hopeful that when the semester is over and I have some time to myself again, that I’ll be able to expand my alternate income sources).  It also means that, along with the money I’ve withdrawn in my student loans, I’ve got quite a bit of money I want to donate to the less fortunate, and hence, the high levels of my charitable goals and my need to still work to get there.

Still, that’s hardly the worst problem in the world to have.  I’m quite happy about where my finances stand right now. Here’s hoping May is even better, money wise.

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For those of you just popping in to check out my blog and wondering why I feel the need to call this my REAL net worth statement, it’s probably worth recalling just what holiday America celebrates at the start of April.  Or, if you’d prefer, you can just check out my last post, and be aware that I haven’t really become a millionaire in the course of a month.

Of course, that means I haven’t shared my real net worth for the start of April yet.  Since I do enjoy sharing my financial progress with my readers, that brings us to this post.  How did March 2011 treat me and my finances?  Let’s find out:

Sort of a mixed month, all in all.  My investments are up (I recall hearing yesterday that the Dow has hit a high it hasn’t reached since 2007, before the recession began) and my savings are also up, but so is my debt.  Hopefully, my commitment to not using my credit cards will pay off, and I’ll have less credit card debt to report in May (and even less in June, and even less in July, and… you get the picture, eventually no credit card debt at all).

Of course, my goal to pay off my credit cards as soon as possible would be much easier to reach if I had a bit more cash incoming, so let’s see where my side income and my charitable giving stands this past month:

So, my alternate income is up a bit for the month (and hopefully, if everything goes according to plan, will be even higher in the future).  But alas, my charitable giving has been falling much behind my goal for the year, so I’ll need to step up my efforts to give back more.  Here’s to a very good, and profitable, April!

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Ah, April is back yet again.  The time when you take the yacht out and return from the winter villa to enjoy your summer home.  Assuming that the staff has kept up on all the maintenance while you were away, there’s no better feeling in world.

Oh, wait, I suppose there is at least one better feeling: watching your net worth soar into the stratosphere.  There’s nothing quite as exhilarating as checking out your net worth and seeing another zero or two at the end.  Particularly if you managed to increase your wealth while you slept, taking full advantage of all that passive and portfolio income to grow your money without you even needing to check in on it is a wonderful sensation.  It’s a wonderful thing to see.

With that in mind, let’s see where the old net worth stands.  I have a pretty good feeling about this past month:

So, a pretty impressive month, all in all.  My retirement and non-retirement accounts are filled to near bursting, my savings accounts are well and truly stuffed, and my debts are all fully paid off.  All in all, not bad for a month’s work.

One of the bigger surprises, at least to my mind, is the incredible jump in my Alexa ranking.  I mean, I knew that The Amateur Financier was getting more and more popular, but to be so close to being one of the most popular 100 websites in existence, that nearly blew my socks off.  It definitely reminded me of all the good things in life, and how I need to remember and celebrate them.  Speaking of which, let’s see how I did on my goals of building up my alternate income and giving back to charity:

Well, the alternate income is definitely quite impressive.  It’s amazing what applying yourself to your goals can accomplish.  The charitable donation is set quite high, but as the expression goes, ‘To whom much is given, much is expected’, and goodness knows, I can afford it.

That pretty much sums it up; with all of that out of the way, I think there’s only one thing left to say.

APRIL FOOL’S!

Yes, as most of you have probably already guessed (at least, I hope you’ve guessed), my March, while not too shabby, was far from capable of turning me into a millionaire in a single month.  I just thought I would have a little fun (as I’m sure I’ll be the victim of more than one prank today, as I tend to be).  I’ll have a real Net Worth Update for April tomorrow; it won’t be quite as impressive, but should have some good news nonetheless.  Here’s hoping you have a good April Fool’s Day, and get other people better than they get you.

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Whoa, it’s March already; February certainly went by quick, didn’t it?  Although, I suppose that’s usually the case, since it is the shortest month and all.  Still, even taking that into account, February went by pretty quickly for me; it was a month filled with tests, lab reports, and other projects that kept me busy.

I have fallen into an unfortunate habit this month; I’ve been procrastinating on finishing my work, then when the due date comes around, I have to stay up late to finish off the work (like this Monday, when I stayed up to 2 a.m. to finish off a homework assignment I had for a week; to be fair, though, I started working on it at 9 p.m., thinking I could finish it in a few hours and still get my sleep).  Then, the following day, I spend the day incredibly tired, and don’t get much done (like this past Tuesday, where the only thing I got done, other than attend my classes (which did take nine hours out of my day, to be fair) was gather up the following net worth data).  That leads to days where I have to make up the lost time and work hard to get caught up (like today, when I need to finish a lab report and grade a number of lab reports by tomorrow), which could (if I do budget my time properly throughout the day) lead me to stay up rather late tonight, making me tired throughout Thursday and unlikely to get much done.  And so the cycle continues.

Well, I’m trying my best to break that cycle.  I’ve been cutting down on the number of distractions I face (including ending my cable service in my apartment, which serves as more distraction than benefit), I’m working on better prioritizing to help ensure that I get the most important work done when it needs to be done (which includes keeping up with my blog), and I am trying to get ahead of the game, so I’m no longer facing the prospect of finishing up assignments the night before they are due.

All of this is to say that there is quite a bit of work that I need to do in order to fully back on the ball, work-wise.  Now that that is all out of the way, it’s time to get to the real fun; checking out my net worth!  Let’s see where things stand:

In a word, ouch.  My investments showed a nice little bump, but my savings took quite a hit, and I ended up adding quite a bit of credit card debt.   I even went to a negative net worth for the first time since I started keeping track of my net worth, which is certainly a milestone I was hoping to never reach.  I do know where my money has gone (helping my fiancee pay for car repairs, buying a new computer for my future mother-in-law’s birthday, and the $500 donation to celebrate my 500th post being the biggies) and March should be a much leaner month, but it’s still going to be a bit rough getting back to where I want to be, financially.  Although, while we’re on the subject of charity, let’s see where I stand on meeting my charitable and passive income goals:

Well, my alternative income level fell a bit (and definitely far, far below the $1000 per month goal I set for myself) , but my goal of donating 10% of my income to charity seems to be on track.  I still need to catch up a bit since I included the student loan I took out earlier this year as ‘income’ (although, if you look back up at my debts, it’s still listed there, as well), but I should be able to do quite a bit of good with my money.  And that will make any discomfort that such donations call all worthwhile.

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• Net Worth Update - March 2008
• Evan By The Numbers March 2010

Whoooo, doggie, January was an interesting month, money-wise.  Besides the wonderful fun with my car (and the multiple repair trips required), there was also some excitement with my student loans going on behind the scenes.  You see, while my graduate student stipend covers most of my class expenses, there are some that I need to pay out of pocket.  Rather than about the $1000 I had to pay last semester (which is still rather high, when my stipend is just barely over $1000 a month, but that’s another complaint), this semester I was informed that the amount I needed to pay was $4400 (aka, nearly as much as my entire spring semester stipend).  *Cue a mild heart attack*

Luckily for me, that turned out to be the result of a technical glitch (or something to that effect) in my university’s computer system; nobody actually expected me to come up with that much money, and a few emails got things straightened out.  (They still charged me nearly $800 on top of the portion of my tuition paid by my stipend, which is nearly a month’s income, but again, that’s more an issue with how the graduate student system itself works.)  So, good news, my tuition is not going to break the bank.

The not so good news is that I had already committed to a $7000+ student loan when I thought that my tuition was going to be much, much more expensive.  After the tuition was paid, they sent me the excess, though, which is a nice silver lining; I ended up putting much of that money into savings accounts and paying down my credit cards.  (Given that the loan (a) has an interest rate of 7.9% and (b) is subsidized, that is, I don’t owe any interest on it until I graduate, it seemed like a no-brainer to  use the money to help my current financial situation.)  All of this is to say that, as you look over my finances this month there are going to be more than a few changes:

Not too much to note, other than what I’ve already mentioned about the new student loan (the one listed under Fed Loan).  My investments inched their way higher (for the most part), my savings got a nice influx of money courtesy of my student loan, and my credit cards have been paid down (or paid off, which makes me happy).  The existence of the student loan itself does mean that I’ve added another (sizable) debt, of course, but it does give me more leeway to take care of my higher priority financial goals.

But wait, we’re not quite done yet.  I know this is about the time I let you go when we’re talking about my personal financial situation, but starting this month, I wanted to add a few more notes.  I thought to myself, what better way to keep motivated on several of my financially related resolutions than to keep a running tab of them in my net worth updates?  So, here’s where I stand toward fulfilling several of my goals:

I’m keeping track of my alternate income, which I have a goal of boosting to $1000 per month this year.  So far, I only brought in $25 last month, so I have quite a way to go, but everyone’s got to start somewhere, and it’s still nearly double what I made in December, so I am encouraged.  (I’m further encouraged by the fact that my income seemed to be ramping up as January went along; if it continues to increase like this, February should prove to be even more profitable.)

The other goal I’m tracking is to give ten percent of my income to charity.  I did a decent job this month (my monthly donations to the Yakezie Scholarship fund and my pledge of $500 to celebrate my 500th post added up to quite a bit of money), but since I’m counting my student loan as ‘income’, I’ve got a way to go to catch up in the coming months.  Still, setting a goal is the first step to achieving it, so I’m sure I’ll meet my donation goal before too long (to say nothing of all my other goals)!

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• Your Student Loan
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Happy New Year, and Happy 2011!  It’s hard to believe that it’s already 2011; even though I’m a relatively young person, it sounds more like science fiction than an actual year; I have this odd sensation that we should be traveling to the moon or something like that.  Alas, that is unlikely to be the case; not too many outfits are offering space trips (and those that do charge way, way more than I have available), so I’m unlikely to make it to the moon this year.  Even though space travel is outside my reach, as long as I keep up on my resolutions, I should have a very good 2011.

All of that said, I don’t have the luxury of a completely fresh start; there’s still plenty of issues I need to handle from 2010.  Credit cards, student loans, a rocky year for investments (and the inability to contribute anywhere near as much as I wanted to my investment portfolio): all in all, 2010 was a pretty rough year.  But that just means I have to try harder to make 2011 the year I take back control over my finances!

On that note, let’s just see where my finances stand at the end of December (and as a result, 2010), and where I need to go from here:

A sort of mixed month, all in all.  My spending was higher than I was hoping (given that it was December and the holiday season and all, I suppose that’s to be expected), but a surprisingly vigorous month for my investments nearly offset that added spending, leaving me with a relatively small net worth decrease this past month.  I still ended up spending more than I wanted (again, Christmas season will do some rough things to your budget), but with plenty of effort, I can make 2011 a much better year financially.  Plus, my Alexa ratings have just shot up this month, so I’m definitely on a roll!  Happy New Year to you all, and here’s hoping everyone meets their financial goals this year!

• Net Worth Update - April 2008
• Net Worth Update - April 2007
• Net Worth Update - October 2007
• September Net Worth Update–Nominated for a Plutas Edition
• A Brief Net Worth Update

Here we are, the last month of 2010.  It’s hard to believe that another year is approaching an end.  To say nothing of another Christmas season rapidly approaching (and most of my family members not giving me much of an idea of what I should give them).  It’s been quite the wild year (and as I’m in the midst of studying for my finals at school, it’s only going to get wilder).

But the holiday season is upon us, and that always makes me happy inside.  There’s something about the Christmas season that touches my normally cold heart and fills it with love and joy.  Here’s hoping everyone else feels the same way.

Now, onto somewhat less pleasant business; the monthly net worth summary.  I warn you, it’s not for the faint of heart:

So, ouch.  A lot more pain than I’ve felt recently, and the worst thing is that most of it is my own darn fault.  Over $2900 in added credit card debt (which is even worse when you consider that I’m earning about $1100 a month as a grad student).  Not a very fun month.

In my defense though, it was an…interesting month.  For starters, most of the charge on my Mastercard was me switching my health insurance to a new policy and paying for my coverage for nearly a year.  In the long term, I’ll end up spending less (more than 50% savings) for similar coverage to what I have now.  But for now, I have a rather large credit card bill to handle.

Add to that a few larger than expected expenses this month (including the ones related to my car that I’ve already shared and helping my fiancee deal with some of her financial obligations), and I’m almost surprised that I only spent this much.  Add to that the fact that my Alexa ranking shot up in the past thirty days, and I suppose there might be some good news after all.  Have a Happy December, everyone!

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• October 2011 Net Worth Update
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• Alternative Income Streams Progress - September 2007
• Net Worth Update - April 2008

Is it really November already?  It seems like just last week it was warm enough to frolic outside without a jacket, and now you need to wear a coat just to walk to your car.  Oh, wait, that’s actually the case; the weather was nice and warm right up to the weekend, then suddenly it got colder.  I suppose it’s to be expected, with the natural flow of time and everything.  Still, I would have appreciated going a bit slower, easing into the new season rather than jumping headfirst…

Other than the weather, there’s not too much new with me.  Graduate school is still a major drain on my available time for blogging (and partying, and eating, and sleeping), but I love the courses I’m taking, and I know I’ll be better for it if I can get back in the habit of prioritizing multiple goals and obligations.  It just takes a little time, something I seem to have little of lately.  Oh, well, my time spent complaining would probably be better spent writing a blog entry or three, or (wacky thought) studying for one of my classes.

But enough of my whining; now it’s time for the main event, my current financial standing.  Drumroll, please:

In a word, excellent.  My net worth increased by nearly fifty percent, due to a combination of an excellent month for my investments (increased by nearly $1300 altogether) and paying off a substantial portion of my credit card debt.  I wish I could say the latter was because of some incredible money management on my part, or at least the discovery of a much better way to monetize my blog, but instead it’s because of the last few payments unemployment payments I was due finally working their way through the system.  No complaining on my end, I suppose; better late than never.  But it does mean that next month is likely to be a much less stupendous month.  Still, with my Mastercard (all but) paid off, that means I can turn my attention to paying down my American Express within the next year or so.  Here’s hoping I have lots of luck!

• October 2011 Net Worth Update
• Calculating Your Net Worth
• Net Worth Going in the Wrong Direction
• Net Worth Update - August 2007
• Net Worth Update - May 2007

Well, I’ve been a graduate student for more than a month, now, and I’ve gotten a pretty good idea of what grad school is like.  It’s pretty tricky, I have to say; it’s been half a decade since I graduated from college, and I’ve picked up quite a few bad habits that I need to unlearn to get back into a student state of mind.  My first advanced biochemistry test was more than enough to get that point through my head; definitely rougher than I was expecting.

So, if I do not post as often as I had hoped in the coming weeks (or months…), don’t be terribly surprised.  I’m trying to post at least once a week (usually Monday), and I’m trying to keep other posts coming (this one included), but going will be rough for the foreseeable future.  I’m hoping all my friends and readers (who are one and the same, in many cases) will bear with me as I try to meet all of my obligations, online and off.  On the subject of obligations, let’s look at where my finances stand at the start of my birth month:

So, not a bad month, all in all.  I still need to work a bit harder on keeping my spending below my earning; my ‘Available Funds’ total should be going up (however slowly), not down as it has been.  Still, it’s gratifying that my net worth is still positive, and I’m sure that as I continue to work on it, I’ll only get better at it.

My declining Alexa ranking is a bit of concern, but it is to be expected given my limited time for blogging (and all the connected activities).  Hopefully, I can get back into the swing of things and post even more often.  Thanks for the continued support, my friends!

• A Brief Net Worth Update
• Net Worth Update - December Edition
• September Net Worth Update–Nominated for a Plutas Edition
• Net Worth Update - December 2007
• Calculating Your Net Worth

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.

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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.

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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!

• A Brief Net Worth Update
• May Net Worth Update Fan of American Express Edition
• A Brief Net Worth Update
• September Net Worth Update–Nominated for a Plutas Edition
• Calculating Your Net Worth

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.

• Net Worth Update - August 2007
• Net Worth Update - March 2008
• Net Worth Update - October 2007
• September Net Worth Update–Nominated for a Plutas Edition
• A Brief Net Worth Update

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.

• October 2011 Net Worth Update
• Net Worth Update - May 2007
• Net Worth Update - July 2007
• Net Worth Update - August 2007
• My 2008 Goals

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!

• A Brief Net Worth Update
• Net Worth Update - August 2007
• Net Worth Update - December 2007
• Travesty of the Debt Snowball aka Hello World
• A Brief Net Worth Update

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!

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