With the middle of the month comes the update to my net worth. Last month, I was very happy to break even. This month that would have been a pipe dream. With the stock market dropping, my retirement accounts nearly dropped to less than $100,000 in value. In total, my net worth dropped roughly $4,500 to finish at $208,683.

Aside from that equity drop, which I can do little about, my finances were break even. I have taken made good strides in frugal living over the last month. I’ve realized that on a day-to-day basis, I typically have little or need to spend money. I will be reviewing my necessary expenses, soon, but at this point my alternative income covers that.

In a bit of a surprise move, I’m might take a part time job sometime soon. I’m hoping to work only 20 hours a week – if I find the right situation. I will still focus on this blog and other online ventures, but hopefully future month’s net worth will be helped by this potential job.

It’s the middle of the month, so I’m doing my usual look at my finances. Just a few minutes ago I logged into my 20+ financial accounts and update my Excel spreadsheet. It’s a lot of work to have 20+ financial accounts, but each of them serve a purpose. Overall, I ended up losing $300 this month. Considering that I have some money owed to me that’s a little late in coming, I could have been even this month. I finished with $213,031.05.

Here is a quick breakdown of this months results:

• My retirement accounts got hit to a $4,000 loss. This is on top of the $5,000 loss last month. It’s possible that my wife and I make too much for a Roth IRA for 2007. And since I don’t have a day job anymore, I’ll have to look into a SEP-IRA.
• This month, my spare cash took a hit as I bought $5,000 worth of private stock. In my accounting I decided to count this as worth what I paid. It’s supposed to be worth 3 times more than that, but since it’s not stock that I can sell, I can’t use that price. If I was really conservative, I would count it as nothing – assuming that the company goes out of business. However, I think it’s a wise investment so I don’t want to discourage that with strict accounting.
• I made up for retirement losses with spare cash.

I have to say that I’m extremely happy with how this month went. I didn’t expect to be able to weather the stock market losses without a typical day job. It’s a huge milestone for me.

I missed posting this in the middle of the month; I wanted to get some articles posted last week that I felt were more interesting. I did manage to grab a snap shot of my accounts from the 15th. With the stock market dropping like a ball on New Year’s Eve, I knew it wasn’t going to pretty. Last month my net worth was $219K. This month, my net worth is $213K.

Here is a quick breakdown of what happened:

• My retirement accounts got hit to a $5,000 loss. If I were still working steady and contributing to a 401k, I would actually be excited about this drop in the market as a good buying opportunity.
• The value of the home equity in my “investment” property dropped $3,000. The other condos in the complex are as cheap as I’ve ever seen them. The property is worth about 10% less than when I bought it in 2005. (For those unfamiliar with my investment property, I bought it as my primary residence, but life intervened and I moved leaving me the option of renting at cost or selling at a loss. I chose to rent at cost.

While I didn’t expect my net worth to grow under the circumstances (I’m not maximizing my income potential), I thought I would still gain each month. I’m much too reliant on the stock market and the real estate markets for growth. In the past these have been good places to invest and I believe that will continue.

It’s the middle of the month, so it’s time to review my net worth – or lack there of. Fortunately, despite not having a day job anymore, I was very pleased to see some gains in the bottom line. Last month I finished with $214K. This month, my net worth is $219K.

Here is a quick breakdown of how things unfolded this month:

• My retirement accounts grew $2,000 – the result of a bounce back from the stock market.
• The value of my home equity stayed very much the same. The change was less than $100.
• My petty cash and cash equivalent accounts rose by $3,000 making up for the difference.

I thought it might be interesting to chart my net worth by the month and include it here (you’ll want to click the thumbnail to expand it). From month to month, it definitely fluctuated, but by the end it headed in the right direction. Unfortunately, my goals for 2007 didn’t include my net worth. For this next year, I’ll have to change that.