Since it’s the middle of the month, it’s time to take a look at my net worth.
Overall it’s been a very good month – my best in quite awhile. My retirement accounts just topped the $100K mark in total. This is bad considering that I’m only 31 and spent 2 and half years more or less unemployed during the dot com bust. They saw a $6K increase this month over last month, so if you do the percentages, that’s much better than average. My non-retirement investments and cash did well. Prosper continues to grow as I feed more money into it, but at less than $6K, it’s not a major part of my portfolio. A big tax return was probably one of the biggest gains. However, offsetting that, I had to write a sizable check ($2300+) as a deposit for our wedding in July. I am proud that I was able to scrap up the cash to write off $2000 of my HELOC debt (currently standing at $10,800), while still growing my Prosper account by $800 ($700 of that from deposits $100 from interest).
The last couple of months have looked bad by some measures as Zillow had estimated my investment property (once my primary residence) to have lost around $20-25K. I’m not overly worried about it, because I’m in it for the long haul. We may move back there in the next 3 years, and if not, rents should increase over time while the mortgage stays the same. At some point it should start generating cash flow. At any rate, renting it is the best financial decision available as selling it would be realizing that 20-25K loss. Come to think of it, with writing off depreciation, there’s a chance that it’s close to break even in cash flow now.
To sum up the whole month, my net worth rose 6.9%. Like I said, it was a good month.
Congrats on your retirment topping the 100K mark ! I cannot wait to to get their
Good call with renting out your first house. I did the same thing with our first house and it’s a great experience. The tax benefits are also quite amazing.
-limeade