It’s the middle of the month and as regular readers know, that means it’s time to calculate my net worth. Last month, my net worth grew from 193K to 207K, an all-time high. As it turns out, the market was at it’s peak. What a different a month makes! This month I’m down to 206K. Considering the condition of the market, this makes me feel pretty good.
My retirement accounts lost nearly $7,000 in the market downturn. That including the my monthly contributions. Instead of being depressed about it, I changed my contribution to take 30% of each pay check. I’ll have to tighten my belt some, but I’ve got enough in savings that I should be able to get by for at least a month without noticing. Next month, I’ll review how things are going and adjust it from there.
The big reason for staying close to even this month is that we’ve tabulated some of the cash from wedding gifts. I had to pause at how to consider this windfall. It was only a brief pause as the costs of the wedding have been weighing on my net worth for some time now. In my view, the gifts just balance off a good portion of the expenditures.
I’m optimistic about the upcoming months. For the first time in the last two years, I don’t have to save for a engagement ring or a wedding. My biggest goal for the rest of this year looks to be to max out my 401k plan and pay off my home equity line of credit (currently at $6000). It is going to be a challenge, but one that I’m looking forward to.
Congratulation on getting married. Considering the market, $7000 (about 3.5%) is not bad at all. I lost a lot more than that in my 401k.
Congrats. On a happy note, my own net worth went from a negative $115,000 down to a cool negative $112,000 this month. Go me! OK so not ANYWHERE near impressive. But big leap for us :) I lost about $50 in my IRA so far….but then I only have about $550 in there anyways. I think for the first time, I’m actually glad we just now started contributing (I’m only 21!!) That way I didn’t lose so much money >
Amber, I’m more impressed by your gain of $3,000 this month than my small loss. You’ve got ten years on me and you have a head start because you are doing all this at 21 and not 28-29 as I did.
Thanks! It still feels like we have a monkey on our backs…$112,000 is alot of debt >
Got any screen captures showing your net worth?
No, I’m not comfortable breaking it down into smaller bits. I write about a couple of areas each month, so you could go back and figure out mostly where I’m invested.
Way to go on bumping up the savings rate to 30% – you are really doing your part to raise the average savings rate of Americans!!!! Maybe Americans as a whole will show a least a 0.1% positive savings rate for once!
Get a 0% credit card and you can pay off your HELOC right away and even make a few bucks :)
This is why I don’t get a 0% credit card
i hate this market and the idiotic selloffs from many fund managers who advise not to sell in these types of situations but are creating this situation because they are selling. good thing i have extra money in savings, because i have been unloading savings to buy more stocks. i too have lost about $1000-$1500 in each of my wife’s and my varying accounts (e.g. 401k, ira, mutuals, stocks). sucks but always a silver lining. go out and by some great stocks at these prices!!!
Hey Lazy,
That is pretty good considering the market situation. While I am saving on one side, I am losing about the same amount of money in the market. So my net worth statement stays the same for months now! Keep it up. I said it again, you are a real source of inspiration!
It’s great to hear that you are almost holding on to your total net worth number with all the market downturns. I sure can’t say the same because most of my net worth is in stocks right now :)