With middle of the month it’s time to review my net worth. It’s a pleasure to look at this month as the numbers have been really good. Quick overview: My net worth grew from $183K last month to just under $193K this month. This is very surprising since I did a lot of spending this month.
My retirement accounts enjoyed good market gains and jumped from 103K to 106K. My home equity number increased from 38K to 40K, due to some rebound in the condo complex in MA. My cash and possessions rose from 42K to 46K. I had to investigate this a little further and I realized that my new July tenant paid me in advance. So while I have this extra money now, I can’t go celebrate, I’ll need it to pay the mortgage over the next month and a half.
Overall it’s been a very good month – even better than last month, which I thought was quite good. I am a little cautious that the market will take a dip, so I’m going to downplay these gains. I see the 193K and I can’t help, but think that the 200K milestone is in view. I think it’s realistically at least 3 months away. With a big wedding next month, my savings is going to take a hit.
Given the market performance so far this month, $200K should be reached by next time you update your numbers.
Watch your accounting. Adding a prepayment of July rent from your new tenant directly to your net worth ignores the fact that you took a corresponding liability at the same time, the obligation to provide that person with housing in July (i.e. to pay your july rental property morgage).
In the end your net worth may or may not have gone up as a result of having a tenant, but it certainly wouldn’t have gone up by the same amount as the rental payment. If your rental property is operating at a significant cash outflow, your net worth could have gone down.
Congratulations! You’re going to hit the 200k mark soon.
David: Exactly. It’s way too much work to try to factor in that liability now. This is why I’m not celebrating now. I use very soft accounting measures which may be off as much as 10K or more depending on the rules you want to apply. Relatively it’s pretty close to accurate.
CONGRATULATIONS!!! Any estimation of when you will reach the other 100,000 landmarks on your way to financial freedom?
Good luck with the wedding!