Counting My Pennies » net worth

About that net worth

Megan — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 13:20:05 +0000

I haven’t updated my net worth in a while. I’m honestly a little afraid to! The house buying process probably killed my numbers. I’m okay with that, of course. But I don’t know that I want to see it written down.

Over the weekend, maybe I’ll finally bite the bullet and take a look at what’s going on with that pesky number.

During August, I’m going to try to really keep my spending in check. I do have a number of things that I want/need to buy for the house, but I’m going to really be careful to only buy the things that I plan to buy (a fireplace screen, a couch, etc) and not splurge on unnecessary things. Furnishing a home is expensive, even when you’re not spending huge amounts of money on the things you buy.

The rest of the year has the potential to be very expensive for me. I’m running a bunch of races in September and October. That means a bit of traveling and the hazards of race expos. Race expos are a great way to find running equipment deals, but they’re also a great way to empty your wallet. So I just have to keep the spending in check.

Break over?

Megan — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 13:28:47 +0000

Clearly, I needed a break from blogging. Things have been crazy in my life. I ran a second half marathon last weekend, went to a college football game the weekend before that, and finished up a huge project at work. I’ve still got a lot going on this month, but I feel a little more in control thanks to a weekend to myself where I just worked through my list of tasks.

This month is a three paycheck month, and I’m definitely glad for it. I always bank at least 2/3rds of the third paycheck, but put some towards those expense categories that are languishing. Right now, that’s things like clothing and gifts. I have been doing a lot of purging and cleaning out my closets and drawers and I’m realizing that I need to replenish my wardrobe. I hate shopping, and that’s a big part of the problem. I find a few things I like, and I wear them and wear them and wear them, and then they wear out and I have to buy new clothing. That’s where I’m at right now. I just haven’t gotten a chance to go to the store. I’m hard to fit, so while I can buy some things online, a lot of times, I just have to go try things on. I’m hoping to be able to do that next weekend.

I’m also hoping to get back to blogging, at least three times a week. It’s weird, but talking about money helps me manage my money. I’ve been so overwhelmed that I missed net worth updates for the past two months! Here’s to catching up at the end of the month.

July Net Worth Update (+3.18%)

Megan — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 10:00:31 +0000

Yes! Positive movement! My Net Worth increased 3.18% this month. Of course, that doesn’t mean as much since I dropped last month, but it’s movement in the right direction. What changed? My roommate moved in, so that helps. I also just made smarter spending choices. I do feel like my spending is getting a bit out of control though. I’m not updating my budget quite as often so I don’t always know what I’ve got left in various budget categories. I also can’t let the fact that I have a roommate make me think I can spend more money. That additional income is for saving, not for spending.

I’ve got a couple of trips coming up over the next few months, so I think it’s time to tighten my pursestrings so that I can afford to go and not worry about every single penny.

Catching Up

Megan — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 13:22:19 +0000

I was out of town this weekend and came back completely swamped with stuff to do. My apartment is magically a disaster again, my inboxes at work and at home are completely full, and I have to do laundry or else. But it was nice to get away and relax a little bit, even if it means coming back to a lot of stress.

One thing I did while back in my hometown was close my old bank account. I’m not sure why it was still open, to be honest. When I moved, I left my local bank for a larger, national bank. I loved the services of the local bank, but I wanted to have ATM access in the city where I lived. That account sat open and unused for three years. Sadly, I had cleared out all but the minimum required to keep the accounts free, so there wasn’t a ton of interest earned – plus I’ve been checking in on the account every month when doing my Net Worth update, so there were no fun surprises. That’s the downside to keeping a close eye on your money – you aren’t pleasantly surprised when things have grown more than you thought. On the other hand, there are no negative surprises either, so I guess it’s worth it.

I just noticed that Mint.com now has an Android application, so one of the things I want to do today (once I get everything else checked off my list) is check that out. Anyone using that?

June Net Worth Update (-2.75%)

Megan — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 13:41:26 +0000

In June, my net worth dropped 2.75%. Not a surprise, to be honest. My retirement accounts tanked. I spent some money. Same old, same old.

I’ve decided from now on, I want to track the value of my car in my net worth update. Why? Well, at some point in the distant future, I may want to buy a different car, and this car will be used as trade-in, I’m sure. Not that I’m thinking about buying a new car. I’ve had this car for 6 years this month, it runs wonderfully, rarely gets driven now that I live in an area with good public transportation (though I won’t give it up – I do need it at least once a week), and most importantly, I own it free and clear.

I don’t plan on tracking other possessions, because the resale value of those is so hard to calculate, and really, it doesn’t make as much sense. If I ever buy a house, I will want to track the value of that (also hard to calculate) because it will make that huge mortgage debt seem less painful.

May Net Worth Update (-3.87%)

Megan — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 10:00:01 +0000

Ouch!

In May, my net worth dropped 3.87%. The market had a rough month, and my drop is entirely in investments. My cash accounts are doing fine and I continue to save (and invest in my retirement accounts). I knew it was going to be a bad month when I went to update my Roth IRA numbers and it was worth less than it was last month, and that’s with a monthly contribution! Not a good sign at all.

But that’s part of investing. Give and take. And I’m still up for the year, and that’s important. Thankfully, I don’t have any stock in BP, so I figure that the numbers will eventually come back. Nothing to worry about. Just keep doing what I’m doing, saving and investing, and getting ready for the future.

April Net Worth Update (+4.66%)

Megan — Mon, 03 May 2010 10:00:07 +0000

Amazing net worth jump this month! Up 4.66%. It was a good combination of cash savings and investment jumps. I think it was a big of a fluke and don’t expect to see these sorts of numbers next month, but I’m going to enjoy them anyway. I’m not sure what’s going on lately, but I’m feeling like I’m losing control of my money right now, and it’s good to see that I’m still doing just fine.

I’m still tracking all of my spending and limiting my cash transactions to between $40 and $60 a month (though that trends higher in the summer when I spend more time at the farmers’ market). I used to enter my transactions into YNAB every couple of days and now I usually don’t track anything until the weekend. I love the new version of YNAB, with the ability to download transactions from my credit card company. I think that’s why I feel like I’ve lost touch with my finances. I’m not as worried about losing receipts or forgetting about spending because I know that I can pick it up easily with the download feature.

For my own comfort, I might have to get back to tracking a little more closely. My spending clearly isn’t getting out of control and I’m so glad that reasonable spending has become the norm for me. But there’s nothing wrong with doing a little more frequent checking in with my finances, just for my own piece of mind. Besides, if I’m doing this well while only being vaguely mindful of my finances, I wonder how much I can save by paying closer attention.

March Net Worth Update (+2.61)

Megan — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 13:38:51 +0000

March was a pretty stellar month. My net worth increased 2.61%. My investments grew, I put more money into savings, started my new car fund with the money from my the fender bender, and I started contributing to my Roth IRA for this year. All in all, I’m pretty pleased.

Of course, it’s April 2, and my monthly budget is already a mess. It’s my own fault – I decided to make a few purchases earlier than normal. (No, I haven’t blown the whole budget, of course, just a few categories.) These things happen, and I might be able to spend less in some categories and make up for the overages by the end of the month. And if not, I know I can do it in May, when I planned to make the purchases. That’s the fun of a flexible budget after all!

February Net Worth Update (+2.93%)

Megan — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:18:57 +0000

Excellent month for my net worth! Up 2.93%. This month, that change is due to a lot of little things. My tax return came in, and I dropped most of that into savings, but even without that, I managed to save a good amount of money this month. Little bits here and there add up. My investments also moved in the right direction, which is great. The interest rates dropped on my savings accounts, but the rates are still better than zero, and that’s what matters.

I realized as I was updating this that I still have not set up my automatic investments for my Roth IRA. This was intentional – I decided to do some research and wait until March before I started up the automatic investments. Of course, have I done that research yet? No. So that’s something to add to the list for when I get back from vacation.

January Net Worth Update (-1.92%)

Megan — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:00:29 +0000

In the month of January, my net worth dropped 1.92%. Not really what I wanted to see, especially as I’m updating this while fighting what I think is the beginning of a nasty cold.

Looking at the details, it looks like it’s mostly my investments that dropped, specifically retirement. Conveniently, I’m not retiring for 30 years or so, so it’s a loss that’s easy enough to shrug off right now. Or at least, that’s what I’m telling myself. In terms of cash, I just about broke even, which isn’t too bad, though I would have liked to put a bit more cash into my savings. February should be a much less expensive month, unless I buy plane tickets for one of the two trips I’m planning later this year.

Going to pick the contest winners today, so watch for an update!