Time for the monthly net worth update. Which meant taking a look at my retirement accounts. I have to say, avoiding looking at my investments for the majoirty of my month was really good for my sanity. I generally knew that the value was falling, based on what the stock market was doing. But I didn’t know exactly what that meant for my personal accounts.
And as expected, my net worth plummeted this month. Down 5.2%. Again, it was all due to the market. My invetment accounts lost a good amount of money. But my cash accounts grew, which means that I’m doing a good job as a saver. I’m pleased with that, especially with the added expenses over the past month what with an unexpected trip to a family funeral and my car breaking down.
No plans for a major change this month. I’m starting up a second emergency fund, thanks to the suggestions in the comments to my post on emergency fund guilt. This one’s going to be for those unexpected expenses that pop up – like inexpensive car repairs. The main fund will still contain a few months worth of expenses, in case of a major emergency.
I’m looking at renewing my gym membership this month, so I’m not sure what that’s going to cost me, but I’ve been going to the gym every day on my lunch break, so it’s clearly a worthwhile expense. I love the break from the workday and it’s good for me. Other than that, November is the month of NaNoWriMo, so hopefully, I’ll be spending my free time writing and not spending money!
Megan is a 40-something government employee in the Washington, DC area. She got interested in Personal Finance when she got out of college and realized that her paycheck wasn’t going to go as far as she had hoped. Since starting this blog, she has managed to buy a house and make a solid start on her retirement goals, and hopes to help others do the same. Here is her story:
In 2007, I was a gainfully employed 20-something with no debt but not a lot of knowledge about personal finance. It was a co-worker’s comment about Roth IRAs that sent me to the internet, searching for information. It was then that I realized that I really didn’t know a whole lot about personal finance and that my current financial situation was due a lot to inherent frugal tendencies, generous family members, a fear of debt, and good luck. While that was working for me, clearly I needed a better plan.
While I had no debt, I was also pretty much living paycheck to paycheck and not worrying about going over budget (I say this as if I had a real budget) because I had an emergency fund set aside to cover any overages.
Except that’s not what an emergency fund is for.
So I did a lot of research, read a lot of blogs, and decided that I needed a plan. I needed to budget. I needed to know what I was spending my money on. I needed to prepare for the future.
I decided to create a blog not only to make myself accountable to others but also to share the knowledge that I gained along the way. I’ve learned so much from my fellow bloggers, and I hope that my readers can find something useful in what I have to share as well.
5% isn’t bad at all – congrats! and while we’re technically losing money lately, it IS great knowing that you’re saving and all is going well 🙂
btw, have you started NaNoWriMo yet? i haven’t and i reallllly want to!!!! yikes. i think it’s one of those things where you just have to start typing and see where it goes…
Do it! Just start typing! I’m actually already about 8800 words in, but that’s because I wanted a huge head start for when my fam comes to visit in a few weeks and I won’t have time to write.
*still* haven’t started…i suck.