Kind of a big drop in this month's Net Worth. Down 3.62%. I was pretty sure why the numbers dropped, but I decided to take a closer look just in case. As has been the case, my investments continue to fall. But this month, my cash accounts didn't do all that well, which meant that the money was either going into investments or being spent.
I set up automatic investing for my Roth IRA, but that's not starting til next month, so no outflow there. Still contributing to my TSP, but that money comes straight from my paycheck so it never hits my cash accounts.
You know what that means. Increased spending.
I had two big expenses this month. The biggest expense was my tax bill. As I discussed earlier, thanks to a mistake on my W-4, I was withholding much more money than I should have been and therefore owed a nice chunk of money. I've fixed that for my 2009 taxes. My other big expense was a round trip plane ticket to visit a friend. I felt a little bit guilty spending that kind of money when the economy's hurting and I feel like I should be saving, but I'm helping the economy, right? Seriously though, it was a trip that I had saved for and planned for, and I'm staying with my friend, so the biggest part of the expense is the plane ticket. The trip is in April, and I'm really excited to have a vacation planned.
I'm not sure what March holds for my net worth. The automatic investments have me a little concerned, though I shouldn't be thinking short term in terms of my retirement accounts. It's just a little hard to ignore. Instead I just have to remember to not be too concerned.