Another month of positive movement for my net worth! In November, my net worth increased 2.62%. Breaking down the numbers, it looks like my investments had a surprisingly good month, while my cash accounts only increased a little bit. Of course, there was some movement from cash to investments, as always (Roth IRA contribution), but I’m disappointed I wasn’t able to spend more this month.
That said, this was an expensive month. Dental bills (yes, I have already signed up for dental insurance for 2010) and a bunch of legal courses so I can keep my law license. Clearly, I had the money, as I spent and still managed to save… but I would have liked to have saved more.
In November, my roommate moved out. That’s going to be a hit to my cashflow. I’m still trying to figure out how that’s all going to work, and it will probably take a bit of juggling, but I’ll be fine. Now I’m just waiting to see who falls into my lap as my new roommate. It worked the last time, after all!
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.
Thanks you so much for hosting my blog on entrecard today. I love how you are calculating your net worth each month. I think this is a great way to stay motivated and know where your money is going.