August 2018 Net Worth Update (+$19,155)




Highlights for August

  • Im posting this several months later and hard to remember what even happened in August.
  • We are going to see Hamilton! I was able to land tickets to Hamilton when it travels to Durham in November for my wife's birthday. $242 for 2 tickets. Pricey, but we are excited to see it.
  • Otherwise August was a pretty quite month. Our daughters start back school in July, so our summer ends early.


July 2018 Net Worth Update (+$52,101)




Highlights for July

  • I come out of July feeling optimistic all the way around. We had positive developments on numerous fronts including the bottom line.
  • In July we purchased our 5th rental property! The property market is very hot around our area and it was difficult to successfully agree on a purchase price that I felt would offer us a compelling return. However I feel really good about our successful efforts to aquire 2 additional rental properties this year. We will now shift our focus on rebuilding savings for future purchases. Hopefully it will be a more compelling market when we are ready to expand again.
  • We purchased the property by using available cash and our investment equity line. I intend to pay off the equity line over the next year with future cash flows.
  • In July, I took a new expanded position with my employer. The role is a significant challenge for me and even more intense than my previous role. I'm excited to mix it up and open up the door a bit more for potential success (or failure).
  • I also made a decision in July with my new role that I needed to find a way to better balance my time. Work will be even more demanding. My families' primary concern is that I already sacrifice a lot of family time for work. I made the decision as part of this move to outsource some activities I do myself. I signed up for $20/mo for monthly trash/recycling pickup and found a yard service for $35/visit for grass cut and trimming. This should free up 4-6 hours a month of my time. Im going to give it a try and see how it goes.
    I will say I'm warming up to the idea of taking a couple more things off my plate.
  • We spent the first week of July on a beach vacation in Atlantic beach. We had previously paid for the condo and had minimal costs while on vacation (other than a couple dinners out).


June 2018 Net Worth Update (+$22,779)




Highlights for June

  • In June our activity picked up a bit and we closed with another solid month in the books.
  • Our largest individual stock holding (Genworth) had a breakout month as the US govt (CFUIS) approved the deal for it to acquired by China Oceanwide Holdings. This contributed to a nice bump in our taxable stock holdings.
  • I received my annual bonus payout from my employer.
  • We spent ~$1,500 on remaining rental costs on our 2 upcoming vacations - a condo rental in July at the beach and a family cruise in October.
  • Once the kids were out of school we took a couple days and went up to Williamsburg for a quick vacation w/ some friends.
  • We spent ~$1,000 on a replacement fridge for one of our rental properties this month.


May 2018 Net Worth Update ($20,481)




Highlights for May

  • In May we closed on some long term financing (5.375% 30 yr fixed) for our rentals that we used to pay off our equity line and reloaded our cash for the next acquisition.
  • Ive started looking for another rental property, but its a very tough market and none of our bids went very far.
  • Our taxable stock holdings (where most of our active investments are) had some outsized gains.
  • I spent ~$650 in car repairs & registration fees to fix a fuel sensor so my car would pass inspection and I could renew my tags.
    This was our first significant repair for a car we purchased in 2009.
  • Our spending remains elevated and I don't really understand why. We are busy, and I recognize that costs more money. Our kids are also engaging in more extracurricular activities and that adds up....summer camp, swim lessons, club fees, uniforms, sports equipment, gas. At some point I want to focus on reducing expenses but not currently my priority these days as long as we feel like we are making progress on our overall goals.
  • Otherwise a pretty quiet month.


April 2018 Net Worth Update (+$22,946)




Highlights for April

  • April was a busy month, with positive momentum as much of the month was focused on some long term financing for our new rental.
  • It took us longer than I expected, but for most of April we worked on a cash out refinance of our first rental property to put long term financing in place for our latest rental purchase (property #5). We locked in on a 5.375% 30 yr fixed rate (which provided enough credit to cover our closing costs). This rate is slightly lower than the 5.5% on our IELOC , insulates us from further rate increases, and allows us to get some additional cash freed up for future investment opportunities.
  • In the beginning of April we took a Spring Break trip to Williamsburg for 4 days. We purchased season passes to Busch Gardens for $400 for the family. We will plan to go back a couple additional times during the summer to leverage them.
  • We sold our baby furniture (crib and changing table). There was a lot of emotional attachment, but very proud my wife finally helped make it happen. The best part is we were able to sell the furniture for the same price we paid for them ($400) so basically got 8 years of use for free.
  • We maxed out our 2017 IRA contributions in April, but found I had a late scramble on our 2017 taxes as my wife was able to deduct traditional IRA contributions, but I was not. I quickly recharacterized my contributions to Roth IRA contributions for 2017.


Last 15 Personal Finance Entries


05/20/2018 | March 2018 Net Worth Update (+$11,292)
04/07/2018 | February 2018 Net Worth Update (-$47,198)
02/14/2018 | January 2018 Net Worth Update (+$43,834)
02/04/2018 | December 2017 Net Worth Update (+$32,893)
01/15/2018 | November 2017 Net Worth Update (+$31,585)
01/07/2018 | October 2017 Net Worth Update (+$14,082)
10/24/2017 | September 2017 Net Worth Update (+$40,835)
09/05/2017 | August 2017 Net Worth Update (+$3,767)
09/05/2017 | July 2017 Net Worth Update (+$25,312)
07/21/2017 | June 2017 Net Worth Update (+$26,879)
07/21/2017 | May 2017 Net Worth Update(+$12,231)
07/21/2017 | April 2017 Net Worth Update (+$8,354)
07/21/2017 | March 2017 Net Worth Update (+$9,582)
03/08/2017 | February 2017 Net Worth Update (+$32,457)
02/24/2017 | 2016 Passive Income: Dividends

About 2millionblog.com

A personal finance weblog of my journey to reach my goal of $2 million + the value of my primary residence.
Current Net Worth: $1,938,393

Sponsors

New Personal Finance Articles






PF Blogs