November 2006 Net Worth Update (+$8,974)

Another ok month, I can't be but so critical when my net worth is seeing high 4-digit increases. However, I think there is some room for improvement. If I want to be financially free asap, I need to stretch a bit more. I want to see a near $10,000 increase on a bad month, not a good month. Might as well be ambitous ;-).

Assets	Oct-06	Nov-06	Change	%
Cash & Savings	$ 50,182.89	$ 62,388	$ 12,205.24	24.32%
Taxable Brokerage Accts	$ 52,002.71	$ 53,288.43	$ 1,285.72	2.47%
Roth IRA	$ 27,795.81	$ 28,695.69	$ 899.88	3.24%
Pre-tax Retirement Accts	$ 109,932.16	$ 113,987.02	$ 4,054.86	3.69%
Stock Options	$ -	$ -	$ -
ESPP	$ 26,157.75	$ 26,041.59	$ (116.16)	-0.44%
House #1 - Rental	$ 160,000.00	$ 160,000.00	$ -
House #2 - Primary	$ 128,225.00	$ 128,225.00	$ -
Receivable (Payable)	$ 300.00	$ 300.00	$ -
Other Assets	$ -	$ -	$ -
Total Assets	$ 554,596.32	$ 572,925.86	$ 18,329.54	3.31%
Liabilities			$ -
Credit Card Balances	$ (37,869.38)	$ (47,524.62)	$ (9,655.24)	25.50%
House #1 Mortgages	$ (117,289.36)	$ (117,097.20)	$ 192.16	-0.16%
House #2 Mortgages	$ (103,597.60)	$ (103,489.95)	$ 107.65	-0.10%
Rental Deposits	$ (600.00)	$ (600.00)	$ -	0.00%
Additional Tax Liability	$ -	$ -	$ -
Other Liabilities			$ -
Total Liabilities	$ (259,356.34)	$ (268,711.77)	$ (9,355.43)	3.61%
Net Worth	$ 295,239.98	$ 304,214.09	$ 8,974.11	3.04%

Highlights for November

I completed a 3rd balance transfer for a total of $48,000 in 0% balance transfers. All credit card debt (except current month's purchases) is in the form of 0% APR balance transfers earning interest in my savings accounts.
I am now within easy reach of a $100k net worth increase in 2006.
I revealed my current retirement and taxable investment portfolios
Previously I had a minor car accident, but was able to save money by making permanent car repairs myself.
I reviewed Automatic Wealth and my biggest take away was I still need to focus on developing multiple streams of income.

Additional Stock Investments for November (Outside of 401k & ESPP):
$25 in CMS Energy DRIP
$50 in Exxon DRIP
$150 in Pfizer DRIP
$250 in Vanguard Roth IRA
$510 in USG DRIP

Related in Net Worth Archive:

May 2012 Net Worth Update (-$28,098) (Jun 10, 2012) Highlights for MayWe like to take advantage of 0% APR balance transfers and other credit card offers for free money. We are actively looking at taking advantage of new credit card arbitrage opportunities. Our properties are listed on our...

April 2012 Net Worth Update (+$2,763) (May 09, 2012) Highlights for AprilWe like to take advantage of 0% APR balance transfers and other credit card offers for free money. We are actively looking at taking advantage of new credit card arbitrage opportunities. We received $1,000+ in rewards cash...

March 2012 Net Worth Update (+$22,032) (Apr 11, 2012) Highlights for MarchWe like to take advantage of 0% APR balance transfers and other credit card offers for free money. We are actively looking at taking advantage of new credit card arbitrage opportunities. We are close to earning ~$1,000...

Comments (15)

What is the increase in cash and savings attributable to?

Posted by Joseph Mark Jarvis | December 4, 2006 3:51 PM

about $10k was from the latest balance transfer, see offsetting increase in credit card balances.

Posted by 2 million | December 4, 2006 4:13 PM

How do you value the Real Estate. Is that the purchase price?? Similarly does the mortgage represent the balance principal and Interest amount??

Thanks in advance!!

Posted by Thomas | December 4, 2006 5:27 PM

Thomas, real estate is valued by purcahse price and the mortgage amount is the remaining balance on the loan.

Posted by 2 million | December 4, 2006 6:12 PM

You may have spoken about this at one point but in "About 2millionblog.com" you say that your goal is to have $2 million + the value of your primary residence. Yet in your net worth you include your primary residence value as an asset, why is this?

Posted by Guest | December 4, 2006 8:36 PM

Thats a great question.

I am not sure how I am going to handle it in the future, but for now I decided to leave my primary residence on my net worth statement because I plan to convert this property to a rental property in the future.

When I buy my permanent home I am not sure what I will do - ewither include it and adjust my net worth goal upward to compensate, or leave it off.

Posted by 2 million | December 4, 2006 8:51 PM

Congrats on another healthy month. Quick question: roughly what is your borrowed credit (balance transfers) to credit limit ratio?...$48K is really huge amount.

Posted by Golbguru | December 4, 2006 9:51 PM

Not bad 2 million!
However, I think that purchase price valuation of your real estate is overly conservative. I use a delta from a 3 year smoothing. This is slow to rise in a bubble and still, based on historical data, reasonably underestimates valuation after a crash (validated on data during the 1989 - 2004 RE crash in So Calif). I believe this represents pretty well a realistic liquidation value, if you had to make a rushed/distressed sale. I can give you the details of this approach if you are interested.

Second, most of us don't need the same amount of house in retirement as we do before, so it is reasonble to take credit for som of the asset value. (My plan is to down-size the house, by buying a smaller one, while renting out my current (overly large) home.)

Posted by jj | December 4, 2006 10:01 PM

Golbguru,
If you asking about the ratio on each card - they are all very high. I borrowed as much as was available so they all started somewhere in the 9X% range, but decrease each month as the minimum payments are made.

If you are asking about my over all ratio I think its somewhere in the neighboorhood of 50-60%, but I don't know for sure offhand.

From previous experiences with balance transfers, I recognize that having several high ratio balance transfers can temporarily hurt your credit score, but I was able to pay them off and my score recovered to shortly thereafter buy my 2nd property.

Posted by 2 million | December 5, 2006 8:39 AM

Very nice! You sure do have your hand it a lot of pots. Mutual funds, stocks, Drips, ESPP, 2 properties. Look forward to future updates.

Posted by Jonathan | December 6, 2006 5:07 AM

Hey 2mil,

You have a great site and a pretty good portfolio! I would like to know what kinds of insurances you have i.e., life, short-term, long-term, and disability?

Posted by Anonymous | December 6, 2006 9:09 AM

All insurances of just life/disability?

I have homeowners, general liability, and auto insurance policies.

I also have a small life insurance policy provided by my employer (2x my salary I think). I don't believe I need more at this point because I have no dependants. Once I get married I will reassess this.

Disability is certainly my primary concern. I looked into this and recognized I need as much as possible. Through my employer I have 2/3 salary replacement, long term disability insurance (till the age of 65 I believe). I wouldn't mind more, but after looking at costs, it made most sense for me to self-insure myself at this point.

I don't have long term care insurance because appears unaffordable to me and I am not convinved of the value as of yet. I am certainly have a void in this area and plan on spending much more time looking into it after I have settled down.

Posted by 2 million | December 6, 2006 2:55 PM

more question, how do you do your tables? do you code your own HTML or do you use an image.

Posted by Mt | December 11, 2006 9:15 PM

Hi, Im new to your blog. How are you bringing in $12k in cash each month? High paying job? I have been working six years since graduation with a job that pays about $8k/mo net, and my net worth is ~$450k. I'm hoping to break 1 million in next 3-5 years, 2 mil by age 40, 3 mil by 45 before I back off agressive investments (anticipating family, etc). Keep up the good work! I thought I was the only one my age that thought like you do. :)

Posted by sb | December 13, 2006 7:50 PM

How old are you and what is your income range? You seem to have a good mix of RE and Stocks. Good work!

Posted by austin_guy | December 16, 2006 9:30 PM