March Net Worth Update (+$10,605)
The markets were all over the place again this month. My losses this month are masked by additional invesments in most of my equity categories. However, I have a new spreadsheet I am going to post shortly that should give a much clearer breakdown of our investments than I have typically provided in the past -- look for it in the next few days.
| Assets | Feb-08 | Mar-08 | Change | % |
| Cash & Savings | $ 91,036.00 | $ 89,820.98 | $ (1,215.02) | -1.33% |
| Taxable Brokerage Accts | $ 74,083.39 | $ 74,725.49 | $ 642.10 | 0.87% |
| Roth IRAs | $ 38,738.61 | $ 38,687.73 | $ (50.88) | -0.13% |
| Pre-tax Retirement Accts | $ 155,433.05 | $ 156,118.06 | $ 685.01 | 0.44% |
| Stock Options | $ 16,408.00 | $ 17,432.00 | $ 1,024.00 | 6.24% |
| ESPP | $ 37,255.38 | $ 38,337.02 | $ 1,081.64 | 2.90% |
| House #1 - Rental | $ 160,000.00 | $ 160,000.00 | $ - | |
| House #2 - Rental | $ 128,225.00 | $ 128,225.00 | $ - | |
| House #3 - Primary | $ 116,500.00 | $ 116,500.00 | $ - | |
| Receivable (Payable) | $ 1,009.57 | $ - | $ (1,009.57) | |
| Other Assets | $ - | $ - | $ - | |
| Total Assets | $ 818,689.00 | $ 819,846.28 | $ 1,157.28 | 0.14% |
| Liabilities | | | | |
| Credit Card Balances | $ (15,449.59) | $ (15,643.46) | $ (193.87) | 1.25% |
| House #1 Mortgages | $ (114,224.26) | $ (114,224.26) | $ - | 0.00% |
| House #2 Mortgages | $ (101,930.68) | $ (101,930.68) | $ - | 0.00% |
| House #3 Mortgages | $ (108,916.39) | $ (98,916.39) | $ 10,000.00 | -9.18% |
| Rental Deposits | $ (6,447.00) | $ (6,447.00) | $ - | 0.00% |
| Additional Tax Liability | $ (5,742.80) | $ (6,101.20) | $ (358.40) | 6.24% |
| Other Liabilities | | | $ - | |
| Total Liabilities | $ (352,710.72) | $ (343,262.99) | $ 9,447.73 | -2.68% |
| $2million Goal Progress* | $ 458,394.67 | $ 458,999.68 | $ 605.01 | 0.13% |
| Net Worth | $ 465,978.28 | $ 476,583.29 | $ 10,605.01 | 2.28% |
Highlights for March
- All credit card debt (except current month's purchases) is in the form of 0% APR balance transfers earning interest in my savings accounts.
- Our biggest move this month was to take $10,000 out of our house savings goal and pay down our mortgage to cancel PMI. Given the return is ~6.7% after tax I think its has a decent return for only giving up a little liquidity. I need to payoff another $8k (exact calculation TBD) to get to 78% LTV.
- I have some examples of what the double impact of devaluation of the US dollar and high inflation is doing to us in China.
- My wife and I are starting to wind down our assignment in China by taking as many trips and visitors as possible. This coming weekend its Kuala Lumpur and Signapore. I also put together a list of reasons why you would take an international assignment.
- I also reviewed the joint Vanguard Advantage Brokerage account my wife and I opened a few months ago
Additional Stock Investments for March (Outside of 401k & ESPP):
- $25 in ConocoPhillips DRIP
- $400 in my Vanguard Roth IRA
- $650 in my wife's T Rowe Price Roth IRA
- $50 in Pfizer DRIP
- $2162.50 in Wachovia via Vanguard Brokerage
- $650 in Vanguard Total Stock Market Index ETF via Vanguard Brokerage
You can see my previous monthly net worth updates here.
Comments (8)
How is it that the 10k paydown on the mortgage does not show in the assets as a -10k? Wouldn't this have come out of cash?
Also, what are your thoughts on the start of 2Q in the markets? Are you reinvesting differently in any of your portfolios?
Posted by Anonymous | April 2, 2008 12:00 PM
Have fun in Singapore--I just got back and had a great time. Things I enjoyed:
- visiting the many hawkers markets
- China town (although that might be a little old for you by now!)
- Botanic Gardens
- Little India
- Singapore Night Safari
The "Singapore Sling" at Raffles Hotel was way overrated, way too expensive (this is coming from a guy who doesn't wince at a $12 martini), and the service was atrocious. However! The hotel is great, so it's worth a tour.
Posted by Starving Artist | April 2, 2008 10:19 PM
The $10k came out of cash savings so there was was dip this month. You could read this to mean we were able to add $8,800 in cash savings this month to offset the $10k mortgage prepayment
Posted by 2million | April 3, 2008 4:45 AM
SA,
Thanks for the Signapore tips -- appreciate the mention on the "Signapore Sling" my wife mentioned the other day that we HAD to go see what the hype was about -- hoping I can convince her to skip it.
Posted by 2million | April 3, 2008 5:01 AM
Thats some pretty detailed stuff. Motivates me to want to sit down and get my finances in better order.
Posted by Dre | April 9, 2008 1:20 PM
I'll reiterate the question others have asked in other posts - why do you hold so many individual securities? Any why do you continue to buy more of them?
Posted by Peter | April 15, 2008 8:41 AM
Peter,
Not sure I have a great answer for you, but see my march investement report. I am starting to track my investments against an index benchmark.
Posted by 2million | April 19, 2008 9:23 PM
2million,
I guess I was just curious what your strategy is? Do you really think you're able to beat an index? If so, I think you're putting in the benchmark/tracking in place to find out which is good. Even for those folks that can be the market by choosing individual stocks, at what price (in terms of your time and energy)?
Posted by Peter | April 21, 2008 8:04 AM