June 2008 Net Worth Update (-$20,122)

What a swing - we went from the best net worth gain ever last month to knocking the socks off the worst month ever for us back in January 2005 where my net worth declined -$1,903. Its hard for me to fathom even losing so much off our balance sheet in one month. The loss is more than we even grossed in total income, but I guess it's the volatility we need to get use to as we continue to expand our equity positions going forward.

Assets	May-08	Jun-08	Change	%
Cash & Savings	$ 91,767.13	$ 92,302.47	$ 535.34	0.58%
Taxable Brokerage Accts	$ 77,669.02	$ 75,937.16	$ (1,731.86)	-2.23%
Roth IRAs	$ 44,244.80	$ 40,918.14	$ (3,326.66)	-7.52%
Pre-tax Retirement Accts	$ 173,517.84	$ 162,950.51	$ (10,567.33)	-6.09%
Stock Options	$ 28,863.99	$ 20,144.00	$ (8,719.99)	-30.21%
ESPP	$ 45,472.49	$ 41,687.51	$ (3,784.98)	-8.32%
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)	$ -	$ 9,726.00	$ 9,726.00
Other Assets	$ -	$ -	$ -
Total Assets	$ 866,260.27	$ 848,390.79	$ (17,869.48)	-2.06%
Liabilities
Credit Card Balances	$ (20,054.38)	$ (27,938.02)	$ (7,883.64)	39.31%
House #1 Mortgages	$ (113,831.55)	$ (113,634.55)	$ 197.00	-0.17%
House #2 Mortgages	$ (101,578.55)	$ (101,460.55)	$ 118.00	-0.12%
House #3 Mortgages	$ (93,415.56)	$ (92,238.69)	$ 1,176.87	-1.26%
Rental Deposits	$ (10,190.57)	$ (9,190.57)	$ 1,000.00	-9.81%
Additional Tax Liability	$ (10,391.04)	$ (7,251.84)	$ 3,139.20	-30.21%
Other Liabilities			$ -
Total Liabilities	$ (349,461.65)	$ (351,714.22)	$ (2,252.57)	0.64%
$2million Goal Progress*	$ 493,714.18	$ 472,415.26	$ (21,298.92)	-4.31%
Net Worth	$ 516,798.62	$ 496,676.57	$ (20,122.05)	-3.89%

Highlights for June

All credit card debt (except current month's purchases) is in the form of 0% APR balance transfers earning interest in my savings accounts.
June was a brutual month and even knocked us off out of our half-millionaire status temporarily
We decided to extend our overseas assignment till the end of this year.
I opened a Chinese Bank Account to take advantage of the decline of the dollar.
I finally cancelled my participation in my employer's ESPP
Overall our investments performed poorly, but were inline with the market. See our June 2008 Investment Report.

You can see my previous monthly net worth updates here.

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...

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Comments (11)

2mill:

we got brutalized by the stock market as well. misery, they say, loves company!

- s.b.

Posted by some body | July 7, 2008 10:33 AM

You have been leading a charmed life the last six months with your net worth being bouyed by IBM's very strong performace during the initial market downturn. Welcome to the pain the rest of have been sufferring. Now the trick is trying to figure out when the time is right to buy in more to take advantage of the rebound.

Posted by nicholaro | July 7, 2008 12:04 PM

Don't feel bad. I'm more or less in the same boat. (vested stock options killed me too !!):

-$12,775 or -5.6% of total networth (from $228K to $215K).

Here's my profile on Networth IQ (please delete if you prefer not to show links)

https://www.networthiq.com/people/Bergen

Posted by JP | July 7, 2008 4:53 PM

Hi 2mil,
I am a long time reader and fan. I wondered if I might ask you a few serious questions versus my going back through archives as you likely have discussed these before. I'd just like your fresh perspective and advice.
1) I just canceled eTrade and need a new place to start a Roth IRA- where would you suggest?
2) Is #1 the same place you would keep your stock portfolio? If not, where should I buy/sell stocks instead of etrade?
3) Who should I go through for DRIPs? I've never done it before?
4) What % of your salary would you invest in your monthly home mortgage? (I think they say 25%) but what would you do to be safe in having funds for investments?
5)Do you trust/like Sharebuilder?

Posted by DVL | July 7, 2008 8:16 PM

Over 7,800 put on a credit card in one month? What are you possibly spending all that money on? It seems there is a disconnect between your posts and what one would expect "average" expenditures to be.

Posted by Matt | July 7, 2008 10:16 PM

Unfortunately feeling your pain....You should also consider "writing down" your real estate investments....seems everyone else is

Posted by Will Swanson | July 8, 2008 12:06 AM

DVL,
#1) I recommend Vanguard, but keep in mind I am a bit baised a Flashship customer
#2) Same as #1.
#3) I would recommend Sharebuilder and company DRIPs that don't have any fees, I use them both myself.
#4) my rule of thumb is as little as possible. You need a margin of safety in your income (ie extra cash) each month that you can use to build savings, cover unexpected expenses, and invest. I wouldn't stretch myself to over 50% of my take home pay, not even including my wife's income and other streams of income for us. Timely question because my wife and are are thinking alot this right now.
#5) Yes I like Sharebuilder as a place to get started especially for dollar cost averaging investors. I have a fair amount of my assets at Sharebuilder, but am planning on consolidating my accounts to Vanguard (again because of my Flagship benefits/discounts).

Posted by 2million | July 8, 2008 4:44 AM

Matt,
$7.8k - a good chunk of that is unreimbursed business expesnes -- see offsetting line item under assets. But your right if that was all personal expenses that would not be a good sign. Also we did booked tickets to Sydney this month.

Will,
Real estate is listed at cost basis, not market value. Once market value falls to a level at or below cost basis I will consider marketing down the real estate. Right now I still have a margin of safety there.

Posted by 2million | July 8, 2008 4:48 AM

2Mil,
Thank you. I make 84k a year. My wife doesn't work. My current home is worth a modest 170k and I owe 140k. I've been approved up to 300k (not sure how they arrive at that!). Yes, my "material side" LOVES the look and feel of a 225k home- however the "Warren Buffett" side of me realizes that if I downsize to a 150k home and put 30k down on the next one, I can have an even lower payment and, as you said, have more to invest and have a larger nest egg and such. THAT attracts me more. Also, my wife and I are very very handy with fixing up our home so the idea of getting less of a house and doing work on it to fix it up is attractive. I guess it's hard bc everyone wants a "nice" home and it's hard to buy something less than what you can technically afford. Luckily, my wife is ok with the 150-160k dollar homes and where I live, that buys you about 2300 sq. feet in a very nice neighborhood. (southwest US). Thank you for your feedback btw, SO much appreciated. Vanguard is also who ClarkHoward recommends as I heard it on the radio after I posted this. Is Sharebuilder the one that allows you to select 10 different stocks, invest any amt of money and it will divide it up into them equally?

Posted by DVL | July 8, 2008 6:58 AM

dvl:

come on over to the money forum on clarkhoward.com.

- s.b.

Posted by some body | July 9, 2008 3:44 PM

The credit card companies must really love you. Didn't you hear that you were supposed to spend the money that they loaned you at zero percent so that you could pay them lots of interest down the road?

Sorry to hear about the bad month - hope next month will be better!

Posted by Rob | July 13, 2008 9:58 PM