January 2012 Net Worth Update (+$29,888)

Assets Dec-11 Jan-12 Change %
Cash & Savings $ 27,882.26 $ 27,618.74 $ (263.52) -0.95%
Taxable Brokerage Accts $ 158,906.63 $ 164,890.42 $ 5,983.79 3.77%
Roth IRAs $ 82,652.93 $ 86,835.15 $ 4,182.22 5.06%
Pre-tax Retirement Accts $ 272,245.83 $ 287,564.04 $ 15,318.21 5.63%
Stock Options $ - $ - $ -
ESPP $ 921.38 $ 1,097.09 $ 175.71 19.07%
Property #1 - Rental $ 160,000.00 $ 160,000.00 $ - 0.00%
Property #2 - Rental $ 128,225.00 $ 128,225.00 $ - 0.00%
Property #3 - Primary $ 300,000.00 $ 300,000.00 $ - 0.00%
Property #4 - Rental $ 163,000.00 $ 163,000.00 $ -
Receivable (Payable) $ - $ - $ -
Other Assets $ - $ - $ -
Total Assets $ 1,293,834.03 $ 1,319,230.44 $ 25,396.41 1.96%
Liabilities
Credit Card Balances $ (2,257.51) $ (1,831.02) $ 426.49 -18.89%
House #1 Mortgages $ (79,417.95) $ (75,944.62) $ 3,473.33 -4.37%
House #2 Mortgages $ (8,260.85) $ (8,181.65) $ 79.20 -0.96%
House #3 Mortgages $ (250,693.34) $ (250,329.16) $ 364.18 -0.15%
House #4 Mortgages $ (121,807.51) $ (121,658.78) $ 148.73 -0.12%
Rental Deposits $ (5,902.72) $ (5,902.72) $ - 0.00%
Additional Tax Liability $ - $ - $ -
Other Liabilities $ -
Total Liabilities $ (468,339.88) $ (463,847.95) $ 4,491.93 -0.96%
$2million Goal Progress* $ 776,187.49 $ 805,711.65 $ 29,524.16 3.80%
Net Worth $ 825,494.15 $ 855,382.49 $ 29,888.34 3.62%

Highlights for January

  • We 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 in the process of earning 50k in Chase Rewards (or ~$500) on a new Chase Ink credit card offer after we spend $5,000 in 3months. We are using Amazon Payments to maximize our credit card spend to qualify.
  • Our properties are listed on our balance sheet based on their cost basis, not current market value. I believe real estate is too illiquid to list based on recent sale transactions.
  • We made another significant principal payment in our Rental #1 primary mortgage. Our current focus has been to pay off this mortgage loan to improve our monthly cash flow. I'm hoping we can regularly paydown approx. $2,000/mo which should eliminate the mortgage in less than 2 years. This will be our default investment for free cash each month unless I see a much more attractive opportunity.
  • January was a strong month for us driven primarily by stock market gains. We already grew our net worth about 40% of what we did in all of 2011 ($72k) so we are off to a good start. Our taxable investments did slightly worse than our benchmark (VTI) in January. I'll post additional details of our investment activities in January later this month.
  • I gave some thought on how we would react to a job loss to minimize our financial hit.


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 (7)


Will you ever address why you continue to actively manage an investment portfolio when the VTI continues to outperform you month in and month out? It seems to go in direct contrast to your efforts to maximize the return on your time investments in other areas of your life.

2million, Fantastic month! Congrats. Been reading your blog for awhile now and am so impressed with the thoughful logical approach to achieving your financial freedom. Cant wait to see you hit the 7 figure mark.

Hi,

It would be very nice to get some cash flow analysis as well next to the net worth updates. Could this be done?

Jake - I haven't done it recently but here is a monthly cash flow summary from back in 2010. Current monthly cash flow is roughly in line with this example.

This year is the presidential election, so I expect that the politicians will pump as much money as they can into the system. This will make the system look all rosy and cheerful.

The challenge will lay ahead in 2013.

But I am a bit surprised that you are putting your money anywhere else apart from mortgage. Do you manage to earn higher rate elsewhere?

BR, it looks like 2million was just ahead of VTI for Jan, he had 5% and 5.6% vs 4.51% for VTI.
Still you may have a point about the tradeoff with quality of life. If I lived in the US, I'd focus on other things more too.

2Million,

Why have you not contributed to a 529 for college savings?

Post a comment

(Comment moderation enabled.)

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