Whew… how’s that for two life changing events in a short span.

First, I proposed to my girlfriend while we were on top of a mountain in Lake Tahoe on the 27th of July (she said yes) and I will be starting my new job of the 28th of August. Yes, I proposed on 7/27 and will be switching jobs on 8/28… I love palindromes (and coincidences and sarcasm). The workings of these events all occured in the last few weeks and I hadn’t blogged about them (much) because I wanted to get word out in other ways and make things official before I wrote about them. (For those of you keeping score with the net worth updates and how I haven’t had one in a few months, I didn’t want the numbers to clue anyone to the fact that I was going to propose… net worth updates will continue as usual in September October)

So… expect to be reading a little about the first and a lot about the process of the second in the coming days or weeks.

Net Worth: $123,649.78 (+1.66%)
Retirement Assets: $56,383.36 (-5.42%)

Own any stocks do ya? May was a pretty rough month for the ole retirement portfolio with the S&P dropping 3.1%, the Dow slipping 1.75%, and the Nasdaq Composite plummeting 6.2% – I felt pretty happy only falling 5.4% in an emerging markets heavy retirement portfolio. Compare that with VWO, Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock VIPERs, which fell 11.54% and that 5.42% doesn’t look so bad…

If you noticed, the net worth figure increased by 1.66% despite a “significant” drop in my retirement assets, that’s mostly because of blog earnings since my regular salary hasn’t changed and my spending has, on the whole, maintained the same level. Other than that, nothing significant worth mentioning.

One change in my Net Worth calculations was the inclusion of $7,300 in credit card debt that I’m now carrying month to month for arbitrage reasons (that debt is offset by a balance my bank account). The most challenging aspect of seeing $7,300 extra money in my Emigrant Direct bank account is mentally separating it from my own money. I see the $7,300 in there and there’s no risk that I’ll “accidentally” spend it but I have to remember it’s not mine.

I can’t wait until July 1st when the energy bills spike.

Net Worth: $121,598.88 (+8.73%)
Retirement Assets: $59,613.50 (+4.23%)

April, like March, was a great month for several reasons:
1) Blog – Again, the blog accounted for a nice part of the 8.73% networth increase. When I started doing all this I told my girlfriend all I wanted was for it to pay for a vacation a year, it’s done so much more and I’m thankful to all the folks who spend time each day reading.
2) Tax Refund – I bought a house nearly a year ago and I’ve been paying more than my fair share of taxes (only a little more). I can thank Uncle Sam’s honesty for a nice boost a few weeks ago.

I think I’m really messing up my retirement assets (Roth specifically) by playing around in the stock market. You see that the retirement assets amount has increased by 4.23% and you are led to believe that it’s been a good run (and it has been) but a large part of that is because of my heavy allocation in emerging markets (and it’s strong performance). What you don’t see is that I keep screwed myself over by playing around with the money in my Roth.

My Roth consists of four holdings right now, two of which are underwater.

The two I’m underwater on are Amazon (AMZN) and Ford (F). In work emails, my friends often write ‘f’ instead of the full four letter, more colorful, equivalent; sometimes I feel like Ford is seriously f’ing me. I bought Ford after it tanked a few weeks ago thinking that it had finally hit its low and was going to make a comeback. I felt that auto was last year’s airlines and since Ford was profitable as a whole and sitting on a ton of cash, it was a much better play than General Motors (GM). I’m down -15.76% on Ford as of today.

Amazon, however, is a different story. I’m a fan of the company and I’m an Amazon Associate so they pay me a nice little check every quarter. The reason I bought into them is because I like Amazon, I buy a lot of stuff on Amazon, and they reported a bad quarter and were, in my opinion, punished unfairly for it. Since then they’ve been up and down and as of today I’m down -9.56% on Amazon.com.

Of the two that have been profitable…

The first is Cap Rock Energy Corporation (RKE), a special situation investment I bought into after test trying Fat Pitch Financial’s Contributor Corner (it’s pretty sweet honestly, George writes about his investments after the fact for those interest). You can win a month simply by being the most active member of Fat Pitch News, a Digg-like site for financial news. Honestly, RKE was a sure-fire win because they’re buying back shares at $21.75 and I bought them at $20.45.

The other company I hold is Disney (DIS). I bought them prior to their Q1 earnings announcement, which were favorable, and I’ve held them since. I’m up +10.57% on that trade.

So why do I say I’ve been screwed myself? I could’ve saved myself all the heartache (not that much heartache, it doesn’t bother me when Ford tanks 7% in one day because I don’t have that much money in it and I don’t plan to touch it for 40 years) by investing in an index fund like every other intelligent person.

At least my 401(k) is kicking ass instead of kicking my ass…

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Net Worth: $115,365.77 (+3.19%)
Retirement Assets: $57,193.22 (+3.90%)

This past March has been very good to me and the biggest reason for the net worth increase was this very blog. We were able to sell some very solid advertising and it appears that the hard work I’ve put into this baby is starting to come into fruition. As for the retirement asset improvement, some of that had to do with me creating a SEP-IRA and a pretty healthy return from my 401(k).

I doubt I’ll see as many good months as this past one but one can always hope!

This is my first monthly net worth update for quite some time so these numbers lack a bit of context but I’ll present them anyway. Also, these numbers are going to be a little inflated because as of 3/1 my mortgage company hasn’t deducted my February-end payment.

Total Liabilities: $257,594.76
About $24k of that is student loans which are currently in deferrment until I complete my studies at Johns Hopkins and the balance of that amount is from my home mortgage.

Total Assets: $384,714.93
The vast majority of that asset value is in the home, appraised at $299k. Approximately $16k go towards my 2003 Toyota Celica (Kelley Blue Book value), $55k in my retirement accounts, and a little over $15k stuffed into my mattress.

Net Worth: $127,120.17
Before you say, wow that’s a great net worth for someone who is 25, $40k of that is in the form of a “gift” from my parents that went to the purchase of my home. While by all accounts it was a gift, on a personal level I see it as a loan I want to repay, even if they don’t see it that way. I’ve mentioned this in the past before and readers have said that I should count that in my net worth, but in my mind I don’t.

My February 2006-end Net Worth: $87,120.17

I’ve been a little derelict in keeping this sort of information updated (publicly and privately, to be honest), which I admitted to in an interview with Scott of the Money Blogger Podcast, so to motivate and remind me to update it I’ll be putting up a panel very much like many of the other bloggers out there and put a list of my goals.

Here they are:
In 10 years (35):
Retirement accounts totalling $350,000 (revised from $200k, currently at $55,121.77)
Total net worth at $650,000 (revised from $500k, currently at $109,598.19)

In 20 years (45):
Retirement accounts totalling $750,000 (revised from $500k)
Total net worth at $1,500,000 (revised from $1M)

Are those numbers entirely out of whack? (Thanks for the numbers LAMoneyGuy, how do these look now?)

I’ve been a little derelict in my monthly reviews because I’ve fallen off the budgeting horse – but I have some good excuses! The month spent living in my friend’s basement plus the last month of not having the Internet at home has meant my computer at home has laid dormant for the better part of two months. Normally I’ve kept careful records on my computer but with the two month hiatus I’ve enjoyed not recording every possible transaction I’ve had. What you will read below is instead a summary of the last few months and major financial decisions I’ve made.

(click here to continue reading…)

May was a pretty big month as it included a huge asset added onto my books – my new home. Thank you to everyone who gave me suggestions and helped me avoid many of the pitfalls of purchasing a home and hopefully, for those of you who haven’t taken the plunge, some of the articles I’ve written and some of the comments many have left will help you in your journey. Since I haven’t moved in and am currently doing a rent-back, my expenditures haven’t increased to reflect the fat mortgage payment because I don’t think it’s necessary to show it yet. As for everything else, it’s out in the open for you all to read and pick at.

(click here to continue reading…)

I’m going to take the plunge and join the level of financial transparency that other personal finance blogs are willing to reveal. If Flexo at ConsumerismCommentary.com and Nev at NevBlog.com bare it all (and have for quite some time) – I think I can do it too. I’ll detail, to the cent, my spending this month along with my budgetary targets. I’ll also reveal a little bit about my liquid and retirement assets and what I’m doing with them so that you all can comment and critique my decisions.

For those of you who know me in real life, I would truly appreciate discretion regarding my finances – but please feel free to talk to me about it (just not with others). Thanks!

(click here to continue reading…)

Last month I cranked out some of my personal financials (sorry, only percentages, I’m not as comfortable as many of my contemporaries) and in keeping with the review of my Financial Outlook, I’ve compiled some of the more interesting statistics here. March saw me spend less because I was finally clear of any additional payments as a result of the car accident at the end of last year. I also had the good fortune of earning a “Results Sharing” bonus, that I didn’t even know existed for my company. So I spent less and earned more…

1. These percentages are calculated against my post-tax income, which already has 20% contributed to my employer’s 401k plan.
2. Budget Reserve is simply my safety blanket in the budget for overruns. 13% seems like quite a bit but any excess falls into Savings!

Budget Notes:
Meals was the only category that missed estimates by a small amount and I didn’t really see it as a big deal because it was down from the month before! I do enjoy going out to eat on the weekends after a week of my own pathetic cooking (where I eat the same thing for dinner and lunch the next day).
I thought that the Transportation/Gas component this month was going to be a little higher than usual because that’s where I put all my travel costs, including airline tickets, and I purchased a flight to Boston on Southwest for around $98 this month for my sister’s graduation. But apparently it didn’t push me over my target.
The numbers above don’t reflect any of the “Results Sharing” bonus I received. 20% of that went straight into my 401k, the other 80% went into my savings account. The bonus represented a 28.8% increase on my monthly gross income so you can see I was able to put a lot away, which will probably go towards a downpayment on a house.
I would’ve been 0% on clothing again, as is the expected, except for St. Patty’s day when I bought myself an Old Navy “Kiss Me I’m Irish” shirt. No one believed me though.

Eventually though I’ll have to pay my taxes ($372) and I’m not sure where that’s going to fall under, I suppose Other. So next month I’d expect to see some very skewed numbers in some categories. Cheers and thanks for reading.