I’m a few days late posting, but given I post once a month, it is what it is.
My Net Worth increased just under $8,000 this month – that’s amazing news! My 401k and HSA investments again did show some improvement this month, though not much considering I am still contributing into them, with a match for the 401k. The big gain this month is just on paper, which my house value estimate going up $3,789 – that’s the largest jump I’ve ever seen living here. Perhaps my neighborhood is finally coming back from the large losses of 2008. It’s still worth about $14,000 less than what I paid for it though, so that’s still disappointing.
April 2018 Financial Statement
| Account Name | Previous Balance | Balance | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash | $0.00 | $100.00 | $100.00 |
| Savings - Personal | $4,000.21 | $1,000.31 | -$2,999.90 |
| Savings - Personal (CU) | $14,006.95 | $14,008.37 | $1.42 |
| Checking - Personal | $1,538.98 | $3,323.79 | $1,784.81 |
| Checking - Business | $1,515.94 | $2,185.43 | $669.49 |
| Retirement - 401k | $177,991.68 | $181,298.25 | $3,306.57 |
| Credit Cards | -$14,704.60 | -$14,082.00 | $622.60 |
| Retirement - Pension | $25,840.15 | $25,840.15 | $0.00 |
| Retirement - HSA (Investements) | $7,467.62 | $7,503.77 | $36.15 |
| Retirement - HSA (Cash) | $2,291.31 | $2,534.35 | $243.04 |
| Asset - Vehicle 1 | $13,925.00 | $13,625.00 | -$300.00 |
| Auto Loan 1 | -$15,008.32 | -$14,645.55 | $362.77 |
| Asset - Vehicle 2 | $8,500.00 | $8,500.00 | $0.00 |
| Asset - Precious Metals | $400.00 | $500.00 | $100.00 |
| Asset - Home | $142,545.00 | $146,334.00 | $3,789.00 |
| Mortgage - Home | $-139,106.30 | -$138,827.96 | $278.34 |
| Net Worth | $231,203.63 | $239,197.91 | $7,994.23 |
A few things to note this month:
- I spent way too much eating out again.
- I spent about $600 gambling this month… it’d been awhile. That’s not excuse, but I have to acknowledge it.
- I spent another $1,000.00 on the 2nd half of my step daughters much needed dental work.
Side Business Income
For March, my side business did about $2,200 in revenue – our 3rd best month, and this was without having any orders from my best customer. I’m hoping we didn’t lose their business. I also spend the last month, and will use May as well, to redesign the company website and customer experience. I’m really excited for the future once we launch the new look in the beginning of June!
Retirement
April was a decent month for my 401k, posting a small gain of $3,306 – though most of that was from contributions. It did rise a little bit from gains though, so I’m happy it’s going in the right direction!
With retirement accounts totaling $207,138.40 and using a 3.5% safe withdrawal rate (SWR), that would allow me to take $604.15 as income each month. That’s an increase of about $9.50 a month, over last month! It’s the little gains I have to be happy about right now!
Safe Withdrawal Rate (3.5%) monthly income: $604.15
I don’t count my HSA or other savings in this calculation as of right now, because I’m not yet confident that and other funds will last me until retirement. I still need to establish a 6 month emergency fund, pay off my consumer debt, and start investing before I start to feel pretty confident about the future. Not to mention, saving for a down payment so I can eventually move out of my too-far-from-work-small-townhouse.
Spendaholic Ways
Once again I ate out too much. I feel like once my fiancee moves here from Ukraine, and we cook at home together, this problem will solve itself for me. But living here alone, and being alone here makes it really tough on me to want to cook once I make the commute home from work, or if I am working from home all day. I know those are just excuses, but that’s my rationale right now. I keep saying I will try to do better, but realistically I don’t seem to be putting that plan into action.
Emergency Fund
My personal and credit union savings is now at $15,000, sliding backwards $3,000 due to the dental work for my step-daughter, some unforeseen vet bills for my pets (they’re getting old), and poor spending habits.
Looking Ahead
Over the coming months, I will continue working on the personal finance aspects of my journey, but there are some key points I must consider going forward:
- I have $15,000 of my $24,000 emergency fund goal set up, an anticipate a savings rate of $2,000 per month right now towards it.
- In the next few weeks I will have to start look ahead for some expenses around our visa paperwork and moving my family to the USA
- The side business website redesign is all paid for and will launch June 2018, then I can focus on sales.