June Net Worth
Posted on July 11, 2006 by Him and tagged debt, net_worth
| May 2006 | June 2006 | % Change | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TOTAL NET WORTH | -$90,945.05 | -$84,918.71 | 6.6% | |
| Assets | ||||
| Savings | $5,824.10 | $9,821.97 | 68.6% | |
| Cash* | $550.00 | $550.00 | 0.0% | |
| His SIMPLE IRA | $3,695.59 | $4,186.59 | 13.3% | |
| His Roth IRA | $6,174.57 | $5,981.17 | -3.1% | |
| His HSA | $454.41 | $837.09 | 47.5% | |
| Her 401K | $6,625.53 | $7,189.46 | 8.5% | |
| Her Roth IRA | $1,504.00 | $1,546.25 | 2.8% | |
| Upromise | $62.97 | $8.85 | -89.9% | |
| Automobile | $10,090.00 | $10,115.00 | 0.2% | |
| Household Items** | $25,000.00 | $25,000.00 | 0.0% | |
| TOTAL ASSETS | $59,981.17 | $65,236.38 | 8.8% | |
| Liabilities | ||||
| Credit Cards | $15,777.77 | $15,210.22 | -3.6% | |
| Student Loans | $135,148.45 | $134,944.87 | -0.2% | |
| TOTAL LIABILITIES | $150,926.22 | $150,155.09 | -0.5% | |
Yeah, GO SAVINGS GO. Bonus-a-roo, bitches.
My HSA went up because my employer loves its employees, and funds our HSAs 100% of the maximum amount in quarterly installments. Unfortunately, that money will soon disappear to pay the remaining deductable for my new knee.
UPromise balance is now in our HSBC account.
Our investment accounts are doing surprisingly well. Except for my Roth IRA though, reporting its second loss in two months. Boooo.
Out car seems to be an appreciable asset. GO CAR.
*Cash: This variable doesn't change month-to-month since that's about how much we have in our checking account, couch cushions, wallets, etc., at any given time. I'm thinking this category may just disappear in future iterations.
**Household items: I'll repeat what I said last month: We know we're going to get shit about this category again, so in the next month or so I'm going to actually try an assess what all of our crap is worth, along with asking you guys whether or not it should be included. Until then, it stays. Anyway, we like the fact that we can get a little help from it, you know?
Comments/Trackbacks
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Jill | Jul 11, 2006
First of all, I was so happy for you to see that your net worth negative had plummeted below 90K. Great work!
Second, I have been wondering how you have a Upromise account. Isn't this only for college savings and if you have a 504 plan? Please explain!
Jill,
Anyone can open a Upromise account. Although it is marketed as a college savings account, you do not need to designate a student as the recipient for the funds. You can request a check for the funds up to once per quarter, then use the money as you please. You may also open a 529 account through one of their partners, but this is not necessary.
Jill | Jul 11, 2006
Thanks! I just opened an account. I am mad that I didn't know that prior to tonight!!
Young Finance Guy | Jul 12, 2006
How is your car an appreciable asset? Is it a classic car or did you make improvments to it?
Good job on cutting that negative NW. Keep up the good progress.
Thanks for the encouragement!
There is nothing special about the car that should make it appreciate.
In last month's net worth post, Kim said:
And about the car, mine also has had a couple of months this year of negative depreciation. What kind of car do you drive? Does it get really good gas mileage? Mine gets 28-34 mpg and I'm guessing that the resale value of the car is going up because of gas prices and people downsizing from guzzlers.
And Jonathan said:
I don't think you did anything wrong with KBB, I think mine went up too. I'm thinking there's less crazy discounts so used cars are becoming more attractive now.
So there you go.
Young Finance Guy | Jul 12, 2006
I get how your recording the value, but I wouldn't agree with the method. I would think the car will continue to depreciate over time as does any asset in this asset class. I would agree with the argument that the good gas mileage could help off set the depreciation, but I do not believe it would help the car get more valuable. This is just my opinion, obviously.
Sarita | Jul 12, 2006
Not meaning to pry, but have you calculated how much sooner you'd pay off the CC if you put your bonus toward it rather than toward savings? Or how much less you'd pay in interest over the two years if you did so?
Sarita,
All our credit card debt is currently at interest rates that are lower than the rates in our high-yield savings accounts, so we're not losing money by allocating it toward savings. Also, since we're paying cash for our wedding, we need to have the money available for down payments etc. We have to balance carefully between these two priorities.
Sarah | Aug 2, 2006
You two motivated my husband and I to do a generic net worth estimate (we rounded instead of actual numbers) and it was more positive than we thought! (well... the net worth was still negative) It gets so daunting looking at the student loan and other debt, that it made us feel pretty good that we do have some assets! Keep it up! All us 20-somethings should keep banding together and keep each other motivated to finally get in the black.
Blacklid | Aug 18, 2006
I like the Household category. I have a similar line item in my spreadsheet that contains all the stuff we don't want or need. I list it ONLY if we could get a good amount of money for it using an auction site. Don't include the TV you use everyday, even if it's worth a lot. The temptation to replace it only makes things worse. This is one of the first things Suze Orman suggests to people - take stock of what you got, sell what you don't want. The balance is comforting and makes me feel less "materially deprived", which means I buy less stuff, which means I have more money. Hey! Cool how that works.
Id Ra | Aug 30, 2006
Hi. I too keep track of my net worth, balance sheet style, and I use it to only track assets and liabilities. Being an accountant, and a financial purist, I strictly define assets as anything that I expect to provide some value (aka, money) in the future. It is a strict definition, lifted from the Rich Dad Poor Dad author. This is also the definition that accountants use. If you own something but do not expect it to provide any future monetary value, it is not an asset. Thus, your car (unless you plan to sell it for a profit), your household items, etc, etc, are not assets and do not contribute to your net worth (IMHO). It will give you a more accurate idea of where you're at, because you probably don't want to sell your Bloc Party collectible promo poster just to pay some finance charges on your student loans, nor do you like see anything of that ilk as a reasonable possibility for paying off debts.
I also don't think you should include car, household items as "assets" - in the long run they're probably all worthless (even if you sold some you'd probably by other "stuff" to replace them with).
If you exclude them you'll also get a better picture of the impact buying things has on your net worth - buying $1,000 of stocks has no immediate impact on your net worth, but buying $1,000 of clothing should be taken as an immediate "hit" to your net worth.
It also makes it lots simpler to track your net worth if you don't have to worry about estimating "values" for your car, TV, stereo etc.
c | Jul 11, 2006
So I know you're not asking for input on the whole household items category yet, but I'll go ahead and throw in my $.02.
If you're going to include it, I would include what you could actually get for the items were you to sell them, NOT what you paid for them. My personal philosophy on net worth is that it should reflect the amount of cash I could have in hand if I cashed everything in/sold everything (house, car, quad, etc).
I know it's tempting to include it, because it does improve the overall picture. If that keeps you motivated, then by all means keep it. But know that it's probably not giving you a completely accurate picture of your finances.
By the way, nice job and increasing the savings and continuing to chip away at that pesky debt...
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