Monthly Recap: June 2010

Finally getting around to another "monthly" net worth update! June was not a great month in many ways-- my investments lost some value, and I also decided to lower my home value by another $10,000 based on some comparable sales. (I had lowered it by $10,000 in September 2009 also.) My cash on hand increased nicely, but I had a bigger than usual credit card bill to pay off at the end of the month. Here's the details from NetWorthIQ:

Assets		$ Diff	% Diff
Cash	$64,186	$3,115	5.1%
Stocks	$20,237	-$502	-2.4%
Bonds	$5,091	$0	0.0%
Retirement	$240,608	-$10,221	-4.1%
Home	$80,404	-$9,641	-10.7%
Total Assets	$410,526	-$17,249	-4.0%
Debts		$ Diff	% Diff
Credit Card	$3,347	$1,676	100.3%
Total Debts	$3,347	$1,676	100.3%
Net Worth	$407,179	-$18,925	-4.4%

Whenever I look at this chart lately, I'm struck by the jagged ups and downs starting in 2007-- there's a huge dip, as you'd expect with a worldwide economic meltdown, but even aside from that, it's been pretty bumpy month to month when you compare it to the earlier dates. Part of the reason is the frequency of updates-- in 2005 I did about 6 entries, and went to almost monthly in 2006 and later. Years prior to 2005 are represented in annual entries. But when I look at Quicken, where my data has been updated religiously every month since 2002, I see the same pattern-- a nice, gradual upward slope until I bought my condo, then a giant spike in my assets and liabilities, then a series of monthly ups and downs. You'd think having a big chunk of net worth tied up in a home would stabilize those ups and downs... but not in today's world!