Monday, January 10, 2011

2010 Year End Recap

Well the year came to a close in an interesting and good way.

First of all, let's look at my net worth as of 12/31/10:
Cash and Bank Accounts: $66,039
Retirement (401k and Roth IRA): $320, 626
Other Investments (mutual funds @ E*Trade): $51,294
Bonds $5,197
Home Equity $82,592
Credit Card Balance -$2,615
TOTAL: $523,133

Now you may be thinking, as I did, whoa! Her net worth as of a month before was only $479,273! Did her net worth really increase 9.15% in one month? Well, I did receive $9,000 more of my inheritance from Great Aunt Minnie, and the stock market did ok... but what I also discovered is that I had the wrong symbol in Quicken for one of my mutual funds and therefore the wrong price, so my net worth has been understated by several thousand dollars for I don't know how long. So I not only blew away my original year end goal of $450,000, I sailed past the half-million dollar mark, which was totally unexpected. Pretty cool.

As for my income and expenses, here's a look at the totals for 2010 vs. 2009:


2009 2010 Var. % Var.
Income



Bonus $11,765 $17,288 $5,523 47%
Gift Received $1,309 $24,200 $22,891 1749%
Interest Inc $776 $502 -$274 -35%
Other Inc $6,503 $6,386 -$117 -2%
Salary $96,206 $99,373 $3,167 3%
Tax Refund $4,211 $2,873 -$1,338 -32%





Total Income $120,770 $150,623 $29,853 25%





Expenses



Bank Charge $160 $97 -$64 -40%
Business expense $0 -$7 -$7 N/A
Charity $468 $1,055 $586 125%
Clothing $1,639 $2,648 $1,009 62%
Dining $7,895 $8,552 $656 8%
Education $406 $455 $49 12%
Entertainment $663 $448 -$214 -32%
Gifts Given $962 $1,924 $963 100%
Gym & Fitness $1,317 $1,361 $44 3%
Household $1,337 $760 -$577 -43%
Home Insurance $335 $335 $0 0%
Housing $14,384 $14,171 -$213 -1%
Medical $1,938 $4,556 $2,619 135%
Misc $2,215 $3,412 $1,197 54%
Taxes $30,325 $34,053 $3,728 12%
Subscriptions $956 $743 -$213 -22%
Travel $1,712 $4,803 $3,091 180%
Utilities $1,936 $2,454 $518 27%










Total Expenses $68,648 $81,819 $13,171 19%










Net Savings $52,122 $68,804 $16,683 32%





% of Gross Income Saved 43.16% 45.68%



A few notes:
  • As noted elsewhere, I received a $24,000 inheritance from a family member.
  • Other Income is matching 401k contributions from my employer.
  • Interest is down because I shifted quite a bit of money from bank accounts into investment accounts.
  • Charity and Gifts Given are up for reasons explained in this post.
  • Medical is way up because I had a crown and root canal and exceeded the annual cap on my dental insurance.
  • Miscellaneous is up mainly because I bought an iPhone and some apps.
  • Travel is up because I didn't do much of a vacation last year, but this year I went to Turkey and splurged a little on hotels even though my air ticket was purchased with frequent flyer miles.
  • Utilities is up because of the higher monthly costs of the iPhone.
  • Subscriptions is down because I canceled my NY Times delivery at home, since I spend so much time at Sweetie's place. Household is lower for the same reason
  • I'm pretty consistent but I let a few categories creep up a bit without any real reason, particularly Dining. I still like eating out and drink too much-- everyone has to have a vice, right?
  • Clothing was also higher but I really needed some new work clothes and shoes, so I'm not too concerned about that.

But the bottom line is that I continue to save a lot of my income. If not for the inheritance, I would have saved less than I did last year, but at least some of that was due to more giving, and higher taxes because I earned more. It's not like I went crazy buying tons of stuff, even if I did allow myself a few treats like an iPhone, some clothes and a vacation.

Now I have to look ahead at 2011... what should my next net worth goal be? Should I make any changes to my budget? This could be the year when I rent out my apartment and move in with Sweetie, which could change things a lot. And I need to take a close look at my investment allocations, which I haven't done in a while. So much to think about! And write about here... I'm going to try to post more frequently this year. So happy 2011! As always, onward and upward!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's just another number, but a hearty congratulations on breaking the half-million mark!

Coincidentally, just last week I had the same experience with Moneydance where I gained a few Gs in one day by correcting a mutual fund ticker symbol.

Jackie said...

Congratulations on your new net worth milestone. Onward and upward, indeed!

Glad to see you posting again. Yours has always been my favorite personal finance blog, and I'm excited to hear that you'll be posting more this year!

Taylor in TX said...

Your blog was one of the first financial blogs I ever found and read. Very excited to be able to expect more postings!

simplesimon said...

You probably have described this in an older post, and if so, would you mind pointing to it?

How do you think about saving (or spending)? Do you think "save $X a year" or "spend $Y a year"? A combination of the two?

You have been able to save an insane amount (as a percentage of income) for a person living by herself in NYC so I'm curious what your mindset on your saving/spending habits are.

I like to think about saving $X amount and spending the rest.

Great posts. Keep up the good work (if it can even be called that)!

Anonymous said...

Congrats! Your savings rate is awesome! Thanks for sharing.

One question, why is your housing so low? Did you put the interest portion of of your housing payment in "Interests"?

Amy Arnaz said...

Dear Madame X~
I found your blog thru a link on the Happiness Project blog and I'm glad I did. I have been reading here for about an hour and found your blog informative and FUNNY. Your "using a shorter piece of dental floss" comment is totally apropos and gave me a good chuckle. I love your outlook on spending/saving money and thought you might like this quote: "Cheap is Chic" You belong to the vanishing era when folks had common sense. Thanks for a delightful read. ~ Amy Arnaz

PPI said...

you are rich enough to live a happy life!

Madame X said...

Anonymous 1/19, Housing does include mortgage interest and principal, common charges and property taxes-- but my actual property tax amount for the year ended up being negative because of over-escrowing in previous years that was refunded this year.

SimpleSimon, I don't set myself a goal of saving any particular amount each year. I do generally try to budget my spending, and that budget doesn't change a lot from year to year even as my salary increases. I know the budget allows me to save a certain portion of my income, so it is more a sense of living within certain guidelines that work for me rather than setting specific goals.

Chitown said...

Great Job!!! =)