Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Net Worth Updates Jan-July 2012

I'm trying to get back with the program here. I realized it had been an appalling 7 months since I last updated NetworthIQ (where I am the #5 most viewed profile!) and I don't think I've posted anything here either. So here's a quick snapshot of where my net worth is at:

Whenever I look at this graph, I'm just amazed at what a smooth steady climb it was up until the financial crisis in 2008. My net worth has been increasing at a faster pace since then, but with much more jagged ups and downs. Part of this may just be because as my net worth gets larger, the fluctuations are easier to see. I'm not savvy enough to graph this on a logarithmic scale to see if the percentages up and down have really increased in the last few years, but my guess is that they have. The other thing that is pretty cool is that in the lifespan of this graph, which is about 9 years, I've added about half a million dollars to my net worth. Given that my salary (plus bonus) before taxes has gone from about $73k to about $110k per year in that time frame, with about a quarter of that going to various taxes, I think it's pretty good that I've been able to increase my net worth by an average of over $50k per year. This is the power of living within your means, maxing out your 401k, and investing at least somewhat wisely.

6 comments:

penny said...

Great job! Wow, really nice to see everything bounce back. I wonder if you would be over 700k if it weren't for the huge market dips.
Well, who knows. Anyway, great job sticking it out, loks like you have a good trajectory to being a millionaire!
(Which as we all know is not the same as it *once* was) But it's still pretty damn great!!!

Emily said...

How much of that is investment returns and how much is your addition to the nest egg? Thanks for sharing!

bovinebear said...

It's pretty easy to see it as a log graph. Say your data cell is b3, then on c3 you can enter =ln(b3) and then plot against c3 instead of b3.....

Anonymous said...

There was a time, just a few years ago, when your net worth was roughly what mine was, about $500K.

Sadly, my trajectory has been downward since a 2009 layoff radically changed my income.

While the good thing is that I did pay off my mortgage, I have not been able to increase my net worth beyond $500K. I did pull from savings to pay off the mortgage and pay about $15k for vinyl siding to my home, so that also affected my bottom line, since I wasn't able to replenish savings the way I would have otherwise done.

Your net worth today is not just a result of maxing out your 401k or living beneath your means. It's also a matter of having the good fortune of a good-paying job that's only become more so over time, not an easy feat in this economy.

Count your blessings.

TheThriftyMillionairess said...

Thanks for the pointer on NetworthIQ. I'm headed there now to open an account! : D

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