Friday, September 12, 2008

Net Worth August 2008

Here's my net worth as of 8/31/08:

Cash & Bank Accounts $ 34,811.64
Retirement: 401k & Roth IRA
$219,337.71
Stock/Mutual Fund Investments $ 17,837.68
Bonds $ 4,638.80
Home Equity $ 89,170.54
Credit Cards $-4116.73
NET WORTH $361,679.64


This doesn't quite match what's on NetWorthIQ, just due to rounding, I guess. It's nice to be up slightly from last month, but I'm still down from my highest net worth earlier this year, which is frustrating. I'm still managing to save money overall, but the stock market is making it disappear. I feel like I should be adjusting my lifestyle to save even more money, but it's hard to force myself to cut back on my various pleasures and conveniences when I feel like I'm being quite frugal in other ways. I definitely allow myself some luxury expenses, but there are so many other things I just don't spend money on... I'll have to explore this more in a future post.

As for what I actually did spend this month, my budget lines for Dining and Gifts are way over, due to groceries I was buying for my parents, and the plane ticket I bought for my mom. I never bothered to ask my dad for money for these things, but my mom said she'd make sure he sent me some money for them. Otherwise there is not much of interest to report. More details next month-- perhaps after September I'll do a 3-quarter wrap up and look at what I'd have to do to meet my budget and net worth goals for the end of the year.
Onwards and upwards!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm putting over $1500 a month into my 401k and my total net worth is going down each month. It is frustrating, but I have to keep reminding myself that I'm buying cheap shares of the 2030 target fund in my plan.

So frustrating...but what else can we do?

Keep up the great posts!

Anonymous said...

i have always wanted to ask you but does anyone know about your blog? i am guessing not even your sister or your close friends know your are madameX.
i am just curious.
anyways...i am heading to ny on sunday for the week.

have a great weekend.

Anonymous said...

Out of curiosity, why do you mix pre- and post-tax money to come up with the total? Wouldn't it make more sense to estimate your tax rate in retirement and count your 401K/IRA funds after tax deductions? Perhaps I'm missing something.

Anonymous said...

@anonymous

The tax laws are going to change so much in 30 years, plus that money will be accumulating compound interest. Also, generally this is the way I've seen professional financial planners review other people's net worth's in kiplinger's etc.

Anonymous said...

I have a lot lesser in credit cards. My reasoning is that whatever I spend on credit cards has to be paid on that very day itself. So that way I don't ever get near a debt trap. Your credit card debt is really very low relative to your net worth, but that even amount just seemed un-necessary to me.

Anonymous said...

You know, I have remained fairly calm through this entire process - less pleased than I would be if my retirement fund was performing the same way it did in the past, of course, but taking the longview and feeling like things would even out in the end.

But I just went on the NY Times website and saw that Merrill Lynch has agreed to be sold, to avert financial crisis, and that sent a wave of shock through me.

I am still trying to keep the longview, but it is becoming hard to believe that we're just in a "slump" or "temporary downturn."

Anonymous said...

do you add other so called assets in your calculation like cars etc?

Madame X said...

@ modena-- NO! I have not told anyone about my blog.

@anon 2:31-- I just lump together all money that is specifically earmarked for retirement. As teh other commenter said, who knows what the tax consequences will be later, so I don't see much point in adjusting the amounts for that.

@paige-- I do pay my credit card balance in full every month, so this isn't credit card "debt" technically, just whatever balance I have open at the time.

@wealth for investors-- if I owned a car, or some other major item, I would include its resale value as an asset, but since I don't own a car or any other valuable items, no personal property is included in my net worth. Only cash, bank accounts, home equity, and various stock, mutual fund and bond investments.