Net Worth

What is net worth? Net worth is defined as all of your assest minus your all of your liabilities. To put it another way it is the total value of everything you own minus the total value of everything you owe. If you owe more than you own, you have a negative net worth. If [...]

Man it sure is cold out. I always enjoy a nice windy snowy Sunday to bunker down inside and relax. I hope where ever you are you were able to relax a little this weekend.November 2008 Net Worth Update:(financials as of 12/5/2008)This month we were fortunate enough to increase our net worth by 5.22% or $1,023. Unfortunately some added irregular expenses such as a few new clothing items and train ti

If you’re like most people, you probably spend a lot of time thinking about money or wealth:  how to create it, how to get more of it or how to prevent from losing it.  We seem to dedicate a great deal of time and energy to the pursuit of richness.Now more than ever seems to be the perfect time to explore the meaning of true wealth ... The investment in yourself is the most importa

Are you sure Halloween wasn't yesterday? The days go by so quickly if you don't stop and think for a bit, something I need to slow down and do much more of. Good news to report: I am in the process of experiencing a new career tract and will be starting month two in the wonderful world of private equity at a local firm here in Rochester...more on this later. Here is an update on our situation and

  When drawing up regulations, government agencies place a value on human life in order to weigh the cost versus the benefit of proposed rules and legislation.  The EPA has valued a “stastical life” to be worth $6.9 million dollars. They believe the less a life is worth to the government, the less the need for restrictions on pollution.  I couldn’t begin [...]

Here is my monthly Net Worth update. Total Assets: $11,573 Total Debts: -$17,074 --------------------- Net Worth: -$5,501 Difference from last month: -$1,646 Percentage Difference:... Come along side one man's journey to reach $100,000. He's a normal, everyday guy fighting debt and living paycheck to paycheck. Can he do it? Read to find out!

I haven’t done a net worth update in a very, very long time.  To be honest, I haven’t done a net worth update in such a long time because my net worth updates are kind of boring.  Nothing really exciting happens month after month as my wife and I consistently spend less than we earn [...]

I updated my financial records for the month of October. It was a huge disappointment. In total $3,072 was shaved off of my net worth. This comes out to almost 10% of my total! Ouch! Most of the problems were contained in my retirement accounts. My Roth IRA and 401(k) completely tanked for the month. I made a big change on the debt front as well. I refinanced my debt. All of the plastic d

What else are we gonna do? I tell you this much - just having my job AND my house is enough to keep me in good spirits, that's for sure!Every time i turn on that freakin' tv, or read MSNBC online, there is some sort of fiasco happening around the world. So if i can still have all the luxuries i do now in life, i don't mind lose some bucks here and there until it all turns back around.Plus, i mean,

Here is the October 2008 update of the net worth for some well known personal finance bloggers. The big question this month was "How big aree the losses?" ... The list is ordered by actual net worth increase in $ BloggerNet WorthChange $Change %*Money Blue Book$163,394$ 25,59418.57%Million Dollar...

Recently, I made the decision to start tracking my personal net worth and financial status in a very public and revealing way - by posting my financial numbers online for all to see. The point of doing this was not to boast, demonstrate some fanciful financial bravado, or unnecessarily parade my personal finance publicly to [...]

I have just updated my net worth for October 2008. The results were pretty depressing…. My net worth has decreased by about $9k. Here are the long of short of my personal finance events for October 2008: Bad things: * My retirement fund decreased. This was expected, but really depressing. Even more depressing - the trend might continue [...]

For new readers of my personal finance blog, this is my first inaugural financial status and net worth update. I hope to make this is a monthly tradition to better help me track the condition of my financial health. At the same time, I am keenly aware of the potential awkwardness that comes with financial [...]

In August I had a pretty big and completely unexpected life change, in a good way. Ha, I bet some of you readers are thinking Baby Time, but for now my wife and I are happy to borrow our niece and nephew when we are feeling "parental." Instead, I returned to school to start work on a PhD in Computer Engineering. I have remained at my job full time and added classes on top. Not surprisingly I ha

Here is my monthly Net Worth update. Total Assets: $10,552 Total Debts: -$17,699 --------------------- Net Worth: -$7,147 Difference from last month: +$616 Percentage Difference:... Come along side one man's journey to reach $100,000. He's a normal, everyday guy fighting debt and living paycheck to paycheck. Can he do it? Read to find out!

My mind has been a little preoccupied lately as I am very fortunate to be evaluating several job opportunities, both local and non-local. Lez and I pulled in really early this morning from our mini vacation/investigation of new towns to live in/evaluation of job offers trip in the Philadelphia and middle New Jersey area. One thing we had plenty of was quiet driving time to talk and think and we

Here is the September 2008 update of the net worth for some well known personal finance bloggers. The list is ordered by actual net worth increase in $ BloggerNet WorthChange $Change %Me vs. Debt -$35,802 $7,686 +17.67%My Money Blog $243,290 $3,723 +1.60%Million Dollar Journey $317,218 $...

Our net worth was down $16,591 for the month of September. In Sept. our net worth ended at $577,045 whereas in August we were at $593,636. I track my net worth as Freeby50 at NetWorth IQ. The loss this past month is due to the drop in the stock market. I still own some employer stock that I've been divesting and that went down over $3,500 this month and my retirement accounts dropped over

This was an ok month for me. It was the first time I've really tracked my spending since last spring. I wasn't sure if I could stick to my budget facing inflated prices. One interesting thing I noticed was that it wasn't too hard to stick to my tight spending restrictions for groceries and gas, but I have totally left other spending categories out of my budget. Donations, computer security, a

Not that it was all that surprising, right? Most of my "worth" is in my 401k, like many of you, and the market just tore it up this month.It's all good though, just part of the stock market game - at least i'm not personally doing anything stupid! In fact, Roth & 401k aside, I actually did pretty well!My Cashing Savings went up due to some new blogging income (finally!), and i'm still religiou

I was worried that my net worth would have gone down during September 2008 due to increased credit card debt. My net worth went up with $3,078 despite the $97 increase in credit card debt. The main reason for the increase was that I paid the final instalment on my personal loan. I also managed [...]

I updated my networth account at NetworthIQ: July to August 2008 updates I saw an increase of $10,783. Most of that was sales of stock and increases in cash from income. I saw a bit of a drop in my retirement account due to market losses. Our total net worth is now at $593,636

This post pretty much sums up my summer progress. It has pretty much been a flat line for debt reduction. I've had setbacks such as the $1600 in car repairs in June. Luckily that has been paid in full this month. Just in time to avoid interest payments on my new Firestone Credit Card. I guess thats good. Next month I should be able get back on track and start knocking out this last $6500 in

My Net Worth went up 8.50 % in August!And now it's time for our monthly Net Worth and Debt Check In. Let's take a look at how we did:Paid $882 towards my car loan and there is $8659.00 remaining.Paid $180 towards Fiance's motorcycle loan and there is $5920.00 remainingPut $105 towards our savings.We have been s-l-o-w-l-y building our savings because paying off our debt is our #1 priority at the mo

Got rid of a heap of debt, and almost ready to combine finance forces now.I wanted to do it last month, but it just wasn't happening. At least we have a game plan now though :) I'll post about it soon, but we'll basically be using a checking and savings for our most of our combined finances, and then keeping our seperate accounts for whatever else our heart desires.In other fantastic news, i FINAL

As I’m following up the progress of some bloggers to become millionaires here is a short list of some of them and their update for August 2008. The list is ordered by actual net worth increase in $ BloggerNet WorthChange $Change %Consumerism Commentary $174,669 $11,582 +7.70%My Money Blog ...

I'm late posting my Net Worth report which should have come out August 1st. I updated NetworthIQ on time so if you were paying attention then you'll see the information is the same. To explain some of the results... I had a net increase for the month. Here is the single bright spot from the month, I continued to invest diligently in my retirement accounts. I also continued to spend large amounts

My Net Worth went up 5.22 % in July! Now that we are already a week in to August I think we are overdue for the monthly Net Worth and Debt Check In. Let's take a look at how we did: Paid $459 towards my car loan and there is $8810.72 remaining. Paid $180 towards Fiance's motorcycle loan and there is $6460.00 remaining Put another $100 towards our savings. We are slowly, but surely increasing our

I have finally updated my family’s net worth and I am pretty pleased with the results. Since last I checked at the beginning of June my family’s total value has grown by $940 or 3.54%. June was a relatively slow month, bringing in only $341, a 1.28% growth, The big mover definitely [...]

We still haven't combined finances as yet, but we ARE getting closer ;)It's just really hard to break this 28 years of personal finance! Now that i've finally got my gameplan up and running, the thought of revising it all gives me a touch of the heebie jeebies. haha....BUT, as Obama likes to say, "It's time for a change!" That, and i love my wife ;) So right now the goal is to combine forces by th

CNN Money has a simple calculator on their site that allows you to input your age and yearly income. Put in the requested information and it will spit out where you should rank based on your age and income. Based on my age, my networth is over 35 times the median. For my income, I am roughly 70% of the median. It's always interesting to do this but I don't plan my finances around it. Check it out

Net worth statement for July 2008: See the full spreadsheet here<p><p><p>&

Welp, the landscaping and deck building this past week dug deep into the e-fund and overall numbers so they’re not really as bad as they show up because they should both pay off more than the 8k-ish spent on them. Be sure to enter Hanks Holiday Handouts #3 before Aug 6 to win your share of [...]

“Net Worth Update” is a monthly series of posts detailing my current net worth and how it compares to prior months. If you’re interested in tracking your own net worth, I highly recommend using NetWorthIQ. The Pros Incredibly, for the second month in a row, I’ve seen a significant increase in the value of my car. Over [...]

This is a guest post by Miranda Marquit.  You can read a little about her writing at the end of the post. One of the more controversial subjects being canvassed right now in the world of personal finances is the idea that maybe a financial plan based around a monthly budget isn’t the way to go. [...]

Net worth is the total assets minus total liabilities of an individual or a company. For a company, this is called shareholders' equity and may be referred to as book value. Net worth is stated as at a particular point in time. In the case of an individual, the term estate is used. That term is used especially in the context of bankruptcy law and in relation to probate, on the death of the individ

Assets Cash Savings: $2,581.90Treasury Bonds: $611.36401k / IRA / Pension (pre tax) $12,044.05Home (estimate) $141,500.00Total: $156,737.31 Liabilities Car Loan $4,253.42Student Loans $96,095.59Mortgage $135,748.70Total $236,097.71 Net Worth [...]

June has been a good month for learning and exploring alternative forms of income, and although very busy with events and work, we were able to create some new opportunities.Since our last update on 6/15/08 we were very fortunate to have been able to add $1,005 to our assets and increase our net worth by 2.62%. This brings our total net worth to -$25,060, a big hole but we are definitely getting

That's right, i'm way too lazy/unmotivated to combine our financial lives as yet.Plus, by this time in 2 months she'll be in Grad School full time which complicates things even more. (although i AM happy for her!)So the goal is to combine forces by the end of August. I think that's a fairly good goal :)That means I have another net worth update or two before the madness begins - Woohoo!Now that th

This month was a total bomb. Ugh. Not much went right financially. The stock market tanked. My car broke down. I had a fence installed for the back yard that went over budget. I spent a ton of time and money on seemingly "minor" home maintenance projects. I added to my debt. My assets lost value. June did not treat me well.To make up for the shortfall I've bumped up my savings rate on my emergency

June wasn’t as bad as the numbers make it out to be. Yes, I lost about 3k on the net worth, but I bumped up my 401k contribution to 15% this past month along with my wifes. The 3k loss can most likely be contributed to the landscaping addition I tacked on that [...]

My Net Worth went up 8.46 % in May!Paid $166 to credit cards and there is $1266 remaining. We were able to pay off our Target Red Card completely.Paid $359 towards my car loan and there is $9519.74 remaining.Paid $210 towards fiance's motorcycle loan and there is $7080.00 remainingPut another $100 towards our savings.That may not seem like much was saved or spent on our debt, but that was 65% of

Assets:Primary Home - $196,000.00Rental Property - $137,000.00Car - $19,000.00Retirement - $44,204.08Cash (checking, savings) - $19,485.17Brokerage - $2342.54Total Assets: $428,531.79 - decrease of 4.67%Liabilities: Primary Home Mortgage - $181,946.82Rental Property Mortgage - $148,608.80Student Loans - $22,500.00Total Liabilities: $353,055.62 - decrease of 6.25%Net Worth: $75,746.17 - increase of

I have updated my Net Worth on NetworthIQ.  Despite not posting regular blog entries I have continued to make progress growing my assets and paying down my debts.  The progress has been slow and steady, but things are clearly moving in the right direction.  Follow the link in the Left Sidebar and check out my progress. I don't intend to make any excuses, but obviously I have not

Because of the loan we so generously took from our grand children our net worth has grown at a nice little clip this month, checking in at just a hair under 10%. Our cash on hand grew by about $2,400 while our investment portfolio (locked entirely in my company’s 401(K) and my wife’s Roth IRA) [...]

What a good way to end single-ness: UP a good 3 Grand this month :)The only stuff holding us back are all of the wedding expenses now charged on our card and sucking us dry! haha...On the other hand, the beautiful checks still continue to flow in, so i'm pretty hopeful we'll be back in action soon. And NO MORE expenditures to come, HOORAY!Here's how it breaks down this month:Cash Savings: Oh yeah,

It's a beautiful evening here in Rochester, a little chilly, and the sky is an interesting fade of blue with wisps of pink cotton. The sun decided to peak out one last time today after a cold May rain.I'm listening to Alexi Murdoch (some of the free songs we received along with our survey money from Vindale). What a nice way to wrap up a great weekend. I've also been updating our Net Worth stateme

Being rich is a state of mind. Your mind is like a garden which contains rich, fertile soil, and it will bring forth whatever you sow in it. You can sow a mentality of lack and poverty or a mentality of abundance. The harvest will be a life of poverty and struggle or one of ease and comfort. Which one would you prefer? The answer is obvious, but it is surprising how many people choose the former.

Is accumulating wealth as easy as following a 3-step plan? Yes it is and no it isn't. As with many things in life, accomplishing a goal such as accumulating one million dollars (or even $100,000) depends on your desire, your personal choices and your daily actions. Let's start with one example on how you might miss this goal. One of the first components of successfully meeting any goal is to

I recently found this tool (and MANY others) on CNNMoney.com, and it's pretty freakin' interesting. It just asks for your age and your yearly income, and it plops you out a couple of nice and simply graphs. The first shows the average "net worth" for your age-group (as posted to the left), and the second shows the average "net worth" for your particular income level.Both graphs are pretty cool to

We’re looking up again this month - looks like the mutual funds are coming back a little bit this month. Both the wife and I had good 401k returns this month. The house dropped a bit, but that’s to be expected, but overall we’re looking up again. I’m still keeping my eye on a [...]

Do you know your net worth? We’ve composed a free net worth spreadsheet calculator to help you figure it out. It’s a great worksheet that can be downloaded in seconds. It’s written in Microsoft Excel so it’s pretty simple to use and can be tracked from month to month. So what exactly does net worth mean? [...]

Many, if not most, PF bloggers consider net worth to be the most important financial measurement.  It certainly is the most common. This makes sense because it is pretty easy to figure. Just subtract your liabilities from your assets and you have your net worth. For the most part it is probably a pretty accurate [...]

Hum ... not my favorite month's review, but it's all good. Gotta have those down periods, to make those up ones feel even better, right?Most of this was also expected, so no big shocks (thank goodness).The main difference here, from all other months, is the massive jump in the credit card category due to more wedding related costs.I'm not scared yet though, we have a good month to pay it off befor

Assets:Primary Home - $196,000.00Rental Property - $137,000.00Car - $19,000.00Retirement - $42,676.82Cash (checking & savings) - $41,151.14Brokerage - $3215.40Total Assets: $449,543.36 - increase of 0.75%Liabilities:Primary Home Mortgage - $182,096.82Rental Property Mortgage - $148,841.35Car Loan - $23,152.33Student Loans - $22,500.00Total Liabilities: $376,590.50, decrease of -.21%Net Worth: 72,952.86, increase of 6%Monthly Recap:This was the first month in which I did not receive any extra income (extra paycheck, bonus, tax refunds, etc).The increase in the stock market helped offset some of the losses in my 401k and brokerage account. April has taken the title of the best month so far in 2008.Reminder: Please subscribe to SingleGuyMoney.

Last week I wrote about household net worth, cash flow and budgeting, and creating a financial plan.  To add to that chain, here are four ways to improve your household net worth:   1.>  Improve Your Investment Returns If you’re looking for more income to invest, switch some of your equity positions to preferred shares, bonds, or higher [...]

Federal Tax freedom day has come and gone, many of us have now begun to pay off our beloved state governments, stimulus checks are in the mail, and the Sun is shining. Everyday above ground is a good day but today is tough to beat.This is the first full month of the Spilling Buckets System and things seem to have worked out quite well. 15% of all normal wage income is automatically piped away and invested in our retirement portfolio [details to come soon], 5% is allocated to fun/misc things and activities, and the rest fills our buckets in order. I think the no strings attached 5% worked very well, enabling us to stick to a tight regime and spend little, but at the same time not making our heads ignite with rules or guilt when we "needed" something or wanted some Dino BBQ.This week I was

There is still 1 days 23 hours 38 mins and 27 seconds left to get entered for some great free stuff at Hanks Holiday Handout #2 giving away $200+ of prizes! I was reading Ana’s post over at DebtFreeRevolution the other day and it inspired my to actually define my definition of “net worth“. I’ve mentioned [...]

A few things helped out this months net worth statement: 1. My almost 8k tax refund certainly didn’t hurt anything. I am not going to be getting as much next year as I adjusted my W-4s to better fit my pay scale finally. I’m sick of giving the government a free loan each [...]

Assets:Rental Property - $137,000.00Primary Home - $196,000.00Car - $19,000.00Retirement - $40,250.78Cash (checking & savings) - $40,399.05Brokerage - $3186.22Total Assets: $446,204.23 - increase of 0.62%Liabilities: Rental Property Mortgage - $149,072.46Primary Home - $182,246.82Car Loan - $23,563.61Student Loans - $22,500.00Total Liabilities: $377,382.89, decrease of -0.27%Net Worth: $68,821.34, increase from prior month = 5.80% Monthly Recap: My non-mortgage debt continues to decrease. Not by as much as I would like but it's headed in the right direction.My income this month was boosted north by a $2500 tax refund from the State of Georgia. I'm continuing to chip away at my car loan. I want to just pull cash out and pay it off in full but this economy is making me nervous. I think I

Here is my monthly Net Worth update. Total Assets: $13,644 Total Debts: -$22,404 --------------------- Net Worth: -$8,760 Difference from last month: +$2,834 Percentage Difference:... Come along side one man's journey to reach $100,000. He's a normal, everyday guy fighting debt and living paycheck to paycheck. Can he do it? Read to find out!

The doom and gloom that I predicted last month did not materialize in the month of March, but it should have. Our net worth grew by 5% this month, or $1,126 according to my NetWorthIQ profile. Of that $1,126, $1,040 came from our tax refunds that we received from the Golden State and Uncle Sam. If we had not received this refund our total growth would have been $86 or 0.38%. Instead of the graph that you see on the right hand side of your screen with the nice upward slope you would have seen something that would have looked like this:Like I predicted last month, this graph has a striking similarity to the negative parabola of doom seen here:Now our situation isn't really all that bad, it's just fun to draw a negative parabola of doom. But even if our financial future really does resem

The doom and gloom that I predicted last month did not materialize in the month of March, but it should have. Our net worth grew by 5% this month, or $1,126 according to my NetWorthIQ profile. Of that $1,126, $1,040 came from our tax refunds that we received from the Golden State and Uncle Sam. If we had not received this refund our total growth would have been $86 or 0.38%. Instead of the graph that you see on the right hand side of your screen with the nice upward slope you would have seen something that would have looked like this:Like I predicted last month, this graph has a striking similarity to the negative parabola of doom seen here:Now our situation isn't really all that bad, it's just fun to draw a negative parabola of doom. But even if our financial future really does resem

yeah I said it.If you stop working today, how long can you survive financially? 3 , 6 , 12 months or 1 day?To me, having enough cash flow is the real reward.What good is it when you have a big house and a Mercedes park in the garage and no cash to put gas in the car. If that car and house is not making you money, you cannot survive off it. Sure you can sell them, but you now will be out of a car or house. And a 401k technically is not your cash. So when you don't have enough cash to whether a storm, your net-worth becomes a joke.Example: A person with 500K of equity in their home and also have a 401k with a balance of $500K. They maybe considered as a millionaire. But honestly, their not. So, I go by cash flow with is how much you have as liquid (non retirement investments and cash)assets.

I jumped the gun last week to update my net worth.  It was the last day of the month and I went ahead and posted.  Well... those who follow the markets day-to-day may have noticed that Leap Day did not turn out so well for stocks.  I lost 2.14% off my 401(k) and Roth IRA portfolios and had to revise my February results downward a tad.  As a result my investments were nearly flat for the month and I have have now adjusted my net worth downward by about $350. Oops. Now, what is important is that this little hiccup doesn't really bother me.  Other than for record keeping purposes I try not to even follow the day-to-day movements of the market.  I turn 25 later this month so my retirement is still decades away.  That long time horizon means that this 2% d

The President of the United States is expected to help manage the world's biggest economy. But when it comes to money, which of the current candidates does the at managing their own?

Here is my monthly Net Worth update. Total Assets: $7,696 Total Debts: -$23,052 --------------------- Net Worth: -$15,356 NetWorthIQ Click here to see full details. I'm slowly making... Come along side one man's journey to reach $100,000. He's a normal, everyday guy fighting debt and living paycheck to paycheck. Can he do it? Read to find out!

Assets:Rental Property - $137,000.00Primary Home - $196,000.00Car - $19,500.00Retirement - $40,341.12Cash (checking and savings) - $37,335.88Brokerage - $3276.40Total Assets: $443,453.40 - increase of 0.61% Liabilities: Rental Property Mortgage - $149,352.80Primary Home Mortgage - $182,523.00Car Loan - $23,910.68Student Loan - $22,500.00Credit Cards - $119.70Total Liabilities: $378,406.18 - decrease of -0.22%Net Worth: $65,047.22, increase from prior month 5.77% Monthly Recap: Finally, the first positive month of 2008. Credit card debt is all from this month and will be paid in full next month. By keeping my spending in check, I was able to keep my February expenses significantly less than income. Looking Ahead: March income will be boosted by a state tax refund (more on that in another po

The monthly Net Worth Update has arrived. Check out how I did over the month of February: Assets $ Diff % Diff Cash $3,808 ($69) -1.78% Stocks $0 $0 - Bonds $0 $0 - Annuities $0 $0 - Retirement $16,488 $1,297 8.54% Home $191,900 $0 - Other Real Estate $0 $0 - Cars $16,123 $0 - Personal Property $0 $0 - Other $0 ($151) - Total Assets

Singapore abolished Estate Tax, which it had inherited during the British era. The move will encourage Singapore to become an attractive place for wealth to be invested and built up, whether by Singaporeans or foreigners. The Estate Duty will be removed with immediate effect from the Singapore tax regime. The Finance Minister, Mr.Tharman Shanmugaratnam in the budget speech said "Wealth is also being managed today on a global basis. Proponents of removing estate duty have therefore argued that removing it would encourage wealthy individuals from all over Asia to bring their assets into Singapore, thus supporting the growth of the wealth management industry. Ordinary Singaporeans have also argued that having worked, paid taxes on their income and property, and built up their savings, th

Here is my monthly Net Worth update. Total Assets: $7,258 Total Debts: -$23,440 --------------------- Net Worth: -$16,182 Difference from last month: +$629 Percentage Difference:... Come along side one man's journey to reach $100,000. He's a normal, everyday guy fighting debt and living paycheck to paycheck. Can he do it? Read to find out!

Today is the day that I usually do my weekly budget and Networth updates. Sometimes, I get a little obsessive and update it 2-3 times a week. While updating the numbers tonight, I realized that I have hit my 2007 Networth goal of $65,000. Right now, the number is actually sitting at $65,334.43 to be exact. I'm happy about it but I will not celebrate until the end of the month. With the wild swings in the market, I could exceed my goal or fall way short. Right now, it's just too close to call. IncomeI've received my last paycheck of the year (will go into my account on Thursday). I've received my bonus (more on the distribution in another post), the payment from the insurance company of the party that rear-ended my car last month and the December rent from my tenant. I am not expecting any more income this month. ExpensesAll the major expenses have been paid for the month (mortgages, car payment). I still have a few utility bills left and my homeowners association fees. This will be

Found a cool little calculator on Cnn.money which shows in 1 click how your net worth compares to the general population based on Age and Salary. This is based on US data, but with exchange rates and so all, I think it is very close to an Australian sample. Also remember, it is NET worth (assets minus liabilities) so is lower than you may think. Here are the resulting graphs when you run the calculator. Shop the world's largest online marketplace at Ebay AustraliaOn a non-finance note, here is a trailer for the new Kite Runner movie. Based on the international bestseller with the same name written by Khaled Hosseini's, it has been getting great reviews as a very good adaptation of the book. I am hoping to see it in the next week or so and will share my views on it in this post after seeing it. I think it comes out in Australia early next year.Comment on this article at www.financeviewpoint.com

Sorry this is a few days late - my Life Insurance statement hadn’t come in the mail yet; yes, the mail.  This is another reason I’m going to dump it.  I like to have everything online at my fingertips and I can’t see this account online yet. So tt wasn’t too bad of a month across the [...] [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Here is my monthly Net Worth update. Total Assets: $5,629 Total Debts: -$22,440 --------------------- Net Worth: -$16,811 Difference from last month: -$371 Percentage Difference:... Come along side one man's journey to reach $100,000. He's a normal, everyday guy fighting debt and living paycheck to paycheck. Can he do it? Read to find out!

November was a very volatile month for the stock market with pressure from the oil price, sub prime mortgages, and foreclosure problems. The negativity was further fueled by bad news from companies like Citigroup and E*Trade. As a result, the S&P 500 index dropped -4.40% from 1,549.38 to 1,481.14. According to NetworthIQ, my net worth declined by -0.39%, and my liquid assets went down by -2.76% from 24.31% to 23.64% of $1 million goal. Financial highlights: We are now a single income family, since my wife stopped working to get ready for childbirth. We continue to add $425 a month to our son’s 529 college savings plan; and it’s now up to $929. We are planning to contribute the difference before the end of the year to reach our $5,000 contribution goal. Big purchases this month included a roomful of baby stuff — e.g., crib, beddings, changing table/cabinet, stroller, etc. Luckily, my sister gave us a lot of hands me down from our 2 years old nephew. My reti

Here is my monthly Net Worth update. Total Assets: $5,798 Total Debts: -$22,238 --------------------- Net Worth: -$16,440 NetWorthIQ Click here to see full details. Sorry for the lack of... Come along side one man's journey to reach $100,000. He's a normal, everyday guy fighting debt and living paycheck to paycheck. Can he do it? Read to find out!

Aside from the big dip on October 19th, this was another good month for the stock market. The S&P 500 index rose +1.48% from 1,526.75 to 1,549.38 — again, the Fed cuts rates by another quarter point. After I entered all my information into NetworthIQ, the result was +1.75% net worth improvement. My liquid assets went up by +2.97% from 23.61% to 24.31% of $1 million goal. Here are key financial activities for October: Started a 529 college savings plan for our son, which is paid for by income from this humble blog. Some of our big purchases include: A nightmarish home renovation, which is paid for by my generous parents as a gift for their new grandson, New carpeting for our bedrooms, which leaves us with $3,000 credit card debt (0% for 12 months), and A new digital camcorder to tape the birth and all the wonderful moments that will ensue. My retirement portfolio grew by +3.42%, and I made a small 401k asset allocation adjustment for future contributions. However, I have

September was a good month for the stock market. The S&P 500 index rose +3.58% from 1,473.99 to 1,526.75 — thanks to the boost from Federal Reserve interest rate cut by half a point on the 18th. However, consider that the U.S. Dollar lost about -2.26% against the global currencies [1], most Americans are actually less wealthy than they were a month ago. After I entered all my information into NetworthIQ, the result was +1.24% net worth improvement. My liquid assets went up by +5.72% from 22.33% to 23.61% of $1 million goal. Here are key activities for September: I didn’t make any change in August, except for reducing 401k contribution down to 19%. I was over-contributing and this should put me back on the $15,000 target for the year. My retirement portfolio grew by +4.57%, or +3.83% if I discount new money contributed during September. This slightly better than market performance is due to strong performance by my REIT investments like (SSREX) and international in

It went up a bit. Now I'm only in the hole $17,558. I'm happy with that. Up is good. The increase this month is mainly due to the strong performance of the equity markets, particularly the international equity markets. My positions in EEM and ILF increased dramatically this past month, perhaps due at least in part to Fed rate cuts and the precipitous decline of the dollar.So, I have more money, but I can't buy very much abroad. Sad.

Thanks to the positive stock market close on August 31st, this month is not as bad as it could have been. Last month, I started using NetworkIQ to track my net worth. After entering all my information, my net worth went up by +0.20% and my liquid assets went up by +2.64% from 22.67% to 23.27% of $1 million goal; which is not bad compare to S&P 500 +1.29% growth. Overall, this is a nice recovery from July market slides. Here are some key activities in August: My retirement portfolio grew by +2.35% from net new money and stock market recovery: I sold Hennessy Cornerstone Growth Fund (HFCGX) because I am trying to trade out high expense ratio mutual funds for low expense ETFs. Coincidentally, the fund suffered from some unknown meltdown from mid-July. I bought shares in 3 ETFs: Vanguard Small-Cap ETF (VB), Vanguard Small-Cap Value ETF (VBR), and Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT) to add to my small-cap and technology positions, using proceed from HFCGX. My non-retireme

Amazingly, I lost approximately $18,000 worth of value in the past month. How depressing. I miss that summer income and I really don't like paying tuition. On the bright side, though, I only have one more semester's worth of tuition to pay before my net worth stops taking these large hits twice a year. I'm almost there!Unfortunately, until I actually do get there, my net worth currently stands at -$18,770. Not so hot. Oh well. I think most third year law students are worse off, so I should be happy with my situation.

Here is my monthly Net Worth update. Total Assets: $4,682 Total Debts: -$20,736 --------------------- Net Worth: -$16,054 Difference from last month: $566 Percentage Difference:... Come along side one man's journey to reach $100,000. He's a normal, everyday guy fighting debt and living paycheck to paycheck. Can he do it? Read to find out!

This is going to be a fairly short post, I came across the CNN Net worth calculator by following the link from The Get Rich Slowly Forums topic that asked the question of how much should someone save by the time they are X years old. I punched in my numbers and I am glad to say that I am doing quite well compare to people at my age and income (according to the calculator anyway). Actually, it’s kind of scary that the median net worth for a 33 years old is only $2,125.

Here is my monthly Net Worth update. Total Assets: $5,190 Total Debts: -$21,810 --------------------- Net Worth: -$16,620 Difference from last month: $1,206 Percentage Difference:... Come along side one man's journey to reach $100,000. He's a normal, everyday guy fighting debt and living paycheck to paycheck. Can he do it? Read to find out!

I’m seeing a wave of bloggers and forum members proposing a radical way to redefine “net worth”, where the primary residence is removed from the formula. Say you own a $200k investment portfolio, a $400k home and a mortgage of $100k; the new net worth calculation would simply be the $200k investment portfolio. Everyone is entitled to her opinion, and I respect that. For my own net worth calculation, I prefer the more traditional definition, mainly because I don’t share the same rationales for redefining what’s been working all along: “The home doesn’t provide me with income.” The home is every bit an income-generating asset as your investment portfolio, albeit your primary residence operates in a stealth mode where you can’t readily admire its income as you would with your portfolio. That’s because the income generated is in the form of rents-saved. You’ve heard of the expression “a dollar saved is a dollar ea

Here is my monthly Net Worth update. Total Assets: $4,843 Total Debts: -$22,669 --------------------- Net Worth: -$17,826 Difference from last month: $1,256 Percentage Difference:... Come along side one man's journey to reach $100,000. He's a normal, everyday guy fighting debt and living paycheck to paycheck. Can he do it? Read to find out!

Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones. ~ Benjamin Franklin. Beyond such philosophical implications, I have been thinking about the issue of usability of net worth since the last Sunday Review - in which I mentioned it with reference to Super Saver’s article on spendable net worth. I am not just thinking liquidity when I say “usable”, I am also thinking *replacement-needs*. Consider you own a quarter-million dollar house, a decent car, and thousands of dollars in a retirement account (say something like 401K - on which there is a penalty if you withdraw earlier than certain age limits). With these assets, assume that your conventional “net worth” is around half a million dollars. Next, suppose you lose your job (or fall into some other financial trouble) - how much of that half-million dollars net worth will come to your rescue? Even if you downgrade your lifestyle, you wi

Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones. ~ Benjamin Franklin. Beyond such philosophical implications, I have been thinking about the issue of usability of net worth since the last Sunday Review - in which I mentioned it with reference to Super Saver’s article on spendable net worth. I am not just thinking liquidity when I say “usable”, I am also thinking *replacement-needs*. Consider you own a quarter-million dollar house, a decent car, and thousands of dollars in a retirement account (say something like 401K - on which there is a penalty if you withdraw earlier than certain age limits). With these assets, assume that your conventional “net worth” is around half a million dollars. Next, suppose you lose your job (or fall into some other financial trouble) - how much of that half-million dollars net worth will come to your rescue? Even if you downgrade your lifestyle, you wi

-$15472! For the most recent net worth breakdown, check out the graph at the right. Click for details. It was a positive month thanks to the recent stock market trend, although I can't help but feeling that we may be in the midst of some stock market irrational exuberance here. One never knows for sure and don't blame me if there is a "correction" sometime soon.Secondly, I have another article in a carnival! Well, it's actually a festival, but really, what's the difference? My article, Do Digital Cameras Save Money?, is in the May Day edition of Festival of Frugality #72.

Here is my 1st of the month Net Worth update. Total Assets: $3,942 Total Debts: -$23,717 --------------------- Net Worth: -$19,775 Difference from last month: $2,082 Percentage Difference:... Come along side one man's journey to reach $100,000. He's a normal, everyday guy fighting debt and living paycheck to paycheck. Can he do it? Read to find out!

Here is my 1st of the month Net Worth update. Total Assets: $2,976 Total Debts: -$24,833 --------------------- Net Worth: -$21,857 Difference from last month: -$526 Percentage Difference:... Come along side one man's journey to reach $100,000. He's a normal, everyday guy fighting debt and living paycheck to paycheck. Can he do it? Read to find out!

I mentioned in my last post that February 7th would be one year since this blogs inception. That was also the first time I started to keep track of our net worth on a monthly basis. I whipped up a quick spred sheet to compare last years figures to this years. (click picture on left) The results have me feeling stuck in the middle. We did well with saving our money and increasing our net worth, but there's a part of me that feels we could've done better. The first category on the list are our various savings accounts. We saw a 127% increase due to our goal of saving for a house. It was a nice surprise to see that our bonds have increased by 5.74%, which won't be touched by the federal government. Our assets overall have increased by a little over 18%. Not much to say about the liabilities. Slowly chipping them away by 4.56%. We won't be working hard on getting rid of them until we actually get a house. Our net worth overall have a nice size increase of almost 56.5%. Not bad..

My net worth crept lower this month. My car repairs, as well as my substantial income tax refund(s) will be showing up within a couple months. I also made my entire contribution ($4,000) to my Roth IRA for 2007 at the beginning of January.

Here is my 1st of the month Net Worth update. Total Assets: $3,865 Total Debts: -$25,196 --------------------- Net Worth: -$21,331 Difference from last month: +$1,511 Percentage Difference:... Come along side one man's journey to reach $100,000. He's a normal, everyday guy fighting debt and living paycheck to paycheck. Can he do it? Read to find out!