Owner: Moolanomy - The Science of Money URL:http://www.moolanomy.com/ Join Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2007 08:03:24 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Personal blog about my journey to improve my personal finance knowledge, and the things I am doing to build a $1 million investment portfolio by 2017. Site statistics:Click here
Moolanomy weekly roundup #9: “Rate Cut” edition 2007-09-23 09:11:02 Last week the Federal Reserve cut interest rate cut by half a point. This reduction in its target short-term rate is the first cut in that benchmark since 2003. Let’s see what bloggers are saying about this:
Money and Such, How to Play the Fed Rate Cut (editor’s pick)
This is a very informative post that explain how the rate cut affected: (1) Money Markets and CD’s, (2) International Investments, (3) The Domestic Stock Market, (4) Bonds, (5) Real Estate, and (6) Commodities
Blueprint for Financial Prosperity, Weekly Roundup: You Took A Paycut This Week (So Did I)
“You know how everyone in the stock market was ecstatic when the Fed cut interest rates by half a percent? Well, one of the results of that was the fall in the value of the dollar against other currencies; which meant everyone who is paid in US dollars took a pay cut this week”
Money, Matter, and More Musings, Top High-Yield Savings Accounts: Interest Rates And Some Thoughts
“After the rec
A Boy and the Ice Cream Sundae 2007-09-22 06:00:35 I am ticked off. I cannot believe how uncivilized people are these days. It became increasingly harder for my 7-month pregnant wife to commute using the busy NYC subway system. Worse yet, my wife often complain about people who completely ignore her, or even shove her aside to get a seat (there are a few exceptions of course). I still remember the days when a man would offer his seat to a child, a pregnant woman, a handicapped person, or an elderly person. This is no more…at least in New York City.
Photo from stock.xchng
Without turning this post into a rant, I would like to share an inspiring story with you. I cannot recall where I first read this story, but I thought it was a great story that reminds me of the more civilized days when people were nicer to each other. This is a variation of that story:
In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10-year old boy entered a coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress comes by and put a glass of water in front of Read more:Cream
Several News and Announcements 2007-09-21 12:00:12 Sorry to break my one post per day routine. Several things happened in the past few days that warrant sharing with my readers.
Here goes:
Yesterday, my article “10 Questions to Enhance Your Frugality” was selected for publication at Being Frugal.
On October 1st, Moolanomy will be hosting the Carnival of Debt Reduction. You can read the latest edition “Carnival of Debt Reduction - Emmy Awards Edition” at Ask Mr. Credit Card.
On October 8th at 10 AM EST, 11 members of the M-Network will reveal their best financial decisions and worst financial mistakes.
On November 19th, Moolanomy will be hosting the Carnival of Personal Finance. You can read the latest edition “Carnival Of Personal Finance #118: Fun Money Facts Edition” at Money, Matter, and More Musings.
I hope you can join me on these dates.
You may like these related posts:Several News and AnnouncementsM-NetworkOne Less Cigarette a Day Saves $91+ Per YearPersonal Finance and Blogging ResourcesW
Money Lesson #1: Basic Finance, Cash Flow, and Risk Management 2007-09-21 06:00:15 A few nights ago, it dawned on me that being the sole handler of our family finance is our biggest liability. That is a huge risk, if something ever happens to me. Even if I take out an insurance policy large enough to support her and our son, it will not help if she does not know what to do. Basic
ally, she will be stranded.
Photo by Genista via Flickr
As any good businessperson would do, I created a risk management plan. I discussed this risk with my wife, and we agreed that I should teach her money management; specifically our family finance.
This post will be the first in a series where I share with you the learning journey that my wife and I are taking. Our first lesson revolved around finance and cash flow basics. Here are the points I covered with her:
Finance Basics
I first posted about finance basics in “Wealth building made REAL simple.” I told her that the foundation of our finance can be grouped into 4 categories:
Revenue – This is the money that flow Read more:Money
, Management
Can we actually save too much for college? 2007-09-20 06:00:02 I shared some great posts with you in my weekly roundup about college savings. However, these posts and what I have written tend to focus on the dollar amount and savings vehicles. As part of the roundup post, Chief Family Officer commented that $250,000 may not be enough for a good private school:
“…I do think that $400,000+ is more realistic if your child wants to attend one of the most expensive schools (Cal Tech, for example, is at $40K per year already, if you include room and board)…”
In another related post “My kid’s college costs will be $467,000! Are you kidding me?,” TBH offered another perspective:
“…I decided that I don’t have to be prepared to pay for his entire education. My plan is to tell him I can pay for all of a public school education. If he wants to go to a private school for some reason, I will encourage him, but he’ll have to take out loans for part of it. I want to help him keep his loans to a minimum, but
Review of Brett Wilder’s The Quiet Millionaire 2007-09-19 06:00:17 I was recently sent a copy of The QuietMillionaire
- A Guide for Accumulating and Keeping Your Wealth by Brett
Wilder. At first, I was skeptical because the book was written by the CEO of a financial management firm.;I was bracing myself for a 422 page sales pitch. Fortunately, I did read the book and I was glad because the book was great.
If I have to describe the book with just one word, I have to say “encyclopedic.” The book is a comprehensive compendium of knowledge that offers many insightful advices and ideas. It covers the full gamut of financial topics including tax, investing, debt, college planning, retirement, insurance, business ownership…basically everything that involves money. Although I consider myself financially astute, I learned a lot from reading this book.
My favorite concept from the book was about selecting the right college for your children. Here, Brett wrote:
“Select schools where the student profiles in the top twenty percent
Mortgage Refinancing That Nearly Cost Me $370,000 2007-09-18 06:00:04 I mentioned previously that I made many financial mistakes in the past. One of the more serious ones was refinancing my mortgage from 30 years to 15 years in 2003 (about 4 years after I purchased my home). On the surface, I did a brilliant job of saving nearly $97,000 in interest expenses and ending my mortgage 11 years sooner.
Amortization Calculator
Here is the catch, if I invested the $4,000 refinancing expenses and the $288 monthly payments into an S&P 500 Index Fund. I might have $467,505 after 26 years (assuming a 10% CAGR). So, I am really looking at a $370,588 loss.
In addition, there are other factors that hurt me:
Inflation — Assuming a 2% inflation rate, a dollar on year 30 will be worth about 56 cents in 1998. Thus, inflation helps people with long-term mortgage. With a shorter mortgage, I gave up some of that advantage. For instance, a dollar on year 30 will be worth about 70 cents in 1998.
Tax deduction for mortgage interest – Lower interest expens Read more:Mortgage
, Refinancing
, Nearly
, Mortgage Refinancing
The True Earning Power and the Real Cost of Luxuries 2007-09-17 06:00:23 My first job after college paid $8 per hour — not good for an Ivy League alumni. That job was something to do while I tried to rediscover myself. I was lost and dispirited because I did not get accepted into a medical school.
Photo from Apple.com
It only takes 17 hours of work for that new iPhone
At that time, I was addicted to Magic: The Gathering. I justified spending $10-$15 almost everyday thinking I will earn that money in 1-2 hours the next day. With more financial maturity, I realize that justification was silly.
Likewise, it is silly for someone who makes $30 an hour to think that a $500 iPhone can be his with only 17 hours of work.
Measuring your true earning power
Taxes and Living Expenses
The idea that you make $30 an hour because your wage is $30 an hour is completely flawed. First, there are taxes and living expenses to consider (do not include discretionary expenses):
Taxes — Federal, Social Security, Medicare, State, City, and Local taxes
Savings – Read more:Earning
Moolanomy weekly roundup #8: “College Savings” edition 2007-09-16 06:00:10 I wrote about saving for college in my posts: “My kid’s college costs will be $467,000! Are you kidding me?” and later in “Saving $250,000 for my son’s college education” with dollar amount adjusted down to a more realistic level. This weekly roundup, I searched my Google Reader and beyond for other posts and sites about saving for college so that I can start putting together my plan.
SavingForCollege
.com, 7 parts tutorial to introduce you to the basics of saving for college. The site is chockful of useful information, tools, and calculators. I will be visiting it often over the next few weeks.
The Simple Dollar, Five Financial Moves I Made Within Three Days Of The Birth Of My Daughter. Trent has been saving for his daughter even before she was born, and these are the moves he made afterward.
Advance Personal Finance, Rolling Over Savings
Bonds Into a 529 Plan
CFO: Chief Family Officer, Comparing College Savings Plans. CFO provided link to Bankrate.
The Three Stonecutters 2007-09-15 06:00:08 In my post “What if I became an emergency medicine doctor?,” Jonathan of My Money Blog said, “The main thing is that if you go into medicine for the money, you’ll be much less likely to succeed and the money won’t be worth it.” I fully agree with his comment and it reminds me of this great story of unknown origin. I will repeat a variation of the story here:
Photo from ImageAfter
Once upon a time, there was a traveler who came upon three individuals working with stone. Curious as to what the workers were doing with the stones, the traveler approached the first worker and asked, “What are you doing with these stones?” Grumpily and without hesitation the worker quickly responded, “I am a stonecutter and I am cutting stones.”
Not satisfied with this answer, the traveler approached the second worker and asked, “What are you doing with these stones?” The second worker paused for a moment, sighed, but smiled a little and then Read more:Three
Why not teach money management to kids in high school? 2007-09-14 06:00:48 I have been giving this subject a lot of thought lately. After I read “Should Schools have Money Management Classes?,” an excellent post from Fortune Watch, I am finally going to write about this. As far as I can tell, there are two “real life” subjects being taught in high schools today: human reproduction education (I know schools do not call it that) and driver education. Both subjects are aimed at helping students survive or perform better in the real world.
Photo from BigFoto
Then the question is, how come we are not teaching our children about money? Here are some factoids:
The official poverty rate in 2006 was 12.3%, or 36.5 million people lived in poverty (U.S. Census Bureau)
Average college student owed $3,262 in credit-card debt upon graduation (Liz Pulliam Weston at MSN Money)
Personal saving rate has declined into the negative territory (US Government Accountability Office, slide 14)
Revolving consumer credit has reached a record level of $907.4
Save our environment by giving and getting stuff for free 2007-09-13 06:00:59 Some of you may already know about The Freecycle Network™. Over the weekend, my wife and I visited our friends in New Jersey. We discussed how companies make so many products for babies and parents now that it is very easy to overspend. During the conversation, he indicated that many of the baby’s things are hands-me-down, or free stuff
from their local Freecycle group.
I did a little research after I came back, and according to The Freecycle Network™:
Welcome! The Freecycle Network™ is made up of 4,111 groups with 3,822,000 members across the globe. It’s a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It’s all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer (them’s good people). Membership is free. To sign up, find your community by entering it into the search box above or by clicking on “Browse Groups” above the search
107th Carnival of Debt Reduction - New York Edition 2007-10-01 09:00:43 Welcome to the 107th Carnival
of Debt Reduction. It is a great honor to be your host for this fine Carnival. Without further ado, let us take a tour of New York
City.
The Statue of Liberty
…stands at Liberty Island, New York in New York Harbor…presented to the United States by France in 1886…made of sheeting of pure copper…hung on a framework of steel…151′ 1″ (46.5 m) tall…the pedestal and foundation adding another 154 feet (46.9 m)
Read more on Wikipedia
My top picks
How To Put A Price Tag On Your Time posted at Millionaire Mommy Next Door
Money Quotes posted at Becoming & Staying Debt Free
Gazelle Intensity, Not For Me Thanks posted at Gather Little By Little
* * * * *
The Empire State Building
…a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in New York City, New York…completed in 1931…stood as the world’s tallest building for more than forty years…named by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the Sev Read more:Edition
Moolanomy weekly roundup #10: “Best of M-Network” edition 2007-09-30 08:00:03 This weekend, I am traveling up and down the East Coast to visit my sister and her family in Virginia. It also has been a crazy week with my post “12 Investing Mistakes I’ve Made (and How You Can Learn From Them)” published on Get Rich Slowly (probably the most read Personal Finance Blog in the entire Blogosphere). Not to mention the 107th Carnival of Debt Reduction that I am hosting tomorrow. As such, this weekly roundup will focus on my partners in crime…the M-Network crew and what I thought were their best posts of the week.
Being Frugal (RSS) presents Why the Minimalist Lifestyle Appeals to Me — excellent reasons to lead a simpler life.
Christian Finance (RSS) presents What to do with a raise — blow it all before the first paycheck…not exactly.
DebtFREE-Revolution (RSS) presents Student Loans and Professional Degrees — good debt, bad debt debate continues.
Financial Dominance (RSS) presents Negotiate Anything and Everything — ask,
Life Hacks, Productivity, and Blogging 2007-09-29 08:00:42 I think I’ve developed a mild case of obsessive-compulsive disorder. I constantly check my blog traffic stats, emails, and discussion forums to the point where it became counter-productive. Does refreshing my browser repeatedly to see updated stats and new discussions in various forums help me reach my goals? No, not at all! I do not get any more traffic, subscribers, comments, or ads income. This is a huge time waster!
Stop Wasting Time and Focus on Productive Tasks
So I will be checking my blog stats, discussion forums, and co.mments (comments tracking tool) only once per day…may be twice. Instead, each day I will be spending the time on activities that help me achieve my goals instead:
Write one good post
Answer comments on my blog
Read 5-10 blog posts and leave at least 5 thoughtful comments
Read a few business and finance articles
Identify opportunity to write guest posts — i.e., the one I did for BeingFrugal.net and Get Rich Slowly
Complete a few grammar Read more:Productivity
, Blogging
The First Million Is The Hardest 2007-09-28 08:00:51 Not long ago, I participated in a conversation on NetworthIQ: “Struggling with breaking the first million mark“. The question posed was about mental focus and persistence needed to get to that magical $1 million mark. However, it got me thinking about the mathematical aspect of it.
As you can see from the chart, if a person invests $15,000 per year starting at age 25 and the investment gains on average 10% a year, he can get to $1 million mark by 45. The first million took 20 years! But if you keep going down the table, it only takes…
6 more years to get to $2 million at 51
4 more years to get to $3 million at 55
3 more years to get to $4 million at 58
2 more years to get to $5 million at 60
2 more years to get to $6 million at 62
2 more years to get to $7 million at 64
1 more years to get to $8 million at 65
Not only is this mark psychologically challenging, it is also mathematically challenging.
Now back to my situation. If I can manage to save $1 million b Read more:First
Money Lesson #2: Setting Financial Goals 2007-09-27 08:00:10 My wife pregnancy is coming along well, except for occasional all-over-the-body-ache. While I was giving her a massage last night, I was able to go over another financial lesson with her. The second lesson was focused mainly on financial goals.
Photo from Wikimedia Commons
Types of FinancialGoals
There are many types of financial goals:
Pay off debt
Establish an emergency fund
Retirement savings
College savings
Down payment on a house
Etc.
Prioritizing Goals
Next, we went into the subject of priority. There are so many financial goals, how do we decide which is more important. Do we have to do them one at a time — or we do some of them together? This is how we prioritized our goals — yours may be different.
Credit Card Balances – Interest rate on these are usually in the high teens, or low twenties. So paying off credit cards always takes priority in our family.
Emergency Fund – I have said in another post that everyone should have at least 3 months wo Read more:Money
, Setting
529 College Savings Plan for Our Son 2007-10-12 08:00:38 A month a go I created a plan to save $5,000 a year for my son’s college savings. With a 10% CAGR, a contribution of $5,000 per year should grow to $250,000 in 17 years. At that time, I didn’t know what was the best investment vehicle for this plan. After a lot of research, we finally took the plunge last night and opened a New York’s 529 CollegeSavings
Plan (Direct Plan). Our son is not due until this December, so we started the plan under my wife’s name (owner) with her as the beneficiary and myself as the successor.
Photo from morgueFile
Can we start saving even before our son is born?
The answer is yes! I first learn about this trick from Trent’s “A Prenatal College Fund?” We can start 529 Plan at any time and later change the beneficiary as long as he or she is a member of the family. This will ensure that we can enjoy the New York State tax deduction this year without worrying about our son’s exact birth date. This made me
A Notebook, Now, Later, and Productivity 2007-10-11 08:00:07 Over the years, I tried many productivity tools to keep up with my ever-growing list of things to do. I had the original Palm Pilot, Handspring Visor Platinum, and Sony Clie T-665C; but in the end, nothing beats my trusty old notebook. There’s something about the ability to quickly write, doodle, and sketch without worrying about the particulars, like the Graffiti handwriting recognition system that can’t be replicated — these PDAs (personal digital assistants) are simply too clumsy.
Photo from Image*After
Common Productivity
Pitfalls
Even with the notebook, it takes a lot of discipline to maximize my productivity. Some of the pitfalls I usually fell victim to, and still having problem with, are:
Do something immediately and forget other tasks I need to do because I didn’t bother to write them down.
Write down a task that only takes a few minutes to complete (a mini-task), so that I have the satisfaction of crossing it off. This is actually counter-product Read more:Notebook
Changing My 401k Asset Allocation 2007-10-10 08:00:02 My 401k portfolio is too aggressive. I have been reading a few books (e.g., The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham and Wise Investing Made Simple by Larry E. Swedroe), including many web sites. I am now at a point where I think 100% equity asset allocation for my 401k is too risky — even for a 33 years old.
Here’s my current asset mix:
20% - Large-cap stocks
20% - Mid-cap stocks
20% - Small-cap stocks
30% - International stocks
5% - Global REIT
5% - Company stocks
I am thinking about doing a few things as follow:
Eliminate my company stocks position. Although I love my company and strongly believe it will perform well, owning a company stock does not improve the diversification or reduce the risk of my portfolio. I think owning it for the familiarity and sentimental value is a bad long-term decision.
Add 10% of bond index fund to my portfolio, and increase Global REIT to 10%. Based on what I’ve read, the key to successful asset allocation is having inves Read more:Changing
, Asset
Impact of Taxes, Inflation, and Currency Illustrated 2007-10-09 08:00:48 After I wrote “The Weak Dollar is Killing Americans’ Wealth” for Consumerism Commentary last Thursday, I was still intrigued by this new perspective on wealth. As a visual person, I thought this alternative look at the same concept may be easier to grasp and would like to share it here.
Just press the big play button to begin:
Get your own flash movies at Toufee.com
This movie can be found at Toufee.com
If you have hard time following the movie, here is the transcript with details:
$10,000 — We start out with $10,000 on January 1, 1997.
$22,129 — If we invested $10,000 in the S&P 500 index fund, this is what we have 10 years later on January 1, 2007 (based on historical data from Yahoo! Finance). This assumes:
Our performance is 100% identical to the S&P 500. Most index funds slightly underperforms the index.
No yearly expense fees. Normally, we would lose another 0.3-0.5% of the total amount per year.
No taxes. Normally, we would have to Read more:Taxes
, Inflation
, Currency
, Illustrated
Test Your Asset Allocation IQ 2007-10-08 14:42:57 I’ve been doing a lot of research on Asset
Allocation, and I came across this nifty little quiz.
Take the Right Mix Quiz on Asset Allocation
I scored a 10/10 for knowledge and 7/10 for behavior. This was my feedback:
You have a solid understanding of asset allocation. However, you may be struggling to put the principles into practice. You are not alone; not paying enough attention to asset allocation was cited as the most common investor mistake in our research.
It’s important to identify the factors that have steered you off course and to develop a plan for getting — and staying — on track. Learn more about some of the most common investor mistakes and easy-to-implement solutions. Financial advisors also can be a great resource. Our research found that investors who use advisors are much more likely to have and abide by an asset allocation strategy than those who go it alone.
I thought you might like this.
You may like these related posts:Test Your Asset Allocati
My Best and Worst Financial Decisions 2007-10-08 09:00:04 This is our first group writing project from members of the M-Network. I this writing project we share with our readers our best financial decisions and worst financial mistakes. Why make your own mistakes when you can learn from ours? After you finish reading this post, please visit other M-Network blogs to read about their best and worst financial decisions.
Best FinancialDecisions
1. I bought a house in 1998
I think this was the only time that good timing worked for me. Normally, I have the tendency to buy investments at the worst possible time. As Lady Luck would have it, I bought my house at the end of 1998 — right before one of the biggest housing price boom ever.
Data from Housing Bubble, NYC Metropolitan Area House Prices
The chart above represents NYC housing prices that very closely resemble the value of my house. My house essentially tripled in value between 1998 and now. If I’d waited much longer, I wouldn’t have been able to afford the house.
2.
Moolanomy weekly roundup #11: “Investing” edition 2007-10-07 15:26:28 This week money lesson was about investment vehicles, so I think it’s appropriate to have an investing themed weekly roundup. Also, I wrote “The Weak Dollar is Killing Americans’ Wealth” for Consumerism Commentary last Thursday, please give it a read if you missed it.
Here are some excellent posts about investing this week:
Brip Blap presents staying put in a rocky market. This is a great commentary on buy and hold, selling on panic, the recent Fed Rate Cut (as being a bad long-term move), the sub-prime meltdown, and the weakening dollar. Should I tell him that despite the gain, he actually has less money due to devaluation of the U.S. dollar?
All Financial Matters presents Equity Harvesting: A Good Idea? Your primary residence is your home, don’t mess with it.
Money and Such presents Advanced Portfolio Building. This article is an excellent write up on asset allocation and diversification. I am thinking about adding bonds to my portfolio and this articl Read more:Investing
What is RSS Feed and why use it? 2007-10-07 00:15:53 Don’t worry, I am not going to become a meta-blogger (people who blog about blogging). Being a Personal Finance Blogger, I am not sure if all my readers are know what RSS Feed
is and why they should use it?
What is RSS feed?
RSS is a standardized formats used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines or podcasts. An RSS document, which is called a “feed,” “web feed,” or “channel,” contains either a summary of content or the full text.
The orange icon below usually represents link to the RSS feed.
Why use it?
RSS makes it easier to keep up with multiple web sites without manually visiting each site. By using software such as Google Reader, you can add multiple blogs to your reader and read all of them from there! Below is a screen shot of my Google Reader with multiple blogs listed on the lower left corner.
Since I have full feed, you can read all my posts without ever coming to my site; unless you want to l
7 Random Things About Me 2007-10-06 11:28:02 It looks like Paidtwice (a fellow M-Network member) tagged A Penny Closer, who then tagged me. Aside from my about me page, and the random revelations here and there, I haven’t really talked about myself much. So here are seven random things about me:
Image from Wikimedia Commons
I had a Bachelor in Biochemistry — As per “7 Mistakes I Made When I Went to College,” Biochemistry wasn’t a subject that I love. So the degree is sitting in the closet doing nothing.
I rode my bicycle from the U.S. to Canada — This was about a 60 miles trip I made in 2002. This was the detail:
Started out in City of Niagara Falls, New York
Rode over the Rainbow Bridge and got searched by the immigration agent (I was in my biking spandex)
Rode up the Niagara River Recreation Trail
Stopped at Fort Erie in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Niagara Falls (pop 80,000)
Then rode back to the hotel in New York again.
I can speak and read two languages — I spent my childhood in T Read more:Random
Money Lesson #3: Investment Vehicles 2007-10-05 08:36:37 This week lesson with my wife was about different investment vehicles. I am not an investment guru, so our conversation was mainly around the ones we do use. However, I did some Google searches and included other investment vehicles I do not use for the sake of completeness (links are pointing to Wikipedia).
Photo from stock.xchnge
Various Investment Vehicles
I categorized investment vehicles into four groups relative to their risk and reward potential.
Cash and Cash Equivalents
These are low risk investment vehicles that can be easily liquidated into cash, with mandatory holding period of 12 months or less. They typically provide very low return on investment, and little or no inflation protection.
Between the two of us, we carry very little cash around preferring to use our credit cards with rewards when possible. We do have some cash in checking account, savings account, money market, and CDs for emergencies and regular expenses. As for whole life insurance, I don’t thin Read more:Money
Interview with Flexo of Consumerism Commentary 2007-10-04 08:00:28 If you are a personal finance blogger, it is a challenge not to bump into the name Flexo. I first learned about Consumerism Commentary when Flexo linked to one of my post. Since then, I have been following his blog. So, it’s a great honor when he accepted my request for an interview.
To stay with my usual routine, I will attempt to skip the normal questions and instead refer you to his “About Consumerism Commentary” page and an excellent interview previously done by Help Your Money.
Pinyo: Although Consumerism Commentary may not be #1 in term of readership (among the handful of A-List Personal Finance Blogs), I believe you are the most influential one. Can you tell us a little bit about each site you own, or are actively involved with?
Flexo: First and foremost, I have been blogging on various websites since 2000. I actually began my adventures on the web in 1995, designing several websites for my university at the time. Nothing I’ve done on the Internet has h
September 2007 Net Worth Review (+1.24%) 2007-10-03 08:00:57 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 Read more:September
, Worth
, Net Worth
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