Milestones

May 2015 Net Worth Update

Happy Friday!

So while I’m giving regular updates on my Emergency Fund, after reading a few blogs, I figured I could give monthly updates on my net worth as a way to show my progress on the road to Financial Independence. I figured I might as well start with where I left off last month.

May 2015 Net Worth: $422,042.26

Just to catch you up, I started the year off with $379,290.29 for a total increase (so far) of $42,751.97!

Here’s my first net worth statement:

2015-05 Net Worth

You’ll notice a few things here. For one, my Emergency Fund jumped up from $30,000.00 to over $35,000.00, which is a significant jump and represented reaching 70% of the way to $50,000.00. After this month, you should start seeing bigger increases on the Taxable Brokerage Account  line. Still, there was an increase of $227.35 in that area. Not too bad considering I don’t touch it. The home value is based on the Zillow “Zestimate,” which Mint uses. I realize this may be over or under, depending on the market, but for the sake of projections and updates, I’m just going to go with it. On the other side of things, my mortgage has gone from about $560,000 when it started, to hovering just at the $500,000 mark today. Still a long road ahead, but we’re making progress.

Overall, there was a change of +4.93% in net worth. A big part of that was probably the tax refund we got, which came out to $8,688.00.

Personally, I don’t like how much of my worth is tied up in the real estate market, but from what I gather, it all counts. I suppose I’ll be more on board with the notion once we start investing in more real estate. For now, it just seems like these numbers could plummet with the market and get cut in half. But such is the nature of the beast.

That wraps up the month of May. I plan to release an update like this once a month while keeping the corresponding number updated in the sidebar. I’ve been seeing that in a lot of blogs and I love it for some reason.

Until next time.

Emergency Fund Update – 90%

Hey guys,

As of this morning, I have hit the 90% mark and it feels amazing!

Though I must say it’s less amazing, however, than hitting the first 10%. I suppose there’s some psychology behind the idea of throwing money on a small pile as opposed to throwing money on a big pile — the former probably feels far more rewarding. Regardless, the bigger number — 100% — is what I’m after and to be this close to it really does feel great. And just to clarify, it has been no easy feat. I am really moving things around to hit that target because I am determined and focused. For those of you paying attention, my last Emergency Fund Update post had me at 80%, so it’s really incredible to me that I’d be able to increment 10% at a time.

To put things in perspective, the amount I’m saving each time is more than I used to make in two months when I was younger. Just insane.

Moving forward, I am trying to see what I can do to make that last stretch and finally hit 100%. The gears are already turning. Because, you see, I intend on hitting that goal before the month is over, but it is not yet immediately clear how I will get there. What inspired me to hustle this month is a few things, but also remembering this important quote:

Don’t save what is left after spending; spend what is left after saving.

— Warren Buffett

Ha! This seems laughably obvious, yet in practice is counterintuitive. I love when things can be put so succinctly, yet have such an impact.

One thing is clear — you can bet when I hit 100%, I will be celebrating that milestone. That marks the end of one journey and the beginning of another. The achievement of my first huge goal and the beginning of actually investing.

You get the idea.

Emergency Fund Update – 80%

Today marks an extremely important milestone for me: my emergency fund is officially 80% filled!

In other words, I have $10k to go before the fund reaches 100%, and I’d really like to get there before the end of the month, so you know what this means.

Extreme Savings Mode: activated.

Once that’s filled, it’s time to start investing. In mutual funds. Bonds. And more recently, Dividend Growth Stocks. Oh my.

I don’t have more to report than that, but I was pretty excited about it.

Thanks!

FM