Holy cow! March 2010 was a wonderful month as we achieved record breaking net worth gains this month, topping Oct 2007 when my wife and I merged our finances, and May 2008 right at the previous peak of the stock market. Does this mean the recession is officially over? I’m not convinced we are in full recovery mode yet, but it does appear as though the market is beginning to quickly shrug off any negativity for greener pastures that may or may not lie immediately ahead.
| Assets | Feb-10 | Mar-10 | Change | % |
| Cash & Savings | $ 17,284.46 | $ 23,837.01 | $ 6,552.55 | 37.91% |
| Taxable Brokerage Accts | $ 109,288.34 | $ 117,261.19 | $ 7,972.85 | 7.30% |
| Roth IRAs | $ 52,909.40 | $ 57,207.34 | $ 4,297.94 | 8.12% |
| Pre-tax Retirement Accts | $ 201,346.72 | $ 217,716.34 | $ 16,369.62 | 8.13% |
| Stock Options | $ 26,288.00 | $ 27,936.00 | $ 1,648.00 | 6.27% |
| ESPP | $ 20,964.40 | $ 21,432.76 | $ 468.36 | 2.23% |
| House #1 – Rental | $ 160,000.00 | $ 160,000.00 | $ – | 0.00% |
| House #2 – Rental | $ 128,225.00 | $ 128,225.00 | $ – | 0.00% |
| House #3 – Sold | $ – | $ – | $ – | |
| House #4 – Primary | $ 300,000.00 | $ 300,000.00 | $ – | 0.00% |
| Receivable (Payable) | $ – | $ – | $ – | |
| Other Assets | $ – | $ – | $ – | |
| Total Assets | $ 1,016,306.32 | $1,053,615.64 | $ 37,309.32 | 3.67% |
| Liabilities | ||||
| Credit Card Balances | $ (1,604.71) | $ (1,080.49) | $ 524.22 | -32.67% |
| House #1 Mortgages | $ (134,383.79) | $ (134,065.49) | $ 318.30 | -0.24% |
| House #2 Mortgages | $ (14,351.32) | $ (10,434.97) | $ 3,916.35 | -27.29% |
| House #3 Mortgages | $ – | $ – | $ – | |
| House #4 Mortgages | $ (237,537.31) | $ (237,173.74) | $ 363.57 | -0.15% |
| Rental Deposits | $ (4,657.72) | $ (4,657.72) | $ – | 0.00% |
| Additional Tax Liability | $ (9,989.44) | $ (10,615.68) | $ (626.24) | 6.27% |
| Other Liabilities | $ (2,000.00) | $ (2,000.00) | ||
| Total Liabilities | $ (402,524.29) | $ (400,028.09) | $ 2,496.20 | -0.62% |
| $2million Goal Progress* | $ 551,319.34 | $ 592,761.29 | $ 41,441.95 | 7.52% |
| Net Worth | $ 613,782.03 | $ 653,587.55 | $ 39,805.52 | 6.49% |
*$2million Goal Progress – With the addition of a primary residence (asset & liability) I want to track our progress to reaching the $2million goal of investable assets – this line will back out the asset value (and mortgage) associated with our primary residence.
Net Worth – This line item will still track everything including the primary residence. This should keep the transistion smooth and avoid large changes when we move primary residences. Our financial freedom goal can be tracked with this measure as well from this target formula: [$2 Million in investable assets] + [Primary residence asset value] = [Financial Freedom goal].
Highlights for March
- All credit card debt (except current month’s purchases) is in the form of 0% APR balance transfers earning interest in my savings accounts. We paid off the last of our 0% balance transfers in January 2009. The well has dried up for now, but we are ready to take advantages if any offers come our way.
- We track our real estate properties according to our cost basis.
- I received my annual bonus this month which added ~$4k after taxes to our monthly income.
- We also received our 2009 Federal Income Tax Refund for (I’m embarrassed to say) roughly ~$7k. While it seems like a big refund there were alot of unknowns I should have paid closer attention to last year. In fact our return is still apparently not finalized. Ernst & Young was kind enough to notify me of some additional 1099s they received after I filed our taxes, meaning we need to file an amended return and pay back ~$1.1k. Hence I’ve included an additional liability on our balance sheet this month of $2k.
- The stock market was up strongly for the month, and our actively managed holdings performed very evenly to our benchmark. The full details of our investments will be posted shortly.
- Our cash position is definitely improving and I’m placing an increasing preference to holding cash at this point.
- What lies ahead? I’m not as optimistic as Mr. Market, but its nice to see optimism out there.
