Dr. SoS and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on October 31st. We typically join another couple for a shared anniversary lunch at McCormick & Schmick’s restaurant, but they were unable to join us this year.
This lunch turned out to be the single most expensive lunch either of us have ever eaten. However, it cost very little from our pockets because we were able to use gift cards and rewards points to cover nearly everything except the generous tip to our wonderful server.
Enough about that. Let us get on to the net worth numbers to bring us up to date.
Monthly Net Worth Update
Assets
Our assets did not increase quite as much this month at only 0.31%. This was primarily due to a decrease in our cash savings and the values of our depreciating assets. However, we should dive in deeper.
Cash Savings
Last month may have been up because some of the bills from money spent in September came due in October. I paid off the surprise birthday present for Dr. SoS, which she still has not received, but hopefully she will before the end of the year. We also bought into a new investment which decreased our cash.
Cash Back/Gift Cards
As I mentioned in the intro, we used up our $150 McCormick & Schmick’s gift cards. We managed to increase our Cash Back by $206.90 for the month. The primary increase was $200 from signing up for a new Chase Freedom Unlimited credit card where we earned $200 for spending $500. I used this card to purchase the birthday present for Dr. SoS.
Cryptocurrency
Coinbase shows our balance is up $460.13 for the previous month. We are still down as a whole from our initial speculation and from the latest peak at the end of August 2020.
Retirement
I should rename this category Investments. We save in our IRAs, my 403b, my 401a, and our HSA, but we include other types of investments, as well. For example, the CEO of Digitally Imported Radio is my friend and we purchased 1,000 shares when they had an open stock offering a couple years ago.
Last month, I happened upon another unique opportunity. We invested in a new television show about Capitalism for kids. We invested in 3,000 shares of the company that plans to make the Tuttle Twins television show.
I really like how opportunities are now available for smaller investors to participate in unique projects. I am not certain in what other project we would invest, but like having the opportunity.
529
Guess what? This account increased by another $0.07 to $43.47. Now that our youngest daughter is getting older, I have an idea of how we may be able to use this account to help with taxes. We just need to remember to bring the question up to our accountant.
House
Dr. SoS began painting the downstairs. When we purchased this house, the walls were a bland yellowish tan. We rather like the clean look of white walls. Dr. SoS is now on a mission to brighten up the downstairs with a bright white. Ultimately, this does not really increase the value of our house, but it sure will look cleaner.
Cars and Boat
I drove 288 miles during the month as I continue to work from home. Dr. SoS put 706 miles on her car, which was less than usual. Kelly Blue Book decreased the value of both our cars this month, but our boat increased in value. Go figure.
Liabilities
We managed to decrease our liabilities by 0.64% since the previous month. Starting to pay on our new mortgage helped. We also began paying on our new air conditioner. Good thing we got that installed just in time for winter!
Credit Cards
We paid off the balances. Unfortunately, we were unable to pay for pending charges to Costco and our Audible subscription. We continue to pay off the balances every week, but occasionally we have charges on these two Citibank cards where I am unable to pay off the balance before it converts from a pending to an actual charge. I still count it because we spent the money, though.
AC Loan
This loan is actually a Wells Fargo Home Improvement 0% interest rate credit card. We are paying $300 per month and have 46 more monthly payments to pay it off. Unfortunately, Wells Fargo only approves up to the amount spent. This has a definite negative effect on your credit report. Between the new mortgage and this credit card my credit score dropped 27 points. This is fine, though. We will continue making monthly payments and my credit score will be back up to the former excellent status before long.
Car Loan
Guess what? I have only two more car payments to pay off my baby carrier. Once paid, we will save this monthly payment to go toward the Tesla Model S that we really want to purchase.
Mortgage
We refinanced to a new 30-year mortgage and this was the first payment. We only have 29 years 11 months (359 payments) to pay off our new loan. It is so crazy to only see $276.99 paid from the principle after our previous $1,344.57 monthly decreases with our 15-year mortgage. We now owe $157,723.01 on our home. At an estimated value of $405,000 that means we have 61% of our home paid off.
Student Loans
We have 22 years 4 months (268 payments) to pay off the current $199,002.86 balance. The positive thing about this is we are decreasing this loan by over $1,000 every two months.
Savings Rate
We continue to calculate our savings rate each month in various ways. This month resulted in a lower percentage of savings because I had three paychecks during the month. The third paycheck did not have 403b, HSA, or Dependent Care FSA removed. Here are the resulting calculations for the month.
- 13.34% – Percent of Debt Payments / Income earned
- 22.32% – Percent of Personal Retirement Savings / Income earned
- 3.41% – Percent of Employer Retirement Savings / Income earned
- 25.73% – Percent of all Retirement Savings / Income Earned
- 39.07% – Percent of Savings + Debt Payments / Income Earned
The debt payments are for our home mortgage, my car, and Dr. SoS’s student loan. The savings is only what I and my company contribute to my company 403b and HSA, excluding any cash savings.
Summary
As of the first day of November 2020, we are up 0.78% increasing our net worth to $757,676.27 from our October 2020 net worth of $751,787.55, and up 24.61% from our November 2019 net worth of $608,049.73.
We compile this information each month to keep us accountable and to hopefully inspire others to spend less than they make, save more, and make wise investment choices. Please leave any comments or questions below.
Thank you for reading!
Mr. SoS
Your cryptos should have done well in the past month. Maybe time to jettison them?
NWA-anon, where have you been brother? My cryptos have done well recently, but we are still not where we purchased them. As Uncle Warren always says, “Rule #1: Never lose money. Rule #2: Never forget Rule #1.” Therefore, I am holding out to get my money back out of them. However, he also said, “Bitcoin is probably rat poison squared.” This I had to learn the hard way.
Thanks for the thorough breakdown – I just discovered your blog but it is awesome and I love seeing your journey!
FraidyCat Finance, thank you for your kind comment. We are all on a journey. This is how we keep ourselves accountable for ours. I hope to see what you think of my future posts.