The weather is very agreeable this autumn. We experienced some sleet on November 23rd. One of our neighbors on the lake took this photo of me out on the Stand-Up Paddleboard (SUP) during the sleet storm. Is Mr. SoS Brave or Crazy? The water is ice cold. Good thing I improved my balance this year with plenty of time on the SUP and the Ripstik.
How about our finances? We increased our net worth quite a bit from the previous month. Here is the summary with the details to follow.
Monthly Net Worth Update
Assets
All our assets increased for the month except for our Cash Back totaling $18,941 or 1.68%.
Cash Savings
After a down month in October, we returned with a huge influx in November. This was primarily due to the pandemic allowing Section 139(b), which allows any amount paid to or for the benefit of an individual to reimburse or pay reasonable and necessary personal, family, living, or funeral expenses incurred as a result of a qualified disaster. Please speak with a qualified tax accountant, but this allowed Dr. SoS’s business to help pay for our living expenses for months where her business encountered a downturn due to the “natural disaster.”
Cash Back/Gift Cards
We cashed out some significant cash back rewards in November including $300 from Amex Blue, $133.30 on Chase Amazon, and $250 on our Citibank Double Cash card. We also used $209.73 on our Chase Freedom Unlimited card to purchase discount Gift Cards totaling $233.03. In addition, I purchased a $200 gift card for our favorite pizza restaurant, Waldo Pizza when they offered a 20% discount on gift card purchases. We take our extended family to eat for our daughter’s birthday every year and this will cover that meal.
Cryptocurrency
Coinbase shows our balance is up $3,588.71 in a single month. We only have several thousand to go and we will be back to our initial deposit a couple years ago.
Retirement
We had a meeting with our business tax accountant and she advised us that due to the losses with Dr. SoS’s business this year, we are well within the 12% Federal tax bracket. She advised that we could roll money from our IRA to our Roth IRA.
Although you cannot see this in the balance because it is a transfer from one retirement account to another within the same category, we rolled $30,000 from our IRA to our Roth IRA in 2020. In addition, we contributed $2,222.44 into our various retirement accounts during November.
Lastly, I began trading options again. My first trade generated $377.38, which also helped increase our retirement. In total, we increased these accounts by 0.39% or $2,599.82. Considering this section includes money we have invested, I believe I will rename it Investments starting next month.
529
This account increased to 43.54. We spoke with our Accountant regarding using this account and found that if we deposit money into this account and then pay for school with the account, we can deduct the amount from our state taxable income. We appreciate any reduction in our taxes.
House
Dr. SoS added a slate blue with a hint of green to the kitchen. She also painted the French door that opens up to our sun room. It really looks nice.
Cars and Boat
I drove 437 miles during the month as I continue to work from home. Dr. SoS put 600 miles on her car, which was less than usual. Kelly Blue Book increased the value of both our cars, but our boat kept the same value.
Liabilities
We managed to decrease our liabilities by 0.71% or a total of $2,635.28. This means we paid off more debt than we increased our investments.
Credit Cards
The timing was better this month and I managed to pay off all the credit cards before the end of the month without having any straggling pending transactions. We continue to pay the credit cards off weekly and there was one week where I paid a large balance off in the middle of the week.
AC Loan
We paid another $300 and have 45 more monthly payments to pay off this loan. The balance has a 0% interest rate, so we will just continue making the minimum payments.
Car Loan
I made my second to last payment of $600 on the 6th. Then on the 13th, we had some extra cash in our joint checking. I turned to Dr. SoS and said, do you care if I go ahead and pay off my car. She double-checked that we had the money to which I replied that we did. She told me to go for it. We no longer have any car payments! Yay! How long can we go without car payments?
Mortgage
We have 29 years 10 months (358 payments) to pay off our mortgage. We reduced the principal by $277.65. Heck we paid more against the AC Loan. The new APR is 2.875%.
Student Loans
We have 22 years 3 months (267 payments) to pay off the current $198,467.73 balance. It’s a long slog, but at least we have a 3.125% APR.
Savings Rate
We continue to calculate our savings rate each month in various ways. This month resulted in even lower percentages because of the influx of cash to cover our household expenses. Here are the resulting calculations for the month.
- 11.83% – Percent of Debt Payments / Income earned
- 9.85% – Percent of Personal Retirement Savings / Income earned
- 1.50% – Percent of Employer Retirement Savings / Income earned
- 11.36% – Percent of all Retirement Savings / Income Earned
- 23.18% – 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 December 2020, we are up 2.85% increasing our net worth to $779,252.55 from our November 2020 net worth of $757,676.27, and up 28.74% from our December 2019 net worth of $605,306.66.
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