Category Archive

I’m doing my june wrap-up slightly differnt this month. I’m just going to paste a picture of my end of the month budget spreadsheet.

I should note that I adjust the “Budget” column through the month to attempt to get everything to add up (which depletes the “misc” cushion). This allows me to adjust for surprise purchases. For July, I added a column that will stay fixed so I can see what I thought I wanted to spend at the begining of the month.

Also, a lot of the categories are really “funds” and the excess goes into (or comes out of) my short term savings account.

While I did go over on gas, this isn’t quite accurate as T’s mom gave me $50 gas money in return for using my car when they visited last month. I went slightly over on entertainment, but I had money left in the fund, so I’m just a couple bucks short. I also paid for my half our our hotel for our August vacation, so besides the $100 I had budgeted for travel, I took $47 out of the travel fund.

All in all, not too bad. I think if I didn’t budget carefully, I could easily spend the extra $300 savings line item.

I updated my final June networthiq, and things went a little downhill. No worries, mostly just due to the drooping market. I stuck close to $1000 in this month, yet the balance is down by just over $1000. Seems backwards! I’ve been focusing mostly on retirement savings, so my cash reserves didn’t increase much to cover that. The good thing is, everything in my short term savings isn’t counted (with the exception of my car fund), so all my cash gains should stick. I used to hate how it might jump around with vacations or insurance payments.

For the big picture, my net worth increased from $18,815 to $23,881. I’m pretty sure that’s the biggest step yet–over $5k! The biggest jump was, as usual, in my retirement accounts. Not only did I have my regular retirement savings, but I added about $200 extra to my 401k through increased contributions (since it was a 3 paycheck month), added $300 extra to my Roth IRA (from stimulus), and received about $1100 in a pension cash out from my last job, which went into my rollover IRA. The rest of the details are available at networthIQ (see sidebar).

My goals weren’t as nice. I met two of the four.

1. Save $1400 in E-fund: Since I used sent $300 unplanned to the Roth, I expect the best I could do was $1100. I increased it by $1125. I’m going to say success for this!
2. Stay within $145 grocery budget and be a winner in Krystal’s challenge: I went over, but just by a dollar. So, fail, but not a big one.
3. Pending knee pain, resume running at minimum 2x a week: Oh. My. Gosh. 100% fail on this, and I can tell because my mood/anxiety have been less controlled.
4. Add $250 to T-Fund (travel), $150 to car fund, and $100 to gift fund: T-fund increased by $285, car by $155, and gifts… actually the fund itself didn’t increase because I bought both a mother’s day and a wedding present this month, but I allocated $120 for gifts this month. That was the spirit of the goal, so I’m going to say success for this one.

June Goals:
1. Resume running habit. Seriously. Two times a week isn’t much, so I’ll start with that again.
2. No new clothes this month. I got a swimsuit, yoga pants, and a pair of shorts in May, so I’m still at -$45 for my clothes budget, despite allocating an extra (gulp) $70 from my stimulus check for clothes. I started out May at almost -$100, so I did make some improvement. I need to get it in the black before I spend any more on clothing
3. Stay within June Budget. Seriously this time! I adjusted some categories, and I should be able to do it.
4. Read a book. Preferably one that I already own.

Pretty boring, but my budget really encompasses my savings/spending goals.

Did I reach my goals this month? In short, no. I really don’t want to revisit them, but I did NOT stick to my budget, did NOT cook dinner for my parents, did NOT run 3x week (but had knee issues). I did get T champagne for passing he PhD qualifying exams, and I did not do any spring shopping. However, overall, no, I didn’t meet them, but I’ll try again next month.

My net worth wasn’t as dismal as I expected, given my failure on my budget and goals in April. I increased it $2,691! It is worth noting that the bulk of that was in retirement funds. My employer and I together added  about $1100 this month, and the balance on my account increased by about $2200 due to earnings. My cash (minus credit card) only increased by about $400, which seems about right. For the nosey, more details can be found by clicking to networthiq on the left.

As mentioned before, next month is going to be quite exciting for my financial life. Not only do most of us get a stimulus check, some of us get 3 paychecks! I also haven’t added in my $1000 of random pension cash-out money from my previous job that I didn’t know I was getting. Should that count towards my retirement savings sidebar?

To keep things a little confusing, I did update my sidebars in anticipation of tomorrows paycheck, but I didn’t include my new paycheck in my NetWorthIQ.

Wow, I am going to be late for work if I don’t leave NOW. I’ll come up with my May goals later.

Unless the markets do some crazy business next month, I shouldn’t have much trouble finally reaching 20k net worth in May!!

Let’s take a short trip down memory lane. This lovely blog started last May when I had -$4000 net worth (student loans, not consumer debt). Between June and July, I jumped into the black, and somehow networthiq.com calculated a 256% increase for making the transition. That was the most growth (based on percentage) I’ve had yet!

It seems like I’m averaging about a $2k increase each month. I’m not sure whether that trend will continue in 2008 because so much has changed this year (new job, new rent price, economy stinks), but if it does… I could end the year with a net worth of about $34k! Of course, there I go counting my chickens before they hatch, and even before then hen has laid any eggs…

Anyway, I’m excited about this. Also, I’m excited it is Friday, excited April is almost over, and excited to try out all my new recipes! By the way, I ran through the remainder of my grocery budget buying ingredients for these, and sort of forgot to set aside food for lunch and dinner next week. T and I probably will share those meals this weekend, and if I don’t ask him for a small $5+ donation for eating at the restaurant of Stacking Pennies, I’ll have to scrounge the cupboards.

It’s time to check in with my March goals! My first goal was to follow my budget. I didn’t do too awful, but not as well as I had hoped.

• Grocery: Over by $21
• Gas: Under by $7
• Restaurant: Right on

My other categories are flexible month by month. I spent more on clothes and travel than I allocate per a month, but I hope to make it up over the next couple months. I over spent on “home” (that cast iron skillet ate up my whole budget), but did manage to save on “personal”, so I should be able to get a trim this month. Very much needed!

For groceries, I have to stop myself from making an extra trip to try out a new recipe I found. That was my downfall. Restaurant spending was right on, but I am going to try to come in under budget next month.

April’s budget is up, which includes an e-fund increase to $400 and no other major changes. I did cut contributions to my car fund for this month.

My second goal was to fill out my goals for my work development plan. While the official plan was sparse, I do have a good idea what is needed of me for a promotion.

My last goal (not really financial) was to run 3 times a week. I did great at this, except for the week I went on vacation then had T staying at my place for almost the whole week. I ran just one time last week! I’m back on track for this week.

For April, my goals are pretty similar:

• Stick to my budget (this is by far the hardest one)
• Run at least 3 times a week
• RESIST spring shopping! No clothes until June!
• Cook a nice Atkins friendly meal for my parents (they are in town for about 10 weeks and my dad is an Atkins believer) within my grocery budget
• Surprise T with something special after he passes his qualifying exams (within budget)

Last, my net worth increased from $14,904 to $16,124 in March. You can click my networthIQ chart on the left for details.

Whew! This post is very much a mish mash of updates, but I like to get all my monthly bookkeeping out of the way at once.

While puzzling over my asset allocation, I had a realization that the dollars in my Roth IRA were “worth more” than the dollars in my 401k, since I’ve already paid taxes on them. Somehow my asset allocation should account for that, right? Which got me to thinking, if I ever do roll my old 401k over into my Roth, it’ll show up as a decrease in my net worth, even though truly, it isn’t. [I still haven't fully implemented my planned allocation... I'm a bad financial housekeeper!]

People have a variety of ways of calculating net worth. Many people include their cars, houses and possessions. I currently don’t, but if I had a house or a nice car, I may. Given the recent swing in housing prices, perhaps I would hesitate to include appreciation of my home, as it won’t really be an investment anyway. I don’t include short term savings (gifts, insurance, etc), but do include my (measly) newer car fund . I once heard someone argue that they don’t include any retirement accounts, because that was money they couldn’t touch for 35 years. If I did that, my net worth would be in much sadder shape, as I’m really focusing on retirement savings for the next few years. Or more accurately, the next many many years!

I do think it is common to include your 401k dollars as regular dollars (right?). I don’t think it matters that much, as net worth calculations are generally to track your own progress, not for bragging rights. As long as a person is consistent in their net worth calculations, it shouldn’t matter all that much. For example, at the end of each month, I have almost $1500 sitting in my account for rent, and the check will go through about a week after I update my net worth charts. However, within another week, I”ll get another paycheck that will boost the net worth back up. It isn’t until the second paycheck of the month that I really see the gains. I’ve always counted my rent money in my net worth, so as long as I am consistent, it doesn’t really matter.

What do you think?

I updated my NetworthIQ page in mid-February, but I updated it again today (slightly downward) to reflect my “end of month” state for consistency. I also quit including “short term savings” in my calculations. That money is earmarked to be spent, and now paying for things like car insurance won’t have much effect. I can see reasons to include it, but the whole point of net worth calculations is to track progress, so it really doesn’t matter a whole lot.

So, let me just say this. I wrapped up 2007 with 13k net worth. After dipping lower in January, I’ve rebounded to almost 15k! The reasons have to do with my new job–I received $2000 in relocation money and $3000 in a signing bonus. Taking that into consideration, the increase isn’t all that impressive. I also probably spent about $600 on random moving in stuff (dresser, file cabinet, cleaning supplies, food, power drill, new art…) Anyway, progress from here on out should be more linear.

March goals

• Follow my budget. If I do that, I’m simultaneously meeting every spending/savings goal I have for myself. I do reserve the right to adjust my 401k withholding by 1% this month and adjust the budget accordingly.
• Get my work development plan in really good shape before my meeting with my manager and find out (specifically) what I need to do to be promoted next year.
• Continue to run 3 times a week (or more)

I’m excited for March, because this is the first month of really using a formal budget! I hope that I can be successful at it!

I’m not certain that my budget is sustainable long term. Ultimately, I would like to spend more on travel and have more room in the “Misc” category. However, my favorite travel partner is a grad student and probably can’t afford big vacations anyway. There has been some rumblings of some friends meeting in Vegas, but I think I can fit that into my current budget. I’d also like to visit a friend in Portland at some point, but the main cost there would be the plane tickets (not too much). I also would like to seriously start saving for a newer car next year, and $100-$150/mo isn’t going to cut it there. I guess my idea is, if I end up having to increase my budget, I will, but if I can stick to this one for awhile, I’ll really get a boost to my savings.

It is that time of the month again…. Time for a net worth update!

As expected, my net worth took a hit this month. I switched jobs and was only paid for less than 2 weeks in the new year. Plus I front loaded my pre-tax Health Savings Account at my old job, so my paycheck was extra small. Not to mention the dip in my investments and extra spending associated with moving. Oh, and I paid rent in two places this month—$575 in Iowa and an astounding $1425 in Los Angeles. (And my new place is quite a bit smaller.) Luckily, I really am only obligated to pay for half of January, so come February 1st, I have to pay “only” $762.50. There was also a $500 security deposit for my new place (I’m due $100 from my old place), and a modem that will be eventually covered by rebates for $100.

With all that said, here are the results:

January Net Worth: $11,235, down $1,824, or -13.97% from $13,059.

The detailed numbers can be seen on my NetworthIQ page (sidebar). I did move $1000 to Roth IRA, which hurt my cash savings. The rest of the loss was expenses described above. It is worth noting that I should make up all of that next month (and more), provided my relocation money and signing bonus are processed.

I took a break from monthly goals for December and January, due to all the transitions. I’m going to do the same for February, at least until I get my first paycheck and I know exactly what I’m working with.

This month was quite unimpressive–an increase of just $132! There are a few reasons I have to explain this. I was sure I’d hit the 10k mark, but I missed… by four dollars!

• Of course, the stock market uneasiness. Between me and my company, we contributed about $1000 this month, yet the overall balance increased by just $300.
• Also, there was a slight student loan mess. I was charged some back interest which was capitalized into the loan (not by my choice!), which increased the balance by about $350. I paid some, and ended up owing $51 more than I owed this time a month ago.
• Last, there was spending. I took two trips to visit my family, at about $100 in gas a pop. I bought my plane ticket for the holidays for another $400 or so. I also went through some personal issues and indulged in a teeny bit of retail therapy.

Next month should be great for my net worth. Even though there will be Christmas shopping, just as much driving, and a new years vacation, I get two paychecks along with a bonus equivalent to about another two paychecks.

I’m also apartment hunting and I’ll probably need to come up with a hefty security deposit…. The following month will be interesting with the cross country move, but it seems my future company is covering just about everything, so that is grand.

This month was quite unimpressive–an increase of just $132! There are a few reasons I have to explain this. I was sure I’d hit the 10k mark, but I missed… by four dollars!

• Of course, the stock market uneasiness. Between me and my company, we contributed about $1000 this month, yet the overall balance increased by just $300.
• Also, there was a slight student loan mess. I was charged some back interest which was capitalized into the loan (not by my choice!), which increased the balance by about $350. I paid some, and ended up owing $51 more than I owed this time a month ago.
• Last, there was spending. I took two trips to visit my family, at about $100 in gas a pop. I bought my plane ticket for the holidays for another $400 or so. I also went through some personal issues and indulged in a teeny bit of retail therapy.

Next month should be great for my net worth. Even though there will be Christmas shopping, just as much driving, and a new years vacation, I get two paychecks along with a bonus equivalent to about another two paychecks.

I’m also apartment hunting and I’ll probably need to come up with a hefty security deposit…. The following month will be interesting with the cross country move, but it seems my future company is covering just about everything, so that is grand.

I was coerced into spending a pretty penny on wine this weekend: Thirty dollars for my boyfriend and I to attend a wine tasting, and another 35 on some wine itself. Wine is an expensive hobby to get into! We have been taking a four session wine class (third class tomorrow) and have already learned a lot, and bought a lot of wine. I was rewarded with my boyfriends purchase of an entire case of wine as an early partial anniversary present.

Usually, my boyfriend is quite frugal, so I was slightly surprised at the purchase. We have fairly similar spending habits, and generally encourage one another to be mindful of our spending on unnecessary things. We don’t live like paupers, but we are conscious of money going in and out.

From June to July, Yodlee reports an astounding 256.52% increase in net worth! Of course, this is because I started out June in the negatives, and now am safely in the positive zone. Also, august is a 3-paycheck month, so I should be able to dump a extra into savings then.

I’m toying with the idea of opening a CD to get a little more bang for my buck, but with my future being unknown (I will be seeking a new job, anticipating starting in January or February), I want to keep my money liquid.

My financial goals shall remain unchanged, and I am focusing on my next goals of finding a good job. I’ve done some initial searches and while it might be a little work, I should be ok.