Networth Update

Wow, looking back, it's been a good two months since I've posted a networth update.

On the whole, things are going pretty well. Now that the stock market is back, my investment account and 401(k) are both steadily rising, while no new major expenditures have helped keep me heading toward the break-even point.

As of May 31, 2009, my networth is -$5,569.23. My networth increases about $610 a month with a 62.3% probability. I'm trying to increase that probability month to month by sticking closely to my budget.

Networth Update

It's been a while since I've posted my networth. There has been significant improvement since my last networth post in November (-$16,488) and even from last month, which I didn't post of -$10,801.

As of March month end, my networth was -$7,050.

Much of this rapid increase in my networth has been due to year-end bonus payouts and an increase in my 401(K) account thanks to the stock market getting better.

Also, I have become much more conscious about sticking to my budget, and every month, I have been able to pay down my debt by spending less than budget and using the leftover for debt.

Networth Update

Not much to say. It's been a while since I got my networth together. The past two months of market turmoil has done little to help my networth. My investments and 401(k) have both taken significant hits. Thankfully, I'm young and I should recover quickly.

Total networth: -$16,474.33 putting my -1.65% from my goal.

Gotta stay on budget much better. It's tough.

Networth Update

Well, July's networth update was a bit late, but only because I haven't had time until now to put it up.

The results are reminiscent of my 4th grade report cards: not good, but improving.

My networth is -$10,303.66 or a rise of $306.59 month over month. While brewing my own coffee has cut down quite a bit on my food expenses, my continued eating out and altogether enjoyment of the summer months is taking a toll.

In addition, the market has not been helping out much, with my investment accounts, 401(k) and restricted stock units either taking hits or stagnating.

Overall, I am still -1.03% away from my goal.

Networth Depression

Clicking on other personal finance sites recently, I'm finding myself both depressed and challenged by many of them.

While others are having similar issues forcing them to stray from their budgets here and there, many people are well on their way to a high positive networth.

Unlike them, I am still lugging around a negative networth, primarily due to my student loans and one year of job experience.

I am going to continue reading those sites, and see if I can gleam their secrets and apply them to myself.

Certainly my most important month to month finance goal is to stay on budget. For too long, I have lived on the philosophy that my salary will outpace my spending.

This is simply not true.

June Networth Update

Well, here I am: head hanging in shame. I've blogged about this previously, but here I am with the real results of this spend-freely-forget-the-budget month.

My networth dropped to -$10,610.25 from -$10,570.00. My networth is going backwards, and this is unacceptable.

My investment account is a little negative, but pretty close to about even, as the past two weeks of volatility has taken a toll.

I also spent today re-doing my budget. I started by adjusting my base salary, as I am expecting a 6-10% increase starting in July. I was very conservative, and only assumed a 5% increase. With the increase, I then adjusted up my gas, food, utility, and discretionary budgets while also ensuring I am saving $150 a month more than before, if I stick to my budget.

This is going to be gradual climb back to fiduciary responsibility. Stay tuned.

May Networth Update

This month started well, with my expenses well within my budget. Then I found out my buddy in Florida was about to get fired and he wanted us to fly down and enjoy a weekend there before he had to find another job.

Quickly, the expenses piled up.

Thankfully, with the adjustments I talked about last month, I still made some progress.

My current networth is -$10,570.00 or -1.05% from my goal.

My investment account is doing okay, with the current standings actually around, as I still have some options I have bought that I have yet to sell.

April Networth Update

This was an interesting month, where I found myself on the short end of a bank account when I accidentally paid my credit card bill the day a bill was generated, rather than the due date. This along with a week-long visit by a friend, where we indulged on steak and seafood much of the week, caused this month's networth growth to be a meager $600.

My current networth is -$11,162.59 or -1.12% from my goal.

However, as many of you know, I have embarked upon an interesting venture, which by October, could net me a one month big jump or decline, depending on my investment picks.

If you look at my networth statement, you can see that Card #1 has a huge outstanding debt, which is offset by a $6,500 investment account asset. I have borrowed $8,500 at 0% from that card for 6 months, and I'm investing $6,500 of it in the stock market, while holding $2,000 in my bank account collecting interest. I hope that this two-prong method will allow diversification in this "investment" and provide me a net profit after I pay back the loan.

I've included my networth chart below, and you can see that the past few months have not been good for my networth goals. I will have to work hard in May to get back on top.

Networth Update - 6 month restatement

Wow, thanks to the watchful eye of a reader, I feel like one of the major banks, and I now have to restate my networth. Apparentally, I had been neglecting to count card #6 in my liability figures. Instead of calculating out exactly the amount for the past 5 months, I have gone back and subtracted $5,500 from each month's networth statements. For this month, I have now corrected to the correct networth. You can see these changes on my linear estimating chart on the bottom of this post.

Month over month, I am still doing the same relative amount of growth in my assets, but of course, I am actually further from my goal than I thought.

My current netorth is -$11,875.79 or -1.19% from my goal.

So rather than being 3 months away from positive networth, I am actually about 12 months away.

Networth Update - Another month, another gain

This month saw huge drains to my bank account, as my 7-day cruise coincided with paying my parents back for their initial out-of-school loan to me.

However, this was offset by my tax refund and continued adherence to my budget.

Also, I've found myself using less cash on discretionary items, but finding that I have been spending more on food, and especially on coffee. I suppose sleep could help me save some money there.

Compared to last month, my networth is up 0.13% or $1,265.65.

Overall, this bring my networth to -$6,020.28 or -0.60% away from my goal.

On a side note, I am now designating Bank #2 as my emergency fund bank, since I use Bank #1 primarily for bills and checks, and expect the money in Bank #2 to accumulate interest.

Accounting for Restricted Stock Units

Bonus season has come for most, and as many companies do, bonus compositions are part cash and part company equity. Prior to SOX, companies would grant stock options which were very confusing for most employees but advantageous to company balance sheets, but post SOX, many grant restricted stock units (RSUs). I myself received some, and as the month is about to end, I had to wander, how do I account for RSUs? (For more detailed information on RSUs, click here)

The IRS would suggest that at the point of the grant, the RSUs are worth nothing until they vest, at which point, I would have to pay taxes on the total value of the RSUs converting into company stock.

However, I'm not a fan of the IRS, not only because they take my money but also because the grants do have some real value.

When I think about, it is an asset of mine, however illiquid it may actually be. If I continue working for this company, it will become liquid, and if I don't make it to the vesting period, there is some real monetary value that I'm losing when I switch companies.

So I've decided that the best method would be to do a mark-to-market valuation every month of my RSUs and add that value to my assets whenever I calculate my networth.

Compensation Time!

Alright, finally some good news in the midst of a bad market and a streak of bad poker nights: I got my first year-end bonus and it should be a nice boost to the networth.

I was handed about a 10% bonus on my base salary, half in cash and half in restricted stock. Additionally, I received a 4% off-cycle raise.

Not bad all in all, but now I just have to figure out the value of restricted stock to my networth.

Networth Update

First month of the new year, and like the market, my networth has been tanking all month. Without doubt poker losses in Vegas hurt. On top of that, I had to pay for a ridiculous car towing charge. The only positive aspect of this month was that my company's 401(k) match went through.

So here we go:

Without question, the past two months have been the worst for my networth. Every possible asset is down and few of my liabilities have decreased.

Compared to last month, my networth is down 0.13%, or $1,252.50.

However, the good news is that I'm about 90% down with my taxes (thanks to some helpful tax software), and I'm expecting about $1,600 in tax refunds.

Overall, this brings my networth to -$10,900.18 or -1.09% to my goal.

Networth Update

[Update: I have corrected my car and car loan values, as well as my networth]

2007 is at a close and so this networth update will be the last one in what I have been personally considering my "transitional" period from college life to the "real world". Starting this year, some of the fiscal irresponsibilities such spending too much on alcohol and "fun" stuff will instead become budgeted items. Gifts and other such discretionary items will also be properly allocated. And, I will be carrying forward my excess budget balance from last year to ensure I will be fiscally balanced.

Now onto my end of December '07 networth update:

I am almost embarrassed with networth update this month. Everything that could go wrong has. My poker fund is very low. My Roth IRA account took a huge hit. Christmas came and required gifts. And, I paid for my March cruise.

So, compared with last month's networth update, I have seen a 0.43% decrease in my networth, or a decrease of $4,154.08.

As always, I am looking forward to my tax refund as that should provide a very useful addition to my networth.

Overall, this brings my networth to -$9,363.68 or -0.93% of my goal.

Networth Update

I am so incredibly excited about my networth this month, that I have chosen to stay awake after a night at the casino in order to update it!

This month saw my security deposit returned to me, and the opening of a Roth IRA savings account. Also, increased poker activity helped to offset some living expenses.

Compared to last month's networth update, I have seen a 0.28% increase in my networth, or an increase of $2,821.96.

I am incredibly happy with this growth, as if this trend continues, I will be in the positive networth range by the end of January. Then come tax season, I expect huge tax refunds because of my over-taxed sign-on bonuses, and also because I have been taxed as someone working for the whole year, rather than the 75% of the year that I have actually worked.

This brings my networth to -$5,007.60, or -0.50% toward my million dollar goal.

Since there have been enough months, I am also including a bonus chart of my networth progress since I started blogging in March '07.

This graph also shows my monthly trend, which is to increase my networth by about $2,400 a month on average.

Networth Update

An interesting transition month has come and gone, and its time to update my networth again. This month was an exceptional month in terms of my finances, since I collected a vacation pay out from one place and then a sign-on from another.

Besides the extra income, my expenses this month has been surprising in check (minus the obvious fund I set aside for buying new furniture for the place).

So, compared to last month's networth update, I have seen a 0.96% increase in my networth, or about $9,600.

Obviously, every month is not going to be like this. However, I am steadily progressing toward my goal, and I predict I'm about 8 months away from the break even point, where my liabilities will equal my assets.

Networth Update

It's the end of the month, and as I prepare for my move, I need to be more sure than prior months that my finances are together, so that during the frantic atmosphere around a move, nothing falls through the cracks.

This month has been a great month for me in terms of following my budget. At the end of the month, I was only over by budget by about $2. However, I am still trying to recover my overages from prior months, so I will continue deducting from my discretionary budget.

So compared to last month's networth update, 0.33% increase in my networth, or about $3,300. This is inflated a little bit, since I haven't paid for next month's rent, even including that, my networth has increased by about $1,000.

I am very happy that I am back on track with my finances.

Overall, my networth is -$17,431.62 or about -1.74% away from my goal.

Networth Outlook

After last week's networth update, I was pondering why I had managed to save nothing last month, and then it hit me. I had waited one day too long to check my bank account, so my rent for this month had been sent out my electronic payment already!

So last month, I actually did save $1000, but it was hard to see it, since I haven't been counting rent paid as an asset. Oh well.

This month I am working hard on keeping my expenses down, and at the very least, within budget. I started this process by writing off $100 of my discretionary budget this month to offset the $520 I have spent over budget this year.

Networth Update

This one is a bit late, but the Labor Day weekend got in the way of regular blogging duties.

Comparing to last month, I have gotten a much better grip of my financial situation, staying close to my budget, although I was still off by about $100 by the end of the month. I am accounting for it by decreasing my discretionary budget (ie. entertainment) by $100 for the month of September.

Compared to last month's networth update, I have made a 0.06% increase in my networth by about $500. Unfortunately, this $500 is primarily from a readjustment of my student loans, suggesting that I made no real changes since last month.

This is to be expected though, since I was way over budget last month, and I had to pay the bills this month.

Overall, my net worth is -$20,723.85, making me -2.07% of the way to my goal.

Market Volatility

When investors don't know which way the market should be going, it is a terrible time for long-term investors due to the enormous risk, but just an amazing time for traders, as volatility = profits.

For me, as I start to do my "investing", my strategy will be one of trading on volatility. Now, I wouldn't recommend this as the only investment strategy for the long-term. I have my own safer long-term investments.

But, since I'm not worried about my financial future, I am investing my excess cash into short-term trading and speculation.

I will be reporting my gains and loses and thoughts here.