The turkey is picked clean and all the leftovers are finally gone. I’ve loosened up my belt a notch or to. It must mean November has come to a close. Did we stuff our savings as much as we stuffed our faces?
As always, you can check the latest and greatest info on the Track Our Progress page.
First, the numbers:
Net Worth:
- End of November Balance: $542,313 Up $14,226 (2.69%)
- Year to Date (YTD): Up $150,475 (38.4%)
- Since January 2018 (this is when I started tracking our net worth): Up $237,313
Portfolio:
- End of November Balance: $389,255 Up $16,642 (4.47%)
- YTD: Up $125,718 (47.7%)
- Since January 2018: Up $149,255
Monthly Contributions: $6,633
Things chugged right along in November. It’s interesting to note that the portfolio grew more than the net worth. Digging into the details a bit shows this is the result of the valuation of our house and rental dropping in November.
November Highlights
Two Year Blogiversary
I can’t believe it’s been 2 years since I started this blog. This post is number 103, so I blew right past post the 100-post milestone back in November without even knowing it. Here it is if you are interested.
It’s pretty incredible to see our net worth progress over that time. Up over $237k in two years! It is amazing to see such an increase over just a couple of years, and I am encouraged about what the future holds!
My Not So 9 to 5
Honestly, November was a pretty quiet month on the financial front. Outside of dollars and cents, things were very hectic at my work with a personnel shortage. The ongoing work demands (with no end in site) have resulted in me reducing my posting frequency of late. I’ve been working more hours and coming home mentally exhausted. All the more fuel for our pursuit of FIRE!
Christmas Shopping Complete!
We knocked out essentially all our Christmas shopping this month. Major props to Mrs. HoF, who took care of basically all of this. Her savvy shopping skills will mean our kids will have a bountiful Christmas, at a very reasonable price.
Coming Up in December
Bonus Time?
The first pay check of December typically marks my annual bonus. I’ve heard my company is indeed giving them again this year, so I am excited to see what might come. I feel like I’ve worked harder this year than the past few, but company performance overall hasn’t been as good as hoped. So I am tempering my expectations.
Which leads us to the next decision point. What to do with it?
Max Out the Roth?
In a move that will likely have you, the reader, questioning my Financial Independence bonafides, I stopped contributing to my Roth IRA a couple years ago when we focused on paying off student loans and vehicle loans. My wife has never contributed to hers, with the exception of rolling over a portion of her old work 401k into one.
This year, we’ve been fortunate enough to grow our savings enough to top off our emergency fund and then some and max out our HSA and 401ks. The thought of the bonus sitting in our high yield savings account earning only 2% interest is not very exciting, but the ability to quickly access the funds is nice.
The Roth represents an interesting middle ground. The money grows tax free (we’ve already paid tax on it) and should lead to much better gains over the long term. You can always pull out your contributions, tax and penalty free, whenever you need them. In effect, this can serve as an emergency fund. That’s pretty cool.
With our goal of reaching financial independence by age 50 or earlier, it is critical that we find a way to fund our living expenses until such time that we can draw from our retirement accounts. Being able to withdraw our Roth Contributions can help fill this gap. All things considered, my bonus will most likely end up in our Roth IRAs.
Thanks for reading!
