It’s time for our first Net Worth Update of the year… wait, the Decade! We made substantial progress in the last few years of the 2010s after wondering in the financial wilderness for the first half. I am excited to see how far we can go with a whole decade (and compounding) to work with.
But first things first… how did we do in January?
As always, you can check the latest and greatest info on the Track Our Progress page.
First, the numbers:
Net Worth:
- End of January Balance: $580,817 Up $15,275 (2.70%)
- Year to Date (YTD): Same as above
- Since January 2018 (this is when I started tracking our net worth): Up $275,817
Portfolio:
- End of January Balance: $427,478 Up $12,240.00 (2.95%)
- YTD: Same as above
- Since January 2018: Up $187,478
Monthly Contributions: $6,448
Three pay checks helped boost contributions this month. Also, my wife’s employee deposits their matching Health Savings Account (HSA) contributions into her account twice a year. One of these happens to be in January.
January Highlights
Three Paycheck Month!
Gotta love a three paycheck month. The timing worked out perfectly since we had to pay for the materials for our soon-to-be new kitchen floor. Three paychecks meant we were still able to contribute to our Roth IRA despite the payout for the flooring.
Reigning in Spending
My wife and I went through our 2019 spending and were not all that surprised to see an increase in spending for “general merchandise” and “clothing/shoes” compared with 2018. We’ve set a goal to reduce spending on these categories by 20% in 2020. To track this, we established a monthly target for spending. In January we ended up spending over $1,000 LESS than our BUDGET! I’m impressed. While I am sure this will vary from month to month, it’s a start in the right direction.
Coming Up in February
New Floor Goofing
We’ve hired a contractor to replace the cracking tile in our kitchen with hardwood. He is slated to knock this out this month. I am absolutely stoked at the prospect of being able to walk through the kitchen without a tile popping below my feet.
While we could have done this ourselves, we decided (after a lot of discussion) that it would be worth it to have a pro take this on. I have a lot of emotions tied up in the floor since I put it in originally and have made several subsequent repairs. And… since I put it under all the cabinets and the island, it will be a real B&^%H to pull up the old stuff. So, we are paying to have someone else do it.
Rental Musings
We rent out our old house and the tenant’s lease is up at the end of March. We just decided not to renew our tenant’s lease. The tenant has been high maintenance. They’ve repeatedly clogged sewers, broken various items, and have copped an attitude with the property manager. Enough is enough.
In February we will need to decide whether we simply want to make repairs and rent it back out, or do we fix up the place and sell it. Property values have risen recently which are enticing, but transaction costs and taxes are pulling us back towards renting. We don’t know which way we are going to go.
Thanks for reading and here’s wishing you good fortune in February!
