The dog days of summer are setting. Kids are back in school. Work is ramping up even higher… fall is just around the corner. With our vacations mostly behind us, we are getting back to saving. Read on if you want to see how our finances fared in August.
You can check the latest and greatest info on the Track Our Progress page.
First, the numbers:
Net Worth:
- End of August Balance: $978,334 up $68,7038
- Year to Date (YTD): Up $217,954 (up 28.66%)
- Since January 2018 (this is when I started tracking our net worth): Up $673,334
Portfolio:
- End of August Balance: $805,511 up $31,904
- YTD: Up $189,640up (30.79%)
- Since January 2018: Up $565,511
It looks like the big jump in August is about half due to investment contributions/growth and about half due to appreciation of our house. While the housing market has been hot around here, it was a bit of a surprise to see a large jump in our home’s Zestimate.
August Highlights
Summer’s Last Hurrah
We wrapped up our last vacation of the summer in August with a week in Gulf Shores. My extended family rented a house on the beach big enough to fit all 12 of us, and we lucked out to sneak in a few good beach days between tropical storms.
We hadn’t been to a beach since 2019, so it felt great to be back. Even more importantly, it felt amazing to step away from work for the week. A break that was much needed!
From a financial perspective, I think we did pretty good during the trip, all things considered. We used Walmart grocery pick up to cover the majority of our meals, with only a few meals “out”. While we did a couple activities (dolphin cruise and mini golf) our time was mostly focused on the beach (which was already paid for with the house rental) as opposed to a lot of other entertainment options. I support splurging on things that provide real value, and I think we did a good job balancing our spending/value ratio.
Back to Saving
We were finally able to get back to contributing to our Roth IRAs. We had a lot of ground to cover if we hoped to max them out this year, so it was nice to put a big dent into that amount.
What changed?
- Our vacation expenses are mostly behind us
- I got a raise at work
- School is in session, which means no summer day care costs (a savings of a couple hundred bucks a week!)
In addition to the Roth IRA contributions we increased our automatic investment into our brokerage account. The amount is roughly equivalent to my raise. This happens to be my favorite way to increase our savings rate. Since we immediately invested the amount of the raise, it boosts our savings at the same time as it helps prevent lifestyle creep. And… since we never had the money previously, we don’t miss it!
Coming Up in September
FurlNOugh!
Last year, my wife’s work ordered staff to furlough for 4 weeks. This was not ideal. So far this year, she’s lucked out and there has been no fuloughs…
Until now.
She was notified that there is 1 week of furlough coming down the pike for sure, with another likely. The first is in September.
We’ll be fine. This is a good reminder to keep your debt to income ratio low to make sure you have enough income to cover these “lumpy” periods. If we were mortgaged to the hilt and in debt up to our eyeballs, then we would be in a much tougher position.
Schedule’s Filling Up!
Our weeks are about to become much fuller. This is due to combination of school being back in session, the start of fall sports, and our youngest finally reaching an age where she is ready for activities.
We will have dance or soccer practices and games most weeknights and weekends. It will be fun for sure. But the logistics…. will be a challenge.
Thanks for reading and stay healthy!
