A quick update this time around. Last month I said a lot of things were changing. I meant for us, specifically… But I guess the world had changes in mind as well.
You can check the latest and greatest info on the Track Our Progress page.
First, the numbers:
Net Worth:
- End of February Balance: $1,018,827 down $11,978
- Year to Date (YTD): Down $45,891 (-4.3%)
- Since January 2018 (this is when I started tracking our net worth): Up $725,805
Portfolio:
- End of February Balance: $820,890 down $14,181*
- YTD: Down $53,370 (-6.1%)
- Since January 2018: Up $580,890
*All numbers above include contributions and are not indicative of investment returns.
Just like everyone else, our numbers have continued to drop. You have to go back to July of last year before the VTI (Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund) was below were we sit today.
February Highlights
Mrs. HoF Got a Raise and a Bonus!
Congrats are in order for my wife! She pulled down a nice 6% raise and received an annual bonus. The raise was bigger than we expected and we honestly didn’t hold out much hope for the bonus.
This is timely as well as we start to make payments on our second home (the RV) and my truck.
How Bout that Truck Again?
I absolutely love it. But man if I didn’t have bad timing, I wouldn’t have any timing. It sure looks like fuel prices are going to be high for a while.
What is the World Coming To?
Like for real? Has the world gone mad?
Unless you are living under a rock right now, you are probably aware that Russia has invaded Ukraine. With Russian demographics in very poor shape (take a look, this is reeeaallly ugly… they just aren’t making Russians anymore) and Putin aging, this isn’t really that surprising. But it is absolutely horrible by every definition of the word. I can’t imagine what Ukrainians are living through, but I’m rooting for them hard.
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I am hopeful that cooler heads will prevail before the conflict spreads into neighboring NATO countries. That would go a long way to kicking off WWIII.
This is a great reminder about how fortunate we are. Even if this will likely result in crazy market conditions and some goofy commodity prices for some time.
Coming Up in March
Shaking Down the Rig
We bought the RV at the end of January and its been nothing but freezing cold since then. But thankfully, better times are coming. Our inaugural camping trip will be near the end of March. We won’t be going far in case of “issues”, but we are all looking very much to getting out for the first time. The cabin fever here is intense!
The major outfitting of the RV is mostly complete now. Hopefully, expenditures will start leveling off here soon.
Still Adjusting…
We’ve finally started paying on the RV and truck loans. At the same time Mrs. HoF’s paycheck gets a boost. Also, I made a withholding change on my paycheck to, hopefully, avoid a big tax burden next year. Needless to say, things need to shake out a bit before we start planning how much more/less we an invest each month or how we pay down these loans more quickly.
Thanks for reading!
