Thoughts before calculating: I am pretty excited to prepare this net worth update. I received a bonus in March, so I was finally able to immediately send it out to the various buckets I had thought about for months. Whenever I have a good chunk of cash coming in, I start thinking about how to allocate those funds intelligently and intentionally. I truly believe that most people screw up their personal finances because they don’t do this simple exercise. Notwithstanding the inflow of cash, the market took a shit this past month:
Given how correlated I am to the market, this drop may essentially hide all that good I did with the money!
Calculating my Net Worth
My Family’s Assets
While I have several asset categories, I don’t think they are particularly complicated.
Cash
Cash Equivalents – Even after depositing a good amount of my bonus into my emergency fund I really still believe I am underfunded on the account. I have made some moves on it, and will continue to do so until I hit what I believe is my family’s number. Specifically, I am hoping to save a large part of my bonus into boring old cash. I really want to bump up this number to match what I consider a truly funded emergency fund.
Real Estate Holdings
Main Residence – Exactly what it sounds like, the Family home.
Rental Property – Every month, I update a spreadsheet I keep for the minority owners of my rental property. I wrote a few months back that, “February was the first month in a very, very long time when this was not a source of stress. I am excited for a few more stress-free months.” This is still holding true! But obviously, that can change at any time.
Retirement Accounts
My 401(k) – Going to stop complaining, and it is what it is with the fees on the funds. I am hoping to do one rebalance this month and maybe check it out once a quarter for rebalancing in 2026. Completed! Early this year I, rebalanced my 401k with the help of ChatGPT. My plan is to check this once a quarter. Sometime in the next week or two I will rebalance the 401(k), but boy did this thing get killed this past month (see above chart!).
My Traditional IRA – Need to review it this month for any changes. I didn’t make any major moves in 2025, and probably won’t this year as well.
The Wife’s Roth IRA – Same as above.
The Wife’s SEP IRA – Sme as above.
Non-Qualified Accounts
My Trading Account – This one account houses both where I invest in my dividend growth companies and risky speculative option trades. I am going to update how I handle trading profits this month. Failed. I’ll handle it in February. Same Failure. I finally updated how I would invest/distribute short put proceeds. Pretty excited about it!
Alternative Investments
Crypto Currency – This account was basically started for FOMO purposes. It is a shitty reason, but it is mine nonetheless. I don’t pay much attention to the crypto market and will probably continue to ignore the account.
Life Insurance Cash Surrender Value – I own a number of permanent, cash value whole life insurance policies. Since the cash is accessible, I include it in my net worth statement. In 2026, I plan on obtaining a bit more permanent insurance for purposes of adding a Long Term Care Rider.
Physical Gold – A few years back I decided to start buying physical gold, I am hoping one day to be that crazy guy with a stack of gold I can swim through, but I haven’t bought some in so long. A few months ago I wrote that I wanted to get back into it. I have started a monthly purchase plan with Acre Gold. Given the historic price of gold, and the amount I actually allocated to the site every month, this will take a while before I get my first shipment! Finally I am done with Acre – and I would not recommend the company. I got my money back but it is a massive, massive rip off with fees built upon fees. This month I am going to have to go back to old school and just purchase it myself.
Currently, I do not include my investment club in my net worth.
My Family’s Debt
Currently I have a few credit cards with some balances but nothing too crazy. They should all be eliminated when I receive my bonus this month. Then some longer term debt. After the CCs are done this month, I will reorganize my tiers of debt. Short term debt is all but gone, which feels f’n fantastic. Currently focusing in on some longer term debt to reduce using some excess cash flow along with the short proceeds.
My Net Worth Change
- Month over Month – My family’s net worth ONLY increased about 1.5%
- Year to Date – I am up about 4.3%
Exactly what I thought! While I made some amazing strides with the bonus disbursement, the market correlation killed me. Almost every one of my accounts was significantly down, so it ate up the money (at least on paper). Not a massive deal in the game of life and personal finances, but just a bit disheartening.