I was not particularly excited to prepare this net worth update as in the last month or so, we made some financial moves that are likely to cause a good dip for the next couple of months. Specifically, in April 2021 I wrote,
I need to find a bit of liquidity to finish up my backyard. The Wife and I built a pool late last year, and this year they finished the brick work, but as I write this post I have zero grass and they ripped up my sprinkler system to install the pool. I am quite proud that we were able to do this massive project with NO debt, but it doesn’t look like that is going to be an option with this last little part. I am 90% sure I am going to loan against my cash value life insurance to finish up the project.
Well, I got that part of it all done (or at least the financing part). As I write this post I have my sprinkler system in but waiting on lawn people to come and spread out the 2 huge mounds of topsoil and seed the back and front yard.
Along with the new debt from my permanent life insurance policies came a ton of extra money spent on the credit cards. I really can’t wait for this project to be done and spending can come down a few notches.
Feelings prior to calculating: Prior to calculating every month I like to give my gut reaction. As you can tell from above I think this is going to be a down month. The only thing that may save me is that continued ridiculousness in the equity markets.
Calculating my Net Worth
My Family’s Assets
I will be writing an introductory post about most of the assets below, and update them whenever it seems appropriate.
- Cash Equivalents – I finally got this number to a comfortable number! It represents about 2 months of my family’s bare minimum run rate. It is also is probably the largest, “oh shit” number I would need access to within a day or two.
- My Trading Account – This one account is both where I invest in my dividend growth companies and risky speculative option trades.
- My 401(k) – My 401(k) has some terrible investment options that have ridiculous fees, but since I am getting a match at work I fund it to that match.
- My Traditional IRA – Just some companies that have caught my attention at some point or another.
- The Wife’s Roth IRA – Again, some companies that have caught my attention at some point or another.
- The Wife’s SEP IRA – Brand new account. The Wife was talking to my father in law who told her that she should have a SEP IRA, and since she is funding it with business proceeds, I was not going to argue. Just going to be sending $100/week to the account. Plan is to just buy a broad based equity ETF (VOO) and a smaller position in a dividend-focused ETF (NOBL).
- Crypto Currency – A handful of years ago during the height of the first crypto-mania I decided to put a few dollars into BitCoin (literally it was just $1k).
It felt like immediately after I made the transfer BTC took a nosedive. At that point, I made the decision just to ignore the account – and it is just back to above even. Upon talking to a buddy about Bitcoin and actually signing into my account for the first time in months/possibly a year, I found out that CoinBase allowed for periodic investments, so I turned them on. I did just $50 a month, figured it was an amount that if the whole thing crashes I am not going to be too pissed, and if it takes off, then at least I’ll have a taste. - Life Insurance Cash Surrender Value – As described 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. This money is also accessible via a loan against the cash value. These values now have a loan against the cash. I plan on writing a bit more about the process this month.
- 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.
- My Rental Property – Every month I update a spreadsheet I keep for the minority owners of my rental property.
- My Main Residence – My Family’s home!
Currently, I do not include my investment clubs in my net worth.
My Family’s Debt
- Law School Debt – Overall this account is just not that large anymore, but at 3.5% fixed I just ignore it. I am hoping that President Biden kinda just eliminates it for me.
- Mortgage and Home Debt – I have a mortgage on each home and a home equity line of credit on the rental property.
- Revolving Credit Card Debt – For the most part, The Wife and I pay off our credit cards every month – this was not one of those months! It’ll take me a few weeks to get out of the hole but nothing that is a huge deal.
My Net Worth Change
- Month over month my net worth decreased .59%
- Since starting AA my net worth has increased by approximately $108,000.
In March I wrote that I had 3 projects I wanted to look into:
I need to find a bit of liquidity to finish up my backyard. The Wife and I built a pool late last year, and this year they finished the brick work, but as I write this post I have zero grass and they ripped up my sprinkler system to install the pool. I am quite proud that we were able to do this massive project with NO debt, but it doesn’t look like that is going to be an option with this last little part. I am 90% sure I am going to loan against my cash value life insurance to finish up the project.
I have a ton of little savings, investments and debt repayments happening every single month coming out of my checking account. I need to get a hold of that number and see if it still matches up with goals and objectives. Given priority number #1 above, my guess is that what is happening today is not going to be happening by the end of the month.
I need to get back on the refinancing train.
As indicated above #1 is finished! With that I basically got #2 done (sending in my first check of the number I was roughly saving month in and month out to pay down that new loan), and #3 is well on its way! I am very excited to get the refinance done (hopefully this month) as I will be dropping PMI which has been a thorn in my side.
This month, the big project that needs to get done are my taxes. Everything is with the CPA and I am in annoyingly constant contact so that should be done this week. I should be getting an okay sized refund which will be used for furniture and debt.