It is time for another Net Worth Transparency report. Just as a reminder, I do these reports for three reasons.
- To hold myself publicly accountable.
- To show you how important it is to track your own net worth.
- To motivate you to learn how to track your net worth.
Without further ado, here are the numbers for today.
Here are the biggest takeaways from last month:
- The high balances remaining on our credit cards due to timing in last month’s report are paid off.
- Our current cash and short-term savings are down to to paying those off.
- Our retirement savings has stagnated due to the markets and that I don’t have 401k contributions anymore.
Despite all of that, we would have had a positive delta this month if it weren’t for some pretty large expenses.
- Moving: Over $1,500 for the truck, boxes, gas, hotel stays, etc.
- A Second Laptop: We purchased a second Macbook Pro, so now both my wife and I can work at the same time. (We had a desktop computer at home before, but we couldn’t exactly bring that with us on our road trip…)
- Running Gear: We both were in need of new shoes to use while we travel since our main forms of exercise at the gym are gone (Me: weights, Her: swimming) and we are running to stay in shape.
All of these expenses related to moving all happened within about a month after our wedding, which we just got done paying off. If we would have been in debt from the wedding I never would have quit my job, moved, and gone on a big road trip right away.
We Might Have to Use Our Emergency Fund
We are using stock I received from my work (for completing degrees and staying there for three years) as our short-term savings and emergency fund, worth about $9,500. I am doing whatever I can to not have to dip into it, but we might have to a little bit here in the next month or so. We have the first two months of COBRA (health insurance) to pre-pay (over $1,100 a month!) and I have to pay back an amount to my old work that is owed for grad school (about $3,300) since I left before the 24-month retention policy was over.
With all that is going on in our life with the road trip and the pay-cut to work doing something I truly love, finances are a bit tighter right now, but we wouldn’t trade what we are doing now for the world.
Hopefully we won’t have to dip into it, but it would be nice to have a bit more cushion in our checking and we will probably have to just due to timing alone.
What are you doing to make sure you can afford the next big event in your life?
Total Change Since College Graduation
(Start) May 2008: –$28,120.00
(Today) October 2011: $53,403.89
Total Net Worth Increase in 41 Months: $81,523.89
Previous Net Worth Reports
September 2011: $54,678.35
August 2011: $52.270.29
July 2011: $53,244.08
June 2011: $53,583.20
May 2011: $60,268.74
(Learn more about how to determine your net worth in just 10 minutes.)
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
A $1,200 drop while living like you are doesn’t sound bad to me at all. I guess that’s going to be the real challenge while you’re on the road.
I have a post up today about how I’m rapidly paying off the last of my student loans. I have only about $2,800 left, and I’m looking to eliminate that by year’s end! I can’t wait to be free!
I am really interested to see what our expenses end up being per month for Oct, Nov, Dec. Our biggest regular recurring expense is gone (rent), but there are many others that are increasing (eating out, gas, accommodations).
I was all for rapidly paying off my student loans too and I’m glad I did. We just have my wife’s student loans now and we are choosing not to pay them off any faster at this time and instead using the money to invest in our own businesses.
The free feeling is so great though.
You’ll get there soon.
It’s definitely going to be a transition time for you guys, so it might be a little tough to nail down estimated expenses right away. But on the plus side, your income might take off as well since you have more time to commit to your businesses
Student loans are a ways off yet on our debt pay-off radar, since I think my husband and I are going to build up savings in anticipation of starting a family once the credit cards are paid off. That’s definitely going to be a good feeling though to have them knocked off at some point!
What do you use for building your net worth tables and graphs?
I use Excel to make them.
Caleb, best of luck on your journey.. I look forward to reading about it! I think it’s great that you guys made sure to plan time for fitness and invested in items to bring along with you!
Thanks Aaron! Fitness is really important to us and it can be hard to keep at it on the road, but we are doing our best.
Cool reports Caleb. Hopefully you can deduct the laptop as a business expense?
I plan to use it as a business expense on our tax return.
Caleb, what happened before May 2008? I assume you were still working given you said you got your MBA and then worked for 3 years after?
I graduated my undergraduate degree in May 2008 and started my MBA while working in September 2008. I worked during the summers in college, but not during the year.