Almost a full four months since my last net worth analysis, a lot has happened:

• I left my job;
• I attempted to start blogging, stopped, and am trying to start again;
• I entered a funk…and haven’t got out; and,
• I lost a finger.

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It’s odd, during the past few months, since work sucked so badly, I lost all interest in finances and life in general. I just didn’t care. If I liked alcohol, I could easily imagine sucking it up until I lost all sense of life. Pretty depressing huh? Well, that’s really what things felt like.

I skipped my November net worth analysis, and I am just catching up with my December one. So the % increase is really skewed because it’s a comparison of 2 months ago vs today. It’s pretty cool that I can declare my net worth is a “quarter million dollars.”

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If anything makes the month of October worth it, at least my net worth has grown over 5%. The way the market has been performing and locking in my gains on my 401k, should help me get close to my 2006 goal of increasing my net worth by $100,000. We shall see…I’m currently at 77% of my goal with 2 months left. Christmas is around the corner though. Argh. So actually it’s more like 1.5 months left.

My investments in non-retirement grew almost 10%, thanks in part to the performance of my company’s stock. I have others as well, but my non-retirement investments is over 60% company stock, ~$20,000. Don’t worry my retirement is greatly diversified compared to my non-retirement investments.

No large expenses this month, none planned in November either. Christmas shopping, but I’m going to see if I can use points and other nifty things I’ve saved up through the year to fund Christmas, plus I got that brunch planned with friends.

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What a month…it’s been crazy. I’m glad it’s over, but October is already proving it may be just as hectic. I’m even posting my networth a day late! I’m usually so anxious to calculate all the numbers, I’ve got this post ready to go the day before.

Anyway, it’s been another average but good month. I’ve had some expenses, but nothing outside normal, which was expected. My monthly increases should be decreasing in the upcoming months with various holiday and year end expenses. Sorry, I can’t post more details today, but hopefully in the next few days things will settle down, and I’ll be able to work on my blog more again.

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Question from charles on post about my net worth:  Being as young as you are, how is it that you have so much cash on hand? Was it through cashing out investments or via money savings only? I am 35 and am really looking to increase my struggling savings account. Thanks.

Charles,

Most of my net worth was gained through savings.  I started working as soon as I could get a worker’s permit, age 14.  I was lucky there because my dad knew a small business owner who took me in and hired me to help where ever I could.  It was a great job because it dealt with computers, and I could go in after school and had no required hours.

From that point on, I never stopped working.  And I didn’t stop saving.

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Payday Loans cash advance, quick and easy

What a month it’s been…The market going up has definitely helped my bottom line this month.  I had a bunch of expenses, like my trip to Vegas and my current trip for my friend’s wedding.  Not to mention Brownie’s boarding expenses.

Next month’s expenses should be much less, wedding gifts and some gift purchasing for Christmas.  If the stars align, meaning the markets go up, my spending stays down, then it should be a good month.  November will probably be my next tough month.

I’m pretty surprised how well things went this month.  Maybe it’s the fact that my investments didn’t actually go down too much.

My 401k performed well.

Just one big expense this past month, auto insurance premium.

Upcoming expenses:

- Vacation (still haven’t started my fun fund)
- Dog boarding while I’m away

On target to meet 2006 goal?  No.  Projected annual increase in networth?  ~$87,000.

Theme of this month? Not much. This month would be a good reference point in terms of what I should be able to save on an average month. But I did break the $200k mark, which feels good. Next target, the “quarter million” mark.

You may have noticed a fairly significant shift from my investment accounts to my cash accounts. I originally wanted to shift a significant portion of my assets into stocks, but with the current savings rates, I’m happy to leave my cash in savings accounts. Yeah, may not be the wisest move, but I like being able to sleep at night. As a compromise, I do plan on shifting my 401k assets into more aggressive funds. Which funds? To be determined.

I may expense some stock options next month. Depending on how my company’s stock does. I also have a CD expiring, just in time to get that cash into an even higher yielding CD.

Next month’s expenses:
- Auto Insurance premium.

I needed to think about this more. Earlier this week I wrote about it, but it deserves more thought than that…Let’s say on average, I save a conservative $4,000.00 a month, $5,000.00 less than what I need to save. The actual amount doesn’t matter, the bottomline is I need to figure out a way to turn less money into more. This means, I’m going to hit $65,710.00 out of the $100,000.00 goal I set. How the heck am I going to actually hit $100,000?!?!

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In my original post, I said:

I am planning on:
- Reshifting my 401k investments into an aggressive fund towards the later part of this summer.
- Cutting expenses.
- Sell some stuff on eBay. 

But what does each mean?

Reshifting my 401k investments into an aggressive fund. Well this one is pretty self expanatory I think.

Cutting expenses. Alright, how am I going to cut expenses? Well, for one, I’m going to eat out less. I’m going to have to focus on buying groceries to make lunch. Cut back on the smoothies and coffee. Instead of Starbucks, I’m going to McDonalds. Like my philosophy on loosing weight, which is to cut back, not completely change the diet. For example, if you’re making dinner, take your normal choices and portions, then put some back.

Sell some stuff on eBay. Hah, this is going to be fun. I have so many junks in my place. I might soon need a waterfront property to store it.

I’ve also gone ahead and reviewed My Luxuries. Unfortunately, I can’t cut out much there…I can’t give away my dog. So don’t even suggest that! I could cut my Blockbuster.com subscription, but the amount I save because I don’t go out exceeds the amount I spend on the subscription…I already minimized from the 3-out to the 2-out subscription reducing the fee by about $5.00/month. I could start getting real drastic, but at this point, I don’t think that’s called for…yet. Don’t worry, I’ll warn you when I start re-using underwear.

Jeez, I’m way off target. At this rate, I’ll need to increase my monthly networth by $9,000 just to meet my goal! Yeah, ummm, highly unlikely.

So what am I going to do? Well, I do want to shift my assests into more aggressive investments, but right now is just not the time for me. I do not feel comfortable making the jump at this moment. However, by the end of the year, I do feel I may make the move. With inflation worries, lower earnings expected in second half of 2006, housing worries, it just doesn’t seem right right now. I may just shift my retirements assets to more aggressive funds and leave my non-retirment money alone for now.

So really, I probably won’t reach my goal. So the alternate plan? Save as much as I can. Hopefully I can hit at least 75% of my 2006 goal.

I am planning on:
- Reshifting my 401k investments into an aggressive fund towards the later part of this summer.
- Cutting expenses.
- Sell some stuff on eBay.

I hope this market stabilizes soon. I want to make my next move already! Patience is the key word…and that’s gotta be one of my worst traits.