March 2006 Net Worth Update March 29, 2006
Posted by chasingdollars in Net Worth.add a comment
Seeing as this is the first net worth update I'll post, bear with me as I figure out how I want to style these reports. (For now, I'm simply generating a net worth report from Quicken, saving that report as an image, editing it out to remove some personally identifiable information, and then uploading it to the blog along with this post.)
Without further ado, here's what's happening for March:
Some commentary and highlights:
- My fiance deposited $335 in our joint checking account to cover groceries and dining out from March 25-April 25 (her pay period is monthly). We may need more as we're entertaining out-of-town guests who will be visiting us to attend a wedding shower being thrown for us in the next couple of weeks.
- I am currently close to $3,000 in my emergency fund at my credit union (at a 4.0% APY). I want to get this to $12,000 before I feel comfortable, so I'm 25% of the way there. I'd like to reach that particular savings goal by August 1, 2006.
- I opened up an HSBC savings account and deposited $25 in it to obtain the $25 cash bonus they were offering this month–an instant 100% return on my investment. I'll leave that there for now. After I reach $12,000 in my emergency fund, I would like to have an equal amount in the HSBC account, which will take some building.
- I don't carry any revolving debt on any of the credit cards except the Bank of America card, which I pay about $500 a month toward. The US Airways Mastercard's credit line is currently tied up in a 0% cash advance I took in late January to fund a new business operation I'm starting.
- The personal loan is accuring interest at a rather high rate, but it was a 12-month loan and I'm five payments into it. I may leave it be for now and continue making payments, as it will be completely satisfied in December.
What to expect for next month:
- At the beginning of each quarter I generally receive rather large checks from a couple of clients to cover my portion of sales of some products. I'm looking forward to receiving this in the next week or so. The business will receive the income and I'll immediately distribute it to myself.
- We have a ton of wedding expenses coming up. I owe $5,000 around the 20th-25th of April to our travel agent for the final part of our honeymoon. I also found out it will cost of $640 for the both of us to get the vaccinations we need to travel to our honeymoon destination. My advice: don't get married. <g>
- I don't want to dip into savings for anything in April, which probably means I won't be able to contribute anything to savings. It's just not going to work.
I'll shed some light on more individual parts of this financial picture in upcoming posts.
Update: I've created an account over at NetworthIQ. You can find me at http://www.networthiq.com/people/chasingdollars. This is the first month for which I've entered data, so the chart isn't yet all that meaningful. But that will change!
A Little Bit About Me March 29, 2006
Posted by chasingdollars in General.add a comment
One thing I'm not going to do is reveal my identity or my line of work here. These reasons are primarily personal, and I'm probably being overly cautious, but on the other hand I don't think who I am or what I do matters. But I would like to shed a tiny bit of light on myself so you at least get a feel for what goes on around these parts.
I have been in the industry I'm in for nearly six years, working in various capacities and positions. As of January 1, 2006, I own my own small business providing relevant services to other companies in this industry. From the business, I pay myself a set salary which is somewhat small but subject to all normal taxes on both the employer and the employee side of the equation, and I'm also able to take distributions from the business that are not subject to self-employment tax. (More about that later.)
I bought a home in late winter of 2004 and have lived in it ever since with my fiance. She is a teacher. We have a joint checking account into which we deposit a reasonably set amount each month that covers groceries, dining out, and other things we do together. Apart from that, we manage our finances separately. She has no ownership interest in the house, or at least that's the case until we get married–our state automatically qualifies the marrying spouse with 50% of the real estate owned by one spouse. We have no plans to change our money management strategy between us. And on this blog, I'll talk about my finances only.
I bought a vehicle in July 2005 and am not upside down on the loan, though I owe more than I'd like to owe.
I have very recently started saving for retirement. Through my business I'm eligible to participate in a profit-sharing Keogh plan (I currently contribute the maximum and as an employer I also contribute 25% of my salary as a match) and I also have a Roth IRA that is very nearly fully funded for 2005. My current focus in on managing our wedding and honeymoon expenses while building my emergency savings to about $12,000. I hope to do this by the end of July.
I have accounts in a number of different financial institutions and I hope to make this simpler over the coming months. I'd also like to begin investing in a regular brokerage account and not necessarily only in tax-advantaged retirement accounts.
I use Quicken to manage my finances and have a sort of love-hate relationship with the product.
That should give you a bit of background on where I am in my career and finances. I hope that provides some context for the rest of this blog.
