It’s that time again. Each month, I pull that curtains back and take a look at the state of my finances and see what changes have happened in my net worth. And new this month, I will be displaying a graph of the progress.
I didn’t pay off nearly $19,000 worth of debt last month, but I was all out of houses to sell. 🙂 Overall, this was a pretty good month with an over $2000 jump in net worth. A little under half of that was an increase in assets (see next paragraph) and 60% of the change came from a decrease in debt.
I had nearly a thousand dollar (11%) jump in retirement savings thanks to the annual double match my wife’s employer does on 401(k) contributions. Kroger has a 5% match, but every year they contribute an extra 2% of your gross pay into your 401(k). So that was a free $700 for us.
The car will be paid off in another month. Instead of snowballing the car loan payment into the next debt, we will be saving the money to put towards a replacement. The engine is sound (well as sound as it gets for a Chrysler), but the driver’s side is badly dented from a jerk who changed his mind about turning last year. Plus, well, it’s a Chrysler. Who knows when that thing is going to blow itself up. By saving the money we were putting towards the car loan, we should be able to buy a newer-model (a first for me–the newest car I’ve ever owned was 12 years old with 70,000 miles on it) used car with cash in 3 years.
Other exciting news is we were able to make a big payment on credit card debt this month and I officially start back full-time today. So I will be able to make an extra $200+ in payments every month for the next 9 months. Actually, since there is no interest on my remaining credit card and it costs $.59 to access the money I make from donating plasma, I plan on letting it accumulate until the end of the year and make a big $2000 payment instead. Add in online income and this is almost certainly a goner by Christmas.
Of course, I’ll be getting paid a lot more than $200 per month. I anticipate an average of about $1900 per month after taxes. Projecting forward, if we are careful with our finances, I foresee being tantalizingly close to having a positive net worth by the end of the year. If I am successful with my $3k challenge, I should be in the black for the first time since I was 18.
Assets:
Cash $5713 Down $172.
Retirement Savings $8859 Up $995! Most of this was a ~$700 deposit from my wife’s company into her 401(k)
Car: $0 Still junk.
TOTAL ASSETS: $14,572
Liabilities:
Cirrus car loan: $412 At the time of this writing, there are just two payments left!
Credit Cards: $3538 Down $700
Student Loans: $31,227 Down $160. <–It’s finally starting to accelerate!
Outstanding Medical Bills: $4925 Down $90
TOTAL LIABILITIES: $40,104
NETWORTH: -$25,531
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