Welcome to the April 2020 edition of our net worth tracker, where we’ll track our net worth month over month. I first started tracking our net worth at the time this blog was started, which was the beginning of September 2019. I started by creating the Net Worth Baseline report.
You can view Previous Net Worth reports HERE.
April was refreshing after the economically disastrous March that we all had. We got our stimulus checks, and the markets started to come back a bit. It was still volatile, but at least it wasn’t straight down.
I’m not going to talk much about what I did this month because, well, we didn’t do much. It was an overall calm and relaxing month for us.
Table of Contents
Weekly Roundup
Normally, I kinda go through my month, and go over the highlights. This month I’m going to be doing it a little different. I think I can some up my whole month in one or two paragraphs.
Week 1, 2, and 3
The world is sheltered in place right now, and we’ve gone the whole month now. We are no exception to the staying at home. Luckily, we can both work from home, so our schedules haven’t really changed. We “go” to work, “come home” from work, and find things to do around the house.
A lot of chores that have been nagging me on my To-Do list are finally getting done. All that yard work, and those flower beds are starting to look nice. The weather has been amazing this month, and has allowed the family to spend a little time outside each evening. It’s been great!
Week 4
This happened:
That will for sure be an expense for May. Still waiting on quotes to come in, so we’ll see how much it cost.
April 2020 Net Worth
Here’s how April compares to last month:
April Account Breakdown
Let’s take a quick look at what happened in April.
Cash (+$1145.55)
Monthly Blurb: This is where our paychecks get deposited. All our income goes into this account, then gets transferred to the proper accounts as set by my budget. As usual, I do the net worth report before transferring money to the appropriate accounts.
This is a little more than the amount we expected to have at the end of the month, mostly due to receiving the stimulus check. No one was sure what was going to happen with that money at the end of the month, but it was nice receiving it fairly quick, especially by government standards. Just like month, we are here at the end of April wondering if we are going to receive a second round.
Our spending was a little average this month, and neither of us had an “extra” paycheck.
Investment Cash (-$12,274.86)
Monthly Blurb: All of our cash leftover at the end of the month is transferred here and is considered part of our saving’s rate.
The big $12 K drop looks dramatic, but it’s not.
This is where our leftover income went from March. As of the end of March, we had saved up enough to fully fund our 2020 Roth IRAs. I transferred this money into our Roth accounts this month. It looks like I missed the market lows, but I’m sure that I am still on the upward curve of the market.
In February and March, I mentioned that I was tempted to move what money we have right now into an IRA to take advantage of the correction in the market.
I also took $5,000 out to invest in individual stocks and in oil. Oil hit a record low, so it seemed like a good time to invest in it. As of now, I only have $1,000 that I actually invested, with $4,000 ready to invest the moment I decide to.
Now that the Roth IRA’s are funded, we will start saving towards a 529 for baby #2.
Remaining Cash Accounts (Emergency and Sinking Funds) (-$191.14)
Nothing exciting here. Just the usual. We are just saving up for our property tax bill and HOA fees for when they are due early next year. The amount we contributed this month was offset by having to pay for property insurance.
Retirement Accounts
401(k)s (+$11,624.69)
The markets are back on the rise after two months of our 401(k)s are dropping like a rock. I said we would be fine in the previous months, and look, we are fine!
This is the first recession I’ve gone through in my working career, so I’m excited to see what my accounts look like once we’re in a bull market again, and the markets have more than fully recovered.
Looks like the stock market sale is over. Back to paying full price…almost.
IRA ($31,026.21)
Part of this gain, $12,000 to be exact, is from making our annual contribution. The rest is from market performance.
Gain of $19,000 in one month!
That’s a gain of 13% between the 401k and IRA’s. Hmm, I’m beginning to think buying the discounted mutual funds is already starting to pay off.
College Fund (+$3,874.71)
The college fund is invested just like the IRAs; in mutual funds. It didn’t take as big of a hit as the retirement accounts, and it looks like the inverse is true as well. The gain is equal to about 11.5%. Still, not a bad month.
Net Worth (+$31,541.77)
Looks like our net worth is back on the mend, at least for this month. Hopefully it continues, but I’m a little doubtful because it’s an election year.
In total, our net worth increased by slightly over 8%.
Accessible Net Worth (-$11,109.13)
Monthly Blurb: This is the money we are able to put away, not including the tax-advantaged retirement accounts.
Our income was great and our expenses were about average this month. Our accessible net worth decreased because we took money from our cash account and put them into our Roth IRAs. We consider it not accessible, because it’s in there for retirement.
I know technically speaking, Roth IRA contributions are accessible.
Liabilities
Status: None, as usual. They’re a burden, so I avoid them. The cars, the house, they’re all paid for. Student loans…never used them. Credit Card debt? I only use one, and it gets paid off every month, and often I’ll pay it off multiple times per month. Just depends on how many times I think about it.
The one liability we currently have is the fence that fell over. It should be taken care of by the end of May.
Passive Income
January and February were both boring months as far as dividends are concerned. April and March, on the other hand, are a bit more exciting.
March 2020 wasn’t as good as March 2019, but it was still the second-best March dividends I’ve ever had.
April, however, was record setting. It was the best April I’ve ever had for dividends. Pretty exciting, considering all the other financial news happening right now.
Now for a lull until September. There are a lot of companies cutting dividends, so we’ll see how that changes this year’s dividend payouts compared to previous years.
The bank where I keep my savings currently has an interest rate of 1.3%. Not earning much, but at least it’s something. The interest rate keeps dropping lower and lower as the federal reserve keeps cutting rates. Fortunately, it didn’t drop more this month.
Saving’s Rate
I track my savings rate in order to help keep my feet to the fire, so later I can be Gone on FIRE. As a bonus, you get a glimpse into my cash flow by looking at the income and expense rows.
Last month I adjusted my savings rate goal to 50%, down from 60%. It seems like 50% is a more attainable goal, while still having to work for it.
Thanks to the stimulus check, I beat the goal (and my previous goal of 60%)!
Next month is an extra paycheck month, so I expect that we will have similar results.
Here’s how we did this month.
Income ($10,717.41)
Right now, our only source of active income is through our full-time jobs.
This is what a fairly normal income month looks like for us, aside from getting that stimulus check. That was a nice little boost.
Expenses ($4,256.05)
Our expenses were slightly above average this month.
Here is a quick break down:
1) Home Escrow ($1020.00)
The normal amount we put aside every month.
We might be adjusting this next month due to an increase in home insurance. Looks like we’ll have a shortage come January if property taxes stay the same, or increase.
2) Giving ($1,127.06)
The usual 10% we give every month.
3) Cost of living ($2,164.31)
Previous Months: Mar: ($3,078.52) Feb: ($2,474.38), Jan: ($4,708.98), Dec: ($2,749.98), Nov: ($1,242.44), Oct: ($3,040.36), Sep: ($1,238.39)
Running Average: $2,370.03
This includes all our bills (Gas, Electric, Water, Internet, Phone), transportation, food, shopping, and daycare. This also includes auto insurance this month. Home insurance is paid for out of our Home Escrow savings account.
I’m sure like most of you, we just aren’t driving as much. The nice weather helped keep utility cost low.
Also, we got refunded for the flights we had planned to take this month.
April 2020 Vs March 2020 Expenses
April’s expenses were very similar to March, except we got a stimulus check and refunded for plane tickets.
Also, we didn’t have to pay as much in medical expenses, although we did have some.
Well, maybe I should say that the total results were about the same as March, because the expenses and savings were all different.
Goals Progress
Financial Goals
We met our target to fund our Roth IRA’s by the end of March. We have now start contributing towards the 529, beginning with the extra money from March. Our April Contribution brings us most of the way there! We had expected to complete investing in the 529 by the end of July, but now we are on track to complete it by the end of May. In other words, by my next net worth post, it should be complete. Two months ahead of schedule! Yay!
As expected, I am on track to have a maxed out 401(k) by the end of the year. It’s all automated, so as long as my job status doesn’t change, we should be good.
I did not actively do anything to increase my passive income, other than contribute to retirement accounts. Hopefully this is happening passively. As expected, we saw a good portion in March, and a personal best in April.
My goal of having a savings rate greater than 50% starting to improve since I lowered from 60%. I’ll have to see what the coming months look like, but our yearly average moved closer to that goal this month. I expect May will yield similar results.
Blog Goal
At the beginning of the year, I increased my presence on social media by being active most days of the week.
I mentioned in March that I noticed that the number of views has decreased by about 50% and that I was decreasing how often I post to only four times a week.
At the end of March, I had changed my mind. I decided I needed to post more. I saw the number of followers increase by 31%, or 31 followers. Easy math since I started the month at 100.
The previous month of March, where I had decided less was better, only resulted in 9 new followers, or a 10% increase.
I also discovered https://analytics.twitter.com/. It has useful stats, like top posts, and engagement information, as well as follower info.
I’m still new to this social media stuff, so I don’t really know what best practices are. Hopefully I’m learning something.
If you have any suggestion, PLEASE let me know.
I’m also still working on some stuff behind the scenes here, such as PDFs and calculators. I’ve created a few PDFs, but have to figure out how to deliver them. Stay tuned for that!
I have also started working on doing a redesign of the blog, after watching DYEB’s blog review. I don’t know when I’ll complete it, but I am working on it. Promise!
Personal Goals
I’m staying on track for my reading goal. I completed my second book fairly early in April, so I’m still on track. The problem is I’ve had a few weeks to start the next book, but haven’t even touched it.
My weight continued to improve slightly since last month. That’s two months in a row of improvement, and I’m finally in positive territory for my goal. I’ve been running outside, which has actually been really nice. The weather has been just about perfect for that, minus a few storm days, but it’s so nice running in the fresh air after a rain.
I’ve continued to run further and further each run. I’m now running distances that I never thought I would. This last week I ran for 5 miles, and I felt like I could have kept going.
It’s weird. I don’t understand it, but I’m going to keep pushing the distance further and further until my body says, “No.” I’m hoping I’m close to home when that happens.
April 2020 Roundup
All things considered; I really enjoyed the month of April. The weather was nice, I didn’t lose massive amount of money, and I got to spend a bunch of time with my family.
Hopefully May isn’t too much different than April. It’s usually when things start heating up here in Texas.
Stay tuned for next month’s New Worth update. In the meantime, comment and let me know what stats you would like to see.
How did y’alls net worth do in April? Let me know in the comments!
FIRE Away!
Reminders:
- 2 big items not included in my net worth:
- House & Cars – Their value will be added to my net worth if and when I sell them.
- 2 accounts not included in net worth total (even though they’re listed):
- 529 – This is my baby’s money. Consider it her net worth summary.
- Home Escrow – This is Uncle Sam’s money. We don’t mess around with him.
- Total income only includes our active income, which is currently our full-time jobs.