Welcome to the April 2024 edition of our net worth tracker, where we’ll track our net worth month over month. I first started tracking our net worth when this blog was started at the beginning of September 2019. I started by creating the Net Worth Baseline report.
You can view Previous Net Worth reports HERE.
April is over, and now we’re a third of the way through the year. April felt like spring some more with plenty of rain.
Financially, April was not such a good month for us. The markets were down again, and so were our accounts.
Monthly Roundup
Previously, I would go through my month and go over the highlights. These days, I’m doing it a little differently. Unless you convince me that you want to hear about my month, I’m not going to talk about it.
April 2024 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 ($6,737.73)
Monthly Blurb: This is where our paychecks get deposited. All our income goes into this account and 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.
It was an above-average month for us both in terms of income and about average for spending. We brought home a good amount of money, but not as much as last month.
Our spending was about average this month.
Investment Cash ($8,776.38)
Monthly Blurb: All of our cash left over at the end of the month is transferred here and is considered part of our savings rate.
This is where our leftover income goes, and we had a lof of it in March, so this is way up as a result.
Most of the big expenses on the house are done, except for one. We are able to save the extra this month, but it will be coming out next month.
Remaining Cash Accounts (Emergency and Sinking Funds) ($2,908.15)
Nothing exciting here. Just the usual. We are back to saving up for our property tax bill for when it’s due early next year.
Oh, we are saving up for a new car. We plan on saving $2,000 a month for the rest of the year.
Retirement Accounts
401(k)s (-$8,492.39)
April was a pretty rough month for the markets. The markets stopped hitting record highs and started to drop. The opposite thing they’ve been doing for a few months now.
IRA (-$17,059.47)
All market performance here.
Overall, that’s a loss of 3.67% between the 401k and IRAs.
College Fund (-$2,013.06)
The college fund is invested in mutual funds, just like the IRAs. It was down 2.58 percent.
Net Worth (-$22,782.93)
I was pretty busy this month, like last month, so I didn’t really track the markets that closely. All I know is that April ended well into negative territory.
Our expenses were about the same as last month, although the money went to slightly different categories in our budget.
In total, our net worth decreased a good amount. It feels like a significant amount, and I suppose 2% is pretty substantial.
The year has started out on the right foot, but it didn’t take long to turn sour. Last year, in 2023, our net worth increased every month, and then we had three negative months in a row from August to September.
We’ll see how the market performs the rest of this year, I guess my hopes of having a positive first half of the year are dashed.
Accessible Net Worth ($2,768.93)
Monthly Blurb: This is the money we are able to put away, not including the tax-advantaged retirement accounts.
Our income was above average, and our expenses were about average this month. Our accessible net worth increased thanks to our income this month.
Hopefully, in a couple of months, the cash we put into the investment house will be liquid again… plus some added on top.
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.
Passive Income
January and February are very boring months for dividends.
I didn’t realize it until adding the numbers up, but it was a record breaking March! April’s numbers were pretty average.
Last year, on the whole, was the worst I’ve had since 2017, and I have a lot more invested than I did six years ago. Let’s see how 2024 plays out.
The interest rate in my savings account dropped by .1 to 4.25%. Right now, the Feds don’t plan on raising the rate as long as inflation stays in check. There is continued talk about when to start lowering the rates. The Fed hasn’t said anything, but that’s still the talk in the news.
Saving’s Rate
I track my savings rate in order to help keep my feet to the fire so that 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.
A couple of years ago, I had to adjust the savings goal to 50%. In 2022, we barely missed that goal, but we met it in 2023!
As a result of meeting the goal in 2023, I raised the bar to 55%.
In January, we missed the 55% goal, but we were over 50%.
As I mentioned earlier this year, starting in February, we are saving for a car. We plan to put $2,000 aside each month for the rest of the year.
As a result, we are for sure not going to make the 55% goal. However, I’m going to keep track of two sets of Savings Rate numbers. One, as if we didn’t spend the money, and two, as if the money were spent. The latter is what you will see in the spreadsheet.
Of that 50% we are spending, Housing and Daycare alone eat up over 30%. We give 10%, so that means we are living on 10% or less for everything else.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel for daycare. Four more months and counting.
Daycare has been decreasing every year, and we only have about four months left of full-time daycare. It will mostly be gone at the end of the summer. Hopefully, we can get our savings rate up above 50% when that happens and after we have enough saved up for a car.
I wonder what other expenses will pop up once daycare is done.
Here’s how we did this month.
If you don’t include the car savings, we were at 34.93% in April, making it 55.5% YTD.
Income ($11,272.05)
Right now, our only source of active income is through our full-time jobs.
This is what an above-average income month looks like for us.
Expenses ($9,335.25)
Our expenses were above average this month. Plus, we were saving $2K for a new car each month. We did have some car repairs just short of $2K, and we mostly kept the rest of our spending in check.
Here is a quick breakdown:
1) Home Escrow ($700.00)
The normal amount we put aside every month to pay for property taxes and insurance
2) Giving ($1,127.21)
The usual 10% we give every month.
3) Cost of living ($7,508.05)
This includes all our bills (Gas, Electric, Water, Internet, Phone), transportation, food, shopping, car insurance, and daycare. This also includes saving for the car.
Home insurance is paid for out of our Home Escrow savings account. Like last year, we are going to drain our dependent care account at the end of the year in one lump sum. Doing it that way is less paperwork for us.
In April, we had above average expenses. Thanks Cars.
April 2024 Vs. March 2024 Expenses
April and March were not at all similar months in terms of finances. March was high income and relatively low expenses. April was okay income and high expenses.
Hopefully, May will stay smooth, and we won’t run into any major problems with the house.
Goals Progress
Financial Goals
The Roth IRA contribution is done, and the money has been transferred to the proper accounts.
Aside from the 401k, which is on automatic contributions from my paycheck, it’s the beginning of the year, so I’m not completely sure how the other goals are going to turn out.
I’m not sure about the Real Estate (RE) Investing goal since we bought a property. I’ll include the net profits here since that will become future investment money.
So far, we’re looking good.
We’ll just ignore the savings rate goal.
Blog Goal
My goal of 12 articles this year is in the works. I’ve actually been working on some content for this site other than my net worth reports!
I didn’t get around to posting anything in April, but I posted one article in January and have more posts planned. I plan on publishing one every month for the rest of the year. Take a look and let me know what you think.
Personal Goals
I’m doing a reading goal again this year with only two books. Last year, I read 2, and that seems like a good amount for me. I’m done with the first book (Crucial Conversations), and I’ve already finished reading the second book (Good to Great). Goal Complete!
And then there is my physical health. I didn’t get to where I wanted in 2021, 2022, …or 2023, so we’ll continue to try again this year. I want to lose fat, and part of that is going to be by eating healthier. January and February were hit or miss. I was still working on getting rid of all the sweets left over from December.
April 2024 Roundup
The month of April was a good month, but not so much financially speaking. Nothing too unexpected happened, and we all stayed healthy.
The weather was great again for April. Most days were warm, and we got to play/work outside.
I continue to be excited as we progress into the year. As always, there’s really a lot to be thankful for.
Stay tuned for next month’s New Worth update!
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 the net worth total (even though they’re listed):
- 529 – This is my money for my babies. Consider it their net worth summary.
- Home Escrow – This is Uncle Sam’s money. We don’t mess around with Uncle Sam and his money.
- Total income only includes our active income, which is currently our full-time jobs.