Welcome to the February 2025 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.
February is over, and we’re already two full months into the new year. Winter briefly said hi in January but left us pretty quickly in February. That was until we were frozen for a couple of days. Now it’s spring-like weather. The trees are budding, and flowers are growing.
Financially, February was a roller coaster month for us, ending on a dip. The markets hit record highs multiple times and then, with ten days left, started taking a dive. On top of that, we had to take a trip to the ER. We’re all okay, but we are hitting our deductible and out-of-pocket max.
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.
February 2025 Net Worth
Here’s how February compares to last month:
February Account Breakdown
Let’s take a quick look at what happened in February.
Cash (-$4,883.64)
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 average month for us both in terms of income and spending. We brought home less money than last month and spent about the same, so that’s the main reason this is down. Also, we had to pay insurance and some other bills for the investment property out of this account, and the money hasn’t been transferred around yet.
Our spending was about average this month.
Investment Cash ($3,517.39)
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 went from January.
Last February, we finally bought our first investment property. We put it back on the market this month. It’s going to get sold this year, even if I have to take a loss. Hopefully, it’s not much, if any.
Remaining Cash Accounts (Emergency and Sinking Funds) ($1,017.08)
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, I almost forgot, we are putting $200 a month into our travel fund. That will show up here next month.
Retirement Accounts
401(k)s (-$10,779.95)
Let the fun begin! (That’s sarcasm) February ended on a negative note. Substantially. The markets were hitting record highs throughout the month, before taking a dive.
IRA (-$9,820.66)
All market performance here.
Overall, that’s a loss of 2.47% between the 401k and IRAs.
College Fund (-$2,742.60)
The college fund is invested in mutual funds, just like the IRAs. It was down 3.09 percent.
Net Worth (-$21,713.56)
February started great but ended pretty lousy. All of the retirement accounts are negative for the month.
Our expenses were about the same as last month, except we didn’t have car maintanence.
In total, our net worth fell a good amount. We had an decrease of approximately 1.64%.
The year started out on the right foot, but that didn’t last long. We’ll see how the market performs the rest of the year. There was a lot of uncertainty last year, and I feel like that sentiment is rolling into 2025. Last year, the markets were up over 20%.
We’ll see how the market performs this year, but it would be nice to have a positive first half of the year. I need to be able to sell this house now.
Accessible Net Worth (-$1,112.95)
Monthly Blurb: This is the money we are able to put away, not including the tax-advantaged retirement accounts.
Our income was average, and our expenses were about average this month. Our accessible net worth decreased, though, as a result of paying insurance on the investment property.
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. Now, March is here, and we should see a bump in dividends.
2023 was the worst I’ve had since 2017, but 2024 set new records. It’s a roller coaster, for sure. Let’s see how this year goes!
The interest rate in my savings account stayed at 3.70% for the month. We started 2024 close to the high at 4.35%. The market is becoming more volatile, and it’s up in the air what will happen in 2025.
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! We met the goal in 2023.
As a result of meeting the goal in 2023, I raised the bar to 55%.
In 2024, we missed the 55% goal by about .5%, if you include our car savings in our total savings number. Otherwise, we were around 35% in 2024.
I’m keeping the goal at 55% for 2025. In January, we exceeded that goal thanks to our “extra” paychecks.
In February, we didn’t have any savings for the month. 0%! We are putting all our leftover money towards medical bills, which should be coming in March.
This dropped our Year-to-date average to 40%. I’m confident we can recover as long as we don’t continue to have unexpected expenses.
Also, starting in February, we started beefing up our travel fund for some vacations we would like to go on. I may adjust this number, but we are going to start by setting $200 aside each month for the rest of the year.
I’m trying to keep the travel savings low so that we can still achieve our 55% savings rate goal.
Of that 45% we are spending, we give 10%, and property tax is another 10%, so that means we are living on 25% or less for everything else.
Housing and daycare alone used to eat up over 30%. Fortunately, property tax has gone down, and there’s no more daycare!
We have reached the light at the end of the tunnel for daycare. Moving on, we will only have daycare bills during school breaks until the kids are old enough to be left alone.
In March, the kids have spring break, which means we have to pay for a week of daycare.
Hopefully, we can get our savings rate above 55% with daycare gone, although other kids’ activities have started. We’ve been doing gymnastics and now have ballet for one of the kids.
Those are relatively cheap compared to paying for daycare.
Here’s how we did this month.
We were at 39.95% in February YTD.
Income ($10,096.90)
Right now, our only source of active income is through our full-time jobs.
This is what a slightly above-average income month looks like for us.
Expenses ($10,096.90)
Our expenses were about average this month if you don’t include the medical bills.
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 ($1,009.69)
The usual 10% we give every month.
3) Cost of living ($2,394.60)
This includes all our bills (Gas, Electric, Water, Internet, Phone), transportation, food, shopping, and car insurance. Home insurance is paid for out of our Home Escrow savings account.
Like last year and years before that, 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.
February 2025 Vs. January 2025 Expenses
February and January were very similar months in terms of finances, aside from taking a trip to the ER. We spent about the same and made about the same.
Hopefully, March will stay smooth, and we won’t run into any more problems. I think we will be able to cover most of the medical expenses from our February income.
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 the property is on the market. I’ll include the net profits here since that will become future investment money.
However, if we take a loss on the property, that will subtract from any money we save up.
The passive income goal is a stretch after hitting records last year. Hopefully, we’ll break the record this year.
The savings rate goal took a big hit in February. I think we can recover, though.
Blog Goal!
I didn’t get around to posting anything in February, but I posted one article in January and have more posts planned. Take a look and let me know what you think.
The calculators can be found here: Calculators
Personal Goals
I’m doing a reading goal again this year with two books. Last year, I read 2, and that seems like a good amount for me. That seems to be my sweet spot.
I’ve finished my first book (Developing The Leader Within You). I mentioned last month that I was trying to decide what the second book should be, one of these two: Build The Life You Want by Arthur Brooks or Cues by Vanessa Van Edwards.
I ended up picking up From Paycheck to Purpose by Ken Coleman. It caught my eye at the library.
And then there is my physical health. I didn’t get to where I wanted in 2021, 2022, 2023, …or 2024.
I was actually doing fine in 2024, and then I went crazy eating whatever I wanted from Thanksgiving to the end of the year. I at least proved to myself that I can lose fat.
I want to lose fat, and part of that is going to be by eating healthier. January and February have been on target. I’ve been tracking my eating and exercising regularly.
February 2025 Roundup
The month of February was a little different but good. Nothing too unexpected happened, aside from having to go to the ER and spend the night at the hospital. We remained relatively healthy otherwise and didn’t miss any school days or work days.
The weather was up and down, but it ended really great for February. We had a few cold days, but most days were warm, and we got to play/work outside some. I’m not sure I’m ready for the grass to start growing again, though.
I continue to be excited as we progress into the new 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.