Welcome to the July 2023 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 at the beginning of September 2019. I started by creating the Net Worth Baseline report.
You can view Previous Net Worth reports HERE.
July is over, and the weather has been over 100 every day, it seems. I went and counted. It was actually 18 days over 100.
Financially, July was a good month with no unexpected surprises.
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.
July 2023 Net Worth
Here’s how July compares to last month:
July Account Breakdown
Let’s take a quick look at what happened in July.
Cash (-1,138.29)
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.
It was an average month for us both in terms of spending and income. We brought home more money last month, that’s why our cash balance is lower this month.
Our spending was about average this month.
Investment Cash ($7,694.12)
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 June.
I’m still waiting for some opportunities to come up in the housing market, although I’m not that optimistic. The housing market is still strong.
I put a bunch of money in a CD back in February, so hopefully, nothing too exciting pops up while that money is locked away. It will be available in January, assuming I don’t roll it into another CD.
Remaining Cash Accounts (Emergency and Sinking Funds) ($802.41)
Nothing exciting here. Just the usual. We are just saving up for our property tax bill for when it’s due early next year.
Retirement Accounts
401(k)s ($9,481.23)
This month we had a good size increase, although it wasn’t as sizeable as last month. The market did pretty well in July.
IRA ($8,689.80)
All market performance here. Again, more than I expected because I wasn’t really keeping up with market changes.
Overall, that’s a gain of about 3% between the 401k and IRAs.
College Fund ($1,807.95)
The college fund is invested just like the IRAs; in mutual funds. However, this mutual fund was up by 2.5 percent.
Net Worth ($24,728.82)
July was a good month. Half of the net worth increase came from our investments, and the other half came from our jobs this month.
Our expenses were about the same as last month, with no major expenses.
In total, our net worth increased by approximately 2.46%.
So far our net worth has increased every month in 2023.
Accessible Net Worth ($6,557.79)
Monthly Blurb: This is the money we are able to put away, not including the tax-advantaged retirement accounts.
Our income was about average, and our expenses were about average this month as well. Our accessible net worth increased as a result of our investments, making a good amount of money this month, and not having any crazy expenses.
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. March was a record-breaking month.
May, just like April, was pretty mediocre, as it was just interest in my investment accounts.
June and July, in addition to account interest, did turn out a few dividends, but nothing mind-blowing.
The interest rate in my savings account was raised again and now sits at 4.30%. My wishes came true as it increased slightly. I hope to see it rise a little more as the Feds did end up raising the rate just a hair more. I don’t expect any more raises after that.
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%, which we didn’t achieve. In 2022, we barely missed that goal! I’ve set the same goal for this year.
Last month we met the 50% goal. However, we were a few percentage points below 50% in July, and we are still above 50% for the year.
I’m still hoping we can carry it through the rest of the year. Hopefully, we don’t have too many unplanned expenses. Also, I’m seeing the impact of inflation all around us as it seems like the price of everything has gone up.
Of that 50% we are spending, Housing and Daycare alone eat up about 30%. We give 10%, so that means we are living on 10-15% for everything else.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel for daycare, but these Texas property taxes kill me. The good news is that the state legislature passed a bill this month that is supposed to give some relief. We’ll see what that looks like for sure when the property tax bill comes.
Daycare will decrease every year until it’s mostly gone at the end of the summer of 2024. Hopefully, we can get our savings rate up above 50% when that happens.
I wonder what other expenses will pop up once daycare is done.
Here’s how we did this month.
Income ($10,098.43)
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. Income for July was average
Expenses ($5,889.95)
Our expenses were average this month. We didn’t have any car repairs or unexpected expenses and mostly kept the rest of our spending in check.
Here is a quick breakdown:
1) Home Escrow ($965.00)
The normal amount we put aside every month, plus paying for pest control.
2) Giving ($1,110.83)
The usual 10% we give every month. Plus 1% that we started to give on top of that.
3) Cost of living ($3,818.42)
This includes all our bills (Gas, Electric, Water, Internet, Phone), transportation, food, shopping, car insurance, and daycare. 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 July, we had average expenses.
June 2023 Vs July 2023 Expenses
June and July were pretty average months, in terms of finances, although we did spend slightly more in July and we made more money in June. We’re in our routine for the year, and things are going great.
Especially since our savings rate is still above 50%. I’m excited to see that, as it has been a struggle.
Hopefully, August stays fairly smooth. We don’t have any big planned expenses this month, aside from routine car maintenance.
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, I’m not completely sure how the other goals are going to turn out. It’s still too early to tell.
I think we’ll hit the passive income goal, but I no longer see us hitting the savings goal. We have fallen behind, and there’s not a whole lot of the year left. I don’t think we’ll catch up.
The savings rate goal has become a thorn in my side, but we’re positive for the year so far. We’ll see if that’s enough motivation to actually reach the goal. Maybe we can meet our goal two years in a row?
Blog Goal
My goal of 24 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 posted a bunch of articles in March, and there were more posted in July. I also plan on publishing a few every month for the rest of the year. Take a look and let me know what you think.
I plan on achieving this goal.
Personal Goals
I’m doing a reading goal again this year with the same number of books. Last year I only read 2, but I know I can do 3. I’m done with the first book. Now to read the next 2…
And then there is my physical health. I didn’t get to where I wanted in 2021, …or 2022, 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. So far, that hasn’t happened.
July 2023 Roundup
The month of July was another great one, and nothing unexpected happened. Kids didn’t have any unplanned days off school, we all stayed healthy, and pretty much life ran smoothly. We also had a great birthday party for the kids.
Five months in a row. Yay!
The weather has been warming up even more, and it is officially hot. Fortunately, it will start cooling down soon.
I continue to be excited as we progress into August and for the rest of the year. 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.