Welcome to the July 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.
July is over, and we are well into the second half of the year. Halloween decorations are starting to hit the shelves, not to mention a few Christmas items.
August is the hottest month of the year here, so I expect a good sized electric bill coming up.
Financially, July was a great month for us. The markets were up a good amount, but there was a lot more volatility, and they started going down at the end of the month. I anticipate a correction in the markets.
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 2024 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 ($3,508.20)
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. We brought home slightly more than last month, but we also spent more, so it cancels out.
Our spending was about average this month.
Investment Cash ($456.85)
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 usually goes, but I forgot to transfer the money. All the earnings are from the interest.
Our investment property is still on the market. The Feds are planning a September rate cut, which hopefully will attract buyers.
Remaining Cash Accounts (Emergency and Sinking Funds) ($837.00)
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.
We are also saving up for a new car. We plan on saving $2,000 a month for the rest of the year, but I forgot to transfer that money also. You should see a big jump next month.
Retirement Accounts
401(k)s ($17,278.01)
July was an amazing month, but it started to tank the last week. Still, it ended on a positive note—substantially. The markets hit record highs throughout the month again, but now there’s starting to be some worry about a recession.
IRA ($8,673.17)
All market performance here.
Overall, that’s a gain of 4% between the 401k and IRAs.
College Fund ($1,394.31)
The college fund is invested in mutual funds, just like the IRAs. It was up 1.69 percent.
Net Worth ($30,021.85)
I was pretty busy this month, so I didn’t really track the markets that closely. I do know that July ended well in positive territory.
Our expenses were slightly more than last month. Utilities were higher, and we had to pay for a birthday party.
In total, our net worth increased a good amount. We had an increase of approximately 2.53%.
Aside from one down month, every month this year, we have been in positive territory.
We’ll see how the market performs the rest of this year. If we ended the year with the same balance we have right now, I’d be happy.
Accessible Net Worth ($4,070.67)
Monthly Blurb: This is the money we are able to put away, not including the tax-advantaged retirement accounts.
Our income and expenses were both above average this month. Thanks to our income, our accessible net worth increased.
Hopefully, soon, 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.
March was a record-breaking month! April and May’s numbers were pretty average.
June was pretty good. It’s not as good as last year, but it’s still good.
July was pretty good as well, beating out last year.
Last year, as a 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 the second half of 2024 plays out.
The interest rate in my savings account remained at 4.25% for the month. The market is becoming more volatile, and now the question is how many rate cuts there will be before the end of the year—not “if.”
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, we started 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.
We have just about reached the light at the end of the tunnel for daycare. August is the last month, and it’s not a full month of daycare. Moving on, we will only have daycare bills during school breaks
Hopefully, we can get our savings rate up above 50% with daycare gone and after we have enough saved up for a car.
I’ve been wondering what other expenses will pop up once daycare is done, and now I’m starting to see them. We’ve been doing gymnastics and now have ballet for one of the kids.
Here’s how we did this month.
If you don’t include the car savings, we were at 41.77% in July, making it 50.59% YTD.
Income ($10,237.42)
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 ($7,961.38)
Our expenses were slightly above average this month. Plus, we were saving $2K for a new car each month. We did spend a bit on a birthday party for one of the kids, but there were no unexpected expenses, and we mostly kept the rest of our spending in check.
Here is a quick breakdown:
1) Home Escrow ($768.57)
The normal amount we put aside every month to pay for property taxes and insurance.
There is a little bit extra this month for sprinkler repair parts.
2) Giving ($1,023.74)
The usual 10% we give every month. Plus 1% that we started to give on top of that.
3) Cost of living ($6,169.07)
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 July, we had slightly above-average expenses.
July 2024 Vs. June 2024 Expenses
June and July were pretty average months financially. We made more in July, but we also spent more money. We’re more than halfway through the year, and I know Christmas will be here before we know it.
Hopefully, the economy won’t completely crash, and we will be able to sell our investment house. Other than saving for a car, we do plan on spending some money on our house.
Goals Progress
Financial Goals
The Roth IRA contribution is done, and the money has been transferred to the proper accounts.
I’m not completely sure how the goals are going to turn out, aside from the 401k, which is on automatic contributions from my paycheck.
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.
We’ll just continue to ignore the savings rate goal.
Blog Goal
My goal of 12 articles this year is in the works.
I didn’t get around to posting anything in July, but I posted one article in January and have more posts planned.
I planned on publishing one every month for the rest of the year. It’ll happen eventually. 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.
I started taking it more seriously this month and have lost a few pounds.
July 2024 Roundup
The month of July was another good one. Nothing too unexpected happened. We remained relatively healthy, which is always nice.
The weather was decent for July. It’s August that I’m not looking forward too. It gonna be hot!
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.