Welcome to the March 2022 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.
Let’s dive straight into this month’s report.
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.
March 2022 Net Worth
Here’s how March compares to last month:
March Account Breakdown
Let’s take a quick look at what happened in March.
Cash ($3,270.35)
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 a good month for us in terms of spending and income. The difference in cash on hand is due mainly to making more money than last month.
Our spending was below-average this month thanks to cashback from Costco. We didn’t really do much so that kept expenses low.
Investment Cash ($1,936.19)
Monthly Blurb: All of our cash leftover 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 February. This number doesn’t reflect the full amount moved to investments because I don’t include my Robinhood account here. It was a decent amount that we were able to put into our investment account.
I’m still waiting for some opportunities to come up. The foreclosure moratorium expired a while ago now, but the housing market is still red hot. Even fixer-uppers are going above the asking price.
I had expected the market will be flooded with properties a few months after the moratorium ends, and we’re seeing a good amount of houses. I do see a good number of foreclosures, but it’s not as much as it was before and they are selling for a lot.
There is low inventory and most homes are going above list price in a matter of days. It’s hard to find a rental property to buy in a market like this. Plus, I’m not sure I want a rental if I can’t evict a bad tenant.
Remaining Cash Accounts (Emergency and Sinking Funds) ($1,066.43)
Nothing exciting here. Just the usual. We’re back at it again. We are just saving up for our property tax bill and HOA fees for when they are due early next year.
Retirement Accounts
401(k)s ($8,727.56)
Last month we had a small 1% increase. That was mainly from contributions. This month was twice as good! The markets haven’t recovered from the “little correction” completely, but they did come back slightly.
IRA ($8,167.49)
Again, all market performance. This is about on par with what I expected.
Overall, that’s a gain of about 3% between the 401k and IRA’s. Not too bad. I could live with that, as long as we don’t’ continue to have hyperinflation.
For reference, Inflation has been around 7-8% year-over-year. It was bad last month and got even worse in March’s report.
College Fund ($1,471.72)
The college fund is invested just like the IRAs; in mutual funds. The gain is equal to about 2.1%. A nice gain, but nothing to write home about.
Net Worth ($22,106.98)
In January, our net worth decreased by 10’s of thousands. In February, it decreased by ‘only’ a few thousand. It was followed up in March by a decent month in terms of market performance. It appears that most of the net worth increase came from our jobs this month.
I’m always surprised at the end of the month and see how much our net worth has increased.
In total, our net worth increased by approximately 3.2%.
Accessible Net Worth ($5,211.93)
Monthly Blurb: This is the money we are able to put away, not including the tax-advantaged retirement accounts.
Our income was good and our expenses were below-average this month. Our accessible net worth increased as a result of transferring money into our investment account.
Liabilities
Status: (Other than the hospital bills.) 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
December was a near-record month for dividend income, and 2021 was a record year. We are about a third of the way to being able to live solely off the dividend. And it’s supposed to grow exponentially, right? So, Financial Independence here we come!
February and January are very boring months for dividends. Finally, March has arrived! Here is where we actually start to bring in some dividend income.
And guess what? It was a record-breaking March! Not a record-breaking month compared to December, but just this month compared to previous “March’s”.
I’m curious what April will look like because most of that dividend comes from one mutual fund in the biotech sector. Now that the government stopped buying as much of a certain vaccine?
The interest rate in my savings account is super low, as can be expected. I hope to see that start to rise as the Fed raises rates. My money is barely making any money sitting in that “high-yield” account now earning a paltry 0.3%.
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 2021, we barely achieved that goal, only making it in the last month! I’m setting the same goal this year.
This month we reached that goal! Finally! Thank’s to low spending and a good amount of income, we were able to reach our goal for the first time this year.
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. They will be the reason I move out of the state. Is that Tennessee I see in the future???
I expect moving there will at least cut property taxes in half. Daycare will decrease every year until it’s gone in about 3 or so years. Hopefully, we can get our savings rate up to 60 or 70% by then.
I wonder what other expenses will pop up once daycare is done.
Here’s how we did this month.
Income ($13,810.94)
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. Last month I expected that we would be paying some taxes, but they turned out to be almost nothing. I also got that work bonus I mentioned.
Expenses ($5,728.91)
Our expenses were a little above average this month. I think it’s because of inflation and the cost of oil going up. Our gas bill more than doubled this month compared to last year.
Here is a quick breakdown:
1) Home Escrow ($1,722.79)
The normal amount we put aside every month, plus paying for house things like a gardener and cleaners.
2) Giving ($1,519.20)
The usual 10% we give every month. Plus 1% that we started to give on top of that.
3) Cost of living ($2,486.92)
Previous Months: Feb: ($3,306.12), Jan: ($3,409.65), Dec: (-$4,034.08), Nov: ($3,703.00), Oct: ($3,268.10), Sep: ($3,968.22), Aug: ($3,532.91), July ($2,394.24), June: ($4,283.01), May: ($3,726.16), Apr: ($3,857.24), Mar: ($2,962.72)
Running Average: $2,946.98
This includes all our bills (Gas, Electric, Water, Internet, Phone), transportation, food, shopping, 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.
Our gasoline bills continued to increase. We have a pretty good idea of what it will cost each month now with my wife going back to work, and me having to go into the office.
I mentioned that after February, I should have a pretty good idea of what a normal month looks like. And I’ll know if a savings rate of 50% is likely.
Unfortunately, after seeing what a normal month looks like for us, I think a 50% savings rate is a little bit of a stretch for us. Sure, our income has increased slightly, but inflation is rising even faster. I’m not going to change it though, because it will be a good challenge to see if we can make it like we did last year, just barely.
February 2022 Vs March 2022 Expenses
February was a pretty average month, in terms of finances, but March was an above-average month. We’re in our routine for the year, and things are going great.
Hopefully, April stays fairly smooth and we continue to bring in record dividends. That’s always fun to see.
Goals Progress
Financial Goals
Aside from the Roth IRA contribution, most of the financial goals this year are year-long goals.
The Roth IRA contribution is done, and I have transferred the money.
Aside from the 401k, which is on automatic contributions from my paycheck, I’m still not sure how the other ones are going to turn out. Time will tell.
I have to wait till dividends start coming in to know how the passive income goal will turn out. March was good, but who knows what the rest of the year will look like.
The savings rate goal of 50% is a stretch goal, but I still think we can do it. I mean. we did it this month! We’ll see if we can pull it off for the year again.
Blog Goal
For 2022, I want to create more content. My goal is at least one article a month, or 12 total in the year. I didn’t create anything for March, so I now have 9 months left to write 12 articles.
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.
And then there is my physical health. I didn’t get to where I wanted in 2021, 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.
March 2022 Roundup
The month of March was a good one, and nothing too unexpected happened. Kids only had a few unplanned days off school, we all stayed relatively healthy, and pretty much life ran smooth.
There were a few rainy days, but the weather has been warming up and it’s been pretty nice outside.
I continue to be excited as we progress into April, 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.