Welcome to the March 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.
March is over, and we’re already a quarter of the way through the year. March felt like spring. Flowers, warm rain, and lots of pollen!
Financially, March was another good month for us. The markets were up again, setting new record highs.
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 2024 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 ($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 about the most amount of money in a single month as we will all year. Hence, the amount of cash on hand going way up.
Our spending was about average this month.
Investment Cash ($1,379.05)
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 in February, we finally bought our first investment property.
We put a bit of money towards the house, so this account didn’t have as much invested as normal. Although, this is where we put what was left of our leftover income.
Most of the investment house’s big purchases are over, so this number should return to close to normal.
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 ($14,300.83)
March ended on a positive note. Substantially. Much on par with last month, the markets were hitting record highs throughout the month again. The same thing they’ve been doing for a few months now.
IRA ($12,354.82)
All market performance here.
Overall, that’s a gain of 3.98% between the 401k and IRAs.
College Fund ($1,850.09)
The college fund is invested in mutual funds, just like the IRAs. It was up 2.43 percent.
Net Worth ($36,925.92)
I was pretty busy this month, like last month, so I didn’t really track the markets that closely. All I know is that March ended well into positive territory.
Our expenses were about the same as last month, although the money went to slightly different categories in out budget.
In total, our net worth increased a good amount. This includes the estimated value of our new investment property. We had an increase of approximately 3.31%.
The year has started out on the right foot. 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 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 ($10,270.27)
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. And now the numbers for March are in!
I didn’t realize it until adding the numbers up for this report, but it was a record breaking March! This is the most I’ve made from dividends for this month. I like the momentum this year has. Hopefully, it keeps going.
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 finishes.
The interest rate in my savings account stayed the same this month, at 4.35%. Right now, the Feds don’t plan on raising the rate as long as inflation stays in check. There is 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 later 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. Five more months and counting.
Daycare has been decreasing every year, and we only have about five 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 72.52% in March, making it 62.0% YTD.
Income ($16,066.12)
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 ($6,414.20)
Our expenses were slightly above average this month. Plus, we were saving $2K for a new car each month. We did have some car repairs, but nothing huge, 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 ($1,606.61)
The usual 10% we give every month.
3) Cost of living ($4,107.59)
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 March, we had average expenses.
February 2024 Vs. March 2024 Expenses
February and March were fairly similar months in terms of finances, aside from buying a house. We spent about the same, but made a whole lot more in March.
Hopefully, April will stay smooth, and we won’t run into any major problems with the house. Other than saving for a car, we do plan on spending money on our current cars, including insurance and needed repairs.
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 March, 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.
I did better in March, but now that March is over, I have a bunch of eater candy around the house. It never ends, does it?
March 2024 Roundup
The month of March was another good month. Nothing too unexpected happened, and we all stayed healthy.
The weather was really great for March. Most days were warm, and we got to play/work outside. One of the kids got a new bike without training wheels.
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.