Welcome to the May 2020 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.
May was another refreshing month after the economically disastrous March that we all had. It was still volatile, but at least it wasn’t straight down. It actually came back up quiet a bit, although not fully recovered.
Just like last month, I’m not going to talk much about what I did this month because, well, we didn’t do much. It was an overall calm and relaxing month for us.
Weekly Roundup
Normally, I kinda go through my month, and go over the highlights. This month I’m going to be doing it a little different. I think I can some up my whole month in one or two paragraphs.
Week 1, 2, 3 and 4
The world is slowly starting to come out of its shelter. There is certainly more traffic on the roads. I miss having the road all to myself. Also, it seems like some people forgot how to drive, so they’re going super slow.
We both work from home, so our schedules haven’t really changed. We “go” to work, “come home” from work, and find things to do around the house.
Even more of chores that have been nagging me on my To-Do list are finally getting done. The weather was relatively nice, although it’s starting to heat a bit here as we head into June. Those 100-degree days aren’t too far off.
May 2020 Net Worth
Here’s how May compares to last month:
May Account Breakdown
Let’s take a quick look at what happened in May.
Cash (+$1,367.26)
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.
May was an extra paycheck month for both me and my wife, so that helped bump up the cash this month before we transfer it out. Last month was higher than expected because of the stimulus checks.
Investment Cash ($6,541.42)
Monthly Blurb: All of our cash leftover at the end of the month is transferred here and is considered part of our saving’s rate.
This is where our leftover income went from May. As of the end of May, we have saved up enough to fully fund the 529 for baby #2. This money is just having out in our investment account until I transfer it into the 529 specific account.
I have to think more on if I want to transfer the money now, or wait for another dip in the economy.
Now that the 529 for baby #2 is fully fund, we actually have to pay for the delivery of baby #2. After that, we get finally get to save towards investing, whatever or whenever that may be.
Remaining Cash Accounts (Emergency and Sinking Funds) (-$995.71)
Nothing exciting here. Just the usual. We are just saving up for our property tax bill and HOA fees for when they are due early next year. The amount we contributed this month was offset by having to pay for property insurance.
Retirement Accounts
401(k)s (+$7,633.89)
The markets stayed on the rise again, as we saw our account start to recover last month. I said we would be fine in the previous months, and look, we are fine!
This is the first recession I’ve gone through in my working career, so I’m excited to see what my accounts look like once we’re in a bull market again, and the markets have more than fully recovered. We’re borderline going into a bull market now/ We’ll see what happens.
IRA (+$12,104.77)
This increase is all due to the rise in the markets. Over 7% in one month. Can’t complain about that.
College Fund (+$2,434.22)
The college fund is invested just like the IRAs; in mutual funds. It didn’t take as big of a hit as the retirement accounts, and it looks like the inverse is true as well. The gain is equal to 6.75%.
Still, not a bad month.
Net Worth (+$27,621.55)
Looks like our net worth is continuing in the right direction, at least for this month. Hopefully it continues, but I’m still doubtful because it’s an election year.
In total, our net worth increased by slightly over 6%.
Accessible Net Worth ($7,882.89)
Monthly Blurb: This is the money we are able to put away, not including the tax-advantaged retirement accounts.
Our income was great and our expenses were about average this month. Our accessible net worth increased as well, because I haven’t transferred money into the actual 529 account yet.
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
April was an exciting record setting month for our passive income. It was followed up by a completely dead, lackluster month of May. I’d been better off finding a quarter on the ground.
It seems I’m starting to feel the affect of Covid on my dividends just slightly.
The lull until September continues. There are a lot of companies cutting dividends, so we’ll see how that changes this year’s dividend payouts compared to previous years.
The bank where I keep my savings currently has an interest rate of 1.1%. Not earning much, but at least it’s something.
The interest rate keeps dropping lower and lower as the federal reserve keeps cutting rates. It dropped more this month from 1.3% to 1.1%
Saving’s Rate
Monthly Blurb: I track my savings rate in order to help keep my feet to the fire, so 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.
In March, I adjusted my savings rate goal to 50%, down from 60%. It seems like 50% is a more attainable goal, while still having to work for it.
Thanks to the extra paychecks this month, we beat the goal, having saved 55%!
Our Year-to-date savings rate is quickly approaching 50% as well. I anticipate the next few months will be low though, since we are cash flowing the cost of a baby.
Here’s how we did this month.
Income ($11,559.94)
Right now, our only source of active income is through our full-time jobs.
This is what our best months look like, when each of us get an extra paycheck.
Expenses ($5,137.91)
Our expenses were slightly above average this month.
Here is a quick break down:
1) Home Escrow ($1060.00)
The normal amount we put aside every month.
We are adjusting this due to an increase in home insurance. Looks like we would have a shortage come January if property taxes stay the same, or increase.
2) Giving ($1,159.99)
The usual 10% we give every month.
3) Cost of living ($2,957.92)
Previous Months: Apr: ($2,164.31), Mar: ($3,078.52), Feb: ($2,474.38), Jan: ($4,708.98), Dec: ($2,749.98), Nov: ($1,242.44), Oct: ($3,040.36), Sep: ($1,238.39)
Running Average: $2,628.09
This includes all our bills (Gas, Electric, Water, Internet, Phone), transportation, food, shopping, and daycare. This also includes auto insurance this month. Home insurance is paid for out of our Home Escrow savings account.
I’m sure like most of you, we just aren’t driving as much. The nice weather helped keep utility cost low.
I went a little shopping crazy this month. I ended buying a camera that went on sale at a good price. We also had to pay to upgrade our domain hosting.
May 2020 Vs April 2020 Expenses
May’s expenses were very similar to April, except I went shopping crazy.
Also, we didn’t have to pay any medical expenses.
Goals Progress
Financial Goals
We met our target to fund our Roth IRA’s by the end of March.
We met our target to fund baby #2’s 529 plan early, having finished at the end of May.
The remaining goals are year long goals. We’ll have to wait until the end of the year to see if we accomplish them, but so far, we are on track to do so.
As expected, I am on track to have a maxed out 401(k) by the end of the year. It’s all automated, so as long as my job status doesn’t change, we should be good.
I did not actively do anything to increase my passive income, other than contribute to retirement accounts. Hopefully this is happening passively. As expected, we saw a good portion in March, and a personal best in April.
My goal of having a savings rate greater than 50% starting to improve since I lowered from 60%. I’ll have to see what the coming months look like, but our yearly average moved closer to that goal this month. I expect May will yield similar results.
Blog Goal
At the beginning of the year, I increased my presence on social media by being active most days of the week.
The increase seems to be increasing my followers on twitter, but not really to my blog. I’ll have to think more on how I want to proceed with social media like Twitter.
I’m also still working on some stuff behind the scenes here, such as PDFs and calculators. I’ve created a few PDFs, but have to figure out how to deliver them. Stay tuned for that!
Now the exciting part.
I have published the redesign of Gone On FIRE!
Hopefully you like it. It should make for a better user experience and help get you to where you want to go.
Personal Goals
I’m still on track for my reading goal, but I didn’t read much this month. I’m enjoying the book too, but have just been busy with other stuff.
My weight continued to improve slightly since last month. That’s three months in a row of improvement, and I’m gaining ground positive territory for my goal. I’ve continued running.
The weather is starting to warm up though. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to run outside. I can’t run for as long on a treadmill because I just get bored.
May 2020 Roundup
All things considered; the month of May was a good one. The weather was nice, my net worth continued to grow, and I got to spend a bunch of time with my family.
We’ll see how June goes, as the world hopefully starts to get back to normal.
Stay tuned for next month’s New Worth update. In the meantime, comment and let me know what stats you would like to see.
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 net worth total (even though they’re listed):
- 529 – This is my baby’s money. Consider it her net worth summary.
- Home Escrow – This is Uncle Sam’s money. We don’t mess around with him.
- Total income only includes our active income, which is currently our full-time jobs.