Net Worth | May 2021

Welcome to the May 2021 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.

Vaccines are now available to everyone over 12, and about 60% of the U.S. population has received one. The CDC now says it is more safe to hang out with vaccinated people. Things are trending back to normal finally. Seems like the CDC is progressing to meet the Independence day goal of getting back to normal.

I’m not going to talk much about what I did this month, although things are starting to pick up again. It was an overall calm and relaxing month for us, and the baby is no longer waking up twice a night!

Monthly Roundup

I used to go through my month and go over the highlights. These days I do it a little different. I think people just want to see the numbers if they’re reading my net worth reports. (Am I right?) I think I can sum up my whole month in one or two paragraphs.

Our May

One think I miss about the pandemic is the traffic. Or rather, the lack of traffic. The roads are back to being packed, and it feels like even more so than before.

The weather in May stayed really nice, but it’s starting to heat up. I ran inside for the most part.

There were a few out of the normal things that happened this month. First, we visited family in California. Everything went smooth geting there, until we got to California. I’ll just say that their lack of working with excellence really shows. It was the same when we went back to the airport. It’s always good spending time with family, but it’s also nice to be home.

Second, a couple more friends got married. I hadn’t seen either couple in a long while, so it was nice to see them and hang out.

May 2021 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 (-$3,172.92)

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 in terms of spending. We spent a little more on travel, but were able to save on other areas. The difference in cash is because we didn’t get those “extra” paychecks this month. It was just a normal month as far as paychecks are concerned.

Our spending was also about average this month. Like I said, we travelled and spent money on that. We also had some more home maintenance we had to spend on. That car repair I mentioned last month turned out to not be a expensive as I thought. I thought we would have to replace the catalytic converter, but we didn’t! Yay!

Investment Cash ($6,915.60)

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 April. It was a decent amount that we were able to put into our investment account since we had those “extra” paychecks.

I’m still waiting for some opportunities to come up. The foreclosure moratorium was supposed to lasts until the end of 2020, but Biden extended it through June 30, 2021. That’s the end of this month! Finally!

I don’t expect to see any bargains right away, but I do expect the housing market will cool off after being red hot so far this summer. I also half way expect Biden to inject money into this area of the market as well.

I’m still questioning whether I want a rental if I can’t evict a bad tenant. I’ve actually heard of lots of land lords selling property over the last year because of this, and because home prices are at all time highs.

Remaining Cash Accounts (Emergency and Sinking Funds) ($3.02)

Nothing exciting here. Just the usual. We did have to pay insurance, which is why the amount is so much lower than normal. 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 ($2,994.97)

Last month we saw over a 6% increase. This month was not as good, but we still eeked out some gains. The markets were already at record highs and we are starting to see some volatility.

Speaking of bubbling…. I still think we have to be in some sort of bubble, right? And the bubble keeps getting bigger and bigger. The markets have basically been on a bull run for 12 years. Yes, I know that there has been a recession or two, but they were short lived.

I think we are starting to see that bull market tapper off.

IRA (-$591.20)

The 401k’s were able to make marginal gains, but the IRA’s lost a relatively insignificant amount.

Overall, that’s a gain of about 1.5% for the 401k’s and a loss of 0.1% for the IRA’s. Not too bad. I don’t like to see negative numbers, but I can deal with that small loss. Can’t be positive every month.

College Fund ($1,927.82)

The college fund is invested just like the IRAs; in mutual funds. The loss is equal to about 0.24%. Not great, but I won’t complain.

Net Worth ($6,150.57)

Last month was a great month, but I would say this month is just okay. I’m always surprised at the end of the month and see how much our net worth has increased. This month I’m happy to just see that it increased.

In total, our net worth increased by 1.0%.

Accessible Net Worth ($3,746.80)

Monthly Blurb: This is the money we are able to put away, not including the tax-advantaged retirement accounts.

Our income was normal and our expenses were about average this month The markets were flat or maybe a hair positive. Our accessible net worth increased as a result of saving money from last month.

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 2020 was a record year. We are about 25% of the way to being able to live solely off the dividend. And it’s suppose to grow exponentially, right? So, Financial Independence here we come!

That said, February, along with January, are very boring months for dividends. March was about on par with 2020, with a small decrease.

April shattered our previous dividend records. It all comes from one mutual fund invested in the bio-tech sector. Turns out they have been doing well.

Now we have entered the big lull over summer until we receive dividends in September. Passive income was a whopping $35 this month.

The interest rate in my savings account is super low, as can be expected. My money is barely making any money sitting in that “high-yield” account now earning a measly 0.3%.

Saving’s Rate

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.

Last year, I had to adjust the savings goal to 50%, which we didn’t achieve. I’m setting the same goal this year, and it’s looking like it will be tough to get there.

This month we didn’t meet that goal! In fact, our saving’s rate was an incredibly poor 32%.

The numbers this month actually look like what I’ve been expecting for a normal paycheck month, and having to pay for day care and property taxes, along with the living necessities. Hopefully we can do better next month, although I plan on spending a lot for my Wife’s birthday.

Of that 50% we plan to spend, 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 5 or so years. Hopefully we can get our savings rate up to 70% by then.

At the rate time is flying by, it won’t be long!

I actually expect a decrease in daycare this month, but we all have to start paying for pre-school. I’m not sure how those prices are going to balance out. We’ll see.

Here’s how we did this month.

Income ($8,756.85)

Right now, our only source of active income is through our full-time jobs.

This is what a normal income month looks like for us. Neither of us received an “extra” paycheck.

Expenses ($5,957.15)

Our expenses were about average this month. We had some car expenses, home maintenance, and travel.

Here is a quick break down:

1) Home Escrow ($1355.31)

The normal amount we put aside every month. And as I mentioned last month, this went up slightly we hired a gardener. We also had to aerate our lawn. As I write this, I can already tell that it is making a difference.

2) Giving ($875.69)

The usual 10% we give every month.

3) Cost of living ($3,726.16)

Previous Months: Apr: ($3,857.24), Mar: ($2,962.72), Feb: ($2,632.65), Jan: ($4,757.43), Dec: ($-$1,132.39), Nov: ($1,372.91), Oct: ($6,397.83), Sep: ($2,602.07), Aug: ($2,835.56), July: ($4,283.01), June: ($3,031.71), May: ($2,957.92), Apr: ($2,164.31)
Running Average: $3,060.97

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 paper work for us.

We have been driving more, so our gasoline bill is starting to climb. We also drove a lot during our vacation. It was partially offset by our utility bills. The weather has been great, and the yard is getting watered with rain.

I mentioned that after February, I should have a pretty good idea 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. I’m not going to change it though, because it will be a good challenge to see if we can make it.

We managed to keep our saving’s rate above 50% up until May. I expect that to drop throughout the remainder of the year until we hit December. Hopefully changes in day care will help us keep that number above 50%.

May 2021 Vs April 2021 Expenses

April and May were pretty similar in terms of expenses, despite differences in where the money went. The difference in saving’s rate is because we didn’t make as much money.

We’re in our routine for the year, and things are going great.

Hopefully June stays fairly smooth and we don’t have any unforeseen expenses.

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. I finally got around to transferring 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.

We are on track to save over $50,000 for real estate investing. The year is a third of the way through, and we’ve managed to already save half of what the year long goal is. I think we will make this one.

If dividends keep breaking records, than I will meet the passive income goal. Currently, I’m on pace to meet the $15,000 goal for passive income. We’ll see if that pace keeps up.

The savings rate goal of 50% is turning into a stretch goal, but I still think we can do it. We’ve dropped below 50% right now! And the rest of the year is the challenging part. We’ll see what we can do to upright this ship.

Blog Goal

For 2021, I want to create more content. My goal is at least one article a month. I failed to do that so far this year. I keep saying hopefully next month I’ll get an article posted, but life is just keeping me busy. Honestly, I struggle to find time just to make these net worth reports, but it’s something I’m committed to doing.

Personal Goals

I’m doing a reading goal again this year, but half the number of books. I know 6 books isn’t much, but it felt like a lot. I think I can do 3.

So far I haven’t started.

And then their is my physical health. I didn’t get to where I wanted in 2020, so we’ll try again this year.

I’ve been loosing some weight this year, and I’ve been going to the gym again and running. That’s been helping. Just need to eat a little healthier.

May 2021 Roundup

The month of May was a a good one, and nothing too unusual happened. A couple weddings and a short vacation were nice.

I’m continue to be excited as we progress into June, and for the rest of the year. We are inching closer and closer towards normal. Independence day, right? Only one month away now!

Last month, I was pretty doubtful about getting to stop wearing masks, but a lot of stores said that they were getting rid of their mask policy. The only time I had to wear a mask was while I was at the airport, otherwise it’s been great not having to wear one!

I’m still hopeful that we will be able to stop wearing masks everywhere we go soon. I’m hoping independence day comes and we get our freedom back.

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 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.