Welcome to the November 2019 edition of our net worth tracker, where we’ll track our net worth month over month. I started tracking at the time this blog was started, which was the beginning of September 2019. I started by creating the Net Worth Baseline report. A couple of months have gone by, so now I have a couple months to compare! If you’re curious about my net worth prior to September 2019, check out My Net Worth Story.
You can view Previous Net Worth reports HERE.
November Thanks
November was a busy month for us. We did our normal work routine during the week, aside from Thanksgiving week, and all of our weekends were filled with fun!
The first weekend of November was a Company sponsored trip to Six Flags. Yay! Each person had to pay about $40 dollars a ticket, but if you like roller coasters, it was definitely worth it! You see, the park was closed to the public, so it was only our company, along with two other companies. The park felt nearly empty, but all the rides were open. The long line of the day was when I had to wait two cycles of a ride before I got on. Ugh, rough day. I survived the wait. When I got off the ride there was no line! What’s up with that?
The next weekend was spent hanging out with family. Family is always fun, in moderation. Then the next weekend, our friends took us to Dave & Busters! There had been a Groupon where two people get unlimited play for $20. They bought one for themselves and one for us. Who hoo! So, we show up first thing when they open, before it gets busy, and play till we get tired. We actually got hungry in the middle of it all. We had to go grab lunch, then come back. Ugh, rough life again, I know!
The best part about those passes is the end of the day, when we’re done with them. I doubt that you are supposed to do this, but we like to find a family and give the passes away. We found a dad with two young girls that got super excited, and my friends found a kid that was there for his birthday.
Also, that was the coldest weekend of the month. It was way down in the 50’s that day. The rest of our weekends were in the upper 60’s or low 70’s, like this Thanksgiving weekend. I think the weather was making up for the hot September and the cold October. Now here comes December. This is when we actually expect the weather to get cold.
Then there was Thanksgiving, where we got to celebrate twice in the same day! We were stuffed, but it was fun. My little girl got to meet a cat for the first time. That was entertaining and a little bit unnerving. We have two very tolerant dogs at home. One just kinda lays there, and the other is happy to be getting any kind of attention. My little girl was fixated on the cat’s pointy ears. A bit different then our floppy-eared dogs.
To the cat’s credit, it put up with the poking and “petting” longer than I expected before the claws came out. Luckily, I was right there, and we all escaped un-shredded. I think my little girl was traumatized though. She sat there and had a good cry for a while.
Now when we read her book with the cat, the cat says, “Hiss”, instead of, “Meow.” She seems to think that’s funny for now, and she likes making the hissing sound.
Of course, we still had to watch our Nebraska football games. For the most part, we watched recordings the next day. We were able to watch one of the games live. No bowl game for us this year. Good bye college football till next year. Maybe the Dallas Cowboys can step it up for the rest of their season.
November 2019 Net Worth
Here’s how November compares to last month:
November Account Breakdown
Let’s take a quick look at what happened in November.
Cash (+$6,129.15)
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. The trend continues that I do the net worth report before transferring money to the appropriate accounts.
My wife and I each had one more paycheck than normal. We also spend way less than we did in October. We bought some Christmas presents in November, but October had a lot of extra expenses like insurance and plane tickets for our vacation.
Investment Cash (+$3,715.13)
All of our extra cash is transferred here and is considered part of our saving’s rate. This is where our leftover income went from October. This is cash we plan on using to invest in real estate in the near future (less than 5 years). It’s getting close to the point where we could afford some fixer uppers, but it’s still not enough to buy a house and have enough left over to renovate it.
Remaining Cash Accounts (Emergency and Sinking Funds) (+$1,055.70)
A whole 8 cents different than last month’s increase. Nothing exciting here. Just the usual. The amount increased by about the same as last month since we’re just saving up for our property tax bill and HOA fees for when they are due early next year.
Retirement Accounts
401(k)s (+$5,153.63)
The markets did well and helped us out a good amount. Our increase for November was almost double what it was for October. The 401(k)s’ increases were partly due to our contributions throughout the month.
IRA (+$7,453.95)
Another reflection that the markets had a positive month. The IRAs are all invested in mutual funds, which reflect the stock market’s growth for October. There was also the small increase of $237 from dividends and capital gains.
College Fund (+$639.06)
The college fund is invested just like the IRAs. I’m not actively contributing, so it reflected market moves.
Net Worth (+$22,480.04)
November turned out to be an incredible month for us. Our increase in net worth was double what it was in October, and I thought October was a good month. I knew this month was going to be good because of our paychecks, but most of our increase in net worth was from investments. Our net worth increased by over 6%. Ahhh, that feels good.
Accessible Net Worth (+$9,872.46)
This is the money we were able to put away, not including the tax-advantaged retirement accounts. This was a low expense, high income month for us, and I’m happy that we are able to contribute a decent amount of our income towards investing.
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
As you probably know, I am primarily invested in mutual funds. November was not a very exiting month for dividends, but we still did better than I thought we would. I’ll take an extra $237 bucks. Thank you! December is typically the best month of the year for dividends, so I’m looking forward to that. It should be a record-breaking year for us.
The bank where I keep my savings dropped the interest rate from 1.8% to 1.7%, therefore we didn’t earn as much from the money just sitting there.
Saving’s Rate
I’ve been tracking my saving’s 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.
Income
Right now, our only source of active income is through our full-time jobs.
As I mentioned earlier, my wife and I each received an extra paycheck this month, resulting in a really good month in terms of income for us. This kind of month only happens twice a year.
Expenses
To complement our unusually high monthly income, our expenses were kept reasonably low.
Here is a quick break down:
1) Home Escrow ($1020.00)
The amount I put aside every month.
2) Giving ($1,218.68)
The usual 10% I give every month.
3) Cost of living ($1,242.44)
Previous Months: ($3,040.36) ($1238.39)
This includes all my bills (Gas, Electric, Water, Internet, Phone), transportation, food, shopping. There was no daycare or auto/home insurance this month.
November Vs October Expenses
Our expenses for November are significantly lower than October, and nearly match what we spent in September. It seems to be trending that this is a what our expenses are for a fairly low-cost month. Although, I did spend a little on Christmas shopping.
Aside from that Christmas shopping and the $80 my wife and I spent to go to Six Flags, there weren’t a whole lot of areas where we could cut expenses. Our grocery spending was slightly higher due to Thanksgiving, but that’s not something we are willing to cut. We expect that grocery will be slightly above normal for December as well.
Overall, I’m more than satisfied with the saving’s rate for November at 71.44%. It’s better than I expected, and I hope it’s something we can achieve every month. It might be a good benchmark for where to set our 2020 goal. However, this was an exceptionally high-income month. Our saving’s rate will generally be lower. Our savings rate was about 62% in September, a month in which we had about the same amount of expenses.
November 2019 Roundup
November was a fun, and reasonably cheap, month. Our expenses were low, meaning we can move a good portion of our income over into the investment cash account. Mutual Funds are growing and really helped bump up our net worth for November. I’m looking forward to seeing how well we can do in December.
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.