Welcome to the October 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 have a couple months to compare too! 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.
October Shenanigans
Temperature wise, it seemed liked a switch flipped. It was mid 90’s one day, then in the 60’s the next. October 1st, we had a high of 95, and on Halloween we had a low of 31. Poor freezing kids.
Looking back on the month though, we did have two or so good weeks with temps in the 70s and 80s, where we didn’t have to use the heater or AC. This will help lower the utility bills in November.
Our main source of entertainment in September was watching football. In October we watched the Nebraska football games, but I can’t say that we were entertained. It was a rough month for Nebraska.
We were able to have fun out of the house though. For my birthday weekend we took a family trip to the Dallas Arboretum for what they call, “Autumn at the Arboretum.” They probably have tens of thousands of pumpkins and various types of autumn colored squash and gourds. There are pumpkins lining the entire walkway, and then you get to the pumpkin village, where they have houses with walls of pumpkin and all sorts of different displays. It is Charlie Brown themed, so you can snap pictures with all the different characters. They also have the “Great Pumpkin” at the village center. It was a fun trip, and I’m sure we’ll be back when my girl is a little older.
The State Fair of Texas was also in town this month. That was probably a waste of money. That may sound like I’m bashing the fair, but I’m not. I just picked a bad time of day to go. The family drove out after work and just trying to get parking was crazy.
Then we got inside and went hunting for the famous Corny Dog. Turns out the line for that was 40 minutes. There were also a few other food items we tried, and by the time we were done with the food, it was time to go. It was closing time, and way past my little girl’s bed time.
Next time around we’ll try to go in the afternoon when it’s not as crowded and when we’ll have more time. Hopefully we can get the time off work. Hey, there’s some motivation to get FIRE’d. How far away is that again?
It’s still ten years away.
Ugh, I gotta speed that up.
October 2019 Net Worth
Here’s how October compares to last month:
October Account Breakdown
Let’s take a quick look at what happened in October.
Investment Cash (+$5,138.67)
All of our extra cash is transferred here and is considered part of our saving’s rate. As promised, this is where our leftover income went from September. 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.
Hard Cash
Cash (-$1,521.20)
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. We made about that same amount in October as September, but this lower value reflects the extra spending we did this month.
Remaining Cash Accounts (Emergency and Sinking Funds) (+$1,055.62)
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 dues for when they are due early next year.
Retirement Accounts
401(k)s (+$2,698.29)
Overall, both of the 401(k)s’ increases are mostly due to our contributions through the month. The markets did help us out slightly, increasing the value by about $400 or so.
IRA (+$4,696.86)
Another reflection that the markets had a positive month. The IRAs are all invested in mutual funds, which reflect the stock markets growth for October. There was a very small gain, about $30, from dividends and capital gains.
College Fund (+$297.35)
The college fund is invested just like the IRAs. I’m not actively contributing, so it reflected market moves.
Net Worth (+$11,129.52)
October turned out to be an excellent month for us. Most of this increase was due to gains in our retirement accounts. Thanks, mutual funds!
Accessible Net Worth (+$3,734.37)
This is the money we were able to put away, not including the tax-advantaged retirement accounts. This was a high expense month for us, but I’m happy that we were still able to contribute a decent amount of our income to savings.
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. As predicted, October was not a very exiting month for dividends. We made $30 bucks. Woo hoo!
Saving’s Rate
I’ll be 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 will 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.
We received the same number of checks in October as we did in September. We’re both salaried, so how did we make $300 more? That doesn’t make sense.
This difference is because of my small raise (only effects one check in October), and I had to adjust how much I was putting towards my HSA. Turns out, I wasn’t accounting for employer contributions when I choose how much I wanted to put in. Also, we didn’t know about the $1,000 my wife’s employer contributes! How sweet is that?
Expenses
Despite the increase in income, our expenses were significantly higher, to the tune of about $2000. That’s 60% higher compared to September! Ouch.
Here is a quick break down:
1) Home Escrow ($1020.00)
The amount I put aside every month.
2) Giving ($823.27)
The usual 10% I give every month.
3) Cost of living ($3040.36)
This includes all my bills (Gas, Electric, Water, Internet, Phone), transportation, food, and shopping. There was no daycare this month, but we did have our bi-annual auto insurance premiums.
October vs September Expenses
Our expenses for October were almost three times higher than September. That’s about $2,000 more! I guarantee you that is not all because of the entertainment I just mentioned. In fact, the Arboretum and Fair combined cost us slightly over $100.
So, what about the other $1900?
Some was shopping, some was insurance, and some was on travel.
I kinda impulse bought a lawn mower. It was at a low enough price, and I figure I can sell my old lawn mower come spring. Also, it comes with a 5-year warranty and a bigger battery. I use electric lawn mowers, so hopefully this will help us keep from having to change the battery as often.
The other new feature is that it is “Self-Propelled” Oooooo. Ahhhhhh. Hopefully that makes mowing not so labor intensive when it’s the middle of summer here in Texas. Hot and sometimes humid, even when you get an early start.
Insurance
Our auto insurance premiums were due this month. This was about $700 for our three vehicles. We pay every 6 months because this offers the greatest discount.
Vacation
Lastly, I mentioned travel. We’re going on vacation! Going back to California to see family and because one of our friends is getting married. My wife and I plan to take advantage of free babysitting so we can go have some fun. Steak house and Yosemite? Sounds like a winner to me.
Overall, I’m satisfied with the saving’s rate for October. It’s not as bad as I imagined it would be when I was spending all this money. However, this is the exception and not the rule. Our saving’s rate will generally be much higher.
October 2019 Roundup
October was a fun, but expensive, month. We spent a little bit on everything it seems like. Our saving’s rate wasn’t great, but it wasn’t horrible either. We still have a chunk we can put towards savings. And our Mutual Funds continued to grow, which really helped out our net worth this month.
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.