Welcome to the September 2022 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.
September is over and the weather is finally nice enough to run outside again! It stayed a little warmer than normal through September, but at least it wasn’t over 100 every day.
Financially, September was a poor month and a great month for us. Remember that good news I said we should expect come to the end of September? Our old house did close!
There was a little panic 20 days into the contract, but that worked itself out, and the old house is off the books. So much stress is off my back now.
Monthly Roundup
Continuing on with the housing-related stuff, we continue to get settled into our new house. The old house was staged, and it’s now in our new house. The problem is we don’t really have room for it, so we’re working on getting it sold.
September 2022 Net Worth
Here’s how September compares to last month:
September Account Breakdown
Let’s take a quick look at what happened in September.
Cash ($267,852.54)
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.
Yeah, that’s quite a big change over the last month. All the money from selling our old house is sitting in our bank account right now. That will be transferred to our investment account in the next couple of days.
Investment Cash (-$342.30)
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 took a small hit because we are using this money for the bathroom renovation. As I mentioned last month, there was about $1500 left we owed. That’s why we’re negative this month.
It should be back to normal-ish for October.
Remaining Cash Accounts (Emergency and Sinking Funds) ($1,074.08)
Nothing exciting here. Just the usual. We are just saving up for our property tax bill and HOA fees. (Yay, no more HOA fees.)
Retirement Accounts
401(k)s (-$12,224.65)
September was a rough month for the stock market. One of the worst we’ve seen in a while.
IRA (-$17,761.65)
This decrease is all due to the fall in the markets
College Fund (-$4,520.20)
Just like the other investments, the college savings fell as well.
Net Worth (-$30,316.87)
If you account for selling the house, we were actually up $237,535.67, or 29.45%.
September is historically bad, but this September was worse.
Not accounting for the sale of the house, our net worth decreased by about 5.6%.
Accessible Net Worth ($267521.97)
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 so were our expenses. Our accessible net worth increased because all the money from selling the house is sitting in the bank account right now.
I really need to figure out what to do with that investment money now. Any ideas?
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.
Temporary: We have a mortgage on the new house until the old house sells. Hopefully, that doesn’t take too long. I told you it was temporary! Ah, it feels so good having that mortgage gone.
Passive Income
September is finally here. As expected, it was an interesting earnings season. Dividends were about half as much as the past two years. The government seems like it’s about ready to admit that we are in a recession.
Now I can anticipate that December will be similar and expect to get about half as much as last year.
The interest rate in my savings account feels like it is skyrocketing now with all the rate hikes the fed is making. My money is still barely making any money sitting in that “high-yield” account, earning 2.15% last I checked, up from 1.75% last month.
That’s a lot better than the 0.4% that it was at not too long ago.
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.
Our year-to-date savings rate is still in shambles right now. No way we’re going to hit 50% with all the home-buying expenses and the debt of our mortgage.
I really dislike having a mortgage, and I’m so glad September was our last mortgage payment for the rest of our lives, hopefully.
Hitting that 50% target is going to be tuff, if not impossible! Right now I’m hoping we can get it back to 40% before the end of the year.
Here’s how we did this month.
Income ($11,217.68)
Right now, our only source of active income is through our full-time jobs.
This is what an above-average month looks like for us.
Expenses ($10,082.11)
Our expenses were also well above-average this month.
Here is a quick breakdown:
1) Home Escrow ($4,987.01)
The “new” normal amount we put aside every month, plus the cost of the new house.
September was the last month paying for two houses. That was expensive, and it hurts every time I see how much it costs! Now you see what it’s like with the mortgage payment, and next month you’ll get to see what it’s like without a mortgage.
2) Giving ($1,233.94)
The usual 10% we give every month. Plus 1% that we started to give on top of that.
3) Cost of living ($3,861.16)
Previous Months: Aug: ($3,725.56), Jul: ($4,894.60), Jun: ($4,199.79), May: ($8,107.34), Apr: ($5,767.97), Mar: ($2,486.92), Feb: ($3,306.12), Jan: ($3,409.65), Dec: (-$4,034.08), Nov: ($3,703.00), Oct: ($3,268.10), Sep: ($3,968.22), Aug: ($3,532.91)
Running Average: $3,578.90
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 paperwork for us.
We have been driving more, as well as taking a road trip to Florida, so our gasoline bill is starting to climb. We hit a new peak in July as Gasoline prices rose. Thankfully we are still below the peak we saw in July.
Having two houses is expensive, and September was the last month with two utility bills. Some of those will be finished paying in October as we receive the bills.
September 2022 Vs August 2022 Expenses
We don’t have daycare for one of the kids anymore, and school is providing after-school care for free. I really appreciate that!
September went relatively smooth, and we no longer have two houses.
Goals Progress
Financial Goals
Aside from the Roth IRA contribution, most of the financial goals this year are year-long goals. Any the end of the year is coming up quick.
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, I’m still not completely sure how the other goals are going to turn out, but it’s not looking that great.
We took a big hit from having two houses. Also, dividends aren’t that great this year, either. As a result, I don’t think that we will be able to save $60,000, nor will we have passive income over $15,000.
Blog Goal
My goal of 1 article a month isn’t going to happen. I’ve got too much to do with the new house.
Personal Goals
I’m doing a reading goal again this year, with the same number of books. Last year I only read 2, but I know I can do 3. I’m getting close to done with the first book.
And then there is my physical health. I didn’t get to where I wanted in 2021, 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. So far, that hasn’t happened
September 2022 Roundup
The month of September was a good one unless you didn’t have a house to sell that earned you a bunch of money.
I’m going to mention it for the 1,000th time. I’m glad we’re down to one house!
I’m excited as we progress into October and as we close out the rest of the year. Hopefully, I’ll get more chores off my to-do list, allowing more time for these reports and other helpful posts.
Stay tuned for next month’s Net 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 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.