Welcome to another monthly Net Worth update! This time its Net Worth June 2018 edition:
For those that are new, I will be posting these on a monthly basis to show my progress towards Financial Independence. The purpose of these is not to brag, or show off what I have, merely to show that little by little, even over the course of just 28-31 days, much progress can be made.
In addition, by tracking and posting this on the blog where everyone can see, I’m hoping this helps to hold me accountable to my goals. Where slip ups and unchecked spending can easily be passed off by keeping it to myself, with other people watching it should help to keep me in line! (Nothing like trying to avoid public humiliation to keep you motivated!)
If you haven’t already, check out last month’s report from May.
June
I feel like I say this every month, but didn’t June go by too fast?? It’s crazy how the first half of the year has flown by.. time needs to slow down!
This month I was super active during my free time on the weekends. One of the hobbies I’ve picked up over the years is being more outdoorsy and going hiking. I’m a sucker for an incredible view!
Luckily, this month had plenty of those.
Harper’s Ferry National Park was first (where John Brown made his infamous raid for my fellow history nerds):
Next up was Catoctin Mountain Park up in Maryland! (This view is at Chimney Rock for those in the area).
Lastly, I made my first trip of the year up to Shenendoah National Park. This place is absolutely gorgeous and I’ll be spending a lot of time out here over the next few months while it’s nice out:
If you want to keep up with my adventures, follow me on Instagram!
The one weekend I didn’t hike I made the drive up to see my parents. It’s a long drive, but I usually make it every quarter to go see them. Luckily my work is flexible so I can work that Friday from my parents house, so I get to see them for an extra day as well.
Family is extremely important to me so making these trips is something that will always be in my budget.
Now for the real reason you’re here!
Net Worth
June breaks down as follows:
After coming so close last month I finally made it to six figures!! The anticipation was killing me, but the market and my savings rate held up enough to allow me to get there!
Cash: $13,468 – $922
The cash was helped out mostly by my savings rate but also because my boss allowed me to charge a little extra for OT hours I was putting in. I’ve really been doing this the past few months, so it’s nice I was able to actually get paid now for some of those hours!
With my Roth IRA already maxed out for the year, I’m now turning all excess cash into a rental property fund. I’ve been reading up on many blogs and listening to podcasts on how it all works, and I’m ready to get more serious about it. With any luck I could potentially own a property by the end of the year!
401K: $59,761 – $1,456
Contributions this month totaled $1,831 (Employer Matching included). The market was down for me here, but up in others as you’ll see below.
I’m a little more diversified in this one, and (don’t quote me on this) but I think International stocks were down last month driving my negative returns.
My balance is 100% in stocks right now, split roughly 70/30 – Domestic/International.
Roth IRA: $11,657 – $188
I maxed out my Roth IRA back in March, so this will flow with the market for the rest of the year.
This account is all invested in a Vanguard mutual fund for Mid-Cap stocks.
Brokerage: $13,377 – $413
No contributions here, so just normal ebbs and flows of my investments.
I originally invested $12K into the account, $10K in the low fee VTI (Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF) and $2K in a high yield dividend paying stock.
HSA: $2,198 – $221
I opened my HSA account at the end of November last year after turning 26. This gain was straight from monthly contributions.
Unfortunately, this is all held in a Cash position right now as I need a minimum of $2,500 to invest in a NTF (no transaction fee) mutual fund.
As I’m on track to max this out this year, I’ll hit this mark in August and will immediately invest it.
Auto Value: $9,608 – ($290)
I have my Auto Value pegged at $2,500 above what the remaining value on my Auto Loan is. The negative value is simply monthly depreciation. The reason for this? Simply put, that was the value of the down payment I placed on my car (2014 Ford Fusion).
I verify through Kelly Blue Book each month so that if I desperately needed to, I could sell my car for around that value, which has always been the case. However, I plan on having this car for a long time so ideally the need to sell before the loan is paid off never actually comes up.
It’s sad to see my $100,000 car now worth less than 5 figures.. a hard lesson learned!
Credit Cards: $(1,515) – ($460)
I pay off my credit cards in full every month so this is just the monthly balance. By doing this I build credit and get free travel rewards and cash back while paying the credit card companies nothing in interest!
This number is what I pull from my credit card statements which ends on the 4th and 5th of every month. Now that I’ll be travel hacking more, I may just start pulling the balances at exactly month end since the newer cards aren’t guaranteed to have the same end statement date. I haven’t decided yet so I’ll report back.
Credit Card expenditures were a little higher this month. See below for the full breakout of spending to see how I did against my budget.
Auto Loan: $(7,108) – $290
The value on this increases as the amount of principle on the loan decreases with my monthly payment. Just chipping away at it at this point.
I got the loan with a 1.9% Interest rate, so I’m keeping it for now, though as the balance gets lower, it’s going to be more tempting to pay this off and be done with it, even if the math may not make sense.
Monthly Expenses:
A little overboard this month, but for good reasons mostly! I’m trying to hit the minimum spend on my new credit card so I’ve been trying to get some of the bigger payments out of the way.
Here are the details:
Monthly Rent $1,131:
Have to love living in a HCOL (High Cost of Living) area right? This is for a 2 BR apartment in which we split the cost. We could have found a place a little bit cheaper, however it would have been much further away from where we wanted to be (leading to an even longer commute), and with much less perks than what we have now.
My rent is increasing next month (as I renewed my lease another year), so you’ll see an adjustment to my budget to account for that.
Utilities $67 / Internet & Cable $70:
Definitely under budgeted for utilities, not a big deal though as I just cash flow the overage with my savings.
Internet/Cable is pretty standard around $65 as I split the costs with my roommate every month. We bought one movie leading to the extra charge this month. Still cheaper than the theater!
Groceries $175 / Restaurants $55:
Grocery spending was a bit higher as I had to buy some non food items that aren’t regular (laundry stuff, trash bags, etc) that get grouped in the grocery line.
Restaurant spending was under which meant I was doing a lot of cooking!
Car Payment $302:
Monthly car payment to pay off my loan. Only 2 years left now! It’s doubtful I let it last that long, but we’ll see.
With only a 1.9% Interest rate I believe I can beat that payment towards interest with returns through the market, which is the only reason I haven’t paid it off so far.
Auto Insurance $329:
This month I paid my auto insurance bill in full for the next 6 months. Earlier this year it was $292 for 6 months when I switched to a new company.
I was expecting an increase as many companies offer a super low rate to bring you in then promptly raise them afterwards.
At the end of this term I’ll be shopping around again to see if I can get a better deal if they raise it by that much again.
Auto Fuel $189 / Auto Other $59:
I have a lengthy commute to work – 60 miles round trip – leading to high fuel costs each month. The Other category includes any maintenance, repairs, taxes, etc that I budget for.
My fuel costs were inflated this month by the trip back home to see my parents.
I also had to get my oil changed, tires rotated and air filter replaced on my car as well which was the “Other” cost.
Cell Phone $0:
I’m still under my parents plan so this is my portion of the bill. I pay my parents directly up front for 6 months at a time. I’m currently paid through June at the moment.
Medical $0:
No medical expenses this month and ideally the only remaining expense will be a small dental charge for an appointment later this year.
You can read about my unpreparedness and what led to the big YTD negative here.
Entertainment $390:
I’m proud to say that I only spent $20 at the bars this month! My lowest ever! I guess that’s what happens when the friend you always went to the bars with moves away.
Instead, I spent $80 for a National Park pass that will last an entire year. As it costs $30 to get into Shenandoah National Park, this was a no brainer. As I write this I only need to visit one more national park/historical park to get my money’s worth!
The big expense was paying $275 for a ticket to Camp-FI Mid Atlantic next year! I was super bummed I could not attend this year, and the remaining Camp-FI’s this year were all sold out (still can make it to the Midwest one if anyone has an extra ticket though! 🙂 ).
I’ll also be missing Fin Con later this year due to a wedding, so I’m really looking forward to this event and surrounding myself with like-minded people!
I was debating creating a “blog” category for this expense, but since I haven’t monetized my blog there’s no real use. An expense is an expense! If I do end up making some money perhaps I’ll re-categorize, but that’s for a different day.
Travel $0:
No travel costs this month, though will need to reimburse my friend for my portion of the Airbnb we are staying at during my upcoming vacation in August.
Gifts $108:
Father’s Day gift for my Dad. We went golfing with my two brothers when I was back home. Usually my dad will pay for all of us despite my best attempts to pay for my own.
However, this time I just decided to pay for everyone as part of the gift. My little brother is a broke college kid and my older brother and his wife are fighting to get out of a ton of student loan debt so I figured the was the least I could do to cover them both as well.
Misc $70:
$50 for replenishing my metro card (usually refill by $20’s, but need to reach that min spend!) and $20 for monthly laundry.
Savings Rate
Here’s the overall picture:
*Note – Take Home is my after tax pay (what shows up in my bank account). 401K is only my contributions. 401K Match is my company’s 3% match. HSA is both mine and employer contributions (my employer contributed $750 in January). Interest is from Bank Accounts only.
As discussed last time, I added in an Interest line as this technically is income! (Even though it’s peanuts). But it will be getting bigger now that I’ve moved most of my cash into higher interest online savings accounts.
June was expensive, but mostly due to a few one time costs. If I can get through the next couple months with a good savings rate I may just be able to reach my stretch goal of 55%! Stay tuned!
In the meantime – check out the Net Worth Updates page to see how I’ve done in past months.
How did your June turn out?
I would say the month filled with adventure and family is well worth the $282 over budget! And your net worth continued to increase, which is always the goal. Way to go on $100K!!
$329 for six months of auto insurance. You don’t realize how good you have it!! I shopped around back in April when my six month payment was due. GEICO was the lowest I found at around $540, still a major discount over what I pay currently. However, I balked at that fearing what you said: the super low intro rate, followed by a major increase upon renewal. Considering the average auto insurance premium in my state is around $1,270 per year, I guess I should have jumped on it. I will be shopping around again this time around.
Do you have to purchase the national park annual pass in advance, or can you buy it same day at one of the parks? I’m going to get one for my trip in September. We are visiting six national parks along the way out west, so that will more than pay for itself.
How generous of you on the golf with your family. Didn’t know you played. As an avid golfer, I know how expensive it can be. 😉 In the summer months, it makes up 10-15% of my monthly budget!
Haha oh I totally realize how good I have it on insurance, the payments I used to make in my home state were right at your average so this is so great!
Nope you can purchase the parks pass at the gate where you pay for admission (that’s what I did). But wow that will be an epic trip!
I enjoy golfing but don’t actually get out too often, maybe 4-5 times a year. That’s a good portion of the budget! Worth it to spend on things you enjoy though!
Woohoo, what an awesome month! It’s amazing how much you can do when you’re not working weekends (note to self: work fewer weekends!) 😩 And only $282 over budget is great considering you’re also working on a minimum spend! That is not how my June went haha.
You should definitely calculate your credit card balances at the end of the month—since time is a human construct anyway why not decide to total that up on an arbitrary day of your choosing instead of the arbitrary day of the CC company’s choosing?! 😂 I don’t even know when any of my credit card statements end these days since I just make sure to send smaller payments over consistently throughout the month. And I’m too impatient to wait to fill out my net worth spreadsheet at the end of the month just because my billing cycles haven’t ended yet!
Haha I’ve been doing it that way cause then it’s easier for me to determine what I need to pull out of my accounts to pay the overall credit card bill from! But yea I think next month I will start pulling from the end of the month so it’s all truly in the one month
Ouch, $65 is your HALF of Internet? Why the heck do you still have cable?? 😉 We have Internet only for $35/mo total, so we don’t even charge our roommate a part of that. I like how you also put in YTD this month – we are both right at that 51% mark and squeaking by!
Haha you’re waiting until now to call me out on that! 😉 good news on that front, I was waiting to announce but we are going to be cutting the cable cord so that’ll be going down 🙂
Oh and could you not see the YTD in months past? I’ve been doing that since February! And yes! Need to keep it above that mark!!
Haha apparently I missed the cable thing until now! And I hadn’t done YTD myself until June so I guess I ignored it on yours 😂
Your savings rate is outstanding at over 50%. That is why your networth will skyrocket if you can maintain that kind of savings. As your networth grows and starts bringing in money of its own (which hopefully you will re-deploy in savings) your savings rate can get to incredibly high rates (I think my last 2 years were 70-80%).
Definitely hoping to maintain that, if not have it grow even further!
But wow! 70-80% is incredible! Definitely reaching for that goal in the near future 🙂
I was thinking maybe we’re from the same state, but that figure might not be correct according to google. A couple different sites have different numbers for each state! Either way, you’re making out great on car insurance.
Great, then I will buy it at the first park. We will be heading to Rocky Mountain, Wind Cave, Badlands, Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Great Basin! Looking forward to it. Where are you heading in August?
Yes, definitely worth it to spend on things you enjoy. We all have our hobbies. For you, I guess hiking and the bars seem like your favorites. 🙂 For me, I don’t know what I’d do without golf, I’d be so bored! I try to get out every week, sometimes both Saturday and Sunday.
Sounds like an epic trip.. very jealous! I’m heading to Newport, RI for a long weekend with friends though. Should be fun!
Exactly though! If you get enjoyment from something you should totally spend the money on it (as long as it’s still within your means and goals of course 😉)
Great progress YFN! I loved the concept of your net worth page and showing progress!
I also stole your savings rate document and created one to track myself on! 😉
Thank you! Haha no problem! Glad you liked the format and could put it to use for yourself too 🙂