Net Worth Update: October 2019

Welcome to another monthly Net Worth update! This time it’s Net Worth October 2019 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 September.

October

What can you say, some months you look back on and you just really didn’t do too much. October was one of those months. There was a bunch that went on including a couple hikes, apple picking, watching the Nats win the World Series(!!), and various other things, but really for the most part it was just a relaxing month with no travel involved and more down time to report than usual.

I like doing new things and staying active, but sometimes you just need to relax and recharge and after seemingly being constantly on-the-go since July, the time was right to do just that. Especially with more travel for the holidays coming up in the next couple months!

Anyways, we’ll keep it to a short section so here’s a few pictures from the things I did do this month!

Net Worth

October breaks down as follows:

An increase of over $6,500 to my Net Worth seems like a lot, and it is which is awesome! However, I was shocked to see that this was only my 4th best month of the year for NW increases. This just goes to show just how wild this year actually has been for the stock market! Can it keep it up through end of year, or will there be a correction? Guess we’ll find out soon enough!

As a reminder, there’s a $500 difference in the Personal Captial chart vs my own, and the reason for that is if you remember from last year, I’m the commissioner and treasurer of my fantasy football league, so I hold everyone’s dues in my bank account for the year before paying out the winners. It’s only right not to count it since it truly isn’t my money (yet!)

Cash: $31,110 – $2,066

Due to my above average salary I have a lot of excess cash coming in. See the income section below to view what I bring in.

It was a big monthly increase here. My spending has been low the last few months so I’ve been saving quite a bit!

This account has been growing steadily throughout the year and I’m now to the point of wondering whether I’m keeping too much sitting around in Cash. I think I could keep this account at this level while still searching for a rental property for next year, but feel like I should perhaps start setting up automated transfers to dollar cost average and invest some of my future savings into my Brokerage.

I could always still access that money if needed, but that way I also start putting more into the market as well to take advantage of compounding returns. We’ll see what I end up deciding to do, but I’ll have come to a decision for next year.

401K: $95,861 – $3,966

Contributions this month totaled $1,800 (Employer Matching included).

Another month like this and I’ll be at nearly six figures. I’ll be there soon!

I take the simple approach to investing and have about 90% of this account in stocks (70/30 Domestic/International), and 10% in bonds.

Roth IRA: $16,022 – $331

No contributions this month. Next month I’ll deposit the remaining $3,000 I have left to go, though I’m thinking if the market stays at an all time high I may temporarily keep that in a Money Market Fund.

This account is invested 100% in VTSAX (Vanguard Total Stock Market).

Brokerage: $15,187 – $180

No contributions here, and can’t imagine there will be any this year. But potentially next year as I mentioned in the cash section!

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: $7,642 – $287

$212 of this was my own contributions with the rest just the market doing it’s thing. Real estate seems to be doing quite well this year as it has rarely taken any dips at all.

All my funds here are invested into a REIT.

Auto Value: $6,581 – ($405)

KBB value for my 2014 Ford Fusion with 86,500 miles on it.

1,000 miles were put on the car this month, mostly from work and hiking trips. This was the biggest decrease from KBB to date, but I expect it to keep dropping further as I approach 100,000 miles.

Credit Cards: $(193) – $137

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 was the lowest monthly amount I’ve ever put on a credit card! While a low spending month was a big part, most of it was that I was helping my girlfriend out reaching a min spend, so most of my spending went on her card as well, and I just reimbursed her via Venmo.

As always, see below for the full breakout of spending to see how I did against my budget.

Monthly Expenses:

Wow! under $1,800 in one month is my lowest spending month all year and lowest overall monthly spend amount since early 2015! Keep in mind back then I paid almost $500 less in rent than I do now, so this was some seriously low spending!

Monthly Rent $1,200:

Finally a month with nothing different to report here. $1,200 is my portion of the rent for the 1 bed, 1 bathroom apartment I share with my partner.

Utilities/Internet $49:

Loving the low utilities bills!

We have a flat $15/each monthly water bill. We also got a great introductory rate on internet (the lowest bandwidth option) for $15/each per month. The remaining was my portion of the electric for $19 (we don’t pay for gas).

Groceries $148 / Restaurants $82:

This month was a “5 week” month for groceries, so it was on the higher end. Since we moved in and started splitting groceries my s/o and I have averaged around $130/month each, which is about where I was expecting us to be.

This month I went out a few times to eat, but nothing super fancy so we were both able to keep the restaurant spending lower than usual.

Auto Insurance $0 / Fuel $68 / Other $0:

After paying for 6 months up front in July I’m now covered through January 2020, so no more expenses here on the year.

Roughly another 1,000 miles on the car this month equated to two fill ups. Mostly just from normal driving for my commute to work and a weekend hiking trip.

No “Other” auto expenses to account for this month.

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 covered my July-December 2019 costs in August so no more expenses this year from me.

Medical $0:

No medical costs this month.

Entertainment $120:

$53 on drinks at various bars. The Nats were in the World Series… what else was I supposed to do!? This also included tickets to a distillery tour that I prepaid for on Groupon to use in November with my parents visiting.

$40 to split the annual National Park Pass with my partner. The value is so worth it to experience nature and see some incredible views.

$10 for entry to Sky Meadows State Park (VA state parks have entry fees), $2 for reservations in December to take a tour to the top of the recently renovated Washington Monument(!) and $15 for monthly Spotify.

Travel $0:

No travel expenses this month.

Gifts/Donations $53:

A college friend’s father unexpectedly passed away last month, so my friends and I chipped in to send a flower arrangement from all of us for support which was $28. The other $25 was for a birthday gift for my Dad. He never asks nor wants anything but I always feel like I should get him something anyways, even if it’s just something small.

As a reminder, I’m planning to give roughly $1,800 at year end all at once to help with credit card minimum spends for the Southwest Companion Pass!

Misc $79:

Miscellaneous costs include $60 to fill up my metro card on the month, $11 for a shower squeegee, $5 for some vitamin C tablets (just in case for cold season!) and $3 for a new light bulb in our kitchen.

Savings Rate

Here’s the overall picture:

Pretty normal month from an income standpoint, but wow look at that savings rate! 71%! That’s the power of getting your expenses lower, and when you combine that with a high income, the result is the above!

And wow, look at that $9 in Side Hustles! The scooter charging is back haha, but not the same as it used to be. Unfortunately I’m still not close enough to any drop off points to do overnight charges again, but this $9 comes from what they call “move tasks” where you don’t have to charge the scooters at all, just simply move them from one place to another.

At $3 each, it’s not worth my time for the most part, but it was fun to mix the move tasks in with a workout! (ie I ran to a few move tasks, then rode the scooter over to the drop off point, and ran back home). I could see this bringing in a few dollars a month, but not much more.

A 65% savings rate may elude me this year, but with a 71% savings rate this month I’m certainly not upset about that!

If you want to see how I’ve done in past months, check out my Net Worth Updates page to see over a year’s worth of reports.

How did your October turn out!?