Seeing an increase in our net worth for 2012 is definitely a great way to start the year off. The majority of the increase is not really in my control, but I’m still happy about it.
Emergency Fund: Up $11.72. Last year, after reaching $1,000, I would transfer the excess to our savings. This year, I’ve got some plans brewing and will be keeping the money from our automatic daily transfers in our Emergency Fund where it belongs. I still transferred some of it out in December, but I quit doing that after I started planning for 2012.
Savings: Up $54.03. You might have noticed that Operation SUV has been removed and lumped into the category (more on that later). For January, until I finalize my plans, they will remain lumped together. I didn’t save that much, but it’s still better than nothing.
401K: Up $449.44. While it’s nice to see an increase in our 401k, it also means that we’ll be purchasing at higher prices. It makes the net worth look better but I’d prefer to make our purchases at lower prices.
Betterment: Up $0.19. I didn’t contribute any money to our Betterment account last month, so this purely earnings. Wow, at 19¢ per month, we could retire in about 500,000 years. Still, it’s better than losing money and there isn’t much in there to earn off of anyways.
Roth IRA: Up $50.00. Slowly growing. Hopefully I can continue putting money into our Roth IRA each month and then start increasing it. I know that 50 bucks a month isn’t that great but we’re creating good habits. It all adds up!
Pirates Gold: No change. I was expecting to get more gold dollars from my dad for Christmas, but that’s okay. I’m grateful for whatever I get.
Car: Up $1,359.00. KBB is one of the most bewildering things. Last month the value of our car dropped; this month the value shot up. It’s kinda a bad sign when the value of your car can pretty much make or break your net worth updates.
Evil Credit Card: Down $106.83. It feels like this is taking longer to pay off each time we get closer. I don’t know what that’s all about. Pretty soon this will be paid off and we won’t have any debt at all—I can’t wait.
So, how did your Net Worth turn out this month? Have you done it yet???
Welcome back!!!! I can’t believe that the value of your car actually went up. Down here, the value of our cars drop ridiculously!
Thanks Dannielle.
Yeah, it’s so weird how KBB keeps having it go up and down all the time; not sure what that’s all about.
Hey! Great blog and great net worth posts. Have you thought about cutting back or stopping retirement funding until you get out of debt and build a healthier sized emergency fund? I would hate to see you have to tap into that and take a penalty in the event of another emergency. Keep up the great work, though. Loving the blog so far!
Thanks Kraig.
I’ve considered doing stuff like that, but in all honesty it would end up setting me back. I’ve finally gotten into the habit of saving for retirement (even if it’s not as much as everybody else) and in reality, we don’t have that much debt (under $400). I’m expecting to have the debt paid off in the next couple of months, as well as doubling our emergency fund this year. Both are from my 2012 goals, you can find them here.
I would hate to see us tap into our retirement too, that’s one of the worst things to do. Thankfully, we do have other money saved if our emergency fund doesn’t cover whatever comes up and I’d borrow from friends or family before hitting up the retirement accounts. Hopefully, no emergencies will arise, but you never really know.