April was a pretty typical month, in a good way. Our net worth increased $2,859.25 from last month, to a total of $90,915.70 (click on spreadsheet below).

What Worked
My wife began her new job mid month. She also received her 2 week severance check from her old job. We contributed a total of $792.70 to our retirement accounts (401k’s and Roth IRA’s) and saw them increase $3,019.25! Wife’s 401(k) acct closed and transferred to IRA.

What Didn’t Work
As expected, we had a little catching up to do this month after paying $12,000 cash for our new (used) 4×4 last month and buying misc items for it.

Next Month
In addition to May being my wife’s first full month at her new job, my company informed us that they will be increasing our salaries back to the full amount beginning my first paycheck in May.

March was the craziest month we have had in quite awhile. Our net worth increased an amazing $14,753.11 from last month, to a total of $88,056.45 (click on spreadsheet below). This is a new record monthly increase for us.

What Worked

My wife’s company laid off the entire sales force this month, but within two days, she secured her 1^st interview and ended up getting a great new job that she starts mid April (more details to follow in another post). We had a major influx of cash this month including her $733.52 of cashed out vacation, a $4,111 tax refund ($3,730 fed & $381 state), and a check for two weeks of severance for my wife should be coming in any day. We also sold 20 shares of BofA stock for small $48 gain. We contributed a total of $1,883.01 to our retirement accounts (401k’s and Roth IRA’s) and saw them increase $4,947.42!

What Didn’t Work

We purchased a great used 4×4 for $12,250 cash. This purchase absorbed most of our savings and our influx of cash from this month. I’ll be using the 4×4 as a daily driver until my wife gets her new company car in a couple of months. After that, the 4×4 will be a fun toy for us to enjoy on the weekends. Now we have to get our savings built back up.

Next Month

We have a little catching up to do in April. Purchasing the 4×4 threw off our cash flow, so we’ll need most of April to recover.

After a small decrease in our net worth in January, it was nice to bounce back with a strong net worth increase in February. Our net worth increased $5,529.60 from last month, to a total of $73,303.34 (click on spreadsheet below).

What Worked
My wife received a $3,000 ($1,217.53 net) quarterly bonus, so we were also able to increase our savings by $1,830.82. We contributed a total of $2,232.69 to our retirement accounts (401k’s and Roth IRA’s) and saw them increase $3,759.37. Good stuff!

What Didn’t Work
Everything went great this month.

Next Month
It’s hard to guesstimate how March will go. We’ll be doing our taxes and likely owe (we paid $2,024 last year), but I may be able to save some money on food and gas since I will be traveling for business for 7 days. We’ll have to see how it works out.

January was a tough start to 2010. Our net worth in January decreased $663.89 from last month, to a total of $67,773.74 (click on spreadsheet below).

What Worked
My 401(k) contribution increase from 7% to 15% kicked in this month. My wife and I are both now contributing 15% to our 401(k)’s. We also increased our payments from $60/month to $100/month on the student loan. This is our last remaining debt, so we want to get it paid off.

What Didn’t Work
We contributed a total of $1,716.15 to our retirement accounts (401k’s and Roth IRA’s) this month, but saw our retirement accounts decrease a total of $616.45. We also weren’t able to put any money away into savings, and that is one of our main goals this year.

Next Month
February should be a strong month. My wife receives her quarterly bonus check, and believes it may be ~$3,000 gross (~$1,500 net). This will help us bloster our savings account balance. I will be traveling for work part of the month, so our expenses may be a bit less too.

As I’ve already indicated, 2009 was an up and down year, but ultimately, a good one for us. Below is a table of our net worth data for each month in 2009 (click on table to enlarge). Some highlights from 2009 include:

• We increased our net worth from $42,083.69 to $68,437.63. We missed our net worth goal of $75,600 by $7,162.37, but still did pretty well, all things considered.
• We contributed $10,000 total to our Roth IRAs.
• We contributed $9,437.41 total to our 401(k) plans.
• Our total retirement account balance grew from $23,506.87 to $54,620.37.
• We reduced our debt from $347,279.48 to $4,148.46. Short selling our condo was the bulk of this reduction, but paying off our auto loan eliminated $15,943.59 in debt that we started 2009 with.

With 2010 underway, we’re working hard create new highlights to review in 12 months.

December was a strong end to 2009. Our net worth in December increased $4,787.45 from last month, to a total of $68,437.63 (click on spreadsheet below). We missed our 2009 net worth goal of $75,600 by $7,162.37, but I’ll be reviewing that in another post.

What Worked

With the end of the year here, we were happy to be able to finish maxing out our Roth IRA contributions this month. With a final contribution of $800 to each of our Roth IRA’s, we hit the $5,000 per person maximum for the year. We contributed a total of $2,911.66 to our retirement accounts (401k & Roth IRAs) this month and saw our retirement accounts increase to a total of $4,854.55!

What Didn’t Work

Everything went perfect.

Next Month

January starts a new year and new goals. I’ll be reviewing how we did with our 2009 goals and outlining our new 2010 goals within the next week. Happy New Year!

This was our best net worth increase month ever. Our net worth in November increased $9,438.27 from last month, to a total of $63,650.18 (click on spreadsheet below). Our previous record increase was September 2007 with an increase of $8,496.14.

What Worked
We got a lot done this month. Thanks to my wife’s $4,872 ($2,255.97 net) quarterly bonus, we paid off our 6.5% auto loan! Now we have an extra $450 to save/invest each month. We also contributed a total of $4,257.22 to our retirement accounts (401k & Roth IRAs), a large portion of which was contributed to our Roth IRAs in an effort to reach the $5,000 max contribution by the end of the year. We saw our retirement accounts increase to a total of $6,178.11! On top of all of that, we socked away $500 into our savings account.

What Didn’t Work
Nothing, everything went WAY better than we expected.

Next Month
God willing, December should be another strong month. We’ll likely miss our $75,600 net worth goal for the year by a good margin, but we’ve made great headway, all things considered. I’ll be posting a review of our 2009 goals next month.

What Worked

I received another 1% increase to my salary (3^rd time in 3 months). We paid an extra $1,150 to our auto loan, bringing the balance down to $2,907.26.

What Didn’t Work

We pulled $1,393.43 out of savings to pay our credit card bill for the balance of our Hawaii vacation in September. This was planned so it actually should fall under the “What Worked” category. We contributed a total of $1,497.03 to our retirement accounts (401k & Roth IRAs), but only them increase to a total of $367.45.

Next Month

God willing, November should be another net worth increase month. We plan to continue our accelerated payments on the auto loan and invest another $1,500 in our retirement accounts. I will have a large gym membership bill due next month, a portion of which may come out of our savings.

September increased $3,411.14 from last month (link), to a total of $53,536.19 (click on spreadsheet below).

What Worked

September was a great month. We were blessed with another 1% increase to my salary (it was also increased 1% last month). We paid and extra $1,900 to my auto loan. We contributed a total of $1,592.71 to our retirement accounts (401k & Roth IRAs) and saw our retirement accounts increase to a total of $3,220! We sold 86 shares of our 106 shares of Bank of America stock for a 20% gain. We applied the proceeds to our auto loan.

What Didn’t Work

We took a vacation to Hawaii in September that cost $1,787.69. This should really fall under the “What Worked” category because we had a great vacation for a very reasonable price. Our flights were free thanks to frequent flyer miles and my wife found a great deal on our hotel and rental car. This was a planned expense, but we’ve pulled money out of savings to cover some of the costs and will pull more money out of savings when the credit card bill is due next month.

Next Month

October should be a good month. I will be traveling for 2 weeks of the month, so our expenses will likely be lower than usual. We also plan to make another large extra payment to my auto loan.

We’ve been blessed to string together 3 strong net worth increase months in a row. Our net worth in August increased $5,473.52 from last month, to a total of $50,125.05 (click on spreadsheet below). That means we’ve passed the $50,000 net worth milestone!

What Worked

August was full of nice surprises. We received my wife’s $896 ($480.84 net) quarterly bonus a month earlier than we expected, my pay was increased 1%, and we decided spontaneously to pay $6,250 extra to my auto loan. We contributed a total of $1,181.48 to our retirement accounts (401k & Roth IRAs) and saw our retirement accounts increase to a total of $3,814.65! We increased my wife’s 401(k) contribution from 5% to 15%, starting with her 2nd paycheck in August. That’s makes her new total 401(k) contribution $346.88 a check or $8,325.12 a year.

What Didn’t Work

August was a great month. Thank God.

Next Month

September looks like it will be good month. I want to take a moment to say that if you haven’t seen the movie “Pursuit of Happyness“, it’s a must see. I just caught it on TV for the 2nd time. It’s the true story of a single dad fighting for a stockbroker position at Dean Witter, while facing challenges such as a period of homelessness and trouble with the IRS.