February was a very good net worth increase month. Our net worth increased $3,014.03 from January to $27,693.81 (click on spreadsheet below). We are currently at 57.94% of our 2008 net worth goal of $47,800.

What worked this month?
Our retirement accounts (401k and Roth IRAs) went up by a total of $1,579.60! Thanks in part to our $400 contribution to our Roth IRA’s. We also continued our 2nd mortgage accelerated payment plan by cashing out 6 days of my company vacation time for $1,239.53 and paying that directly to our 2nd mortgage principle.

What did not work this month?
We had to dip into our savings account to pay our Federal and State income taxes. We had planned for this so, in reality, I’m not sure it should fall into the category “what didn’t work”.

What’s coming next month?
My wife has been doing great at her new job and may get a $1,000 commission next month. We hope to use this money to fund our Roth IRAs a bit more. We also have our property taxes due next month. Thankfully, our property taxes will be less than expected since we got our property value reassessed.

Our net worth increase this month may not be as much as usual, but we’re still making progress. Our net worth increased $806.53 over last month, to $24,679.78 (click on spreadsheet below).

What worked this month?
Much went well this month. We began our 2nd mortgage accelerated payment plan by paying an additional $691.00 in principle, increased our savings account balance by $1,390.61, began our 2008 Roth IRA contributions with $300, and increased my 401(k) contribution by 1% (4% total contribution).

What did not work this month?
Unfortunately, our 401(k) and Roth IRA retirement accounts went down a total of $1,786.17 this month, even with our $609.74 in total contributions. Seeing as we should not need to access these investments for a couple of decades, this is good for us. We’re buying low! Hopefully in 20+ years, we will be able to sell high.

What’s coming next month?
Next month is looking good. We hope to be able to continue our 2nd mortgage accelerated payment plan with money from my wife’s commission check and by cashing in some of my vacation time. It will also be the first full month of pay after receiving my raise, further helping our bottom line. The big unknown is income taxes. We plan to do our taxes next month, determine how much we owe, and if we want to wait until April to pay it.

Below is a table compiling our net worth data for 2007 (click on table to enlarge). Besides our monthly net worth growth, certain things jump out at me:

• Large increase in Pre-tax Retirement Accounts in September due to company profit sharing
• No Roth IRAs until May; both fully funded by November
• New (used) vehicle in June; large vehicle depreciation adjustment in December
• Credit card debit completely paid off in November
• Large payment to student loan in March using tuition reimbursement

Reviewing our net worth this way reminds me how different things were for us less than 12 months ago. During that time, our assets grew from $387,420.00 to $398,339.46 and our liabilities decreased from $390,588.85 to $374,466.21.

God willing, 2008 will be as much of a success.

December was the first decrease to our net worth since we began tracking it in February. Our net worth decreased $3,301.44 from last month to $23,873.25 (click on spreadsheet below).

What worked this month?
While December was a roller coaster month in the stock market, thankfully, our investments ended on an up note.

What did not work this month?
December was a bad net worth month because of my poor accounting methods earlier in the year. As I mentioned in a previously post, I have not been depreciating our vehicle values each month, thus, I have been over stating our net worth. Before closing out 2007, I wanted to adjust the vehicle values to give us a more accurate net worth. To reflect the depreciation, you will notice a change of ($2,085) in the asset column for Car 1 and a change of ($2,760) in the asset column for Car 2. It’s no fun taking a $4,845 depreciation hit in one month. So, beginning in January, we will depreciate our vehicles monthly at 1%.

What’s coming next month?
The end of 2007 was rough on our net worth, but thank God we were still able to finish the year 8.51% above our net worth goal of $22,000. I will be posting a review of 2007 within the next couple of weeks.

January should be a strong month and an awesome start to 2008. I receive an extra paycheck (3 total), I plan to cash out a few vacation days, and I should receive my annual pay raise. Most of this extra money will go towards our plan to pay down our 2nd mortgage, but we will also begin contributing to our Roth IRA’s for 2008.

November has been a crazy net worth month due to the stock market volatility. Many times throughout the month, our net worth dipped over $800 below what we ended October with. We also had a few large annual bills come due this month including a $1,842.84 condo tax bill, $880 auto insurance bill (1 years coverage), and a $416 condo insurance bill (1 years coverage). That being said, we are thankful to have ended the month with a net worth increase of $2.01 over last month, for a total net worth of $27,174.69 (click on spreadsheet below).

What worked this month?
First, we feel great about paying our condo insurance and truck insurance for the year, rather than financing both over many months. Secondly, we’re thrilled to have completely paid off our 0% interest Chase credit card ($999.49), eliminating the last of our credit card debt. Finally, we fully funding my Roth IRA for 2007 ($4,000) by contributing the final $500.

What did not work this month?
Our 401(k) took a pretty good hit this month; it was down $1,105.63 from last month. Our savings also shrunk by $845.04, but only because we pulled funds out to pay off our Chase credit card. With the stock market volatility and our large bills this month, the damage could have been much worse.

What’s coming next month?
December should be a much quieter month. There are no large annual bills looming in the next 31 days and hopefully the market will settle down. We’ve been greatly blessed to have already reached our net worth goal for the 2007 ($22,000); any net worth increase in December will be going towards our 2008 net worth goal.

October was a pretty average month all around. We increased our net worth $1,409.31 from last month, to $27,172.68. We’ve already passed our net worth goal for 2007, so any additional gains are gravy.

What worked this month?
My wife continues to bring in multiple streams of income. She brought in a $761.50 commission check for referring a customer to her father’s company and a $752 commission check from old job. Another plus this month was that our retirement accounts (401K and Roth IRA’s) increased by a total of $778.90. We also reduced our liabilities by the standard amount (~$1,000).

What did not work this month?
A $1,000 business expense that we’ve been expecting finally posted to my credit card. I was already reimbursed for it in June and had the money sitting in our savings account gaining interest. We also saw a ~65% reduction in the value of our shares of Adventrx Pharmaceuticals.

What’s coming next month?
My wife receives and extra paycheck next month and may also receive her first commission check from her new job. I will be traveling overseas for 5 days (all expenses paid by employers) so we might see small savings there. My wife and I will also be taking a road trip to visit my family for Thanksgiving. A couple of big insurance bill hit next month: We will be pay for a years worth of car insurance for my truck ($880) and a years worth of insurance for our condo ($416).

September has been a banner month. Our net worth increased $8,496.14 over last month to $25,763.37 (click on the spreadsheet below). We blew by our 2007 net worth goal of $22,000 this month! Now we can use the final 3 months in 2007 to start making progress on our 2008 net worth goal of $47,800. Our previous best net worth increase month was March 2007, with a $6,462.28 increase

What worked this month?
We have a lot to be thankful for. My wife was able to find a new job within a week of being laid off from her old job. Because of this quick transition, we experienced no lapse in paychecks and did not have to dip into our savings accounts. Our biggest gain in September came from an unexpectedly large $3,005.63 contribution to my 401(k) from my company’s profit sharing. Our retirement investments also received a boost by a $500 contribution that we did to my wife’s Roth IRA, completing her contributions for 2007, and a $500 contribution that we did to my Roth IRA. We also boosted our savings account balance considerably, by making a few extra deposits in September.

What did not work this month?
The Labor Day week heat wave sent everyone to the store to purchase air conditioners, including us. We spent $377.74 on a portable air conditioner.

What’s coming next month?
My wife and I will both be traveling for business in October. Since both of our employers cover 100% of our expenses while traveling, we should be able to save a little extra money next month.

August has been a volatile month in more ways than one. Nonetheless, our net worth increased $2,205.39 over last month, to $17,267.23 (click on spreadsheet below). We are currently at 78.49% of our 2007 net worth goal. Thank God, we’re still ahead of schedule to meet our goal.

What worked this month?
I received an extra (3rd) check this month that provided us with an additional $1,880.70. We were able to increase our savings by $831.02, which is amazing because we had a couple of large expenses come due in August, such as a $716.53 mattress bill and $300 seat sponsorship for our church. Surprisingly, we did not have a $1,000 business expense that we are expecting post to our credit card; this will likely post in September. In other good news, we were also able to contribute another $500 to my wife’s Roth IRA and we continue to make progress on our liabilities, decreasing them by ~$1,000 each month.

What did not work this month?
Obviously, this was a roller coaster month for the stock market. After subtracting out our contributions, our retirement investments were either flat or lagged behind last month’s balances. Another shake-up this month was that the company my wife just started with 1 month ago laid off 75% of their employees, including her. The great news is that she already has a replacement job.

What’s coming next month?
Now that August’s books are closed, we’re looking ahead toward September. All indications are that it should be a good month too. My wife is expecting a commission check on a job that she referred to her dad’s company (~$700), a final commission check from her old job ($600-$1,000), a final check from the job that laid her off (~$1920), and her first paycheck from her new job(~$1,075). I’m also hoping to receive my company profit sharing (~$550) in September.

July was our lightest net worth increase month yet. Our net worth increased $2,039.64 over last month, to a new total of $15,062.84 (click spreadsheet below).

Still, we had a better month than I expected, primarily because a $1,000 business expense has not posted yet . Here are the highlights from July:

We had a lot of financial action in June. Our investments ended on a down note, but we still increased our net worth by $3,979.67, to $13,022.20 (click on the spreadsheet below).

• My wife received an extra $1,161.67 paycheck this month.
• I cashed in 6 days of vacation time for an extra $1,219.11.
• We sold Car 1 and bought a new (used) Car 1. $1,000 was withdrawn from savings to transact the deal, and we spent another $321.94 getting the new vehicle outfitted with an alarm and a few other things.
• Also related to cars, my wife got a flat tire, resulting in a $159.25 replacement tire.
• We withdrew $2,000 from savings and used a $1,000 business reimbursement check to open a Roth for me, and fund it with $3,000. The $1,000 business expense will not hit my credit card until July or August, at which time we will pay it off from savings. In the meantime, we are earning stock market returns on the money.
• My wife graduated (great job sugar!) this month, so we spent $219.08 on a nice party for her.
• June was a heavier than usual month for gifts to family/friends ($216).

We’re tracking nicely to meet our 2007 net worth goal of $22,000. It’s just over half way thru the year and we’re currently at 59.19% of our annual goal.